For most companies, payroll is the definition of “out of sight, out of mind.” As long as employees are paid on time, the system is assumed to be working. But for Kayla and Bobby Lalonde, co-founders of Optimus Payroll, the difference between “working” and “working well” can mean thousands of dollars in hidden costs, hours of preventable rework, and an operational blind spot most businesses don’t even realize they have.
Founded in 2023, Optimus is reinventing how payroll gets done. From a measurable service-quality guarantee to deep expertise across the country’s leading payroll platforms, the Lalondes built a business by believing that payroll should be accurate, efficient, and transparent, every single time.
Their approach is part technical, part strategic, and part personal. As both spouses and business partners, they’ve blended two very different professional backgrounds with Kayla’s hands-on payroll and implementation experience, and Bobby’s systems and process-design expertise into one unified model built for consistency and accountability.
A Service Quality Guarantee— Practically Unheard Of in Payroll
In an industry where errors are common and customer frustration is expected, Optimus offers something Bobby says he’s never seen among regional competitors: a true, written, money-back service quality guarantee. Not a vague satisfaction promise. Not a marketing line.
A guarantee tied to objective, measurable metrics, including:
- Processing payroll on time
- Zero submission errors
- Error rates during data preparation
- Accuracy of final payroll outputs
- Timely tax filing and payment • Compliance-based reporting, including workers’ comp
If Optimus doesn’t meet its commitments, clients don’t pay for that service.
“It’s extremely rare in outsourcing,” Bobby said. “But we’re confident in our process. If we say we’ll deliver, we will.”
What to Know About the New Federal Overtime Rule
New Tax Break for Overtime Premiums
Starting January 1, 2025, employees can deduct the premium portion of overtime pay (the extra 0.5x) from federal taxable income—up to $12,500 for individuals and $25,000 for joint filers through 2028.
Payroll Systems Must Adapt
Employers need to track and separate straight-time and premium overtime components to comply with reporting requirements and ensure accurate employee tax information.
Reporting Rules Tighten in 2026
While 2025 offers transition relief, W-2s for 2026 must show qualified overtime separately, making early system audits and upgrades critical.
Communication is Key
Employees will expect clear guidance on how these deductions work. Proactive education can prevent confusion and strengthen trust.
Compliance is Non-Negotiable
The law doesn’t affect FICA or state taxes, but failure to prepare could lead to costly errors and penalties. Start planning now to stay ahead!
Depth of Expertise Across Major Payroll Platforms
While many firms in the region offer payroll as one small part of a broader services package, Optimus specializes exclusively in payroll.
The team works inside the platforms most businesses already use, including
- Workday
- ADP
- UKG
- QuickBooks
Where other providers restrict clients to proprietary tools, Optimus meets companies where they already are.
“It’s difficult to find expertise across multiple platforms,” Bobby said. “It’s nearly impossible to find that paired with a service guarantee.”
A Best Practice Most Businesses Skip
Every new client relationship begins with something surprisingly uncommon in the payroll world: a full business-process mapping.
Kayla, who has spent years inside corporate payroll departments and implementations, has seen firsthand how often companies rely on informal, undocumented routines.
People “know” the process, but no one’s ever mapped it, measured it, or optimized it.
Optimus changes that by identifying:
- Every required input
- Who provides what information
- The timeline of each step
- Where errors originate
- How long each task actually takes
- Opportunities for automation or simplification
These findings become a clear, structured roadmap for the entire payroll operation.
“Mapping and measurement are core to what we do,”
Kayla said. “It’s the same discipline used in broader operational improvement, but applied directly to payroll.”
From Clean Inputs to Clean Outputs
Optimus tracks correction frequency, a major factor in overall efficiency, and works with businesses to reduce rework, speed up processing time, and reach the goal of zero submission errors.
Their process gives leaders the reporting and visibility they’ve often lacked, including:
- Labor cost dashboards
- Department-level reporting
- Trend monitoring
- Metrics leadership teams can actually use
And when it comes to compliance, Optimus guarantees on-time tax filing and workers’ comp reporting by eliminating one of the most stressful “unknowns” for many businesses.
Payroll Tips You Can Use Today!
Even if a business never partners with Optimus, the Lalondes believe every company can improve payroll by focusing on a few practical fundamentals. These steps don’t require new software or major restructuring — just attention, clarity, and consistency.
1. Map Your Payroll Inputs Before You Touch the Outputs
Most errors start before processing ever begins. Make a simple list of every data point needed: hours worked, commissions, overtime, PTO, benefits deductions, and identify who owns each one. When ownership is clear, accuracy rises and rework falls.
2. Document Your Payroll Timeline
Create a one-page schedule outlining:
- When each input must be submitted
- How long the review should take
- When approvals are due
- When payroll actually runs
3. Track Corrections to Identify Root Causes
Instead of fixing the same issues each cycle, log all corrections. Look for patterns:
- Are timecards always late?
- Does one department consistently have missing data?
- Are employees unclear about PTO submissions?
4. Review Labor Costs Monthly, Not Annually
Most businesses only look at labor cost when budgets roll around. But pulling monthly department-level snapshots can reveal:
- Overtime trends
- Seasonal variability
- Overstaffing or understaffing
- Inefficiencies in scheduling
5. Audit Your Time and Attendance System at Least Twice a Year
A stale system leads to inaccurate pay, and unnecessary liability. Review:
- Pay codes
- Overtime rules
- Holiday configurations
- Manual workarounds staff have created
6. Use Payroll Reporting Tools You Already Have
Workday, ADP, UKG, and QuickBooks all include robust reporting features that most companies never turn on. Dashboards showing labor cost, error rates, or cycle time can improve decision-making immediately without new tools.
These steps help businesses strengthen operations today—whether they manage payroll internally or outsource it entirely.
Building Optimus Together
While Optimus is deeply technical in its methods, the company’s story is decidedly personal.
Kayla and Bobby have known each other most of their lives and have been married for more than a decade. But Optimus is their first time building something professionally, side by side.
“It’s a balance,” Bobby said. “Kayla is the brains of the operation. I’m the systems and process person. We fill in each other’s gaps the same way we do at home.
” Before Optimus, Kayla spent years solving payroll challenges across several local corporations, where she tackled everything from implementations to dayto-day processing. She saw, again and again, how payroll was often an afterthought in companies that invested heavily in sales, technology, or HR.
” Bobby, meanwhile, built his career in IT and business process design. When the two compared notes, they realized the same inefficiencies were happening across companies of every size: unclear processes, undocumented workflows, reactive troubleshooting, and preventable costs.
“There was a real opportunity to help companies run payroll the way it should run,” Bobby said. “Accurate, efficient, and data-driven.”
.Working together hasn’t just been a business evolution; it has been a personal one. Most people leave their “work selves” at the office and settle into their “home selves” after hours. The Lalondes have learned to blend the two.
“The deep understanding we have of each other as people has helped us tremendously as co-founders,” Bobby said. “We trust each other’s instincts and strengths. And that’s made the business stronger.”
Payroll Services
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