Kismet Offers Business Administrative Services

SHARON, Pa. – Human resources, payroll, taxes, employee benefits, workers’ compensation, risk management, recruiting and continuous improvement are administrative areas that can “cause a lot of drag” in organizations, said Stephen Kelleher, vice president at Kismet PEO.

“It takes up a ton of time for people and there’s great expense to all of these services,” he said at Kismet’s grand opening Tuesday. “By removing them, we can allow people to focus on what they got into business originally to do and not get bogged down with employee-related, transactional things.”

Kismet opened on the fourth floor of the building at 30 E. State St., which houses SOS Safety Solutions, Synergy Claims Management Co. and Synergy Comp, all of which are owned by Lew Kachulis, CEO of Gilbert’s Risk Solutions and CEO of Kismet. Gilbert’s Risk Solutions has been in continuous operation for 165 years.

“We truly feel that fate called on us once again, which is why we created Kismet,” Kachulis said in a statement. Kismet means fate, destiny and what is “written in the stars,” he added.

“When we started Kismet, it was a natural offering,” Kelleher said. “Because of all the other companies that we have, we can provide these services that people are going to need as a part of this organization, but they can be our companies.”

Renovations for Kismet’s space took little investment. It was relatively prepared from a timing perspective and Kachulis always knew that he wanted the space to be available for expansion, he said.

With a basement full of furniture from companies that were in the building over the years, employees “went shopping,” he added. Kelleher looks for Kismet to grow rapidly and expand staff.

“Right now we’ve got three individuals on the floor and within a year, that floor is going to be full,” he said. “What that means is we’re providing jobs for the community locally. We’re all working hard to revitalize the Valley.”

Eric Brown, chief financial officer as Kismet, looks to expand the company’s business and product offerings beyond its insurance agency and work comp carrier, and to round it out with human resources and payroll services, he said.

“We’re excited to bring it to the market and to be in downtown Sharon,” Brown said. “A lot of millennials like to work with our type of organizations because they like to focus on what they know. We think it could be good to keep millennials in this area who want to start businesses.”

And while administrative elements are needed in every business, they can be “foreign and confusing” to new business owners, Kelleher said.

“No one went into business to manage payroll, employees, human resources and compliance, except we did,” he said. “It will help people get in business and stay in business, and we’re excited about that.”

For more information, visit KismetPEO.com.

Pictured: At the ribbon cutting were Bob Fiscus, Sharon city manager; Eric Brown, chief financial officer, Kismet; Stephen Kelleher, vice president; Soraya Hejazi, vice president; and Lew Kachulis, CEO.

Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.