C2 Essentials Reviews

3.4

64% would recommend to a friend

(60 total reviews)

Jackie Asencio

66% approve of CEO

60% positive business outlook

C2 Essentials has an employee rating of 3.4 out of 5 stars, based on 60 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The C2 Essentials employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Human resources and staffing industry (3.8 stars).

Reviews by job title

60 reviews
5.0
24 Feb 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

I started at C2 in an entry-level payroll role and, over 15 years, grew into a senior specialist. The company truly allows you to build a career if you’re willing to learn and put in the work. I’ve gained a full understanding of payroll from start to finish systems, compliance, client service, troubleshooting, and have been trusted with increasing responsibility over the years. Leadership values experience and promotes from within. The team feels like family, and there’s pride in the work we do. Payroll accuracy really matters, and everyone takes ownership.

Cons

Payroll has strict deadlines, so some weeks are high pressure.

5.0
29 Jan 2025

No Two Days Are Alike

Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

I've been with C2 Essentials for over a decade and I can confidently say it's one of the best places I've ever worked. As an HR professional, there is a one-of-a-kind challenge working in the PEO environment addressing the HR needs for dozens of clients. Finding the best HR solution for a two person startup is vastly different that an established 300 employee firm. Each client needs a tailored approach, which will challenge you as a professional daily but you will succeed if you are adaptable and work collaboratively to parry off the strengths of you colleagues. The company culture is very inclusive. There are opportunities for advancement and the company invests in continuous learning and development. I highly recommend C2 Essentials to anyone looking for a fulfilling and rewarding career.

Cons

Being successful in your role is not always readily apparent -- oftentimes success will be defined by achieving a lot of small victories serving clients or having to learn and grow from mistakes along the way without necessarily getting constant kudos. Every job from manager to individual contributor has something he/she can contribute to applying HR best practices but be patient as process changes, undertaken to champion efficiency or to follow compliance, can take time to solidify with stakeholders.

5.0
4 Dec 2024
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

- Catered Lunches/get togethers/team bonding on a monthly basis. - Literally, and I mean this, the nicest & most unique office in Northern VA. - The opportunity to develop close relationship with the CEO, who is very well connected within the GovCon space and HR space. (40+ years in HR space, 30+ in the GovCon space) Also great opportunity to connect with very successful people in the industry (sales wise), as C2 essentials has a very reputable name in this industry. The CEO is highly passionate and has an action-oriented leadership approach with the attempt to motivate, you need a can-do attitude - Opportunity to travel to the biggest DoD/Intel/Military/Special forces/IT conferences in the country. Many other companies in this field at these events, have teams with 1000+ people that only send the best of the absolute best. Caveat: Despite being a small team, you are given a chance to go to these events, but only if you show you are invested and actually took the time to learn what c2 essentials is selling and feel confident talking about it. - You will work with some of the kindest people (in all departments.) - Long term career growth and room to move up in all departments (only if you show you are capable of doing so) If you have what it takes, you will be given an opportunity. I saw a review below criticizing the ability to move up fast and I think that's a little bit ridiculous... For example... If you are given an opportunity with little experience, and the company owner believes in you to step up, and you make mistakes (affecting relationships with potential and current clients), why would you expect to get a sunshine and rainbow reaction? The person who built a company should expect good results, shocker. People here are highly compensated... its a sole proprietorship, not a corporation who would get rid of you without consideration. - Opportunity to learn about what really goes on in the backend of running a successful business, in terms of everything HR, and what it takes to manage active government contracts as a business owner. -You have the opportunity to get full insight on how we help out clients. In training, I spent multiple days in every department shadowing, giving me a better idea of how we actually help our clients. This gave me confidence in selling. - There are endless resources to utilize, to learn more about what C2 does and what we sell, but you have to be self motivated and want to win.

Cons

- CEO, out of kindness, has given people chances who are not particularly qualified, and has hired people who are sometimes incompetent. This has directly made my job difficult at times. - I worked with remote sales people who were pretty lazy, and did not meet their numbers (call wise, appointment wise, dedication wise). Many were hard to get a hold of and seemed like they were working for maybe 1-2 hours and did their own thing rest of the day. I believe this is because of the good base salary, which made people get comfortable. - Your hand wont always be held and some things you will learn on your own (in sales), however, in other departments such as HR & Payroll, you'll have dedicated managers that are very hands on. However, there is a new sales manager who seems very dedicated to making a difference in this department. When i started in 2021, there was a great sales manager of 7+ years who passed away unexpectedly, which in turn made it difficult for new sales people to get the hang of it. This slowed down the morale and momentum of the sales team for a period of time. - In somewhat of a rebuilding stage so the team is small, a few team members who have been here for 10-15+ years have stepped away for reasons that dont involve any sort of misconduct. (family matters, and 2+ of which have simply retired). So there are few things that are in still in the process of being figured out. - Some people have had trouble in the past dealing with pressure from leadership, and I saw a lot of people take that the wrong way. To be cut and dry you need to have thick skin and have the bigger picture in mind. Not for the faint of heart, you are here to do a job and pressure is something that you need to learn how to deal with.

Viewing 1 - 3 of 60 Reviews

Glassdoor has 62 C2 Essentials reviews submitted anonymously by C2 Essentials employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if C2 Essentials is right for you.