TRINET GROUP, INC. (TNET)

Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations

Operational Highlights

Our consolidated results for 2024 reflect our continuing efforts to serve our clients, attract new clients and invest in our platform.

During 2024 we:

•increased PEO sales performance and improved customer retention,

•continued to grow total revenues with disciplined expense management in light of rising insurance costs,

•continued our capital allocation strategy by distributing excess shareholder returns through the initiation of dividend and the repurchase of approximately 1.77 million shares of our common stock through our existing stock repurchase program,

•welcomed Mike Simonds as our new President and CEO,

•opened a new business and technological innovation center in Hyderabad, India, and

•began several strategic restructuring initiatives to focus our business on our core value proposition, growing ASO, and the efficiency and effectiveness of our operations.

Performance Highlights

Our results for 2024 when compared to 2023 are noted below:

Our total revenues increased 1%, driven by higher Average co-employed WSEs and rate increases, partially offset by lower health plan enrollment. Average WSEs and Total WSEs increased 6% and 4%, respectively, compared to the same period in 2023, primarily due to additional PEO Platform Users and additional service recipients identified as a result of our ongoing effort to ensure that our billing practices best match the expectations of our customers.

Our results are highly influenced by health care cost and utilization trends. Our ICR was 6 points higher compared to the same period in 2023, driven by more severe medical service utilization, higher rates paid for services, and increasing specialty drug utilization which collectively outpaced the rates we charge our clients. The increase in ICR was partially offset by favorable workers' compensation prior period claims development during the second quarter of 2024. For further discussion on the effect of health care costs and utilization trends on our results of operations, refer to the heading "Insurance Cost Ratio (ICR)".

Higher insurance costs and interest expense, partially offset by higher revenues, resulted in decreases of net income and Adjusted Net income of 54% and 40%, respectively, as compared to the same period in 2023. The decrease in net income was also driven by impairment and severance charges recognized as part of our efforts to realign our strategy.

Results of Operations

The following table summarizes our results of operations for the three years ended December 31, 2024, 2023 and 2022. For details of the critical accounting judgments and estimates that could affect the Results of Operations, see the Critical Accounting Judgments and Estimates section within MD&A.

As illustrated below, we have adjusted the presentation of our income statement to include interest income into Total revenues and interest expense, bank fees and other into expenses. This has the effect of simplifying the presentation by removing a separate subtotal of Other income/expense, which is not a measure of profitability used by management.

(1)    Refer to Non-GAAP measures definitions and reconciliations from GAAP measures under the heading "Non-GAAP Financial Measures".

(2)    Total WSEs and Average WSEs include incremental WSEs that were charged a platform user access fee and incremental additional service recipients. These were identified as a result of our ongoing effort to ensure that our billing practices best match the expectations of our customers. For details, refer to the heading "Operating Metrics – Worksite Employees (WSEs).”

(3)    For the year ended December 31, 2022, reflects HRIS Users from February 15, 2022, the date on which we acquired Zenefits, to the end of the period.

The following table summarizes our balance sheet data as of December 31, 2024, 2023 and 2022.

A discussion regarding our financial condition and results of operations for 2023 compared to 2022 can be found under Part II, Item 7. Management's Discussion and Analysis in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023, filed with the SEC on February 15, 2024.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

In addition to financial measures presented in accordance with GAAP, we monitor other non-GAAP financial measures that we use to manage our business, to make planning decisions, to allocate resources and to use as performance measures in our executive compensation plan. These key financial measures provide an additional view of our operational performance over the long-term and provide information that we use to maintain and grow our business. The presentation of these non-GAAP financial measures is used to enhance the understanding of certain aspects of our financial performance. It is not meant to be considered in isolation from, superior to, or as a substitute for the directly comparable financial measures prepared in accordance with GAAP.

(1)     Non-GAAP effective tax rate is 25.6% for 2024 and 2023, and 25.5% for 2022, which excludes the income tax impact from stock-based compensation, changes in uncertain tax positions, and nonrecurring benefits or expenses from federal legislative changes.

In 2024, we changed our presentation method in our Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows to classify changes in WSE and TriNet Trust assets and liabilities as financing activities instead of operating activities. As a result of this change, we will no longer use Corporate Operating Cash Flows as a non-GAAP financial measure.

