CalmHR
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About CalmHR
CalmHR, Inc. is a Rockville, Maryland-based Professional Employer Organization founded in 2020 by Joe Appelbaum, who previously founded and led Potomac Insurance, an employee benefits brokerage he built starting in 1990 that later merged with Acrisure in 2022. CalmHR leverages that three-decade benefits brokerage background to focus specifically on legal practices, physician practices, financial services firms, government contractors, and nonprofit associations, positioning itself as a concierge, consultative PEO rather than a one-size-fits-all provider. Branded around a Keep It Simple Solution platform, CalmHR offers payroll, HR and benefits management, COBRA administration, ACA reporting, performance reviews, applicant tracking, time and attendance, flexible spending accounts, 401k administration, employee onboarding, and open enrollment support. CalmHR is ESAC accredited, an achievement it notes fewer than 5 percent of PEOs nationally maintain, and serves client businesses across a broad multi-state footprint from its Maryland headquarters.
Certifications
ESAC accreditation is awarded by the Employer Services Assurance Corporation, the PEO industry's gold-standard independent accreditor. It requires a PEO to meet more than 40 financial, ethical, and operational standards on an ongoing basis. CalmHR holds ESAC accreditation — a distinction held by roughly 10% of PEOs in the United States.
Why businesses choose CalmHR
Company Details
CalmHR in Your State
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Pros & Cons
CalmHR brings a benefits-brokerage pedigree to the PEO model — founder Joe Appelbaum spent three decades building Potomac Insurance before launching CalmHR in 2020, and that background shows in the specific verticals CalmHR targets: legal practices, physician offices, financial services firms, government contractors, and nonprofits. Its ESAC accreditation, an achievement the company states fewer than 5 percent of PEOs nationally maintain, adds real third-party verification. Best for: legal, healthcare, financial services, government contracting, and nonprofit organizations that want a consultative PEO with deep benefits brokerage roots.