沛齊 (PAYX) 2021 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Ladies and gentlemen, thank for standing by, and welcome to the Paychex Q4 Fiscal Year '21 Earnings Conference Call. (Operator Instructions)

女士們、先生們，感謝各位的耐心等待，歡迎參加 Paychex 2021 財年第四季財報電話會議。（操作說明）

I will now turn the call over to Mr. Martin Mucci, President and CEO. Please go ahead.

現在我將把電話交給總裁兼執行長馬丁·穆奇先生。請繼續。

Thank you. And thank you for joining us for our discussion of the Paychex fourth quarter and fiscal '21 earnings release. Joining me today is Efrain Rivera, our Chief Financial Officer.

謝謝。感謝您參加我們對 Paychex 2021 財年第四季及獲利報告的討論。今天和我一起出席的是我們的財務長埃弗雷恩·裡維拉。

This morning, before the market opened, we released our financial results for the fourth quarter and full year ended March 31, 2021. You can access our earnings release on our Investor Relations website, and our Form 10-K will be filed with the SEC before the end of July.

今天早上，在市場開盤之前，我們發布了截至 2021 年 3 月 31 日的第四季和全年財務表現。您可以造訪我們的投資者關係網站查看我們的獲利報告，我們的 10-K 表格將於 7 月底前提交給美國證券交易委員會。

This teleconference is being broadcast over the Internet and will be archived and available on our website for approximately 90 days.

本次電話會議將透過網路進行直播，並將在我們的網站上存檔並保留約 90 天。

I will start today's call with an update on our business highlights for the fourth quarter. Efrain will review our financial results for both the fourth quarter and the full year and discuss our guidance for the upcoming fiscal 2022, and then we'll open it up for your questions.

今天我將首先報告我們第四季的業務亮點。埃弗雷恩將回顧我們第四季和全年的財務業績，並討論我們對即將到來的 2022 財年的展望，之後我們將開放提問環節。

Before I comment on our results, I just want to take a moment to note that Paychex is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. We are proud of our 50 years of innovation in support of small and medium-sized businesses from the payroll services provided to our first client in 1971 to the critical care we gave our clients through the unprecedented pandemic environment over the last 15 months. We are excited to continue to build on this legacy of technology-enabled service that keeps it simple for our clients and gives them the freedom to succeed in their businesses.

在評論我們的表現之前，我想先提一下，Paychex 今年迎來了 50 週年。我們為過去 50 年來在支持中小企業方面所取得的創新成就感到自豪，從 1971 年為第一位客戶提供工資服務，到過去 15 個月在史無前例的疫情環境下為客戶提供的關鍵關懷。我們很高興能夠繼續發揚這項技術賦能型服務的傳統，讓客戶的生活更輕鬆，並賦予他們業務成功的自由。

Fiscal 2021 presented one of the most challenging periods in our history. Yet, our commitment to servicing our clients with innovative products made it a very successful year. We finished the year reporting positive growth of 1% for both service revenue and adjusted diluted earnings per share in the midst of a pandemic, with almost 15,000 employees working remotely.

2021財年是我們歷史上最具挑戰性的時期之一。然而，我們致力於用創新產品服務客戶，這使得今年成為非常成功的一年。在疫情肆虐之際，我們實現了服務收入和調整後每股收益 1% 的正成長，近 15,000 名員工遠距辦公。

The results of the past year are a testament to our resilient business model and the hard work and dedication of all of our employees who made sure that our clients were well informed and had the technology, products and resources needed during this challenging time, many times for the actual survival of our clients' businesses.

過去一年的業績證明了我們強大的商業模式，以及全體員工的辛勤工作和奉獻精神。他們確保我們的客戶能夠充分了解情況，並在這段充滿挑戰的時期獲得所需的技術、產品和資源，很多時候，這對客戶業務的生存至關重要。

We achieved record fourth quarter revenue and earnings, and we began to see positive -- as we began to see positive macroeconomic impacts from the economic stimulus and an increase in vaccinations that have allowed businesses to reopen and begin adding employees. This was evident in our check volume trends, our increase in time and attendance activity and strong sequential growth in both PEO and ASO worksite employees.

我們第四季度營收和利潤均創歷史新高，隨著經濟刺激措施和疫苗接種率的提高，企業得以重新開業並開始增加員工，我們開始看到積極的宏觀經濟影響。這一點從我們的支票量趨勢、考勤活動的增加以及 PEO 和 ASO 工作場所員工的強勁連續成長中可見一斑。

We ended the year with 4% growth in our payroll client base, the highest organic growth rate we have seen in a number of years. This was driven by both solid sales performance and a record level of client retention of approximately 85% of our beginning client base. We also grew total worksite employees 18% to 1.7 million. We achieved growth in total sales revenue for the year, quite an accomplishment given the impact of the pandemic on the business environment and with all of our sales teams selling virtually.

今年年底，我們的薪資服務客戶群成長了 4%，這是我們多年來見過的最高自然成長率。這主要得益於穩健的銷售業績以及創紀錄的客戶留存率，我們最初的客戶群留存率約為 85%。我們的工作場所員工總數也成長了 18%，達到 170 萬人。考慮到疫情對商業環境的影響，以及我們所有銷售團隊都在線上銷售，我們今年的總銷售收入實現了成長，這是一個相當大的成就。

Throughout fiscal 2021, we have seen strength in our virtual sales, retirement services and HR Solutions, all of which experienced double-digit growth for the year. This growth was fueled by a record high fourth quarter in new sales revenue. These positive results, coupled with signs of continuing momentum in sales lead generation and nurturing campaigns, leaves us well positioned for a strong sales year in fiscal '22.

2021 財年，我們的虛擬銷售、退休服務和人力資源解決方案業務均表現強勁，全年均實現了兩位數的成長。這一增長得益於第四季新銷售收入創歷史新高。這些正面的結果，加上銷售線索開發和培養活動持續成長的跡象，使我們為 2022 財年的強勁銷售業績做好了充分準備。

Our unique combination of innovative products and service are designed to meet the evolving needs of employers and their employees. The strength of our technology backed by our HR and compliance expertise and personalized service continues to be recognized by industry experts.

我們獨特的創新產品和服務組合旨在滿足雇主及其員工不斷變化的需求。我們強大的技術實力，加上我們的人力資源和合規專業知識以及個人化服務，持續受到業內專家的認可。

The Sapient Insights Group annual HR survey ranked Paychex Flex #1 among all solution providers as rated by their Voice of the Customer Report in both user experience and client satisfaction scores. In addition, Lighthouse Research & Advisory announced Paychex Flex won its second annual HR Tech Award for the best small and medium business focused solution in the core HR workforce category. We were recognized for the strength of our technology and service and providing support to our clients during the pandemic. In particular, our ongoing federal stimulus support, HR services team and digital communication solutions have proven valuable during this challenging time.

Sapient Insights Group 的年度人力資源調查顯示，Paychex Flex 在所有解決方案提供者中排名第一，這是根據其客戶之聲報告得出的使用者體驗和客戶滿意度評分評定的。此外，Lighthouse Research & Advisory 宣布 Paychex Flex 榮獲第二屆年度人力資源技術獎，成為核心人力資源類別中面向中小企業的最佳解決方案。我們在技術和服務方面的優勢以及在疫情期間為客戶提供的支援得到了認可。尤其是在這段充滿挑戰的時期，我們持續的聯邦刺激計劃支援、人力資源服務團隊和數位化通訊解決方案都發揮了重要作用。

Looking ahead, there will be continued challenges for employers as Americans continue to get vaccinated, state restrictions relax and businesses fully reopened. The war for talent has intensified, and we are well positioned with our fully integrated Flex recruiting and applicant tracking module, and our partnership and integration with Indeed the world's largest job board to help businesses find, hire, engage and retain employees quickly and easily.

展望未來，隨著美國人繼續接種疫苗、各州放鬆限制以及企業全面重新開放，雇主將持續面臨挑戰。人才爭奪戰愈演愈烈，而我們憑藉完全整合的 Flex 招聘和應徵者追蹤模組，以及與全球最大的求職網站 Indeed 的合作與整合，在幫助企業快速輕鬆地尋找、招聘、吸引和留住員工方面佔據了有利地位。

Recently, we released additional self-service capabilities, which accelerate the speed to hire and lessen the administrative burden on businesses. This tool simplifies the experience and includes the ability to invite the new hire to onboard in complete documentation digitally. We are in the early days, but reception of this tool has been very positive. Since its release, 80% of the transactions in this new solution have been completed using a mobile device, reflecting on the strength of our mobile and self-service capabilities.

最近，我們發布了更多自助服務功能，加快了招募速度，減輕了企業的行政負擔。該工具簡化了流程，並支援以數位化方式邀請新員工完成入職手續。雖然目前還處於早期階段，但該工具的反應非常積極。自發布以來，該新解決方案中 80% 的交易都是透過行動裝置完成的，這反映了我們行動和自助服務能力的強大。

Retaining talent in today's environment requires a comprehensive benefits package. The latest innovation in our retirement services offering, our pooled employer plan has quickly surpassed 4,000 clients since our January release just a few months ago, with strong activity in the pipeline.

在當今環境下，留住人才需要一套全面的福利方案。作為我們退休服務產品的最新創新，我們的集合雇主計劃自 1 月份推出以來，短短幾個月內客戶數量就迅速超過了 4,000 人，而且還有強勁的業務正在籌備中。

Managing cash flow and labor expenses continues to be important as the economy ramps up. The new Paychex Flex labor cost hub gives clients a holistic real-time view of total job costing and labor distribution expenses to drive greater insights to manage their workforce. This is in addition to our suite of data analytics capabilities that provide our clients with advanced features typically reserve for larger companies. And we continue to update our Paycheck Protection Program solutions in near real-time and allow clients to easily navigate the complexities of the PPP and employee retention tax credit concurrently. By quickly developing and deploying these updates in Paychex Flex, we have helped our clients secure over $65 billion in payroll protection loans and $2.5 billion in employee retention and paid sick leave credits combined.

隨著經濟的復甦，管理現金流和勞動成本仍然非常重要。全新的 Paychex Flex 勞動力成本中心為客戶提供全面的即時工作成本和勞動力分配費用視圖，從而獲得更深入的洞察，以更好地管理其員工隊伍。除了我們提供的全套數據分析功能外，我們還為客戶提供通常只有大型公司才能使用的高級功能。我們持續近乎即時地更新薪資保障計畫解決方案，讓客戶能夠輕鬆應對薪資保障計畫和員工留任稅收抵免的複雜性。透過在 Paychex Flex 中快速開發和部署這些更新，我們已幫助客戶獲得了超過 650 億美元的工資保障貸款，以及總計 25 億美元的員工留任和帶薪病假抵免。

I'd also like to provide updates on a few other areas where we continue to invest. Near the end of fiscal 2020, we launched our real-time payment solution. And since then, it processed over 50,000 payrolls, funding over $200 million to client employees. This provides clients the ability to process their payroll on check date and fund direct deposit transactions within 15 seconds, a true cash management opportunity for businesses of all sizes.

我還想向大家介紹一下我們持續投資的其他幾個領域的最新情況。在 2020 財年末，我們推出了即時支付解決方案。從那時起，該公司處理了超過 5 萬份薪資單，向客戶員工發放了超過 2 億美元的資金。這使客戶能夠在支票發放日處理工資，並在 15 秒內完成直接存款交易，為各種規模的企業提供真正的現金管理機會。

Our Paychex Flex intelligence engine, our AI and machine learning chatbot, is now trained to successfully answer over 340 questions while also providing users access to our help center inventory of 800 instructional and educational materials. This past fiscal year, our automated help solutions have serviced approximately 1.8 million client and employee users, handling over 60% of the questions in an automated fashion. And we have seen double-digit increases in the number of sessions in our 5-star Paychex Flex mobile app and the use of our self-service functionality continues to grow.

我們的 Paychex Flex 智慧引擎，也就是我們的人工智慧和機器學習聊天機器人，現在已經過訓練，能夠成功回答 340 多個問題，同時也能讓使用者存取我們的幫助中心，其中包含 800 份教學和教育材料。在上一個財政年度，我們的自動化幫助解決方案為大約 180 萬名客戶和員工用戶提供了服務，以自動化方式處理了超過 60% 的問題。我們看到，我們五星級的 Paychex Flex 行動應用程式的使用次數實現了兩位數的成長，自助服務功能的使用量也持續成長。

Just 2 weeks ago, we hosted thousands of clients at our first ever exclusive virtual Paychex Business Conference. We brought together experts, insights, resources and solutions that clients need to build a better workplace, increase productivity and thrive in 2021 and beyond. It was an important way to thank our clients for their tremendous loyalty as reflected in our historic levels of client retention.

就在兩週前，我們舉辦了首屆專屬虛擬 Paychex 商業大會，數千位客戶參加了大會。我們匯集了客戶所需的專家、見解、資源和解決方案，以建立更好的工作場所，提高生產力，並在 2021 年及以後蓬勃發展。這是我們感謝客戶高度忠誠的重要方式，客戶忠誠度也反映在我們歷來維持的高客戶留存率。

The post-pandemic future of work is still evolving. We remain focused on helping our clients adapt. Near term, this includes PPP forgiveness, employee retention tax credits, rebuilding workforces and managing the return-to-work environment. While we are very proud of the performance during fiscal 2021, we are even more excited about how well positioned we are for growth in fiscal '22. The combination of our sales momentum, client-based growth and satisfaction, industry-leading operating margin and increased investment in our marketing lead generation and product development has us well positioned for another year of strong financial performance in fiscal 2022.

後疫情時代的工作模式仍在不斷演變。我們始終專注於幫助客戶適應變化。短期內，這包括 PPP 貸款豁免、員工留任稅收抵免、重建勞動力和管理復工環境。雖然我們對 2021 財年的業績感到非常自豪，但我們更興奮的是，我們已為 2022 財年的成長做好了充分的準備。憑藉強勁的銷售動能、客戶成長和滿意度、業界領先的營業利潤率以及在行銷線索開發和產品開發方面不斷增加的投資，我們已做好充分準備，在 2022 財年繼續取得強勁的財務業績。

I will now turn the call over to Efrain Rivera to review our financial results for the fourth quarter and fiscal year as well as our guidance in fiscal '22. Efrain?

