Prospective clients confusion with staffing services prompts Administaff to change company name to Insperity.

Confusion with Staffing Services Prompts Change

According to an article in the Houston Business Journal, Administaff will change its name to Insperity. In addition the company will modify it’s logo and change it’s tag line from “Small business is good for America. Administaff is good for small business.r to “inspiring business performance” During a conference call with investors and analysts, Paul Savardi, CEO explained that many prospective businesses clients assumed that the company was involved with temporary staffing rather than operating as a Professional Employer Organization (PEO). According to Savardi, this confusion makes it difficult for Administaff sales staff to get an appointment with prospect clients. In a similar move in 2001, Staff Leasing Inc., a PEO in Florida, changed its name to Gevity HR. A year later Gevity HR dropped the “HR” and became Gevity. Similar rational drove the change to indentify the company’s services as distinct from the “staffing” industry. Gevity was taken private is now a part of Trinet Inc.. Staff Leasing and Administaff both went public in 1997.

Costs to ASF Shareholders

The branding change is estimated to cost $13 million in 2011 or 30 cents per share. Based on expected earnings of between 1.28 and 1.43 the costs will range from 23% to 21% of expected 2011 earnings. No information is available about the stock symbol change from ASF (NYSE).
Barrons Article on Administaff 2011 Outlook

Administaff Marketing Plans

While branding may be changing for Administaff, no information has been released on the marketing relationship with PGA champion Arnold Palmer. Since 2004 Palmer has served as the company’s national spokesperson has appeared on print and television advertising promoting Administaff. The trademark for Insperity was filed in July of 2010 indicating the name change has been considered for some time.