Reconciliation of GAAP to Non-GAAP Measures

The table below presents a reconciliation of Net income to Adjusted EBITDA:

(1)    2022 Interest expense, bank fees and other includes $17M of realized investments losses on sales and impairments related to AFS securities.

The table below presents a reconciliation of Net income to Adjusted Net Income:

Operating Metrics

Worksite Employees (WSE)

Average WSE change is a volume measure we use to monitor the performance of our PEO business. Our PEO clients generally change their payroll service providers at the beginning of the payroll tax and benefits enrollment year; as a result, we have historically experienced our highest volumes of new PEO clients joining and existing clients terminating in the month of January. PEO client attrition, new PEO client additions and changes in employment levels within our installed PEO client base all impact our Average WSEs and Total WSEs as we move through a calendar year.

We support WSEs from the date on which their co-employment with TriNet commences through the end of their co-employment with TriNet and also after their co-employment period. We define WSEs to include co-employees and other individuals receiving PEO services, such as individuals who receive COBRA benefits or are subject to partnership tax reporting as well as individuals who utilize our PEO platform on behalf of TriNet PEO clients. As part of an ongoing effort to ensure that our billing practices best match the expectations of our customers, in the third quarter of 2023 we determined that certain individuals such as those described above and certain co-employees were not previously or consistently counted in Total WSEs and Average WSEs. This resulting adjustment is reflected in Total WSEs for both December 31, 2024 and 2023, and increased Average WSEs by approximately 5,400 and 1,500 related to COBRA users for the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023, respectively. We intend to continue our ongoing effort to ensure that our billing practices best match the services we provide and the expectations of our customers and in the future we may identify additional individuals that should be included in Total WSEs and Average WSEs.

In December 2023, we implemented a platform user access fee to charge clients for those users of our PEO platform that may not be co-employed by us and to charge clients for co-employees for whom payroll may not be regularly run. In addition to co-employees for whom payroll may not be regularly run, such as partners in a partnership, this also includes individuals authorized by our clients to access and use the PEO platform for functions such as bookkeeping and benefits management. While the amount of revenue we recognized for this service to date has not been significant, these users of the PEO platform for whose access we charged this fee increased our reported Total WSEs by approximately 30,600 as of December 31, 2024 and Average WSEs by approximately 20,200 and 1,000 for the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023, respectively.

The effect of this new fee is that we are now receiving revenue from two types of users on our PEO platform, those that are co-employed in our PEO business and those that are utilizing our PEO platform, albeit in a more limited capacity. The table below illustrates how those two components comprise our Total WSE and Average WSE metrics.

Average WSEs increased 6% when comparing 2024 to 2023, primarily due to the additional co-employed and PEO platform users described above. From a vertical perspective, declines in our Technology, Professional Services and Life Sciences verticals were largely offset by increases in our Main Street, Financial Services and Non-Profit verticals.

Total WSEs can be used to estimate our beginning WSEs for the next period and, as a result, can be used as an indicator of our potential future success in generating revenue, growing our business and retaining clients. Total WSEs increased 4% when compared to the same period in 2023, primarily due to higher PEO Platform Users as the PEO platform user access fee described above was fully implemented during 2024.

Anticipated revenues for future periods can diverge from the revenue expectation derived from Average WSEs or Total WSEs due to pricing differences across our HCM solutions and services and the degree to which clients and WSEs elect to participate in our solutions during future periods. In addition to focusing on growing our Average WSE and Total WSE counts, we also focus on pricing strategies, benefit participation and service differentiation to expand

the value we provide to our clients and our resulting revenue opportunities. We report the impact of client and WSE participation differences as a change in mix.

We continue to invest in efforts intended to enhance client experience, improve our new sales performance, and manage client attrition, through product development as well as operational and process improvements. In addition to focusing on retaining and growing our WSE base, we continue to review acquisition opportunities that would expand our product offering and provide further scale.

Insurance Cost Ratio (ICR)

ICR is a performance measure calculated as the ratio of insurance costs to insurance service revenues. We believe that ICR promotes an understanding of our insurance cost trends and our ability to align our relative pricing to risk performance.