現在我將把電話交給埃弗雷恩·裡維拉，讓他回顧我們第四季度和本財年的財務業績以及我們對 2022 財年的展望。埃弗雷恩？

Thanks, Marty. Thanks to everyone who's on the call. I'd like to remind you that today's conference call will contain forward-looking statements that refer to future events, and therefore, involve risks. Please refer to our earnings release that has all of the disclosure on these issues. In addition, I'll periodically refer to some non-GAAP measures such as adjusted operating income, adjusted EBITDA, adjusted net income and adjusted diluted earnings per share. Please again refer to our press release for more information on these measures.

謝謝你，馬蒂。感謝所有參與通話的人。我想提醒各位，今天的電話會議將包含有關未來事件的前瞻性陳述，因此存在風險。請參閱我們的盈利報告，其中包含有關這些問題的全部揭露資訊。此外，我也會定期參考一些非GAAP指標，例如調整後的營業收入、調整後的EBITDA、調整後的淨收入和調整後的稀釋每股盈餘。有關這些措施的更多信息，請參閱我們的新聞稿。

Let me start by providing some of the key points for the quarter. I'll then follow up greater detail in certain areas, and I'll discuss our full year fiscal 2021 results.

首先，我來介紹一下本季的一些要點。接下來，我將就某些領域進行更詳細的說明，並討論我們 2021 財年的全年業績。

For the fourth quarter, it was strong. What can you say? Total revenue increased 12% to $1 billion, and service revenue increased 14% to $1 billion as we benefited from improved employment levels and higher client counts across all of our solutions, growth rates were bolstered by an easier compared to the prior year fourth quarter that was significantly impacted by the pandemic. And remember, last year, we had a fairly strong quarter in terms of interest on funds held for clients. We're battling that headwind and delivered the results that you see.

第四季表現強勁。你還能說什麼呢？由於就業水準提高和所有解決方案的客戶數量增加，總收入增長了 12%，達到 10 億美元，服務收入增長了 14%，達到 10 億美元。與去年同期相比，第四季的情況相對容易，而去年同期則受到了疫情的嚴重影響。別忘了，去年我們為客戶持有的資金利息收入也相當強勁。我們克服了這些不利因素，並且取得了你們所看到的成果。

Within service revenue, Management Solutions revenue increased 14% to $756 million, and PEO and Insurance Solutions revenue increased 13% to $258 million. Interest on funds held, as I just mentioned, decreased 43% as the lower average interest rates and realized gains were partially offset by higher average investment balances.

在服務收入方面，管理解決方案收入成長了 14%，達到 7.56 億美元；PEO 和保險解決方案收入成長了 13%，達到 2.58 億美元。正如我剛才提到的，由於平均利率和已實現收益的下降被平均投資餘額的增加部分抵消，持有資金的利息下降了 43%。

Expenses increased 10% to $675 million. The growth was -- the growth in expenses was driven by higher performance-based comp, which compared to a prior quarter that reflected a sharp decline due to the pandemic and higher PEO direct insurance costs.

支出成長10%，達到6.75億美元。成長情況是－支出成長是由更高的績效獎金推動的，而上一季度由於疫情和 PEO 直接保險成本的增加，支出則大幅下降。

Operating income increased 18% to $354 million, with an operating margin of 34.4%, 160 basis point improvement from the prior year fourth quarter. Our effective income tax rate was 24% for the fourth quarter compared to 24.3% for the same period last year. Both periods reflect net discrete tax benefits related to stock-based comp payments that occur with the exercise of stock option awards, and we do call those out.

營業收入成長 18% 至 3.54 億美元，營業利潤率為 34.4%，比上年第四季提高了 160 個基點。第四季我們的實際所得稅率為 24%，而去年同期為 24.3%。這兩個時期都反映了與行使股票選擇權獎勵相關的股票薪酬淨離散稅收優惠，我們特此指出這些優惠。

Adjusted net income and adjusted diluted earnings per share both increased 18% for the fourth quarter to $261 million and $0.72 per share, respectively.

第四季經調整後的淨利和經調整後的稀釋每股收益均成長了 18%，分別達到 2.61 億美元和每股 0.72 美元。

Let me touch quickly on full year results. Service revenues, as Marty indicated, increased 1% to $4 billion. Management Solutions revenue increased 2%, and PEO and Insurance Solutions revenue declined 2%. Interest on funds declined 32% to $59 million due to lower average interest rates. And realized gains and total revenue was flat year-over-year at $4.1 billion. Operating income was flat year-over-year at $1.5 billion. Adjusted operating income increased 2% to $1.5 billion with a margin of 36.8%, an expansion of 70 basis points compared to the prior year. Adjusted operating margin excludes onetime costs of $32 million related to the acceleration of cost savings initiatives, including the long-term strategy.

讓我簡單談談全年業績。正如馬蒂所指出的，服務收入成長了 1%，達到 40 億美元。管理解決方案收入成長了 2%，而 PEO 和保險解決方案收入下降了 2%。由於平均利率下降，資金利息下降了 32%，至 5,900 萬美元。實際收益和總收入與前一年持平，為 41 億美元。營業收入與前一年持平，為 15 億美元。經調整後的營業收入成長 2% 至 15 億美元，利潤率為 36.8%，比上年增長 70 個基點。調整後的營業利潤率不包括與加速實施成本節約計畫（包括長期策略）相關的 3,200 萬美元一次性成本。

To reduce our geographic footprint and headcount optimization, the majority of which was recognized during the fourth -- the first quarter, I should say, as you know. Adjusted diluted earnings per share increased 1% to $3.04.

為了減少我們的地理覆蓋範圍和優化人員配置，其中大部分是在第四季度（應該說是第一季度，正如您所知）實現的。經調整後的稀釋每股收益成長 1% 至 3.04 美元。

Turning to our investment portfolio. Our primary goal, as you know, is to protect principal and optimize liquidity. We continue to invest in high credit quality securities. The long-term portfolio now has an average yield of 1.9% and an average duration of 3.3 years. Our combined portfolios have earned an average rate of return of 1.1% and 1.2% for the fourth quarter and fiscal year, respectively, down from the 1.5% and 1.8% for the same period last year.

接下來我們來看看我們的投資組合。如您所知，我們的首要目標是保護本金並優化流動性。我們將繼續投資於高信用等級的證券。長期投資組合目前的平均報酬率為 1.9%，平均久期為 3.3 年。我們的綜合投資組合在第四季和本財年分別獲得了1.1%和1.2%的平均回報率，低於去年同期的1.5%和1.8%。

Financial position. I'll walk you through our -- the highlights of our financial position. It obviously remains pretty strong. I'd say very strong since we have over $1.1 billion with total borrowings of $805 million as of May 31, 2021. Funds held for clients were $3.8 billion, an increase from $3.4 billion as of May 31, 2020. As you know, they vary widely on a day-to-day basis, and they averaged $4.2 billion for the fourth quarter and $3.9 billion for the fiscal year.

財務狀況。我將帶您了解我們財務狀況的要點。它顯然依然非常強勁。可以說我們的財務狀況非常強勁，因為截至 2021 年 5 月 31 日，我們的現金總額超過 11 億美元，總借款額為 8.05 億美元。截至 2020 年 5 月 31 日，為客戶持有的資金為 38 億美元，較 34 億美元增加。如你所知，這些數字每天都有很大的波動，第四季平均為 42 億美元，本財年平均為 39 億美元。

Our total available for sale investments, including corporate investments and funds held for clients, reflected net unrealized gains of $79 million as of May 31, 2021, compared with $100 million as of May 31, 2020. This decrease in net gain position resulted from increases in longer-term yields during the year.

截至 2021 年 5 月 31 日，我們可供出售的投資總額（包括公司投資和為客戶持有的基金）反映出未實現淨收益為 7,900 萬美元，而截至 2020 年 5 月 31 日為 1 億美元。淨收益部位的下降是由於年內長期收益率的上升所致。

Stockholders' equity was $2.9 billion as of May 31, 2021, and reflected $909 million in dividends paid and $156 million of shares repurchased. Our return for equity for the past 12 months was 38%.

截至 2021 年 5 月 31 日，股東權益為 29 億美元，其中已支付股利 9.09 億美元，已回購股票 1.56 億美元。過去 12 個月，我們的股本回報率為 38%。

Cash flows from operations were $1.3 billion for the fiscal year. That actually was a decrease from the same period last year. The decrease, though, was driven by fluctuations in working capital, including an increase in purchased accounts receivable due to the continued recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. We just simply didn't purchase a lot of receivables last year in the same quarter, and it also was influenced by the growth in the business, offset by an increase in worksite employees and payroll-related liability.

本財年經營活動產生的現金流量為13億美元。實際上，這比去年同期有所下降。不過，下降的原因是營運資金的波動，包括因 COVID-19 疫情持續復甦而導致的應收帳款購買增加。去年同期，我們並沒有購買很多應收帳款，這也受到了業務成長的影響，但被工作場所員工人數的增加和與工資相關的負債所抵消。

Now let me turn to guidance for the upcoming fiscal year ending May 31, 2022. The outlook reflects the current macroeconomic environment, which continues to show gradual recovery. Our outlook will be as follows. Let me just make this comment before we do that. One of the things that we're really proud of is if you go back to what we said in April of last year before we knew everything that we know now, we got some things wrong, but we got a lot of things right, and we also -- we're very, very transparent with the investment community around what we expected to happen. I think if you look at what happened in the year, we were a lot more wrong than -- a lot more right than wrong.

現在，讓我談談截至 2022 年 5 月 31 日的下一個財政年度的指導意見。這項展望反映了當前的宏觀經濟環境，即持續逐步復甦的態勢。我們的展望如下。在我們開始之前，我想先說一句。我們真正引以為傲的一件事是，如果你回顧一下我們去年四月在還不知道現在所知道的一切之前所說的話，我們犯了一些錯誤，但我們做對了很多事情，而且我們也——我們對投資界非常非常透明，坦誠地說明了我們預期會發生什麼。我認為，回顧這一年發生的事情，我們犯的錯誤遠多於做對的事情。

There were things that we couldn't have pegged, which was the speed of the recovery, the sharpness of it. We got the direction. We got the shape of it correctly. We knew the year hinge on the fourth quarter being better. We looked at the macroeconomic data and thought that what happened in fourth quarter would happen, and it was stronger than we expected. But the point I want to make is simply that we communicated along all of those steps, and we did it in a very transparent fashion. We didn't say we didn't know. We told you what we knew. We told you what we didn't know, and this is where we ended.

有些事情我們無法預料，例如恢復的速度和力道。我們找到方向了。我們正確地還原了它的形狀。我們知道，今年的成敗取決於第四季能否取得更好的成績。我們查看了宏觀經濟數據，認為第四季的情況會重演，但實際情況比我們預期的還要糟糕。但我想表達的重點是，我們在所有這些步驟中都進行了溝通，而且我們的溝通方式非常透明。我們並沒有說我們不知道。我們把我們知道的情況都告訴你們了。我們已經告訴了你們不知道的事情，故事就到此結束了。

So with that, in the spirit of those comments, here's where we're landing for '22. Management Solutions revenue is now expected to grow approximately 7%. PEO and Insurance Solutions is expected to grow in the range of 8% to 10%. Interest on funds held for clients is expected to be even with this year. Total revenue is expected to grow approximately 7%. Adjusted operating income margin is expected to be approximately 38%, an increase of approximately 120 basis points.

所以，秉承這些評論的精神，以下是我們對 2022 年的展望。管理解決方案收入預計將成長約 7%。PEO 和保險解決方案預計將成長 8% 至 10%。預計今年客戶資金的利息將與今年持平。預計總收入將成長約7%。調整後的營業利潤率預計約為 38%，成長約 120 個基點。

Let me pause on that. If you look at what happened just happened, I would say we are among the few companies that not only grew margins in the middle of a pandemic but then raise them in the following year, and that's a result of a lot of hard work here, not only in IT, but also in services and -- across the entire organization. A lot of the initiatives that we took are paying dividend going into next year, and we have more than we can do.

讓我先停一下。如果你看看剛剛發生的事情，我會說我們是少數幾家不僅在疫情期間實現了利潤增長，而且在接下來的一年裡還提高了利潤的公司之一，這得益於我們這裡付出的大量努力，不僅在 IT 部門，而且在服務部門以及整個組織內。我們採取的許多措施將在明年帶來回報，而且我們還有很多工作要做。

Adjusted EBITDA margin for the full year fiscal 2021 is expected to be, again, approximately 42%. Other expense net is expected to be in the range of $33 million to $37 million. The effective income tax rate is expected to be in the range of 24% to 25%. And adjusted diluted earnings per share is expected to grow in the range of 10% to 12%. We will have some benefit from stock comp exercises. We don't know what that is, so we don't peg it into the guidance.

預計 2021 財年全年調整後 EBITDA 利潤率將再次約為 42%。其他淨支出預計在 3,300 萬美元至 3,700 萬美元之間。實際所得稅率預計在 24% 至 25% 之間。經調整後的稀釋每股盈餘預計將成長 10% 至 12%。我們將從股票期權交易中獲益。我們不知道那是什麼，所以我們沒有將其納入指導方針。

Given the shape of the recovery during fiscal 2021, we expect fiscal 2022 to have stronger growth in the first half of the year and then moderate in the second half. The first half of the year is anticipated to have total revenue growth in the high single digits and an adjusted operating margin in the range of 37% to 38%.

鑑於 2021 財年的復甦情勢，我們預計 2022 財年上半年成長動能將更加強勁，下半年成長速度將放緩。預計今年上半年總收入將實現高個位數成長，調整後營業利潤率將在 37% 至 38% 之間。

To give you some more color on expectations for the first quarter. We anticipate strong year-over-year growth as the fiscal 2021 first quarter was significantly impacted by the pandemic. We currently anticipate total revenue growth will be in the low double digits. I'd say it's probably in the 11% to 13% range, but certainly low double digits. Adjusted operating margin is expected to be approximately 38%. Of course, all of this is subject to our current assumptions, which are subject to change, and we'll update you again on the first quarter call.

