Barrett Business Services

BBSI operates as a professional employer organization, meaning it acts as a co-employer for the workforces of roughly 7,000 small and midsize businesses. The firm handles payroll, benefits administration, workers' compensation insurance, and regulatory compliance, while the client retains control over day-to-day operations and personnel decisions.

Revenue is primarily driven by service fees and a markup on the direct employment costs of co-employed workers, which include wages, payroll taxes, and benefits. The firm's gross billings totaled approximately $1.1 billion in fiscal year 2024, per its SEC filings.

BBSI is fundamentally a service business that uses technology to deliver HR, payroll, and risk management functions. Unlike standalone HR software vendors, BBSI takes on legal co-employment responsibility and must maintain statutory insurance reserves, making its balance sheet core to the client relationship.

President and CEO Gary Kramer leads the company's strategic and capital allocation decisions. As a publicly traded operating business rather than an investment fund, BBSI's primary capital deployment goes toward branch expansion, technology development, and maintaining the insurance reserves required by state regulators.

BBSI is regulated primarily by state workers' compensation insurance departments and employment agencies, not by the SEC in an investment-advisory capacity. The co-employment structure means the firm must meet solvency requirements for its workers' comp programs across the states where it operates.

The company serves construction, manufacturing, logistics, and professional services firms, typically with workforces between 20 and 200 employees. These industries tend to have elevated workers' compensation exposure, which aligns with BBSI's actuarial focus.

Yes. While the firm is headquartered in Vancouver, Washington and historically concentrated in California, Oregon, and Washington, it now operates branches in the mid-Atlantic and Southeast as well, including Maryland and North Carolina, serving a geographically diverse client base.