In the Human Resource space, Administaff (ASF) had some fierce competition in executing on the worst name change ever.
For example, it had Accenture, the HR outsourcer, to beat out. Accenture was forced to change its name back in 2000 when it broke off from accounting group Andersen. An internal competition was held (always a bad idea), and soon a derivative of ‘Accent on the Future’ or Accenture was chosen. Arguably the most generic nonsensical company name of its time, all worked out for Accenture in the end when its former name Andersen got sullied in the Enron [corrected with thanks to commenter Timms..Gregg] scandal.
‘Insipid’ + ‘Despair’ + ‘Disparity’ = ‘Insperity’. Get it?
Then there’s Broadlane’s 2010 rebranding as the unremarkable Prolucent. As first reported by the Staffing Robot, Prolucent did the change at the right time. Medical staffing was at its abyss. In fact, Prolucent hasn’t updated the news on its home page since the change almost one year ago. Still we can’t think of Prolucent without first stopping at truculent, postulant and corpulent.
But don’t count Administaff out in this competition. In a move intended to shed a not-so-widely held impression that they were in the staffing business, Administaff announced a new moniker today (drum roll please): ‘Insperity’.
Rumor has it employees fed up with management came up with the name ‘Insipidity’ which didn’t go over well with CEO Paul J. Sarvadi. Alternative names ‘Despair’ and ‘Disparity’ were also rejected. And so to make sure the angst among the employee base didn’t go unheeded, they mixed the three together.
‘Insipid’ + ‘Despair’ + ‘Disparity’ = ‘Insperity’. Get it?
{ 22 comments… read them below or add one }
At least Administaff makes profits smartass…unlike staffing companies.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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I’ve seen staffing companies offer more “full services” than Administaff does
potato potato
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I don’t care what they call themselves, Administaff sucks. All this marketing mumbo jumbo is lipstick on the proverbial pig.
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‘Ignorant’ + ‘Dourgarian’ + ‘Jealousy’ = ‘Ignourglousy’. Get it?
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Sorry “Lisa” from Worcester, MA. I don’t get it.
Btw…anyone know who from the inside of Administaff is based in Worcester?
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Lisa unmasked?
Rob Crotty
Email: rob_crotty@administaff.com
4B White Street
Mendon, MA 01756
Phone: 617 943 0644
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have to love this quote from Senior Recruiting Specialist, Erika Mand, at Administaff
“Administaff is NOT a staffing agency! We provide outsourced HR services to our clients and I work as an in house recruiter, directly with the hiring managers. This allows us to make quality matches in a stream lined search process. On any given day I work with more than 30 clients at a time coast to coast. As an applicant/job seeker we have opportunities from entry level to executive in every industry…”
As a staffing specialist or recruiter, whatever you want to call me, I provide outsourced HR services and work directly with hiring managers to provide quality matches except the customers and employees I work with are individuals that I build quality working relationships with. They are more than an order number or faceless resume to me. Administaff is like the Wal-Mart of the HR/staffing industry.
Hey Erika, glorified on-site staffing specialist, I do not work at a staffing agency I work at a HR Outsourcing Business firm, lol.
Yes Kim! potato, potato
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Administaff/insperity is not a staffing firm. In fact, they’re recruiting department really sucks. I was a sales consultant there and the biggest gripe I heard from clients, besides the rediculous cost, was that the recuiting is a joke.
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thanks Jenni…
and Mr. Rob Crotty ….very cool of you to own up to being ‘Lisa’. most people wouldn’t have the guts. i suspect i would like you if this little spat didn’t get in the way
The name change is, to put it simply, stupid. It akin to a company like Ford changing their name to Cauck (car + truck). Noone has any idea of what Insperity really means.
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I decided to Google this morning to see if anyone else thought Insperity was inane. I feel much better now. I live in Houston, and I have to listen to poor Jim Nance spout this gibberish every day on the radio. If that’s not bad enough, I was at the Astros game on Wednesday and the Insperity badge is plastered all over the place. It reminds me of the toungue-in-cheek mega-corp names you see in the movies. It’s like Rekall (from Total Recall) or IniTech (Office Space), only worse because it is real.
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Don’t forget another colossally dumb name change: Woolworth Corp, consisting primarily of Foot Locker after dissolution of the five and dime stores, spent millions to come up with a short-lived, idiotic made-up moniker: Venator Group. Sanity (and profits) returned when the company finally emerged as Foot Locker!
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Thanks Farner …we’ll keep that one in the suggestion box. I can see a Top 10 Worst Name Changes Ever post coming.
They can run (and change their name) but they cannot hide from the fact that they overcharge their clients anywhere from 50 to 100% on administrative costs. Sure, their healthcare plans look great and cheap, but so would anyone other PEO’s if they are subsidized by a monthly admin charge of $200 per employee. That’s $200 per employee per month! It’s fact derived from their 10-k’s and 10-q’s.
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Actually, it’s $310.00 per employee per month minimum. But if they think you will pay more, they will charge much more. Every year they bump it up as much as they can get away with.
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By the way, I worked there for years in the sales department and the rule is, there cannot under penalty of termination tell a client or prospect how much they charge. Instead, if you ask them how much the fees are they start tap dancning and will say its only a small % of payroll from what you are already paying.
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Accenture sucks ! Just google it and the results will reveal the true reputation of this shitty company
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Andersen spun off Accenture because of Enron, I thought, not Exxon as stated in article.
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Timms…good catch. I will correct it.
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Definitely a horrible name change; however, it doesn’t hide the fact that their own HR department lacks listening skills. These guys aren’t the only “staffing agency” that over-charge their clients while paying the actual contractors a puddly hourly wage. And what exactly makes they think that they aren’t a staffing agency anyhow? They find staff for their clients, right? Maybe they all need to invest in a dictionary.
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It’s been almost two years since I did this post. The name change hasn’t kept their stock price from doing moderately well: http://finance.yahoo.com/echarts?s=NSP+Interactive#symbol=nsp;range=my;compare=;indicator=volume;charttype=area;crosshair=on;ohlcvalues=0;logscale=off;source=undefined;
So either Insperity is better managed than this name change would indicate or they simply have focused on the very smart niche of helping organizations with employment, something the government is making more miserable by the day.
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seems like the firm was looking for something hardly had a chance with naming a big outfit all the domains are swallowed up tough decision… We are all looking for the best way to reach more customers my two cents is keep the name you have developed your client base with and move on.
Erik
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