為了讓您更詳細地了解第一季的預期。我們預計將年增強勁，因為 2021 財年第一季受到疫情的嚴重影響。我們目前預計總營收成長將達到兩位數低點。我估計大概在 11% 到 13% 之間，但肯定不會超過兩位數。調整後的營業利潤率預計約為 38%。當然，所有這些都取決於我們目前的假設，而這些假設可能會發生變化，我們將在第一季電話會議上再次向您報告最新情況。

And then just final comment as we wrap up the prepared remarks. I'd just say this, that when the pandemic started, I fielded a lot of calls from investors and analysts about how we would fare in the pandemic. I think this quarter shows how we fared in the pandemic. We are a very, very resilient business. And even during a downturn that no one expected, we did some things that were pretty extraordinary. We take pride in that. That was the work of every single employee in Paychex from sales to ops, to IT, et cetera. And you know what, as Marty said, we think the best is yet to come.

最後，在結束準備好的演講稿之前，我再補充一點。我只想說，疫情剛開始的時候，我接到了很多投資人和分析師的電話，詢問我們在疫情期間的處境如何。我認為本季業績反映了我們在疫情期間的表現。我們是一家韌性非常非常強的企業。即使在誰也沒有預料到的經濟衰退期間，我們也做了一些非常了不起的事情。我們為此感到自豪。這是 Paychex 公司從銷售到運營，再到 IT 等所有員工共同努力的成果。你知道嗎，正如馬蒂所說，我們認為最好的還在後頭。

So with that, I'll turn it back to Marty.

那麼，接下來我就把麥克風交還給馬蒂了。

Great. Thank you, Efrain. Operator, we'll now open it up for questions, comments.

偉大的。謝謝你，埃弗雷恩。操作員，現在我們開放提問和評論環節。

(Operator Instructions) Your first question comes from the line of David Togut with Evercore.

（操作說明）你的第一個問題來自 Evercore 的 David Togut 的線。

In your...

在你的…

Did you change your name, David?

大衛，你改名字了嗎？

What's that?

那是什麼？

Did you change your name? She announced it's David Togut. So I just want to make sure we get it right.

你改名字了嗎？她宣布他是大衛·托古特。所以我只是想確保我們做對了。

Yes, same person. In your fiscal '22 guidance for 7% Management Solutions revenue growth, what are you forecasting for client retention and payroll client base growth?

是的，是同一個人。在您對 2022 財年管理解決方案營收成長 7% 的預期中，您對客戶留存率和薪資客戶群成長有何預測？

Yes. So with respect to payroll client base growth, David, we expect it to be in the normal range of 1% to 3%. Hopefully, we do better than that. We certainly did better than that this year. Because retention was so strong this year, we expect that it will not reach the level that Marty mentioned. So we ended the year at 85%. If you look at Flex revenue retention, we were almost 90%. Those are really extraordinary numbers. We expect some loosening of those numbers but not significant, but we expect it to be down a little bit.

是的。所以，關於薪資客戶群的成長，David，我們預計它將在 1% 到 3% 的正常範圍內。希望我們能做得更好。我們今年的表現肯定比那年好很多。由於今年的客戶留存率非常高，我們預計不會達到馬蒂提到的水平。所以我們最終以 85% 的成績結束了這一年。如果看一下 Flex 的營收留存率，我們接近 90%。這些數字真是驚人。我們預計這些數字會有所回落，但不會有顯著變化，不過預計會略有下降。

Understood. Just as a follow-up, accounts receivable growth remains elevated at 51% versus the May 2020 balance sheet. Can you dig into the purchased accounts receivable detail that you signaled in your comments? And is there a collectibility issue here?

明白了。作為後續補充，應收帳款成長率仍然很高，為 51%，與 2020 年 5 月的資產負債表相比。您能否詳細調查您在評論中提到的已購應收帳款的相關資訊？這裡是否存在收藏價值問題？

No. None, 0. David, I mean, I think many people on the call would know that one of our businesses is funding staffing firms. We don't do staffing, but we fund staffing. So with an anomaly in the fourth quarter of last year, staffing was down 20%. Those of you who cover staffing firms know that. When staffing declines at that level, then there's simply no -- nothing to fund. There's no receivables to fund. And so if you look at last year, our cash flow was $1.44 billion. That is -- that was much higher than even I expected, but that's because we didn't put out any money to fund staffing. This year, we had a really sharp rebound in the first -- in the back half of the year and in the fourth quarter, and that was a very good performer for us, but that means that we purchase more receivables. We get, obviously, some benefit from doing that. The way it's reflected in the statement of cash flows is that, that shows the growth in receivables. So I would say those numbers are now more normalized versus a year last year that was artificially depressed.

不。沒有，0。大衛，我的意思是，我認為電話會議上的許多人都知道，我們的一項業務是為人力資源公司提供資金。我們不負責人員配備，但我們為人員配備提供資金。由於去年第四季出現異常情況，員工人數減少了 20%。你們這些報道人力資源公司的人都知道這一點。當人員減少到那種程度時，就根本沒有資金可供投入了。沒有應收帳款需要支付。因此，如果你看去年，我們的現金流為 14.4 億美元。也就是說——這比我預想的還要高得多，但這是因為我們沒有投入任何資金來支付人員配備費用。今年，我們在上半年下半年和第四季實現了非常強勁的反彈，這對我們來說是一個非常好的表現，但這同時也意味著我們需要購買更多的應收帳款。顯然，我們這樣做會得到一些好處。現金流量表中反映出的現像是，應收帳款成長了。所以我覺得這些數字現在比去年人為壓低的數字更正常了。

So in the August quarter, should we expect receivable growth to track revenue growth?

那麼，在八月的季度中，我們是否應該預期應收帳款成長將與營收成長一致？

It still will probably not track it completely because the recovery on staffing really is more of a second half phenomenon this year. Staffing was still weak into the first quarter of last year.

雖然可能仍無法完全反映實際情況，但人員配備的恢復確實更多地發生在今年的下半年。去年第一季度，人員配備仍然不足。

Your next question comes from the line of Ramsey El-Assal with Barclays.

你的下一個問題來自拉姆齊·埃爾-阿薩爾在巴克萊銀行的職位。

I wanted to ask about the fiscal '22 margin guidance, which came in really nicely above our model, Efrain. I know you mentioned that it was due to some initiatives that you guys had laid in, and it was kind of a group effort. But could you give us a little more color on what those initiatives might be? What are the primary drivers of that outperformance?

我想問一下 2022 財年的利潤率預期，Efrain，這個預期比我們的模型高很多。我知道你提到這是由於你們所製定的一些計劃，也是一種集體努力的結果。能否詳細介紹一下這些舉措具體是什麼？造成這種優異表現的主要因素是什麼？

Yes. So I'd say the first thing, Ramsey, is that when we took the charge last year, we knew that it would produce or we believe and modeled that it would produce a certain return, and it produced that return in probably a little bit more. So kudos to the team that did that.

是的。所以我想說的第一點是，拉姆齊，去年我們發起這項挑戰時，我們知道它會產生，或者我們相信並模擬了它會產生一定的回報，而它產生的回報可能比預期的還要多一些。所以，要向完成這項工作的團隊致敬。

I think that we continue to evaluate what the right footprint is. There's no additional charges contemplated. But as we examine that footprint, we're looking for ways to become more efficient. That's number one.

我認為我們應該繼續評估什麼是合適的足跡。不考慮收取額外費用。但當我們審視這一足跡時，我們正在尋找提高效率的方法。這是第一點。

Number two, one of the things that a pandemic produces is it produces a keen focus on every single line of expense in the P&L. And I would say that for a company like ours, that is built on the idea that we have to operate very efficiently. We looked at it and said not every single dollar of cost that was in the model prepandemic needs to be in the model post pandemic. And so we thought we could comfortably manage with a slightly different level of expenses. And so the expense growth did not match the revenue growth.

第二，疫情帶來的一個後果是，它讓人們更關注損益表中的每項支出。我認為，對於像我們這樣的公司來說，這是建立在我們必須有效率地運作這一理念之上的。我們研究後發現，疫情前模型中的每一分錢成本，並非疫情後模型中都需要保留。因此，我們認為即使開支水平略有不同，我們也能輕鬆應對。因此，支出成長與收入成長不符。

So the third thing is a sharp rebound in revenue then produces the ability to leverage further than you would if those costs came in or you didn't have that level of revenue growth.

所以第三點是，收入的急劇反彈將使你能夠比那些成本出現或你沒有達到那種收入增長水平時擁有更大的槓桿作用。

I would say this, I get the question many, many times, what's the theoretical max for how our margins can grow? The short answer is that -- we don't have any answer on that. But obviously, there is a theoretical max. But the point is that increasingly, we are -- we look for more and more operating efficiencies as our systems get better and better, and they have gotten better and better. And our operating model has gotten more and more efficient. So it's really a combination of all of those. It's sustainable, and all of those things are influencing that number.

我想說的是，我常被問到，我們的利潤率理論上最大能成長多少？簡而言之，我們對此沒有任何答案。但顯然，這存在一個理論上的最大值。但關鍵在於，隨著我們的系統越來越好，我們也越來越追求更高的營運效率，而我們的系統也確實越來越好。我們的營運模式也變得越來越有效率。所以，這實際上是所有這些因素的綜合作用。它是可持續的，所有這些因素都在影響這個數字。

Okay. That's terrific and interesting. Also, I wanted to follow up on David's prior question on revenue retention. It's been impressive this year, obviously, impressive in the quarter. And I think you also mentioned there was a bunch of drivers there, whether it's product, service levels, blocking and tackling, et cetera. But can you also call out a couple of things there that have really made the difference? And then maybe also just tack on there. Has the PPP -- your servicing in terms of the PPP loans made a difference there. Are your clients sort of locked in a little more now because they have to unwind all that process? Or is that big enough to move the needle in your business?

好的。太棒了，真有趣。另外，我還想就 David 之前提出的關於收入留存的問題做個後續討論。今年的表現令人印象深刻，尤其是本季。我想你也提到過，那裡有很多因素在起作用，無論是產品、服務水準、阻礙因素等等。但您能否也指出其中幾件真正扮演關鍵角色的事情？然後或許還可以加上去。PPP—您在 PPP 貸款方面的服務是否產生了影響？您的客戶現在是不是有點被困住了，因為他們必須完成整個過程？或者，這足以對你的業務產生重大影響嗎？

I think -- Ramsey, I think that has definitely helped. I think clients learned that there was a great value -- more value than they maybe have thought in having us and the experts -- the expertise that we have with compliance and so forth. The ability to be able to provide them access to those PPP loans, the day they were available and giving them a prepopulated kind of an application that they could file for the loan, a prepopulated application that was signature-ready for the forgiveness, the ability that we linked with 3 fintech providers to help them facilitate loans and when they couldn't get some -- the interest from the banks was really very helpful, and I think that has contributed a lot.

我認為——拉姆齊，我認為這肯定有所幫助。我認為客戶已經意識到，我們和我們的專家團隊——包括我們在合規等方面的專業知識——具有巨大的價值，甚至比他們想像的還要高。我們能夠讓他們在 PPP 貸款開放申請當天就獲得貸款，並為他們提供預先填寫好的申請表，方便他們提交貸款申請。這份預先填寫好的申請表可以直接簽署以獲得貸款豁免。我們也與 3 家金融科技公司合作，幫助他們獲得貸款。當他們無法獲得貸款時，銀行的利息真的很有幫助，我認為這起到了很大的作用。

They're at a stage now where -- and they're still finding that with the employee retention tax credit, we're doing a tremendous service to them by helping them understand that there even is an employee retention tax credit and how big that can be to support them from a cash flow perspective. So I think all of those things, in addition to the strength of the product and the service already has really contributed to people saying, hey, I'm not going to leave to save a 10% or a free month of service when I see the benefits that the Paychex and the team have provided me.

他們現在正處於這樣一個階段——而且他們仍然發現，有了員工留任稅收抵免，我們正在為他們提供巨大的幫助，幫助他們了解甚至有員工留任稅收抵免，以及這筆抵免可以從現金流的角度為他們提供多大的支持。所以我認為，除了產品和服務本身的強大實力之外，所有這些因素都促使人們說：“嘿，當我看到 Paychex 和團隊為我帶來的好處時，我不會為了節省 10% 的費用或一個月的免費服務而離開。”

The other thing I'd add just to build on that. Just to kind of add some numbers to that. Marty mentioned it earlier in his comments. Look, doing things on a 1 year or half year basis is one thing, doing it on a sustainable basis is another thing. I would say one other thing that we're very, very proud of is that through the pandemic, when there was an unprecedented level of demand on our service providers, we met that need, and our Net Promoter Scores hit their highest levels ever in the company. So when you look at all of those things, that really plays into the retention number. Of course, the economy has something to do with it. But I think the combination of that leads us to believe that this is a sustainable trend going forward.

我還要補充一點，以進一步說明這一點。只是想補充一些數據。馬蒂之前在評論中提到過這一點。你看，以一年或半年為週期做事情是一回事，以可持續的方式做事情又是另一回事。我還要說一件我們非常非常自豪的事情，那就是在疫情期間，當我們的服務提供者面臨前所未有的需求時，我們滿足了這一需求，我們的淨推薦值達到了公司有史以來的最高水平。所以，當你考慮到所有這些因素時，它們都會對使用者留存率產生影響。當然，經濟狀況與此有關。但我認為，這些因素結合起來，讓我們相信這將是一個可持續的未來趨勢。

Your next question comes from the line of Jason Kupferberg with Bank of America.

你的下一個問題來自美國銀行的傑森·庫柏伯格。

I wanted to ask a follow-up just in terms of some underlying assumptions in that FY '22 guide, specifically on pricing as well as checks per client. And sort of as part of that, what are you kind of assuming in your base case for where the U.S. unemployment rate goes during the course of your fiscal year?