We purchase workers' compensation and health benefits coverage for our WSEs. Under the insurance policies for this coverage, we bear claims costs up to a defined deductible amount. Our insurance costs, which comprise a significant portion of our overall costs, are significantly affected by our WSEs’ health and workers' compensation insurance claims experience. We set our insurance service fees for workers’ compensation and health benefits in advance for fixed benefit periods. As a result, any increases in insurance costs above our projections, will be reflected as a higher ICR, and result in lower net income. Any decreases in insurance costs below our projections, will be reflected as a lower ICR and result in higher net income.

Under our fully-insured workers' compensation insurance policies, we assume the risk for losses up to $1 million per claim occurrence (deductible layer). The ultimate cost of the workers’ compensation services provided cannot be known until all the claims are settled. Our ability to predict these costs is limited by unexpected increases in frequency or severity of claims, which can vary due to changes in the cost of treatments or claim settlements.

Under our risk-based health insurance policies, we assume the risk of variability in future health claims costs for our enrollees. This variability typically results from changing trends in the volume, severity and ultimate cost of medical and pharmaceutical claims, due to changes to the components of medical cost trend, which we define as changes in participant use of services, including the introduction of new treatment options, changes in treatment guidelines and mandates, and changes in the mix, cost of providing treatment and timing of services provided to plan participants. These trends change, and other seasonal trends and variability may develop. As a result, it is difficult for us to predict our insurance costs with accuracy and a significant increase in these costs could have a material adverse effect on our business.

ICR increased for the year ended December 31, 2024 as compared to 2023, primarily driven by higher insurance costs outpacing the growth in ISR. Insurance costs increased due to more severe medical service utilization in all categories (inpatient, outpatient and professional services), higher rates paid for those services, as well as pharmacy costs including specialty drugs, particularly medications for diabetes and obesity. During the year ended December 31, 2024, this was partially offset by favorable prior period development in workers' compensation.

Total Revenues

Our revenues consist of PSR, ISR and interest income. PSR represents fees charged to clients for processing payroll-related transactions on behalf of our PEO and ASO clients, access to our HR expertise and technology, employment and benefit law compliance services, other HR-related and tax credit filing services and fees charged to access our cloud-based ASO services. ISR consists of insurance-related billings and administrative fees collected from PEO clients and withheld from WSEs for workers' compensation insurance and health benefit insurance plans provided by third-party insurance carriers.

Monthly revenues per co-employed Average WSE is a measure we use to monitor our PEO pricing strategies. This measure increased 1% in 2024 compared to 2023.

We also use the following measures to further analyze changes in total revenue:

•Volume - the percentage change in period over period co-employed Average WSEs,

•Rate - the combined weighted average percentage changes in service fees for each vertical service and changes in service fees associated with each insurance service offering,

•Mix - the change in composition of co-employed Average WSEs within our verticals combined with the composition of our enrolled co-employed WSEs within our insurance service offerings and the composition of products and services our clients receive, such as PEO Platform Users,

•HRIS - cloud services revenue, which includes our new ASO services revenue, and

•Interest income.

The increase in total revenue for the year ended December 31, 2024 was primarily driven by higher co-employed Average WSEs and rate increases, partially offset by lower health plan enrollment.

Professional Service Revenues

Our PEO and ASO clients are primarily billed on a fee per WSE or HRIS User per month per transaction. Our vertical approach provides us the flexibility to offer our PEO clients in different industries with varied services at different prices, which we believe potentially reduces the value of solely using Average WSE and Total WSE counts as indicators of future potential revenue performance.

PSR from PEO Services customers and HRIS services clients was as follows:

We also analyze changes in PSR with the following measures:

•Volume - the percentage change in period over period co-employed Average WSEs,

•Rate - the weighted average percentage change in fees for each vertical,

•Mix - the change in composition of co-employed Average WSEs across our verticals and the composition of products and services our clients receive, including PEO Platform Users, and

•HRIS - cloud services revenue, which includes our new ASO services revenue.

The increase in PSR for the year ended December 31, 2024 was primarily driven by higher co-employed Average WSEs and increases in rate. The decrease in HRIS revenue compared to the prior periods was due to a decrease in HRIS Users in 2024 and an acceleration of revenue in 2023 related to a termination agreement in a broker partner which did not recur in 2024.

