Fully managed HR is an arrangement where a provider runs your HR function day to day, including the platform it runs on, while your company remains the employer. The work moves; the employment relationship does not.
The difficulty is that the phrase is sold by at least three very different kinds of company, and each means something different by it. Before comparing quotes, it is worth knowing where each provider’s scope actually stops. Our fully managed HR technology services page covers the commercial side of the model.
Key takeaways
- In its fullest form, fully managed HR hands the provider payroll, benefits, employee questions, compliance reporting and the HCM platform, while hiring, termination and performance decisions stay with the employer.
- None of the seven managed HR provider pages we read says what its service leaves out, so comparing quotes can mean comparing different products.
- Two of the seven say they will work within a client’s existing platforms, two describe running their own and three name no platform, so ask every provider which platform it will run.
- At SHRM’s benchmark of 1.7 HR staff per 100 employees, paid at the BLS specialist median, base salary alone runs roughly $129,000 per 100 employees.
The Short Version
Buy the model when the work is steady and administrative; build in-house when the work is judgment and culture.
| In scope | Out of scope | Usually negotiable |
|---|---|---|
| Payroll runs and tax filings | Hiring and termination decisions | Recruiting coordination |
| Benefits administration | Performance judgments | Handbook authorship |
| Employee questions | Culture and values | Training delivery |
| Compliance administration and reporting | People strategy | Compensation design |
| Running the HCM platform | Anything needing your authority | Platform selection |
On this page
- What does a fully managed HR provider take on, and what stays with you?
- Why the term means different things to different vendors
- What does fully managed HR not cover?
- What does it cost to build the same capability in-house?
- When is hiring in-house the better call?
- How fully managed HR differs from a PEO
- What to ask a provider before you sign
- Where Corban OneSource fits
- Frequently asked questions
What does a fully managed HR provider take on, and what stays with you?
A fully managed HR provider takes on the recurring administration of your HR function, while your company keeps every decision that needs its authority. In its fullest form, the provider runs the payroll cycle and its tax filings, benefits administration, employee questions, compliance reporting and your HCM platform, whether you keep your current one or move onto a new one. The table above shows which functions sit on each side and which are usually negotiable.
A company that buys fully managed HR hands over the work and keeps the employment relationship, which separates the model from both a software license and a co-employment arrangement. Those two distinctions matter more than any feature list, because they determine what you are buying and what your legal position is afterward. A platform is a tool you operate; fully managed HR is a service somebody else performs on your behalf while your company stays the employer of record.
Why the term means different things to different vendors
At least three kinds of company sell something called managed HR, and their versions differ. A global consultancy runs payroll and HR operations at enterprise scale. A payroll platform wraps a service around its own software. A dedicated HR firm takes over the HR function as a whole.
What we checked
On September 11, 2026 we opened eight of the managed HR provider pages ranking on the first two pages of results for this term and looked for two things in each: a stated scope boundary, meaning any explicit description of what is not included, and a written statement that the provider will work with the client’s existing HCM platform or tools. Axiom HRS’s page could not be opened, leaving seven: ADP, CBIZ, Cardinal HR Solutions, DianaHR, myHR Partner, Namely and PwC.
None of the seven says what its managed HR service leaves out. Two say they will work within a client’s existing platforms: DianaHR manages HR “within your current tech stack,” and PwC works “directly with platforms such as Workday, SAP SuccessFactors and Oracle.” ADP and Namely describe running their own platforms, and the other three name no platform. Their descriptions of what is included differ from page to page, so three quotes carrying the same label can be three different products, and a reliable way to see the difference is to ask for the scope schedule rather than the brochure.
What does fully managed HR not cover?
The model does not cover anything that requires your authority or your knowledge of a specific person. Hiring and termination decisions, performance judgments, the shape of your culture, and your people strategy all stay with you, and a provider claiming otherwise is overselling.
This is the honest boundary, and it is worth stating because none of the seven provider pages we read states it for its own service, although DianaHR and ADP describe a similar division of control when defining the models in general. A partner can prepare the documentation for a disciplinary conversation, make sure the process is consistent with what you did last time, and tell you what the paperwork should contain. A partner cannot decide whether the person should be disciplined. Our note on outsourced HR services covers where those lines usually fall.
What does it cost to build the same capability in-house?
Building the same capability internally costs more than the salary line alone suggests, because salary is only part of it.