我想就 2022 財政年度指南中的一些基本假設提出後續問題，特別是關於定價以及每個客戶的支票數量。作為其中的一部分，您在基本預測中對美國失業率在您的財政年度內的走勢有何假設？

Yes. So pricing, I think we assume that we return to a more normal pricing environment. Jason, we delayed price increases at the beginning of last year. We thought that was the right thing to do. It impacted us and -- but we thought it was the right thing to do for clients, but we resume a more normal cadence of pricing increases. Maybe a little bit -- just slightly off from what we would do in a typical year, but pretty close.

是的。所以，在定價方面，我認為我們假設會回歸到更正常的定價環境。傑森，我們去年年初延後了漲價。我們認為這樣做是對的。這對我們造成了影響，但我們認為這對客戶來說是正確的做法，但我們將恢復更正常的漲價節奏。可能稍微有點偏差——和往年相比略有不同，但非常接近。

I think that the way we have pegged our plans is that, again, we expect in the second half of the year a return to more normal unemployment rates. The first half will still continue to be impacted by what we see, which many of you know is difficulty in hiring. SMB is struggling to fill physicians. I would say that this forecast that we have does not assume, even that we're at the same level of checks per payroll or pays per control that we were prepandemic (inaudible) through next year. If we get to that point, that would be upside to this model, but that's not what we're expecting. We obviously believe it will improve. Although I would say if you looked at the underlying data that forms a plan, it's pretty modest improvement at this point. So those are some of the key assumptions underlying the forecast or the plan.

我認為，我們制定計劃的方式是，我們預計下半年失業率將恢復到正常水平。上半年仍將繼續受到我們所看到的情況的影響，正如你們許多人所知，那就是招募困難。中小企業在招募醫生方面面臨困難。我想說，我們目前的預測並沒有假設，甚至沒有假設到明年，我們每筆工資的支票發放量或每筆控制的工資發放量能達到疫情前的水平（聽不清楚）。如果真能達到那種程度，那對這個模型來說就是有利的，但這並不是我們所期望的。我們當然相信情況會好轉。不過，如果你查看構成計畫的基礎數據，你會發現目前的改進幅度相當有限。以上是預測或計劃所依據的一些關鍵假設。

That's helpful. I know you've also been talking the past couple of quarters about a healthier backdrop for new business creation. Wanted to get the latest there. Has that continued in recent months? Any type of quantification you might be able to provide, for example, the percent of your new wins coming from newly formed businesses or your win rates in competing for these new businesses?

那很有幫助。我知道過去幾季您也一直在談論如何為新企業的創立創造更健康的環境。想了解一下最新的情況。這種情況最近幾個月還在持續嗎？您能否提供任何類型的量化數據，例如，您新贏得的業務中有多少百分比來自新成立的企業，或者您在爭取這些新業務時的勝率？

Yes. We're still seeing new business formation, as you would see from the economic numbers, are still up very strong. I think they're up 70% year-to-date over last year brand-new business start-ups. And I think that we've done a very good job of capturing those through the products that we have, both Flex and SurePayroll. SurePayroll had a very -- has had a very strong year. And as well, and especially at the beginning of the year, where they picked up a lot of work-at-home kind of nanny payrolls and things like that. Flex also picked up a lot of new start-up businesses of various sizes, and I think that we expect that to continue. I think a lot of it has been the self-service. The way we -- the marketing we've done to get the web leads and then be able to respond to them very quickly, even virtually. And from home and from our virtual sales forces and then the amount of self-service that clients can do that they're looking for to now on a brand new business. So it has definitely continued. We expect it to continue, and I think we performed very well from a close rate perspective.

是的。正如經濟數據所示，我們仍然看到新企業成立數量持續強勁成長。我認為今年迄今為止，全新創業企業的數量比去年同期增加了 70%。我認為，我們透過現有的產品，包括 Flex 和 SurePayroll，很好地滿足了這些需求。SurePayroll 今年的業績非常強勁。而且，尤其是在年初，他們承接了許多在家工作的保母薪資單之類的業務。Flex 也吸收了許多規模不一的新興新創公司，我認為這種情況還會持續下去。我認為這很大程度上要歸功於自助服務。我們透過行銷手段獲取網路潛在客戶，然後能夠非常迅速地回應他們，即使是透過虛擬方式。在家辦公，透過我們的虛擬銷售團隊，客戶可以自助完成他們現在想要開展的全新業務。所以這種情況肯定還在繼續。我們預計這種情況會持續下去，而且我認為從收盤率的角度來看，我們表現得非常好。

Your next question comes from the line of Bryan Bergin with Cowen.

你的下一個問題來自 Bryan Bergin 與 Cowen 的對話。

Wanted to ask on the record new sales in the quarter. Can you just talk about where you saw that as it relates to client size? Any areas in the market you saw more strength? And I just saw the comments you made on the smaller end, but just more broadly on client size and demand there. And then what solutions are you seeing the strongest demand in?

想問一下本季創紀錄的新銷售額是怎麼回事。您能否具體談談您是從哪裡看到這與客戶規模相關的這一現象的？您認為市場中哪些領域表現較強？我剛才看到了你對規模較小的客戶以及更廣泛的客戶規模和需求的評論。那麼，您認為哪些解決方案的需求最強？

Yes. I think from a size perspective, it was definitely a lot of the new business start-ups. So it was on the smaller size. The mid-market did okay, but it was more -- it was a little bit more difficult there were the decisions where they were making no decisions kind of thing or delaying decisions. We're starting to see that pick up now as we transition into the new fiscal year. I think as they're seeing more need for some of the products and services as they try to hire back and build their teams back up. And so we're definitely, I think, saw it there.

是的。我認為從規模上看，肯定有很多新成立的企業。所以它的尺寸比較小。中端市場表現尚可，但情況更複雜一些──有些決策他們不做決定，或拖延決策。隨著我們進入新的財政年度，我們開始看到這種情況有所改善。我認為，隨著他們努力重新招募和重建團隊，他們對某些產品和服務的需求也隨之增加。所以，我想我們肯定在那裡看到了。

Retirement and HR was very strong. Retirement was very weak in the first quarter, as you'd expect, going through the beginning of the pandemic. People weren't talking about retirement. We shifted some of those resources toward HR outsourcing. They did a great job. Then as we saw more interest in retirement, they shifted back. We introduced the Pooled Employer Plan in January, as I mentioned. That took off, and there's been a very strong need for the Pooled Employer Plan that has really helped support retirement. But retirement, ASO, in particular, HR outsourcing under the ASO model. PEO has been good. It hasn't been as strong as the insurance needs and changes, I think, will come along now as people are looking for comprehensive benefit packages to retain and attract employees. But HR outsourcing, retirement certainly SurePayroll, all were very strong.

退休和人力資源部門實力非常強勁。正如預期的那樣，由於正值疫情初期，第一季的退休金市場非常疲軟。人們當時並沒有談論退休。我們將部分資源轉移到了人力資源外包領域。他們做得很好。後來，隨著人們對退休的興趣日益濃厚，他們又改變了策略。正如我之前提到的，我們在1月推出了集合雇主計畫。這種模式迅速發展起來，人們對集合雇主計劃的需求非常強烈，該計劃確實為退休提供了支持。但退休，特別是 ASO 模式下的人力資源外包。PEO一直都不錯。我認為，保險需求和變化還沒有達到應有的水平，因為人們現在都在尋求全面的福利方案來留住和吸引員工。但人力資源外包、退休金業務（當然還有 SurePayroll）都表現非常強勁。

Okay. And then just PEO versus insurance performance. Can you kind of break down how each of those businesses performed in 4Q and then how you're building those into your fiscal '22 outlook?

好的。然後就是PEO與保險公司的業績對比。能否詳細介紹這些業務在第四季的表現，以及您如何將這些業務納入 2022 財年的展望中？

Yes. The growth performance in the quarter was pretty comparable, Bryan, in fourth quarter. At this stage, we think that going into next year, the PEO is going to grow a little bit faster than insurance. I think that -- I'd love to say finally after about 4 years that workers' comp drag is behind us. It's probably behind us as a drag, but it's not behind us in terms of growth that isn't really strong.

是的。布萊恩，本季的成長表現與第四季相當。現階段，我們認為進入明年，PEO（專業雇主組織）的成長速度將比保險業略快。我想——我很想在經歷了大約 4 年的時間後終於宣布，工傷賠償的漫長過程已經結束了。它可能已經成為過去，不再是拖累我們的事情，但就成長而言，它仍然不夠強勁。

I would say one thing that was quite interesting about the quarter was that health and benefits, which we still do a fair amount of sales in the under 50 space, had a strong quarter. So there's interesting pockets of demand in the economy above and below 50, and there seems to be a pretty strong demand still for insurance -- health and benefits insurance for -- in the under 50 space, in addition, obviously, PEO. This is -- now I'm talking more stand-alone health and benefit. So in summary, going into next year, we think PEO is going to grow a bit faster than the insurance part.

我覺得本季比較有趣的一點是，健康和福利業務（我們在 50 歲以下人群中仍然有相當多的銷售額）在本季度表現強勁。因此，在 50 歲以上和 50 歲以下的人群中，經濟中存在著有趣的需求點，而且 50 歲以下人群對保險（健康和福利保險）的需求似乎仍然相當強勁，此外，顯然還有 PEO（專業雇主組織）。現在我談的是更獨立的健康和益處。總而言之，我們認為明年 PEO 業務的成長速度將比保險業務略快。

I think, Bryan, the only one I left out was time and attendance. We've had tremendous consistent growth in time and attendance. And I think the ability for the technology that we've continued to innovate there, from regular time clocks, the retina scan time clocks, the punching in on your mobile phone on your watch, has really driven a lot of support there. Time and attendance has got a lot of demand that continues to grow at a double-digit space penetration into our base and new clients. I think a lot of it being that there's going to be a lot more part-time employees. You've got flexible work schedules. Time and attendance is really critical. So we're seeing a lot of strength there as well.

布萊恩，我想，我唯一漏掉的就是時間和考勤。我們在出席率和到場人數方面都取得了巨大的持續成長。我認為，我們不斷創新的技術，從普通打卡機、視網膜掃描打卡機，到用手機或手錶打卡，確實為那裡帶來了許多支援。考勤系統需求量大，在我們現有客戶和新客戶中的滲透率持續以兩位數的速度成長。我認為主要原因是兼職員工的數量會大幅增加。你的工作時間很有彈性。考勤非常重要。所以我們也看到這方面實力很強。

Your next question comes from the line of Bryan Keane with Deutsche Bank.

你的下一個問題來自德意志銀行的布萊恩·基恩。

Wanted to ask about digital sales. Do you think the market's changed more permanently now in the go-to-market strategy changes for everybody now that people realize some of the efficiencies there? And just thinking about the cost structure for you guys as a result of that.

想諮詢一下數位銷售方面的問題。你認為現在市場已經發生了更持久的變化，所有人的市場進入策略都發生了改變，因為人們已經意識到其中的一些效率提升措施？想想這會為你們帶來多大的成本影響。

Yes. I think it has. I mean I just think it's one of those things that people have gotten -- clients' prospects have gotten more used to. We were already in virtual sales and lead generation and nurturing programs over the -- particularly over the last few years, and that has continued to grow for us as well as Flex and SurePayroll. And there's a lot more self-service now capabilities that we've introduced as well. So not only can you research, demo and decide to buy the product, you can do a lot more of it self-service, not only through buying the product, depending on your size, but then a salesperson can jump in and help you anywhere along the way, and people want to do things more themselves.

是的。我認為有。我的意思是，我覺得這是人們已經習以為常的事情之一——客戶和潛在客戶已經越來越習慣了。過去幾年，我們一直在進行虛擬銷售、潛在客戶開發和培育計劃，這些計劃對我們、Flex 和 SurePayroll 來說也一直在持續成長。此外，我們也引進了更多自助服務功能。因此，您不僅可以研究、試用和決定購買產品，還可以自助完成更多操作，不僅僅是購買產品，根據您的規模，銷售人員還可以隨時介入並幫助您，人們也希望更多地自己動手。

Then as I think I've mentioned in my earlier comments that we're introducing more self-service to where the -- once you onboard a new employee, they can do their own self-service setup and everything. And this is helping a lot of clients. They're used to doing things online. They're used to doing it on a mobile phone. And of course, we've been developing all of our products, mobile-first design so that it's built for the mobile phone years ago, and that has continued to pay off.

正如我之前提到的，我們正在引入更多自助服務，也就是說，一旦新員工入職，他們就可以自己進行自助設定等等。這幫助了很多客戶。他們習慣在網路上做事。他們習慣用手機操作。當然，我們多年來一直堅持行動優先的設計理念來開發所有產品，使其能夠適應手機的需求，而這種理念也一直卓有成效。

A lot of the investments we made in self-service and in technology over the last few years really paid off during the pandemic from a standpoint of clients being able to go online and buy and self-serve and set up, and our self-service has picked up dramatically. For existing clients, for example, an employee do it -- changing their own direct deposit, bank account, changing their address, over 80% of those last year were done by the client or the employee now self-service, most of them on mobile -- on our mobile app. So things have changed and they were -- they sped up during the pandemic, and I think they'll continue to do that.

過去幾年，我們在自助服務和科技領域進行的許多投資在疫情期間都得到了回報，客戶可以上網購買、自助服務和設置，我們的自助服務也因此大幅增長。例如，對於現有客戶，員工可以自行更改直接存款、銀行帳戶、地址等，去年超過 80% 的此類更改都是由客戶或員工自助完成的，其中大部分是透過我們的行動應用程式完成的。所以情況發生了變化，而且在疫情期間加速發展，我認為這種情況還會持續下去。

Yes. Bryan, the other thing I'd add is our marketing group has really done a great job in terms of identifying sources of leads and optimizing our models so that our dollars are really efficiently spend on the web. But the point you make is a very good one. I think that we've evolved into a world where there is much more digital sales, digital capability. And when you're in front of the client, it frequently is going to be in a hybrid model. It was interesting to hear some of our top salespeople basically -- some of the really high-dollar producers talk about how they were able to pivot in a hybrid fashion to sell when they hadn't done it before, and I think that it's the way of the future. The positive on that, I would say, is that, obviously, we can get more efficient in terms of our dollar spent. But there's an offset to that because you have to spend more on digital marketing. There's no way to avoid it.

