Fidelity Investments officials confirmed Tuesday it’s halting offering payroll/HR services to employers as part of its workplace investing platform that serves more than 24,000 companies nationwide, including many in Colorado.

Fidelity has operations in Greenwood Village, and more than 1,000 Colorado employees. Many Colorado companies offer Fidelity’s workplace benefits, like 401(K) accounts, to employees.

“After a strategic review and decision-making process, Fidelity has chosen to exit the HR/payroll business and selected Paycor as a preferred payroll provider to which we will refer our existing clients,” according to a Fidelity spokesperson via an email response to questions.

Paycor Inc. is a Cincinnati-based business that provides “SaaS payroll and human capital management (HCM) software.”

About 2,000 companies nationwide that used Fidelity’s payroll services, including an undetermined number in Colorado, received email notices Monday about the change.

“Paycor is well-positioned to support the nearly 2,000 existing Fidelity clients with its full range of human capital management solutions, including payroll and benefit administration,” according to Fidelity’s Tuesday statement.

Fidelity officials confirmed the move has no impact on the company’s workplace investing division’s employment levels nationwide, or in Colorado. In fact, the company has continued its hiring push to meet the demand of increased customers and customer contacts.

“We hired and welcomed 10,500 new associates in 2020 and have continued to hire throughout Q1 (nearly 300 in CO alone),” according to the email statement.

Other payroll companies welcome the opportunity to step in.

“Any time a provider exits the market or changes their service offering, it creates opportunities,” said Vince Phelan of Paylocity, which handles payroll for some 24,000 nationwide, many in Colorado. “Companies in flux often re-evaluate their organizational pain points and improvement priorities – in this case for HR and payroll services – and which providers are the best fit for their current and future needs.”

Fidelity, a privately owned company based in Boston, has $9.9 trillion in  assets under administration, including some 32.6 million workplace participant accounts like 401(K)s, according its 2020 annual report.