Clinch is a leading adtech platform that helps major ad agencies and brands like Coca-Cola, Hyundai, and Anheuser-Busch deliver relevant advertising across all channels efficiently and effectively. As the company continues to scale rapidly with employees across 20 states and multiple countries, building a strong, engaged workforce has always been just as critical as driving growth.

At the center of that effort is Mike Goldfinger, Director of People and Business Operations — the force behind Clinch’s exceptional 98% employee retention rate. As Clinch increased U.S. headcount by 200%, they needed a system that could scale just as fast. Instead, their existing PEO was slowing them down.

Confusing invoices and increased costs 

The previous provider’s percentage-based pricing model made costs unpredictable, with invoices fluctuating month to month and offering little transparency into what Clinch was actually paying for.

"When I would get invoices from our previous PEO, they didn't clearly delineate what the fees were actually for," Mike said. Attempts to get clarity only added to the frustration, with responses taking weeks–or never coming at all. 

On top of that, Clinch’s benefits costs increased by 15% with their previous PEO. The provider only offered three plan options with little flexibility to negotiate or add additional plans.

Constant payroll tax issues

Clinch struggled with persistent payroll tax compliance issues under their previous PEO. "I used to get so many late payroll tax payment notices in the mail, and sometimes they would take a year or two to actually handle it,” Mike explained. 

While the legacy provider eventually admitted fault and covered late fees, Mike was left managing follow-ups, paperwork, and unnecessary stress.

Outdated platform and slow support 

Their previous provider’s platform was difficult for both Clinch admins and employees. "The UI/UX doesn't even compare to Rippling. It was clunky and all over the place. There were a lot of dead links," Mike said. 

The support model was equally frustrating. "When I had a payroll question, and I would message my assigned person, they'd be busy," Mike explained. For a company in hyper-growth mode, waiting days for responses on payroll questions wasn't sustainable.

After Mike completed a thorough competitive analysis, Rippling stood out on every front: pricing, product depth, automation, and support.

Clinch left the legacy HR platform and PEO provider and made the switch to Rippling PEO, accessing big-company benefits at affordable rates and expert HR and compliance support–all for less than Clinch was paying with their previous provider.

"Rippling had the best price in the market," Mike said.

Better benefits at lower costs

With Rippling PEO, Clinch reduced their health insurance costs by 10%. Plus, they unlocked access to up to 40 health plans, compared to just three options from their previous provider. This allowed the Clinch team to select coverage that actually fits their employees' needs.

Automated compliance support across 20 states

With employees in 20 states, compliance could have easily consumed Mike’s time. Instead, Rippling PEO automates it.

When onboarding a new employee in a new state, Mike simply fills out a quick form, and Rippling PEO handles setting up state and local payroll tax accounts and keeping the Clinch team updated about ever-changing labor laws. Required compliance trainings are automatically administered through Rippling’s Learning Management System (LMS).

Employees have even complimented Mike on the training content, calling it “engaging, modern, and interesting” compared to their previous HR platform’s training materials.

Rippling handles and monitors all the compliance things. I've never had any flags saying that we were outside of compliance.

Mike Goldfinger

Director of People and Business Operations at Clinch

Through Rippling PEO, Mike can also connect with Rippling’s SHRM- and PHR-certified HR advisors on any complex HR topic. Mike regularly consults them on sensitive issues like performance plans, terminations, and legal matters to get peace of mind. 

"Having access to an expert HR advisor is amazing, especially to validate that we're doing the right things,” Mike said. “I'm essentially a one-stop shop for HR at Clinch, so having a trusted, always available partner through Rippling is a relief."

One modern, intuitive platform

The difference in user experience between their former legacy provider and Rippling was immediately obvious. "Rippling is so easy to use," Mike said. "I rarely get questions from my employees on how to do anything in Rippling, because it's so easy."

Rippling is so automated. It's really a self-service platform where all my employees can figure things out on their own.

Mike Goldfinger

Director of People and Business Operations at Clinch

Easy reporting in minutes  

With Rippling, Mike and his team can pull reports in minutes. When Clinch's CFO needed a complex payroll report broken down by month and state, Mike didn’t need outside help. He created the report in less than 15 minutes using Rippling's drag-and-drop reporting tools. 

Go-to Apps

Domestic payroll

HRIS

LEARNING & DEVELOPMENT

reporting

Benefits Administration

PEO

Three and a half years after switching to Rippling, Clinch has scaled rapidly, reduced costs, and freed up time for strategic work.

65% reduction in HR costs

By consolidating HR, payroll, benefits, and compliance into Rippling's all-in-one platform, Mike estimates that Clinch reduced HR costs by 65%.

We cut HR costs by 65% with Rippling.

Mike Goldfinger

Director of People and Business Operations at Clinch

Payroll that takes minutes

Processing payroll used to take Mike over 30 minutes with their previous provider. With Rippling, it's impressively faster. “Whenever I adjust someone’s salary because of a raise or promotion, all I have to do is update their profile in Rippling. And then when it comes to payroll, I glance over the information, click approve, and I'm done,” says Mike. 

As an added safety net, if Mike forgets to approve payroll by the deadline, Rippling automatically processes it, a feature that gives him peace of mind and ensures employees always get paid on time.

Rapid growth with a lean team

Clinch has experienced massive growth over the past few years. Their headcount has increased by a whopping 200% — all managed by a lean HR team. Rippling's automation and self-service capabilities have been critical to scaling efficiently, to the extent that Clinch will now use Rippling for global payroll, expense management, travel, consolidating four separate platforms into one. “Soon, we'll have one platform for everything," Mike said. "Cost savings across the board."

Rippling is so automated that I barely touch it. As a small team managing HR for a growing global workforce, it's kind of the dream.

Mike Goldfinger

Director of People and Business Operations at Clinch