是的。布萊恩，我還要補充一點，我們的行銷團隊在尋找潛在客戶來源和優化模型方面做得非常出色，這樣我們的錢就能在網路上高效利用。但你提出的觀點非常好。我認為我們已經發展到一個數位化銷售和數位化能力大幅提升的世界。當你面對客戶時，通常會採用混合模式。聽到我們一些頂尖銷售人員——一些業績非常高的銷售人員——談論他們如何以混合方式轉型進行銷售（而他們以前從未這樣做過），這很有意思，我認為這是未來的發展方向。我認為積極的一面是，顯然，我們可以更有效地利用每一分錢。但這樣做也有弊端，因為你需要在數位行銷上投入更多資金。這是無法避免的。

One of the things that we're very, very proud of this year is if you look at us, look at what we did from the beginning of the pandemic, we did our first TV advertising. We increased our marketing spend. We didn't decrease it this year. So -- but that's going to be more of a permanent feature of the way the business operates.

今年我們非常非常自豪的事情之一是，如果你看看我們，看看我們從疫情開始以來所做的一切，我們做了第一個電視廣告。我們增加了行銷支出。今年我們沒有減少投入。所以——但這將成為企業運作方式的一個更永久性的特徵。

Got it. That's really helpful. And then just as a quick follow-up, Efrain, when I think about the cadence of service revenue, you talked about the high watermark being in the first quarter. Just trying to think about the model. So the second and third quarter look more equal, and then the tougher comp in Q4, that will be probably the lowest growth rate. I just want to make sure we get the models right.

知道了。這真的很有幫助。然後，Efrain，我還有一個後續問題，當我想到服務收入的節奏時，你提到第一季是收入高峰。我只是想弄清楚這個模型。因此，第二季和第三季看起來比較接近，而第四季由於基數較大，成長率可能會最低。我只是想確保我們選擇的模型是正確的。

I would say directionally, you're correct. Now I just want to caution one thing, which is '22 will be another year where at every quarter, we'll call out what we're seeing. I mentioned earlier it's not a throwaway statement that -- and I think Jason asked earlier, what are your assumptions about unemployment, that's going to play into what happens. So we still have -- we still, from a pace per control perspective, are down from where we were prepandemic. And we're not expecting a complete recovery. The question is how quickly that occurs as we go through the year, and that will be something we need to see. But I'd say directionally, you're correct.

從方向上來說，你的說法是對的。現在我只想提醒大家一點，2022 年將是另一個每季我們都會指出我們所看到情況的年份。我之前提到過，這不是一句隨口說說的話——而且我認為傑森之前也問過，你對失業有什麼假設，這將會影響到事情的發展。所以，從控制速度的角度來看，我們還是比疫情前的水準低。我們並不指望能夠完全恢復。問題是，隨著時間的推移，這種情況發生的速度會有多快，這是我們需要觀察的。但就方向而言，你說得對。

Your next question comes from the line of Eugene Simuni with MoffettNathanson.

你的下一個問題來自 Eugene Simuni 與 MoffettNathanson 的合作系列。

So first, I wanted to come back for a second to PEO outlook, zero in on that quickly. So great bounce back this quarter, 13% growth. It would sound like going forward, there are significant tailwinds continuing from T&E recovery, which I know PEO is very exposed to general secular demand, which you keep highlighting for the outsourced product. And your -- frankly, general strengthened PEO, we think. Your outlook is for 8% to 10% growth, a bit of a deceleration from 13%. Can you maybe talk through some of the puts and takes that went into that outlook and kind of what makes you perhaps a bit conservative?

首先，我想再快速回顧一下 PEO 的前景，重點談談這一點。本季強勁反彈，成長13%。聽起來，展望未來，差旅和旅遊業的復甦將繼續帶來顯著的利好因素，我知道專業雇主組織 (PEO) 非常容易受到整體長期需求的影響，而您也一直在強調外包產品的這種需求。坦白說，我們認為你們的 PEO 整體實力得到了加強。您的預期成長率為 8% 至 10%，比 13% 略有放緩。您能否談談形成這種觀點的一些考量因素，以及是什麼讓您顯得有些保守？

That's a good question, Eugene. I'm chuckling a little bit. Yes. Look, the -- anyone who goes to a restaurant these days or goes to any hospitality provider knows that the challenge is that the industry still faces in terms of completely reopening. We just don't see that starting to charge ahead until sometime in the fall. So that will be -- of course, the compare will be easier as we start the year, but there's still a lot of work to be done in hospitality and accommodations. And in the state of Florida, where we -- a lot of our businesses, we're going -- we're playing that a little bit more cautiously in terms of that part of the business.

尤金，你問得好。我忍不住輕笑了一聲。是的。你看，如今任何去餐廳或任何餐飲場所的人都知道，該行業在完全重新開放方面仍然面臨著挑戰​​。我們預計這種情況要到秋季才會開始加速發展。所以，當然，隨著新年的開始，比較會更容易一些，但在酒店和住宿方面仍然有很多工作要做。而在佛羅裡達州，我們很多業務都在那裡開展，所以我們對這部分業務的處理方式要更加謹慎。

So to the extent that, that turns very quickly, and they can find the workers, maybe we get more positive if we go through the year. But at this point, we think that, that's what makes sense.

所以，如果情況能很快好轉，他們能找到工人，那麼如果我們能順利度過這一年，情況可能會更加樂觀。但就目前而言，我們認為這是最合理的。

Got it. Understood. And then for my follow-up, very interested in the opportunity you guys have in growing revenues through getting greater share of wallet with existing customers. You guys highlighted it quite a bit with time and attendance, retirement, other products. So can you just elaborate on that a little bit more? What are the other -- maybe in addition to these 2, what are the other areas, services, products where you're seeing a lot of opportunity perhaps over the medium term next couple of years where you can just grab a larger share of the HR budget, which we think there is a big white space here?

知道了。明白了。然後，我想進一步了解一下，你們如何透過提高現有客戶的錢包份額來增加收入，對此我非常感興趣。你們在考勤、退休和其他產品方面都對此進行了相當多的強調。能再詳細解釋一下嗎？除了以上兩點之外，還有哪些領域、服務或產品，您認為在未來幾年的中期內，哪些領域、服務或產品有很大的機會，可以佔據更大的人力資源預算份額？我們認為這方面有很大的空白空間。

Yes. I think the biggest one that is, of course, the HR outsourcing. That's had double-digit growth from the ASO model. I think clients realized in a year, particularly with the pandemic that they had so many questions on how to handle remote workforces. How do you handle vaccine policy? How do you handle -- how you're going to -- flexible work schedules, things that they've never addressed before, we saw great demand for HR at all sizes of clients -- and how to handle federal and state regulation. So I think we opened up a whole number of clients who hadn't thought that they needed it maybe to realize that there's a lot of ongoing support that they could gain from HR services.

是的。我認為最大的問題當然是人力資源外包。透過應用程式商店優化 (ASO) 模式，該業務實現了兩位數的成長。我認為客戶在一年內，尤其是在疫情期間，意識到他們在如何管理遠距辦公方面有很多疑問。您如何制定疫苗政策？你們如何處理——你們打算如何處理——靈活的工作時間安排，以及他們以前從未處理過的事情，我們看到各種規模的客戶對人力資源的需求都很大——以及如何處理聯邦和州的監管。所以我覺得我們讓很多以前沒想過自己需要人力資源服務的客戶意識到，他們可以從人力資源服務中獲得許多持續的支援。

Now we have over 600 HR specialists across the country that provided some great expertise even remotely to these clients and a huge compliance team behind them in legal and marketing that would take the rules and regulations coming out of the Fed and the state governments, boil those down, make them understandable and train our HRGs who then train those clients on how to handle it. And I think that's not going to go backwards. I think for -- especially even for the next year, now the issue is how do I hire someone? How do I retain them? How do I keep them in my company with career pathing and development? And how do I use our products like data analytics that would show you this is what the pay might -- you might want to pay someone. This is how you might want to handle their development and do it all, by the way, remotely through our Flex app and paperless onboarding and so forth. I think that's going to be the biggest demand and growth besides retirement and time and attendance and, of course, insurances.

現在，我們在全國擁有 600 多名人力資源專家，即使遠端也能為這些客戶提供出色的專業知識；此外，我們還有一個龐大的合規團隊，負責法律和市場營銷，他們會將聯邦政府和州政府出台的規章制度簡化，使其易於理解，並培訓我們的人力資源專家，然後由他們再培訓客戶如何處理這些規章制度簡化，使其易於理解，並培訓我們的人力資源專家，然後由他們再培訓客戶如何處理這些規章制度。我認為這不會倒退。我認為，尤其是對於接下來的一年來說，現在的問題是，我該如何招募人才？我該如何留住它們？如何透過職涯規劃和發展來留住公司裡的人才？我該如何使用我們的產品，例如數據分析，來向您展示您可能想支付給某人的薪酬是多少？這就是您可能希望處理他們發展的方式，順便說一句，所有這些都可以透過我們的 Flex 應用程式遠端完成，實現無紙化入職等等。我認為除了退休、考勤和保險之外，這將是最大的需求和成長點。

And even beyond that, of course, there's merchant services that we sell through partnerships. There's going to be pay-on-demand options that we already offer that will continue to grow, all of those things. There's a tremendous -- once they see the value that we have -- that we can provide them, I think there's tremendous upside in the penetration.

當然，除此之外，我們也透過合作關係銷售商家服務。我們已經提供的按需付費選項將會繼續成長，所有這些方面都會如此。一旦他們看到我們能為他們提供的價值，我認為市場滲透率會有巨大的提升空間。

Yes. Just to build on that, Marty mentioned it in his comments, but I want to make sure people did not overlook it. We talked about 3 really important metrics that make us very constructive on our results going forward. One was client retention was at 85%. I mentioned revenue retention ran about 400 basis points ahead of that. The client base grew 4%, which was recent -- in recent years one of the highest we had. And that, by the way, as people pivoted to selling virtually in the first half of the year. But the third one, which we -- which Marty mentioned, which is important, is we had 18% growth in worksite employees in HR-related services, and we now were at 1.7 million worksite employees served. We dwarf anyone else in the industry. So -- and we think we're still only scratching the surface. So -- and the revenue opportunity is multiples of payroll, as I've mentioned to you -- all of you before. We think we still have a lot of opportunity. So just to bolster, in addition to everything else Marty said, the HR part of that equation, that's important.

是的。為了補充這一點，Marty 在他的評論中提到了這一點，但我希望確保大家沒有忽略它。我們討論了 3 個非常重要的指標，這些指標讓我們對未來的結果有非常正面的展望。其中一項是客戶留存率達 85%。我之前提到過，收入留存率比這高出約 400 個基點。客戶群成長了 4%，這是近年來最高的成長之一。順便一提，這是因為今年上半年人們紛紛轉向線上銷售。但第三個方面，正如馬蒂所提到的，非常重要，那就是我們在人力資源相關服務的工作場所員工人數增加了 18%，我們現在服務了 170 萬名工作場所員工。我們在業界遙遙領先其他任何公司。所以——而且我們認為我們目前只是觸及了皮毛。所以——正如我之前跟你們所有人提到的——收入機會是薪水的數倍。我們認為我們仍然有很多機會。所以，除了馬蒂所說的其他一切之外，我還要強調一下人力資源部分的重要性。

Your next question comes from the line of Kartik Mehta with Northcoast Research.

你的下一個問題來自北海岸研究公司的 Kartik Mehta。

Efrain, you talked a little bit about what you're expecting from a pricing standpoint maybe a little bit less than normal for FY '22. I'm just wondering, today, has the pricing competition changed at all? Are you seeing aggressive pricing anywhere? Or has it been fairly normal?

埃弗雷恩，你剛才談到了你對 2022 財年定價的預期，可能會比正常水平略低一些。我只是想知道，如今的價格競爭格局是否有變化？你看到哪裡有價格競爭激烈的嗎？或者說，情況一直都比較正常？

I think, Kartik, I'll take -- start that one. I think it's been fairly normal. I think we really haven't seen -- as I mentioned earlier, I think value and focus for our clients have been so much on the pandemic and the value that they're getting from our support during the pandemic, and it's been so critical to them. They -- we have not seen -- we've certainly seen a much better retention from going to competitors. So we're not seeing people leave to go to competitors. And so I think even as the pricing has gotten -- for a little while, there would seem to be a little bit of a step-up in number of free months and stuff like that. But again, that's quieted back down and really don't see much change in the competitive environment.

我覺得，卡爾蒂克，我來接手──開始吧。我覺得一切都還算正常。我認為我們還沒有真正看到——正如我之前提到的，我認為我們的客戶非常重視疫情以及他們在疫情期間從我們的支持中獲得的價值，這對他們來說至關重要。我們沒有看到——我們確實看到，在轉投競爭對手後，客戶留存率要高得多。所以我們並沒有看到員工離職跳槽到競爭對手那裡。所以我覺得，即使價格有所上漲——一段時間內，免費月份的數量之類的似乎也略有增加。但如今這種局面已經平靜下來，競爭環境並沒有太大變化。

Yes, Kartik. And if you look over a multiyear period and certainly look at where the trends landed, and we look at retention by reason codes, we call it, price value losses, we would call that. It's not just price, but what value is the client getting. They're significantly down. So irrespective of what the environment is in pricing, the value that we're delivering -- and certainly, we know that anecdotally, in our tech services model has been well received by clients, and they seem to be voting to stay.

是的，卡爾蒂克。如果你縱觀多年，仔細觀察趨勢走向，並按原因代碼查看留存率，我們稱之為價格價值損失，我們會這樣稱呼它。不只是價格，而是客戶能獲得什麼價值。它們大幅下降。因此，無論定價環境如何，我們提供的價值——當然，我們知道，從客戶的經驗來看，我們的技術服務模式受到了客戶的好評，他們似乎也選擇繼續與我們合作。

And then, Efrain, just on the float portfolio, I think you said kind of expect flat interest on funds held for clients. Are you anticipating any growth in the float portfolio as we have wage inflation and maybe pace for control improve a little bit? And is this just a reflection on the yield? Or are you anticipating the float portfolio growth to be flat or down?

