Get Live Quote Serenity Forge manages hybrid growth through Gusto’s modern HR tools
United States
Challenge
Serenity Forge is a video game development and publishing company based in Boulder, Colorado with 40+ employees. The company works with both US-based and international developers, publishers, vendors, and clients to create meaningful gaming experiences.
Before 2020, Serenity Forge primarily operated from its Boulder office with most employees working on-site. However, the COVID-19 pandemic forced the company to pivot and expand its hiring strategy across the country to meet business demand. This transition created several significant challenges:
1. Onboarding Complexity: The company's onboarding process was disorganised and manual. Documents were scattered across different locations, the team used email to track everything, and scheduling follow-up meetings added significant time to the onboarding process. As the company expanded to hire employees in nearly 15 states, this manual process became increasingly unsustainable.
2. State Tax Compliance: When Serenity Forge expanded to a hybrid work environment and hired employees in multiple states, navigating state tax registrations became overwhelming and complicated. CEO Zhenghua Yang spent significant time out of his day navigating the complexities of each state's tax requirements to ensure employees were ready for their first day of work. The process felt like a full-time job, consuming over 30 hours per month.
3. Time-Off Management: Before implementing Gusto's PTO tools, Serenity Forge manually inputted each employee's PTO hours into Excel sheets. This process took about one hour per month, equating to 12 hours per year—time that the CEO needed to focus on running the company.
4. Benefits Administration: In the company's early years, Serenity Forge offered each employee $500 per month to buy their own health coverage. However, this benefit became complicated and employees didn't want to navigate healthcare coverage on their own. They needed guidance and a more structured benefits offering.
Before using Gusto's onboarding tools, our onboarding process was disorganised. We had documents floating around, we were using email to keep track of everything, and scheduling follow-up meetings added significant time to our onboarding process. Gusto's onboarding tools gave us tremendous value for our business. The tools absorbed our entire onboarding documentation process and along with the daily reminders, we're more than prepared to support our new employees. We trust Gusto's onboarding tools and we never miss a step before a new hire's first day with our new automated, streamlined process. — Zhenghua "Z" Yang, CEO and Founder, Serenity Forge
Gusto's tools allowed us to formalise our processes and ensure every hire has the onboarding experience they deserve whether from our office in Boulder, CO or their home as a remote employee. Gusto has been a tremendous time-saver for both me, the go-to HR person, and our employees. — Kevin Zhang, Chief Business Officer and Co-Founder, Serenity Forge
When we expanded our talent strategy and hired employees in multiple states, figuring out state taxes was a nightmare and really complicated. In the beginning, I spent a lot of time out of my day navigating the complexities of each state to ensure my employees were ready for their first day of work. It felt like a full-time job and I didn't know what I was doing. On top of that, I had a company to run. Gusto helped set up each new employee in each individual state and streamlined the whole process for us. I no longer had to wait on phone calls for several hours every day to get my questions answered. With Gusto's tools, I was able to get that time back to focus on being a CEO. — Zhenghua "Z" Yang, CEO and Founder, Serenity Forge
When COVID happened, we became a hybrid company overnight. We were definitely aware that every state had specific tax requirements, but underestimated the amount of time it would take for each employee. Gusto helped us through an overwhelming process that felt impossible. — Kevin Zhang, Chief Business Officer and Co-Founder, Serenity Forge
Before Gusto, I was manually inputting each of my employees' PTO hours into Excel sheets. It took me about an hour per month to add this information – which equates to about 12 hours over a year. As someone who is running a company, it was very important for me to be able to get that time back. Incorporating Gusto's suggested PTO policy and reporting was a low-risk tool for us to use that made us more organised and trustworthy to our employees because we had a convenient process that synced to their payroll. Gusto has become a one-stop shop for all our employees' requests. They love that they can check pay stubs, get their tax forms, or request their PTO all in one place. — Zhenghua "Z" Yang, CEO and Founder, Serenity Forge