Insurance Service Revenues

ISR consists of insurance services-related billings and administrative fees collected from PEO clients and withheld from WSE payroll for health benefits and workers' compensation insurance provided by third-party insurance carriers.

We use the following measures to analyze changes in ISR:

•Volume - the percentage change in period over period co-employed Average WSEs,

•Rate - the weighted average percentage change in fees associated with each of our insurance service offerings, and

•Mix - all other changes including the composition of our enrolled co-employed WSEs within our insurance service offerings (health plan enrollment).

The increase in ISR for the year was primarily driven by rate increases and higher co-employed Average WSEs, partially offset by lower health plan enrollment.

Interest Income

Interest income primarily includes interest income earned from cash held for our PEO and ASO clients as a result of the requirement of our clients to prefund their payroll and related taxes and other withholding liabilities before payroll is processed or due for payment.

The decrease in interest income for the year was primarily driven by lower cash and investment holdings during 2024 as compared to 2023 as well as decreases in interest rates in the second half of 2024.

Insurance Costs

Insurance costs include insurance premiums for coverage provided by insurance carriers, payments for claims costs and expenses for other risk management and administrative services, reimbursement of claims payments made by insurance carriers or third-party administrators below a predefined deductible limit, and changes in accrued costs related to contractual obligations with our workers' compensation and health benefit carriers.

We use the following measures to analyze changes in insurance costs:

•Volume - the percentage change in period over period co-employed Average WSEs,

•Rate - the weighted average percentage change in cost trend associated with each of our insurance service offerings, and

•Mix - all other changes including the composition of our enrolled co-employed WSEs within our insurance service offerings (health plan enrollment).

The increase in insurance costs for the year was primarily due to more severe medical service utilization, higher rates paid for all categories of service (inpatient, outpatient and professional services) and increased specialty drugs utilization, particularly medications for diabetes and obesity. This trend was partially offset by favorable workers' compensation prior period claims development.

Expenses

Expenses include COPS, S&M, G&A, SD&P, D&A, collectively referred to as OE, as well as IE.

We had approximately 3,600 colleagues as of December 31, 2024 primarily across the U.S. but also in India and Canada. Compensation costs for our colleagues include payroll, payroll taxes, SBC, bonuses, commissions and other payroll- and benefits-related costs. Compensation-related expense represented 63% and 66% of our expenses in 2024 and 2023, respectively.

Transaction and integration costs associated with our 2022 acquisitions of Zenefits and TriNet Clarus R+D are included in G&A for 2023. These costs include advisory, legal, and employee retention costs tied to ongoing employment.

In the fourth quarter of 2024, we began implementing a realignment of our strategy designed to simplify and strengthen TriNet’s operational focus. As part of these restructuring efforts, we incurred higher asset impairment and severance expenses than in 2023.

In 2024, we experienced expense growth of 5% compared to 2023. This increase was primarily driven by severance costs and non-cash impairment charges related to our restructuring efforts as well as higher interest expense related to our debt instruments issued in 2023. The ratio of expenses to total revenues was 20% in 2024 and 2023.

We analyze and present our expenses based upon the functional categories of COPS, S&M, G&A, SD&P, D&A and IE. The charts below provide a view of the expenses of the business functions. Dollars are presented in millions and percentages represent year-over-year change.

The primary spend type drivers to the changes in our expenses are presented below:

Income Taxes

Our ETR was 23% and 25% for 2024 and 2023, respectively. The decrease in the rate was primarily attributable to an increase in tax benefits related to excludable income for state tax purposes and tax credits, offset by a decrease in tax benefits for stock based compensation.

Liquidity and Capital Resources

Liquidity

Liquidity is a measure of our ability to access sufficient cash flows to meet the short-term and long-term cash requirements of our business operations. Our principal source of liquidity for operations is derived from cash provided by operating activities. We rely on cash provided by operating activities to meet our short-term liquidity requirements, which primarily relate to the payment of corporate payroll and other operating costs, and capital expenditures. Our cash flow related to WSE payroll and benefits is generally matched by advance collection from our PEO clients. To minimize the credit risk associated with remitting the payroll and associated taxes and benefits costs, we require PEO clients to prefund the payroll and related payroll taxes and benefits costs.