然後，Efrain，關於浮動投資組合，我想你說過，預計為客戶持有的資金的利息會比較平穩。鑑於工資上漲以及控制權爭奪速度可能略有改善，您是否預期浮動資產組合會有任何成長？這是否僅僅反映了收益率的問題？或者您預計浮動投資組合的成長將持平或下降？

No. The portfolio itself, we expect modest growth. And because of what you said, Kartik, we expect the pace per control are going to grow. We would say it's modest growth. And then the other components you -- they at least stay at current levels.

不。我們預計該投資組合本身將實現溫和成長。正因為你剛才說的，Kartik，我們預期每次控制的速度將會加快。我們認為這是溫和成長。而其他組成部分——它們至少保持在目前的水平。

I think we're a little bit cautious just on the interest rate environment at one point -- sometimes we see the [tenure] going up to 1 6, 1 7, then it bounces back down to 1 4. So I think we're a little bit cautious about getting more aggressive either on positioning or on calling out a higher increase in the float portfolio, but we expect increases in the underlying funds and modest improvement from where we are. But we're not ready to get aggressive in terms of positioning the portfolio or our assumptions on interest rates.

我認為我們對利率環境持謹慎態度——有時我們看到利率上升到 16%、17%，然後又回落到 14%。因此，我認為我們對採取更積極的策略，無論是調整倉位還是提高浮動利率投資組合的比例，都持謹慎態度，但我們預計基礎資金會增加，並且會比目前的情況略有改善。但我們還沒有準備好在投資組合配置或利率假設方面採取積極措施。

Your next question comes from the line of Samad Samana with Jefferies.

你的下一個問題來自 Samad Samana 與 Jefferies 的合作。

Maybe, Efrain, if I could ask -- I know we've asked a lot of questions about the pace for control assumptions and strong bookings, but how about the company's own hiring in what seems to be just a tight labor market? How should we think about where Paychex is in terms of direct sales capacity? And how is your ability to hire and retain in sales right now?

埃弗雷恩，也許我可以問一下——我知道我們已經問了很多關於控制假設和強勁預訂速度的問題，但是，在勞動力市場似乎很緊張的情況下，公司自身的招聘情況如何呢？我們該如何看待 Paychex 在直銷能力上的位置？您目前在銷售領域的招募和留住人才方面表現如何？

Yes. Samad, I'll take that one to start anyway. It's been good. I mean it's -- we certainly have had some challenge, I think, on the front end from a service perspective in some locations. But generally, we've really picked up in the last -- we've done a couple of things that have really picked up our hiring and filling those spots. We think we're in good shape. From a sales perspective, we're in very good shape from starting the year at full capacity with everybody in the seats, well-trained on the products that we're offering. And I think we feel good about that. We are seeing it as a very big challenge for our clients, and that's providing some opportunities through, again, the employee retention tax credit and telling them how we can help them get dollars there that will help not only retain their employees, but they could use some of those dollars toward hiring, too. You're seeing a lot of upfront bonuses and things like that, that clients have never even considered before that we're helping advise them might be a good trend to start.

是的。薩馬德，我先選這個吧。一切都很好。我的意思是——我認為，從服務角度來看，在某些地方，我們在前端確實遇到了一些挑戰。但總的來說，我們最近確實取得了很大的進步——我們做了一些事情，確實加快了招募速度，填補了這些空缺。我們認為我們情況良好。從銷售角度來看，我們情況非常好，年初就滿員開局，所有員工都已到崗，並且對我們提供的產品都進行了良好的培訓。我認為我們對此感到很滿意。我們認為這對我們的客戶來說是一個非常大的挑戰，因此我們再次透過員工留任稅收抵免為他們提供了一些機會，並告訴他們我們如何幫助他們獲得資金，這些資金不僅有助於留住員工，而且他們還可以將其中一些資金用於招聘。你會發現很多客戶以前從未考慮過的預付獎金之類的東西，我們正在幫助他們建議，這可能是值得開啟的良好趨勢。

Great. And then maybe on the strong new bookings. I know it was asked, but maybe if we could double click, how should we think about it maybe stratifying by customer size? If we think that maybe kind of sub-20 where you've seen strong business formation -- sub-20 employees, versus kind of more in that upper end of your SMB focus, so maybe like that 50 to 100 employee -- 100 employee plus segment?

偉大的。然後或許會受到強勁的新預訂量的影響。我知道這個問題之前有人問過，但如果我們能雙擊一下，或許可以考慮按客戶規模進行分層？如果我們認為，員工人數少於 20 人的小型企業（即員工人數少於 20 人的小型企業）發展勢頭強勁，而中小企業的關注點則更多地集中在員工人數較多的 50 到 100 人（或 100 人以上）的小型企業，那麼情況又會如何呢？

Yes. That under 20 has been strong, just like you said, because of new formation of businesses, and we've picked up very well there. I think on the mid-market, the fourth quarter saw a good increase. And we looked at it over even 19 because it was a tough compare or an easy compare, I guess, I'd say, last year because there wasn't as much activity in the fourth quarter. We looked at it over 19, and we're up in the mid-market over prepandemic levels. And in total, our par number hit a 5-year high on the most -- on the overall par that we sold. So we feel good, really kind of across the board, mid-market, more coming in the last quarter and as we start this year, but fully staffed and ready to go and really seeing -- now they're really trained on how to sell from home. And now, of course, the visits are opening back up. We're getting back out to the referral channels, the CPAs and the current clients.

是的。正如你所說，20歲以下人群表現強勁，因為新企業不斷湧現，我們在這一領域也取得了非常好的成績。我認為中階市場在第四季出現了不錯的成長。我們甚至將其與 2019 年的數據進行了比較，因為去年同期的數據比較困難，或者說比較容易，因為第四季度的業務活動並不多。我們觀察了過去 19 天的情況，發現中端市場已經高於疫情前的水平。總的來說，我們售出的總票數達到了 5 年來的最高點。所以我們感覺很好，總體來說，中端市場整體表現不錯，最後一個季度和今年年初會有更多增長，但我們人員配備齊全，隨時可以開始工作，而且確實看到——現在他們已經接受瞭如何在家銷售的培訓。當然，現在探訪活動已經重新開放了。我們正在重新聯繫推薦管道、註冊會計師和現有客戶。

We've also introduced some technology last year on the client side that helped us mostly on the sub-20 or on the under 20, I guess, I'd say, a -- an automated referral network that we introduced through the marketing team and the sales team, which tells clients, hey, here's how far you are from free payroll or from other things that you can get by turning in one more referral, and it's very easy to do. So we've used some technology to pick up on the referrals as well and get better leads in -- an addition to the normal methods.

去年，我們也在客戶端引入了一些技術，這主要幫助我們在 20 歲以下或 20 歲以下的人群中取得了成功。我想，應該說，我們透過行銷團隊和銷售團隊引入了一個自動化推薦網絡，它可以告訴客戶，嘿，你離免費工資單或其他可以透過再推荐一個人而獲得的獎勵還有多遠，而且這非常容易做到。因此，我們也利用一些技術來獲取推薦訊息，從而獲得更好的潛在客戶——這是對常規方法的補充。

Par, by the way, refers to our internal acronym for bookings.

順便一提，Par 是我們內部表示預訂的縮寫。

Sorry. Yes.

對不起。是的。

Okay. I get that question.

好的。我明白這個問題。

Annualized revenue.

年化收入。

Your next question comes from the line of Andrew Nicholas with William Blair.

你的下一個問題源自安德魯·尼古拉斯和威廉·布萊爾的那條線索。

I guess the first one I wanted to ask was just a numbers one. Efrain, you noted 1.7 million worksite employees. We've talked about kind of 18% year-over-year growth in that metric in the fourth quarter. I'm just wondering if we could drill into kind of those same metrics on PEO specifically. Do you have kind of a ballpark WSE number there and maybe the magnitude of growth on that metric year-over-year in the fourth quarter?

我想問的第一個問題其實就是數字問題。埃弗雷恩，你提到有 170 萬個工作場所員工。我們之前討論過，該指標在第四季度同比增長了約 18%。我只是想知道我們是否可以深入研究 PEO 的這些指標。您能否大致估算一下 WSE 的數據，以及該指標在第四季年增的幅度？

Yes. So we combine both. And the reason we did, we're not splitting it out, Andrew, is that from our perspective, when we go in front of a client, if they want to pivot to an ASO model, so that gives us comparable revenue, not quite as much as PEO, depending on whether they take insurance, as you know, or they don't. So the 18% is where we grew year-over-year. It wasn't a Q4 number. And the combination of both were very strong in the year.

是的。所以我們把兩者結合起來。安德魯，我們之所以不把它拆分出來，是因為從我們的角度來看，當我們面對客戶時，如果他們想轉向 ASO 模式，那麼這給我們帶來的收入與 PEO 相當，雖然不如 PEO 那麼高，但這取決於他們是否購買保險，你知道的。所以，18%是我們年成長的幅度。這不是第四季的數據。而這兩者結合起來，在這一年表現非常出色。

Okay. And maybe as a follow-up to that, have you noticed any kind of material change in clients' preference between ASO and PEO over the past couple of months? I think they've generally lean towards ASO since the pandemic started, but just wondering if there's any evolution of that demand balance here since we last spoke.

好的。或許可以作為後續問題，在過去的幾個月裡，您是否注意到客戶在 ASO 和 PEO 之間的偏好發生了任何實質的變化？我認為自從疫情開始以來，他們總體上更傾向於應用商店優化 (ASO)，但我只是想知道自從我們上次交談以來，這種需求平衡是否有任何變化。

Yes. Andrew, I think the PEO side, we saw coming on stronger toward the end of the year. I think, again, the big challenge out there now for businesses is hiring and retaining employees and a benefits package and a very solid benefits package and easy to enroll is all -- is going to become part of all of that package that you're trying to get to attract employees and keep them. So we do see insurance picking up some. Now we can provide insurance through the agency directly or through the PEO, but -- and you're also seeing Texas and Florida picking up speed as well as you'd expect since they've been pretty open.

是的。安德魯，我認為 PEO 這邊在年底的時候表現得更強勁了。我認為，目前企業面臨的最大挑戰仍然是招募和留住員工，而完善且易於加入的福利方案將成為吸引和留住員工的整個方案的一部分。所以我們看到保險業確實有所復甦。現在我們可以透過代理商直接提供保險，也可以透過 PEO 提供保險，但是——而且正如你所預料的那樣，德克薩斯州和佛羅裡達州也在加速發展，因為它們一直相當開放。

But again, it's a challenge to find people, although it's a little easier to find them there, in those 2 states, frankly, than in other areas of the state. So I think PEO will pick up some. It's just been slower to pick up because the focus has been more on the HR need. Now the HR need being how do I handle things like I mentioned, like vaccination policy, people working from home, new flexible schedules. Now it'll -- it's shifting to not only that, but also how do I hire and retain in a really tough market to find people. And I think one of those things is going to be benefits in insurance.

但話說回來，找到這些人仍然是個挑戰，儘管坦白說，在那兩個州找到他們比在該州的其他地區要容易一些。所以我認為PEO會獲得一些市場份額。只是發展速度比較慢，因為大家的注意力比較集中在人力資源需求上。現在人力資源部門需要考慮的是，我該如何處理我剛才提到的那些事情，例如疫苗接種政策、員工在家工作、新的彈性工作時間等等。現在，問題不僅在於此，還在於如何在人才市場如此艱難的情況下招募和留住人才。我認為其中之一將是保險福利。

Your next question comes from the line of Jeff Silber with BMO Capital Markets.

你的下一個問題來自 BMO 資本市場的 Jeff Silber。

That's close enough. It's Jeff Silber. I know it's late, I'll just ask one. Marty, you had talked a little bit about the challenges that you're seeing in terms of your own internal hiring on the service side. And then throughout the comments, we've talked about some of the challenges that your own clients are seeing. I'm just curious, I know there's been a lot of studies as to why folks are seeing those challenges. What are you hearing and what are you seeing why are people not taking these jobs?

差不多了。他是傑夫·西爾伯。我知道現在很晚了，我就問一個吧。馬蒂，你之前稍微談到了你在公司內部服務部門招募方面遇到的挑戰。在評論中，我們也談到了您的客戶目前面臨的一些挑戰。我只是好奇，我知道已經有很多研究探討了人們面臨這些挑戰的原因。你聽到了什麼？你看到了什麼？為什麼人們不接受這些工作？

Yes. I think you've heard certainly the unemployment benefits being high until Labor Day at least in most areas of the country, I think that's one. I do think there's still a lot of confusion about COVID and there's health concerns that people are afraid like coming back, is everyone vaccinated or not? Do I have to sit near someone? What's the risks? I also think that there's still just a lot of child care issues as well. We hear that from clients. That schools are still kind of -- and day cares are open or partially open, but they're maybe going now to summer schedules as well.

是的。我想你肯定聽說過，至少在全國大部分地區，失業救濟金會一直維持在高位，直到勞動節，我想這是其中之一。我認為人們對新冠疫情仍有許多困惑，也存在一些健康方面的擔憂，例如大家回來後是否都接種了疫苗？我必須坐在別人旁邊嗎？風險是什麼？我也認為目前仍存在許多兒童照護方面的問題。我們從客戶那裡也聽過這樣的回饋。學校目前還處於某種程度的開放狀態——日託中心也開放或部分開放，但他們現在可能也要開始實行暑期課程安排了。

And I think people are just kind of playing it kind of careful to come back. And there's cash account, bank accounts, whether you're in the market or not, if you're in the market, the market's way up and you're feeling pretty confident of your financial position. If you're not in the market, but you have stimulus payments, you've still got some of the highest cash accounts, I think if you look at the stats across the country that we've had in years. So people are feeling like they've got some financial wherewithal, at least temporarily, to probably get through the next couple of months.