In our early years, we had a benefit policy that would provide each employee with $500 a month so they could buy their own health coverage. That benefit became really complicated and we learned that our employees didn't want to navigate healthcare coverage on their own. They needed guidance. A huge burden was lifted off of myself and my employees by providing benefits through Gusto. By guaranteeing our employees were covered, Gusto delivered an affordable option that made sense for us, our employees, and our business. — Zhenghua "Z" Yang, CEO and Founder, Serenity Forge
We already used Gusto for payroll, so we decided to add benefits like health, vision, and dental. It's been fantastic to have everything in one place. The process itself was simple to implement. We didn't have to bring in another company or broker, it's all done through Gusto's platform. As a startup, it was a big deal for us to offer health benefits to our employees and it allows us to remain competitive in the job market whilst meeting the needs of our employees and their families. Overall, Gusto was a great financial choice for us and I love that it's been accessible and affordable for our business needs since day one. — Zhenghua "Z" Yang, CEO and Founder, Serenity Forge
The way we engage with Gusto's tools has been a measurement of our company's success over the years, we've gone from payroll, to health benefits, adding PTO policies, reimbursements, and now, onboarding HR tools. As a startup founder, I have to wear many hats. Gusto's been critical to our business operations over the years and all my headaches with managing payroll, benefits, and state-tax compliance dissolved because of Gusto's tools. Serenity Forge wouldn't exist in the way that we do today without it. I'm both grateful and thrilled for us to continue to grow with Gusto. — Zhenghua "Z" Yang, CEO and Founder, Serenity Forge
Solution
Serenity Forge partnered with Gusto in January 2018 and progressively expanded its use of Gusto's tools as the company grew:
1. Onboarding Tools and Automation: Gusto's onboarding tools, including onboarding checklists, new hire documents, employee handbook templates, and app integrations with Slack and Google Workspace, transformed Serenity Forge's hiring process. The automated system with daily reminders ensured that no steps were missed before a new hire's first day. This formalised the onboarding process and ensured every hire received a consistent experience, whether working from the Boulder office or as a remote employee.
2. State Tax Registration Support: Gusto provided essential state tax registration guidance and tools that helped Serenity Forge navigate the complexities of hiring employees in multiple states. The platform streamlined the entire process, reducing the time needed to process compliance paperwork by over 30 hours each month. Instead of spending hours on phone calls trying to get answers, Yang could use Gusto's tools to quickly set up each new employee in their respective state.
3. PTO Policy and Reporting Tools: Gusto's customisable paid-time-off (PTO) policy and reporting tool automated what was previously a manual process. The system automatically synced PTO hours with payroll, eliminating the need for manual Excel spreadsheet entries. This saved the CEO approximately 12 hours per year and made the process more organised and trustworthy for employees.
4. Comprehensive Benefits Programme: Gusto enabled Serenity Forge to provide employees with simplified healthcare options including health, vision, and dental coverage. The platform made it easy to implement benefits without needing to bring in a separate broker or third party. The benefits were affordable for the business whilst meeting the needs of employees and their families.
5. Integrated All-in-One Platform: Gusto became a one-stop shop for all employee requests. Employees could check pay stubs, get their tax forms, request PTO, and access other HR functions all in one place.
Results
Serenity Forge achieved significant operational improvements and efficiency gains:
- Provided 5x faster onboarding experience per employee
- Saved 30+ hours per month on state tax compliance and registration tasks
- Saved CEO 12+ hours per year on manual PTO tracking and management
- Successfully onboarded employees and contractors in nearly 15 states
- Expanded remote headcount by 15% whilst maintaining compliance
- Implemented affordable health, vision, and dental benefits for employees
- Improved employee retention and satisfaction through benefits offerings
- Streamlined payroll processing with automated systems
- Formalised HR processes and ensured consistent employee experiences
- Positioned the company to scale efficiently with modern HR infrastructure
- Enabled CEO to focus on strategic business operations rather than administrative tasks
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