Included in our balance sheets are assets and liabilities resulting from transactions directly or indirectly associated with WSEs, including payroll and related taxes and withholdings, our sponsored workers' compensation and health insurance programs, and other benefit programs. Although we are not subject to regulatory restrictions that require us to do so, we distinguish and manage our corporate assets and liabilities separately from those current assets and liabilities held by us to satisfy our employer obligations associated with our WSEs.

In December of 2023, TriNet created a trust for the purpose of holding funds provided by HRIS clients for the remittance to HRIS Users, tax authorities and other recipients. This trust is consolidated into our financial statements. During the first quarter of 2024, TriNet Trust assumed ownership and responsibility of certain bank accounts that hold ASO client funds. The associated cash is reflected on our balance sheet as restricted cash and the associated liabilities are classified as accrued wages, payroll tax liabilities and other payroll withholdings, and client deposits and other client liabilities and assumed related liabilities. As of December 31, 2024, the balance of restricted cash in TriNet Trust was $87 million. Beginning in the second quarter of 2024, we include the assets and liabilities related to the TriNet Trust in the "WSE & TriNet Trust" category because the underlying cash flows of TriNet Trust are related to the same type of payroll and payroll related liabilities as our WSE cash flows. This trust structure will continue to be used as we transition our HRIS services to ASO services.

As of December 31, 2024, we did not have any material off-balance sheet arrangements that are reasonably likely to have a current or future effect on our financial condition, results of operations, liquidity, capital expenditures or capital resources.

Working capital for WSEs and TriNet Trust related activities

We designate funds to ensure that we have adequate current assets to satisfy our current obligations associated with WSEs. We manage our WSE payroll and benefits obligations through collections of payments from our clients which generally occur two to three days in advance of client payroll dates. We regularly review our short-term obligations associated with our WSEs (such as payroll and related taxes, insurance premium and claim payments) and designate funds required to fulfill these short-term obligations, which we refer to as PFC. PFC is included in current assets as restricted cash, cash equivalents and investments.

We manage our sponsored benefit and workers' compensation insurance obligations by maintaining collateral funds in restricted cash, cash equivalents and investments. These collateral amounts are generally determined at the beginning of each plan year and we may be required by our insurance carriers to adjust our collateral balances when facts and circumstances change. We regularly review our collateral balances with our insurance carriers and anticipate funding further collateral in the future based upon our capital requirements. We classify our restricted cash, cash equivalents and investments as current and noncurrent assets to match against the anticipated timing of payments to carriers.

The following table summarizes our workers' compensation obligations, gross of collateral, as of December 31, 2024,

(1) Represents estimated payments that are expected to be made to carriers for various workers' compensation programs under the contractual obligations. These obligations include the costs of reimbursing the carriers for paying claims within the deductible layer in accordance with the workers' compensation insurance policy.

Because the liabilities of the TriNet Trust are largely driven by how much in cash has been deposited into the trust, there is generally no significant working capital in that entity.

Working capital for corporate purposes

Corporate working capital as of December 31, 2024 increased $84 million from December 31, 2023, primarily driven by a $72 million increase in corporate unrestricted cash and cash equivalents, partially offset by a $65 million decrease in the current portion of our unrestricted investment portfolio and a $54 million decrease in corporate current liabilities, mostly driven by the $34 million reduction in the current portion of our outstanding debt.

We use our available cash and cash equivalents to satisfy our operational and regulatory requirements and to fund capital expenditures. We believe that we can meet our present and reasonably foreseeable operating cash needs and future commitments through existing liquid assets, continuing cash flows from corporate operating activities and the potential issuance of debt or equity securities. We hold both corporate cash and cash associated with WSEs across multiple financial institutions to reduce concentrations of counterparty risk. We believe our existing corporate cash and cash equivalents and positive working capital will be sufficient to meet our working capital expenditure needs for at least the next twelve months.

The following table summarizes our purchase obligations as of December 31, 2024,

(1) Our purchase obligations primarily consist of software licenses, consulting and maintenance agreements, and future sales and marketing events.

Cash Flows

In 2024, we changed the presentation method in our Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows to classify changes in WSE and TriNet Trust related assets and liabilities, formerly included in operating activities, as financing activities.