我認為人們現在都比較謹慎地考慮是否回歸。還有現金帳戶、銀行帳戶，無論你是否參與股市，如果你參與股市，股市一路走高，你對自己的財務狀況感到非常有信心。即使你沒有參與市場，但你收到了刺激性付款，你的現金帳戶仍然處於最高水平之列，我認為如果你看看我們多年來在全國範圍內的統計數據就會明白這一點。所以人們覺得自己至少暫時還有一定的經濟能力，可以度過接下來的幾個月。

And then I think, honestly, it's going to open up pretty drastically in the fall would be my take because the unemployment is going to come back down as well as the rules of looking for work. The schools should be back open full, hopefully, and day cares. I think even more will be known, obviously, about COVID and the impacts of vaccinations. Hopefully, vaccinations are up strongly as well. By all those, now you start to get the September, October, I think things are going to open and people are going to be getting back to work as cash accounts start drifting down a little bit.

說實話，我認為到了秋季，情況會大幅好轉，因為失業率會下降，找工作的規則也會放寬。希望學校和日間照顧中心都能全面復課。顯然，我認為人們對新冠病毒和疫苗接種的影響將會了解更多。希望疫苗接種率也能大幅上升。考慮到所有這些因素，現在到了九月、十月，我認為一切都會開放，人們也會重返工作崗位，現金帳戶也會開始略微下降。

Your next question comes from the line of Kevin McVeigh with Credit Suisse.

你的下一個問題來自瑞士信貸的凱文麥克維。

Congrats. I wonder, from a margin perspective, as opposed to specific '22. Efrain, [on margin], the way to think about like what the cloud could transition can mean to the business longer term? And as you're seeing the margin investment -- reinvestment rather, some of that's also the runoff from some of the corporate tax reform investments you made back in '17? So I guess is your way to frame how much the cloud transition? And then ultimately, some of that runoff from the '17 investments, what that can mean for the margins over the next couple of years? Just -- obviously, there's other puts and takes there, but just those 2 (inaudible).

恭喜。我想知道，從利潤率的角度來看，而不是具體到 2022 年。Efrain，（在邊際上）思考一下，雲端運算的轉型對企業的長期發展意味著什麼？正如您所看到的，利潤投資——更確切地說是再投資——其中一些也是您在 2017 年進行的一些企業稅制改革投資的後續收益？所以，我想這就是你描述雲端轉型程度的方式吧？那麼最終，2017 年投資的部分收益，會對未來幾年的利潤率產生什麼影響呢？顯然，還有其他的投擲和拿取，但只有這兩個（聽不清楚）。

Yes, Kevin. Yes, so let me address that. I think that very little of it was runoff from the '17 investment. There are actually a few projects that are still continuing that we started in that time, that were longer-range projects. So very little of it is the runoff. And what I mean by that, Kevin, is that some of that had to be incorporated in the business in order to drive the efficiency that you see. And part of the way some of those investments were structured were that we would accept higher IT spending in exchange for efficiencies in other parts of the organization. I think that what you've seen is on the operations side, significant efficiencies, and the team has done a great job of leveraging the investments we've made. I'd say [that's the one].

是的，凱文。是的，那我就來談談這個問題。我認為其中很少有資金是 2017 年投資的後續。實際上，我們當時啟動的一些長期計畫目前仍在進行中。所以其中只有極少數是徑流。凱文，我的意思是，為了達到你現在看到的效率，其中一些因素必須融入業務中。這些投資的部分結構方式是，我們接受更高的 IT 支出，以換取組織其他部門的效率提升。我認為你們看到的是營運方面的顯著效率提升，團隊在利用我們所做的投資方面做得非常出色。我覺得就是它了。

I think the second part is simply that when -- I mentioned earlier is when you go through one of these experiences, there's some geographic optimization, that helped, but you also look at what extent you actually need and you realize you don't need 100 cents on the dollar, maybe you need $0.99. And I think that where we had that opportunity, we see opportunity to eliminate the costs out of the model.

我認為第二部分很簡單——我之前提到過，當你經歷這些事情時，會有一些地理優化，這很有幫助，但你也要考慮你實際需要的程度，然後你會意識到你不需要 100% 的收益，也許你只需要 0.99 美元。我認為，如果我們有機會，我們就應該從這種模式中消除成本。

That's helpful. And then just -- it seems, [if we have already], as you go more DIY, the smaller average client size. [So more there], can you remind us the kind of where the average client size is today. And the reason I'm trying to make that point is, obviously, open to equal smaller clients or higher retention or more turnover, but you're getting better retention overall. So maybe help us reconcile those dynamics a little bit.

那很有幫助。然後——似乎（如果我們已經有這樣的情況），隨著DIY的增多，平均客戶規模會越來越小。[還有更多內容]，可以提醒我們一下目前平均客戶規模大概是多少嗎？我之所以要強調這一點，顯然是因為，這可能意味著客戶數量較少、客戶留存率較高或客戶流動率較高，但總體而言，你的客戶留存率會更高。所以，或許可以幫我們稍微釐清這些關係。

Yes. I'll start with that. It's still in the mid-teens for the average client size. In some areas, it's gone up a little bit, actually. And in others, it's decreased. But I think we're still hanging in that mid-teens time frame -- or in that mid-teens size. And I think that it hasn't had a big impact on retention. I think what's really had the big impact on retention is the value we've delivered during the pandemic, in particular, and of course, certainly some macroeconomic effects of people just wanting to say, hey, I'm going to focus on kind of betting down the business and not do a lot of change right now. And we're expecting that to continue based on the value we provided them during the pandemic that they've seen and experienced.

是的。我先從這裡開始。平均客戶規模仍在十幾個百分點左右。在某些地區，實際上還有小幅上漲。而在其他情況下，這種現象則有所減少。但我認為我們仍然停留在十幾歲中期的階段——或者說，我們的體型仍然停留在青少年中期。我認為這並沒有對用戶留存率產生太大影響。我認為真正對客戶留存率產生重大影響的是我們尤其是在疫情期間提供的價值，當然還有一些宏觀經濟影響，比如人們只想說，嘿，我要專注於押注業務，而不是現在進行太多改變。我們預計這種情況會繼續下去，因為他們已經看到並體驗了我們在疫情期間為他們提供的價值。

Your next question comes from the line of James Faucette with Morgan Stanley.

你的下一個問題來自摩根士丹利的詹姆斯‧福塞特。

I'm wondering if on this point of hiring and recruiting, et cetera, how you're feeling about the current product and services that Paychex can offer. And I know that, that can be a contributor, but I'm just wondering if there's incremental opportunity to expand and improve those or tie them into other services. Just trying to think about kind of this bottleneck that everybody seems to be dealing with right now and how you can help address that.

我想知道，在招募等方面，您對 Paychex 目前能夠提供的產品和服務有何看法。我知道這可能會有所幫助，但我只是想知道是否有進一步擴展和改進這些服務或將它們與其他服務聯繫起來的機會。我只是想思考一下大家目前似乎都在面臨的這個瓶頸問題，以及我可以如何幫助解決這個問題。

I think the investments we've made over the last couple of years, really making onboarding of new employees, very easy for our clients, have been really important. It's all paperless. It can now be done online. And the partnership with Indeed has really picked up very well, the fact that Indeed gives credits to our clients for their early postings and so forth and get them kind of to the top of the list for posting. So from the standpoint of as soon as you let someone go, we can alert you to the fact that you can post that job now on Indeed, which is integrated with Paychex Flex, Indeed will post that job. If someone -- as candidates apply for that job, you can now see all that through Flex.

我認為過去幾年我們所做的投資，真正讓客戶的新員工入職變得非常容易，這一點非常重要。全部流程都實現了無紙化。現在可以在網路上辦理了。與 Indeed 的合作進展非常順利，Indeed 會為我們的客戶早期發布的廣告給予積分，並讓他們的廣告排在名單的首位。因此，從您解僱某人的角度來看，我們可以立即通知您，您可以立即在 Indeed 上發布該職位，Indeed 與 Paychex Flex 集成，Indeed 會發布該職位。現在，您可以透過 Flex 看到所有申請該職位的候選人資訊。

You can do video interviews. You can onboard that employee and all of their information that, frankly, they can sell -- set up by themselves, the person that's applying for the job, and all that can be done and then approved and set up and run a payroll and all their other HR products from us, all paperless without ever anyone touching anything. So I think that is continue -- that is going to help a lot in the hiring process, and the integration with Indeed is going to help people get posted out to the biggest job board, frankly, in the world. So we feel very good about the partnerships and then about all of the process being completely paperless in onboarding.

你可以進行視訊面試。您可以讓該員工及其所有資訊（坦白說，這些資訊他們可以出售）都進入公司——求職者可以自行設置，所有操作都可以在我們這裡完成，然後獲得批准，設置並運行工資單以及所有其他人力資源產品，所有操作均無需紙質文件，也無需任何人接觸任何東西。所以我認為這將繼續下去——這將對招聘過程大有幫助，與 Indeed 的整合將幫助人們將招聘資訊發佈到世界上最大的招聘網站上，坦白說。因此，我們對合作關係感到非常滿意，整個入職流程也完全實現了無紙化。

And then once they're in, all of the career development, the data analytics that we provide, the ability to communicate remotely through HR conversations where you can text within the app back and forth or message within the app back and forth, all is very strong for hiring and retaining your employees.

一旦他們加入公司，我們提供的所有職業發展、數據分析、透過人力資源對話進行遠端溝通的能力（可以在應用程式內進行簡訊或訊息往來），所有這些都對招募和留住員工非常有幫助。

Your next question comes from the line of Mark Marcon with Baird.

你的下一個問題來自 Mark Marcon 與 Baird 的對話。

Congrats on a strong quarter and a positive outlook. Wondering if you can talk a little bit about where you feel like you might be gaining share. When we talk about like, obviously, the new business formations are helpful, but it sounds like you're probably getting more than your fair share within new business formations. And then how can you -- how would you describe the competitive environment in terms of where some of the gains are coming from and where things are still challenging? And then I've got a follow-up.

恭喜公司本季業績強勁，前景樂觀。想請您談談您認為您在哪些方面可能正在擴大市場份額。當我們談到新企業成立時，很明顯，新企業成立是有幫助的，但聽起來你可能從新企業成立中獲得的份額超過了你應得的份額。那麼，您如何描述當前的競爭環境？您認為哪些方面取得了進展，哪些方面仍面臨挑戰？然後我還有一個後續問題。

Okay. I think the gains, obviously, as you mentioned, Mark, are from new business formation, but also we're retaining a number of clients -- from that standpoint, we're retaining more clients that would have gone to competition. We have not seen the losses, as Efrain mentioned, from price value, that's improved, to go to competitors, that has improved, particularly our largest competitor. I think we've done extremely well there from holding on to clients. The sales have also -- I think we're picking up much more from an HR perspective.

好的。我認為，正如你所提到的，馬克，收益顯然來自新業務的成立，但我們也留住了許多客戶——從這個角度來看，我們留住了更多原本會流向競爭對手的客戶。正如埃弗雷恩所提到的，我們沒有看到價格方面的損失，價格方面有所改善，而競爭對手方面也有所改善，特別是我們最大的競爭對手。我認為我們在留住客戶方面做得非常出色。銷售方面也有所改善——我認為我們從人力資源的角度獲得了更多資訊。

A couple of years ago, we started selling really not from just a payroll perspective, but from an HR perspective because we saw we were leaving value on the table for what the client really needed. And I think that has helped us a tremendous amount, too, for a client to say, hey, I'm not just looking for payroll. I'm looking for an HR need. And when you sell the HR need, it has time and attendance, which then leads to the payroll, and it's a total package. So I think we've seen a nice pickup from the way we sell, the way we market. Our leads are up double digits from last year, from the way we're marketing on social media through the Thrive Conference, the business conference we just had. I mean we have gotten much more sophisticated in the marketing and making the leads that we're getting much more efficient for the sales teams to be able to go out and sell. And then if they're not ready to buy, we have a great nurturing process of that lead that we have started a few years ago that I think has really matured extremely well.

幾年前，我們開始不再僅僅從薪資角度，而是從人力資源角度進行銷售，因為我們發現，對於客戶真正需要的東西，我們並沒有提供足夠的價值。我認為這對我們幫助很大，因為客戶會說：“嘿，我不僅僅是在尋找工資單服務。”我正在尋找人力資源的工作機會。當你推銷人力資源需求時，它包括考勤，進而涉及到工資發放，這是一個完整的解決方案。所以我覺得我們在銷售和行銷方面都取得了不錯的進展。透過我們在社群媒體上的行銷方式，以及我們剛剛舉辦的 Thrive 大會（一場商業會議），我們的潛在客戶數量比去年增長了兩位數。我的意思是，我們在行銷方面變得更加成熟，我們獲得的銷售線索也更加有效，銷售團隊可以更有效率地進行銷售工作。如果他們還沒準備好購買，我們還有一套完善的潛在客戶培育流程，這套流程我們從幾年前就開始實施，我認為現在已經非常成熟了。

It sounds like the leads are up, and clearly, new business formations are up. But I'm wondering like within new business formations, once you get the lead, it seems like the win rates are probably going up. And I'm wondering like who do you feel like you're winning more against once you're going head-to-head?

聽起來銷售線索增加了，而且很明顯，新成立的公司數量也增加了。但我很好奇，在新成立的公司中，一旦你取得了領先地位，成功率似乎就會上升。我想知道，當你和對手正面交鋒時，你覺得自己戰勝誰的優勢更大？

Yes. I think I would say local -- certainly, as always, it's been local competitors, too, that are not offering the value. That's one of the things, local, regional competitors, smaller payroll companies, but some of our major competition, too, I don't think, have done as good a job in showing both the technology as well as the fact that, hey, we are available, 365, 7 days a week, 24 hours a day. If you need something, you can do self-service. You can do it yourself. It's a great from a technology standpoint.