How we researched this
We used the SHRM staffing benchmark as the multiplier and the US Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook for wages, then normalized per 100 employees so the figure scales to any size. All figures are base salary only. Benefits, payroll taxes, HCM licensing, recruiting cost and cover for absence are excluded.
SHRM, citing its 2022 Human Capital Benchmark Report, puts the average HR function at 1.7 staff per 100 employees. That ratio counts all HR staff, not HR specialists alone. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports a median annual wage of $75,940 for HR specialists as of May 2025, and $149,280 for HR managers over the same period. Paying all 1.7 staff at the specialist median gives roughly $129,000 in base salary for every 100 employees, before a single dollar of benefits, payroll tax or software is counted; any of those roles filled at manager level pushes the figure higher. BLS also projects 6 percent employment growth for both roles between 2025 and 2035, which is faster than the average across all occupations.
When is hiring in-house the better call?
Hiring in-house is sometimes the better call, and there are four situations where it clearly wins.
If your headcount is changing fast, an internal team adapts without a contract amendment. If recruiting is your dominant HR activity, that work rewards deep familiarity with your hiring managers and your market. If people strategy is a competitive advantage in your industry, you
want that capability inside the building. And if you want an HR leader in the room when executive decisions are made, that person needs to be an employee, not a vendor.
The model suits the opposite profile: steady headcount, heavy administrative load, a thin or overloaded internal team, and a platform nobody has time to run properly.
How fully managed HR differs from a PEO
The core difference is the employment relationship. A PEO co-employs your staff and typically reports payroll taxes under its own tax identity. A fully managed HR provider works under a service contract, and your company remains the sole employer throughout.
Everything else follows from that. Under a PEO your employees typically move onto the PEO’s master benefits plan; under a managed service your plans and carriers stay yours. If the co-employment question is what brought you here, our PEO alternative page addresses it directly.
What to ask a provider before you sign
Five questions separate a specific agreement from a vague one, and all five are fair to ask before any contract is drafted.
Ask for the scope boundary in writing, meaning what is explicitly not included, because none of the seven provider pages we read publishes it. Ask who operates the HCM platform after go-live, and get a name or a role rather than an assurance. Ask who answers when an employee calls, and on what hours. Ask what happens at renewal, including how fees change and what notice applies. And ask how the fee is structured, because per employee per month and percentage of payroll behave very differently as you grow.
A provider who answers all five in writing has given you something you can hold them to. Our overview of HR outsourcing solutions sets out how the pieces fit together.
Where Corban OneSource fits
Corban OneSource is a Managed Service Provider for HR that runs HR administration, payroll, benefits administration and the HCM platform, whether that platform is ADP Workforce Now or Paylocity, while your company remains the sole employer.
There is no co-employment in the arrangement. The company has been in business nearly 30 years, reports 95 percent client retention on its own site, and prices per employee per month. A case study of an HR team of one shows what the model looks like for a company whose HR team was a VP of HR and one part-time support person.
FAQ
In its fullest form, it is an ongoing service in which a provider runs the day-to-day administration of your HR function, from payroll and benefits to employee questions, compliance reporting and your HCM platform. Your company remains the legal employer and keeps the decisions that need its authority. You buy the work itself rather than software, and there is no co-employment.
No. A PEO co-employs your staff and typically reports payroll taxes under its own tax identity. A fully managed HR provider works under a service contract and your company stays the sole employer. Payroll taxes are usually filed under your own employer identification number, and your benefit plans stay yours.
Managed HR is usually priced per employee per month, so the fee scales with headcount rather than with payroll value, and each provider quotes its own rate. Compare a quote with the cost of staffing HR yourself: at SHRM’s benchmark of 1.7 HR staff per 100 employees, paid at the BLS specialist median of $75,940, an in-house HR team costs roughly $129,000 in base salary per 100 employees, before benefits, taxes or software.
Some say so. Of the seven provider pages we read, DianaHR and PwC say they will work within a client’s existing platforms, ADP and Namely describe running their own, and the other three name no platform. Ask the question directly and get the answer in the scope schedule before you sign.
Anything requiring your authority or your knowledge of an individual: hiring and termination decisions, performance judgments, culture, and people strategy. A provider handles the process and the documentation around those things; the decisions stay with you.
Talk to Corban OneSource
Schedule a consultation to work through whether the model fits your team.
Connect with us to learn more about HR Outsourcing!