The following table presents our cash flow activities for the stated periods:

Operating Activities

The year-over-year change in net cash provided by operating activities was primarily driven by the decrease in our net income and the timing of our payments of corporate obligations.

Investing Activities

Cash provided by (used in) investing activities for the periods presented below primarily consisted of purchases of investments, capital expenditures and acquisition of business, partially offset by proceeds from the sale and maturity of investments.

In 2024, we liquidated the unrestricted portion of our investment portfolio and used the funds to pay down our outstanding debt and for additional operational liquidity.

Investments

We invest a portion of available cash in investment-grade securities with effective maturities less than five years that are classified on our balance sheets as investments. We consider industry and issuer concentrations in our investment policy.

We also invest funds held as collateral to satisfy our long-term obligation towards workers' compensation liabilities. These investments are classified on our balance sheets as restricted cash, cash equivalents and investments. We review the amount and the anticipated holding period of these investments regularly in conjunction with our estimated long-term workers' compensation liabilities and anticipated claims payment trend. At December 31, 2024, our investments had a weighted average duration of less than two years and an average S&P credit rating of AA+.

As of December 31, 2024, we held approximately $1.9 billion in restricted and unrestricted cash, cash equivalents and investments, of which $360 million was unrestricted cash and cash equivalents. Refer to Note 2 in Part II, Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplemental Data, in this Form 10-K for a summary of these funds.

Capital Expenditures

During the twelve months ended December 31, 2024 and 2023, we continued to make investments in software and hardware as we enhanced our existing service offerings and technology platform. We expect capital investments in our software and hardware to continue in the future.

Financing Activities

Net cash used in financing activities in the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023 consisted of our debt and equity-related activities.

In February 2023, our board of directors authorized a $300 million incremental increase to our ongoing stock repurchase program initiated in May 2014. In July 2023, our board of directors authorized a further $1 billion incremental increase to this stock repurchase program. We use this program to return value to our stockholders and to offset dilution from the issuance of stock under our equity-based incentive plan and employee purchase plan.

On August 28, 2023, we completed a public tender offer through which we repurchased 5,981,308 shares of common stock at a price of $107.00 per share, for total consideration of approximately $640 million. On September 13, 2023, we repurchased 3,364,486 shares of common stock at a price of $107.00 per share, for total consideration of approximately $360 million, through a private repurchase from our largest stockholder, Atairos Group, Inc.

During the year ended December 31, 2024, we repurchased 1,771,254 shares of our common stock for approximately $182 million through our existing stock repurchase program in addition to 110,779 shares acquired to satisfy tax withholding obligations related to SBC vesting. As of December 31, 2024, approximately $251 million remained available for repurchase under all authorizations by our board of directors. We plan to use current cash and cash generated from ongoing operating activities to fund this stock repurchase program.

In March 2023, to ensure that we maintained liquidity during the regional banking liquidity challenges, we drew down the available $495 million of capacity under our 2021 Revolver. As concerns about market liquidity subsided, we repaid $200 million in March and $295 million in April. In September of 2023, we drew down $200 million under our 2021 Revolver to partially fund our share repurchases in the third quarter of 2023 noted above. In 2024, we repaid $110 million of the outstanding balance.

In August 2023, we issued $400 million aggregate principal amount of our 2031 Notes to partially fund share repurchases in the third quarter of 2023. In August 2023, concurrently with the issuance of the 2031 Notes, we amended certain provisions of our 2021 Credit Agreement, dated February 26, 2021, as amended, to, among other things (1) increase the aggregate capacity under our 2021 Revolver from $500 million to $700 million and (2) extend the maturity date of our 2021 Revolver to August 16, 2028.

We initiated a common stock dividend of $0.25 per share in April, July and October 2024 and declared common stock dividends of $0.25 per share to be paid in the first quarter of 2025.

Capital Resources

As of December 31, 2024, $500 million and $400 million aggregate principal of our 2029 Notes and 2031 Notes was outstanding, respectively. The indenture governing our 2029 Notes and 2031 Notes each includes restrictive covenants limiting our ability to: (i) create liens on certain assets to secure debt; (ii) grant a subsidiary guarantee of certain debt without also providing a guarantee of the 2029 Notes or 2031 Notes, as applicable; and (iii) consolidate or merge with or into, or sell or otherwise dispose of all or substantially all of our assets to, another person, subject, in each case, to certain customary exceptions.