是的。我認為應該是本地的——當然，和以往一樣，也是本地的競爭對手沒有提供應有的價值。其中一個問題是，本地、區域競爭對手、規模較小的薪資公司，以及我們的一些主要競爭對手，我認為，他們在展示技術以及「嘿，我們每週 7 天、每天 24 小時隨時待命」這一事實方面做得不夠好。如果需要什麼東西，可以自助取用。你可以自己做。從技術角度來看，這很棒。

But we're not trying to push you away from calling us when you need us with a specific question any time of the day or night, and that's been very important as opposed to some that I think are trying to push into total self-service and becoming more of a Microsoft or Apple that it's too difficult to call them if you really need them in a jam, but -- so they can have the full options available to us. So I think we're winning against local competitors. We're also winning against our major competitor through the breadth of products we're offering and the value. And the client referrals have been very strong, particularly in the existing clients that we've helped through some of the pandemic coming in.

但我們並不是要阻止您在任何時間（無論白天還是晚上）就具體問題致電我們，這一點非常重要，不像某些公司那樣試圖推行完全自助服務，變得更像微軟或蘋果，以至於如果您真的遇到緊急情況需要他們，打電話過去都太困難了——這樣他們就可以擁有我們所能提供的所有選擇。所以我覺得我們戰勝了當地競爭對手。我們憑藉著豐富的產品種類和超高的價值，在與主要競爭對手的較量中也取得了勝利。客戶推薦情況非常好，尤其是我們之前幫助過的那些在疫情期間遇到困難的老客戶。

Great. And then that segues into just what the incremental efforts are going to be like over the course of this coming year. Can you talk a little bit about what you would anticipate in terms of sales force additions? And also, marketing spend, both in traditional as well as digital, seems like all of the competitors are picking up their media presence. So I'm just wondering how you're thinking about that, particularly in context of the really nice operating margin expansion guidance that you're giving.

偉大的。然後，這就引出了接下來一年各項漸進式努力的具體內容。您能否談談您對銷售團隊擴充的預期？此外，無論是傳統行銷還是數位行銷，所有競爭對手似乎都在加大媒體投入。所以我想知道您對此有何看法，尤其是在您給出的非常好的營業利潤率擴張預期背景下。

Yes. I think, as Efrain said, I think we've done a good job in some of the things we did, particularly in some of the facilities initiatives and so forth to reduce costs that allowed us to not only gain the margins, but keep the investment in marketing going. Certainly, we've done, as Efrain mentioned, some brand work this year. A lot of pickup in the social media from that standpoint. We found, I think, very effective ways to spend our dollars in social and in SEM and SEO to be able to get a lot more attention and, again, to get more productive leads that are more efficient for our sales team as opposed to just a wide spread any warm lead that comes in. These are much more efficient from that standpoint.

是的。我認為，正如埃弗雷恩所說，我們在某些​​方面做得很好，尤其是在一些設施建設等方面，降低了成本，這不僅使我們能夠獲得利潤，還能繼續進行行銷方面的投資。當然，正如埃弗雷恩所提到的那樣，我們今年確實做了一些品牌推廣工作。從這個角度來看，社群媒體上有許多相關報導。我認為，我們找到了非常有效的方法，可以將資金投入到社交媒體、搜尋引擎行銷和搜尋引擎優化中，從而獲得更多關注，並獲得更多高效的銷售線索，這對我們的銷售團隊來說比僅僅獲得大量潛在客戶要高效得多。從這個角度來看，它們效率更高。

Sales growth, I think, would be pretty normal from a sales team perspective. And the good news is that we're pretty much fully staffed -- pretty close to being fully staffed and ready to go as we begin this fiscal year. We're seeing a good start to the year that came right out of the fourth quarter.

我認為，從銷售團隊的角度來看，銷售成長應該相當正常。好消息是，我們的人員配備基本齊全——幾乎已經滿員，準備就緒，迎接新財年的開始。今年開局不錯，尤其是在第四季之後。

Great. And then last question. Obviously, you've got a really strong balance sheet. You're going to throw off a lot of free cash flow. How should we think about capital allocation? Any areas of interest from an M&A perspective or return? Obviously, you've got a stellar track record in terms of returning cash to shareholders, but just thinking about the balance between the 2 and also CapEx.

偉大的。最後一個問題。顯然，你們的資產負債表非常穩健。你會損失大量的自由現金流。我們該如何看待資本配置？從併購或回報的角度來看，有哪些感興趣的領域？顯然，你們在向股東返還現金方面有著輝煌的記錄，但也要考慮這兩者之間的平衡以及資本支出。

Yes. Sure. We just obviously just increased the dividend, feeling confident here in the last month or so and increased the dividend on a normal basis. They've got a very strong yield, obviously. And we always continue to look at that, M&A, from an M&A standpoint, continuing to look at all kinds of product tuck-ins, PEO -- PEOs, everything that's out there. Valuations are pretty high. We're pretty particular as to what we're looking for, but we certainly feel good that we're in a solid cash position and gives them a lot of flexibility. Anything you want to add?

是的。當然。顯然，我們剛剛提高了股息，在過去一個月左右的時間裡，我們對市場充滿信心，並按正常程序提高了股息。顯然，他們的產量非常高。我們始終從併購的角度關注併購，繼續關注各種產品整合、PEO（專業雇主組織）等等。估值相當高。我們對尋找的人才要求非常具體，但我們對自身穩健的現金狀況感到非常滿意，這給了他們很大的靈活性。您還有什麼要補充的嗎？

Yes. Mark, the only thing I'd add is or 2 things I'd add, not the only thing. But with respect to CapEx, we generally target about 3.5% to 4% of sales as a level of CapEx will be around there this year. And then we're keenly interested in the right technology. So we do not have the attitude that if it wasn't invented here, we're not interested in it. We're actually interested in anyone's garage idea if it's better than what we got. So we do peer into garages and see what people are doing. Most of it isn't interesting, but some of it is. So we'll look for technology and, obviously, in addition to the areas that Marty mentioned.

是的。馬克，我唯一要補充的是，或者說是兩件事，不是唯一要補充。但就資本支出而言，我們通常的目標是銷售額的 3.5% 到 4%，因為今年的資本支出水準將大致在這個範圍內。然後，我們對合適的技術非常感興趣。所以，我們並沒有那種「如果不是我們這裡發明的，我們就不感興趣」的態度。如果有什麼比我們現有的車庫更好的設計方案，我們非常樂意聽取。所以我們才會窺視車庫，看看人們在做什麼。大部分內容都不有趣，但有些內容還不錯。所以我們會關注技術方面，當然，除了馬蒂提到的那些領域之外。

Your next question comes from the line of Matt O'Neill with Goldman Sachs.

你的下一個問題來自高盛的馬特·奧尼爾。

Just a quick one. This is probably one of the annual guidances that you guys have issued that had a good deal of upside versus consensus. Historically, you guys have been pretty conservative and consistently able to kind of increase guidance throughout the year. So with the amount of uncertainty that probably still remains, is it safe to assume that the same principle that you guys used when setting annual guidance holds and that the starting point here remains conservative in your mind?

就簡單問一下。這可能是你們發布的年度業績指引中，預期值比市場普遍預期高出不少的一次。從歷史上看，你們一直都比較保守，並且能夠在全年持續提高業績預期。鑑於目前可能仍然存在諸多不確定因素，是否可以假設你們在製定年度業績指引時所採用的原則仍然適用，並且你們認為這裡的出發點仍然是保守的？

I would say this, Matt. Well, that's a good question. I like how euphemistically you said that. There's an element of conservatism in our guidance. I mean, look, the good thing about having been here 10 years and the bad thing about having been here 10 years is the same thing. Everyone knows my MO. So we'll issue guidance that we hope we can do a bit better than, but we also want to make sure that when an investor makes a decision about whether they want to hold Paychex versus something else, they know what they can expect. And I think over the last decade, that's exactly what we've delivered.

我會這麼說，馬特。嗯，這確實是個好問題。我喜歡你這種委婉的說法。我們的指導方針中蘊含著保守主義的成分。我的意思是，你看，在這裡待了 10 年的好處和在這裡待了 10 年的壞處是同一件事。大家都知道我的行事作風。因此，我們將發布指導意見，希望我們能做得更好一些，但我們也想確保，當投資者決定持有 Paychex 還是持有其他股票時，他們知道自己可以期待什麼。我認為在過去的十年裡，我們正是做到了這一點。

Your next question comes from the line of Tien-Tsin Huang with JPMorgan.

你的下一個問題來自摩根大通的黃天進。

Congrats on the 50-year anniversary. That's crazy stat, especially in tech. So if Tom Golisano is listening, congrats. I want to quickly -- I know, Efrain, you guys covered a ton. I know just on the payroll client growth of 4% against service revenue being 1%. I know there's a lot of factors that drive the delta there. But just thinking about that incremental 4% and perhaps skewing smaller with smaller revenue per client, is that something you saw coming out of the pandemic and SurePayroll maybe contributing a little bit more to the client growth? And how might that evolve as we look at fiscal '22?

祝賀成立50週年。這個數據太驚人了，尤其是在科技領域。如果湯姆·戈利薩諾聽到了，恭喜你。我想快速地——我知道，艾佛雷恩，你們講了很多。我知道，光是薪資收入就成長了 4%，而服務收入卻只有 1%。我知道有很多因素導致了那裡的差異。但考慮到這額外的 4% 的成長，以及每個客戶收入減少，這種成長幅度可能會更小，您是否預見到疫情後 SurePayroll 可能會對客戶成長做出更大的貢獻？那麼，展望 2022 財年，這種情況又將如何發展呢？

Yes. That's a good question. So yes, I think it's fair, Tien-Tsin, to say that it's skewed a bit smaller. Having said that, our model is -- we take clients of all levels. And as Marty mentioned, the first half, the mid-market was more challenging because of driving everyone to virtual, and then we had strength as we came out of the year. I think we've optimized our model to produce margins that are really pretty impressive even when the clients are small. I think that, for example, a SurePayroll client has a surprisingly high level of lifetime value in part because they're being onboarded onto a platform that's optimized for that size of the client.

是的。這是個好問題。所以，天心，我認為說它略小一些是合理的。也就是說，我們的模式是──我們接受各個層級的客戶。正如馬蒂所提到的那樣，上半年，由於大家都轉向線上辦公，中端市場更具挑戰性，但到了年底，我們的市場實力有所增強。我認為我們已經優化了我們的模型，即使客戶規模較小，也能產生非常可觀的利潤率。例如，我認為 SurePayroll 的客戶終身價值出奇地高，部分原因是他們被引入到一個針對這種規模的客戶進行最佳化的平台上。

And so when we look at the portfolio, we're looking at everything from very low end clients to higher end clients and trying to get the mix right. We feel comfortable that we've got that right and that next year, maybe you'll skew a little bit less to the small and a little bit bigger. So average client side maybe has a chance to tick up. But despite all of that, despite all of that, we had a good year overall from a client growth standpoint.

因此，當我們審視投資組合時，我們會專注於從低端客戶到高端客戶的各種類型，並努力找到合適的組合。我們相信我們已經做對了，明年，也許你們會減少一些小型產品，增加一些大型產品。所以，普通客戶群或許有機會提升。但儘管如此，從客戶成長的角度來看，我們今年的整體業績還是不錯的。

Your last question comes from the line of Peter Christiansen with Citi.

你的最後一個問題來自花旗銀行的 Peter Christiansen。

Also wanted to say great execution in a tough year, certainly. Marty, it was also a strong year on the product development front. You had the [PEO] program. You acted fast on the PPP program, Clover integration and a bunch of other things that you mentioned. But from the product development point of view, what are like some of the priorities that you're thinking about over the next 12, 18 months? Where are you spending the bulk of your resources in that avenue? That would be helpful.

另外，我想說，在如此艱難的一年裡，你們的表現確實非常出色。馬蒂，今年在產​​品開發方面也取得了顯著的成績。你參加過[PEO]計畫。你們在 PPP 專案、Clover 整合以及你們提到的其他許多事情上都行動迅速。但從產品開發的角度來看，在接下來的 12 到 18 個月裡，您認為哪些是優先事項？你在這方面投入的大部分資源是什麼？那會很有幫助。

Yes. I think, Peter, what you're going to see is a lot more self-service. You're seeing with -- it was accelerated a lot with the pandemic that people -- we always have been moving that way and have done a lot of work, as I've mentioned a number of times on the call about self-service, but I think you'll see even more of that. Clients want the ability to be able to do things and their employees and want their employees to be able to do things on their own, and that's probably no surprise. And you'll see us continue to offer that and to work to continue to make that simple on our mobile app.

是的。彼得，我認為你會看到更多自助服務。你會發現，隨著疫情的爆發，這種情況加速了很多——我們一直在朝著這個方向發展，並且做了很多工作，正如我在電話會議上多次提到的自助服務，但我認為你會看到更多這樣的情況。客戶希望能夠自主完成各項工作，他們的員工也希望員工能獨立完成各項工作，或許並不令人意外。你會看到我們繼續提供這項服務，並努力讓我們的行動應用程式能夠繼續簡化這項服務。

The app is still a 5-star mobile app. We're very proud of that. We keep things as simple as we can. And as I said, everything is developed mobile first. So we design it for the mobile app, and that has continued to pay off for us. And I think you'll see things like the fact that employees of our clients are now making all of these changes for their bank accounts and their address changes. That happened relatively quickly over the last year or so that, that has gotten over 80% usage by the employees of the client. That helps the client. That helps us to focus our service people on more value-added conversations and so forth. So...

這款應用程式仍然是五星級行動應用程式。我們為此感到非常自豪。我們力求把事情做得盡可能簡單。正如我所說，所有開發工作都是行動優先的。所以我們針對行動應用進行了設計，而這項策略也一直為我們帶來回報。我認為你會看到，我們客戶的員工現在正在對他們的銀行帳戶和地址進行所有這些更改。在過去一年左右的時間裡，這種情況發展得相對較快，客戶員工的使用率已經超過 80%。這對客戶有幫助。這有助於我們讓服務人員專注於更有價值、更有意義的對話等等。所以...

(technical difficulty)

（技術難題）

Ladies and gentlemen, your conference will resume momentarily. Please stand by.

女士們、先生們，會議即將繼續進行。請稍候。

Ladies and gentlemen, we did experience technical difficulties. They did lose power. This will conclude today's conference call. Once again, this will conclude today's conference call.

各位女士、先生，我們遇到了一些技術故障。他們確實停電了。今天的電話會議到此結束。今天的電話會議到此結束。