Our 2021 Credit Agreement includes a $700 million revolver. In September of 2023, we drew down $200 million of this revolver to partially fund our third quarter of 2023 share repurchases. The 2021 Credit Agreement includes negative covenants that limit our ability to incur indebtedness and liens, sell assets and make restricted payments, including dividends and investments, subject to certain exceptions. In addition, the 2021 Credit Agreement also contains other customary affirmative and negative covenants and customary events of default. The 2021 Credit Agreement also contains a financial covenant that requires the Company to maintain certain maximum total net leverage ratios.

We were in compliance with all financial covenants under our 2021 Credit Agreement, 2029 Notes and 2031 Notes at December 31, 2024.

Critical Accounting Judgments and Estimates

Our consolidated financial statements are prepared in accordance with GAAP, which require us to make estimates, judgments, and assumptions that affect reported amounts of assets, liabilities, revenues and expenses, and the related disclosures of contingent assets and liabilities. These estimates are based on historical experience and on various other assumptions that we believe to be reasonable under the circumstances. Some of the assumptions are highly uncertain at the time of estimation. To the extent actual experience differs from the assumptions used, our consolidated financial statements could be materially affected. For additional information about our accounting policies, refer to Note 1 in Part II, Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data, of this Form 10-K.

The following items require significant estimation or judgment:

Insurance Costs

We purchase workers' compensation and health benefits coverage for our colleagues and WSEs. As part of these insurance policies, we bear claims costs up to a defined deductible amount and as a result, we establish accrued insurance costs including both known claims filed and estimates for incurred but not reported claims.

We use qualified actuaries to evaluate, review and recommend estimates of our accrued workers' compensation and health insurance costs. The accrued costs studies performed by these qualified actuaries analyze historical claims data to develop a range of our potential ultimate costs using loss development, expected loss ratio and frequency/severity methods in accordance with Actuarial Standards of Practice. These methods are applied to classes of the claims data organized by policy year and risk class.

Key judgments and evaluations in arriving at loss estimates by class and the accrued costs selection overall include:

•the selection of method used and the relative weights given to selecting the method used for each policy year,

•the underlying assumptions of LDF used in these models,

•the effect of any changes to the insurers' claims handling and payment processes,

•evaluation of medical and indemnity cost trends, costs from changes in the risk exposure being evaluated and any applicable changes in legal, regulatory or judicial environment.

We review and evaluate these judgments and the associated recommendations in concluding the adequacy of accrued costs. Our quarterly reserving process involves the collaboration of our internal qualified actuaries and our actuarial and finance departments to approve a single point best estimate. In selecting this best estimate, management considers the actuarial estimates and applies informed judgment regarding qualitative factors that may not be fully captured in these actuarial estimates. Such factors include but are not limited to: the timing, volume, severity and complexity of claims, social and judicial trends, medical treatment trends, the extent of our historical loss data versus industry information, rates of participant turnover, the impact of MCT and seasonal trends, the impact of setting prices in advance of benefit periods, and the impact of unanticipated events. Where adjustments are necessary these are recorded in the period in which the adjustments are identified.

These accrued costs may vary in subsequent quarters from the amount estimated. Certain assumptions used in estimating these accrued costs are highly judgmental. Our accrued costs, results of operations and financial condition can be materially impacted if actual experience differs from the assumptions used in establishing these accrued costs.

Accrued Workers' Compensation Costs

Under our policies, we are responsible for reimbursing the insurance carriers for workers' compensation losses up to $1 million per claim occurrence (Deductible Layer). As workers' compensation costs for a particular period are not known for many years after the losses have occurred, these costs represent our best estimate of unpaid claim losses and loss adjustment expenses within the Deductible Layer in accordance with our insurance policies. We use actuaries to evaluate, review and recommend accrued workers' compensation costs on a quarterly basis. The data is segmented by class and state and analyzed by policy year, and states where we have small exposure are aggregated into a single grouping.

We use a combination of loss development, expected loss ratio and frequency/severity methods which include the following inputs, assumptions and analytical techniques:

•historical volume and severity of workers' compensation cost experience, exposure data and industry loss experience related to TriNet’s insurance policies,

•inputs of WSEs’ job responsibilities and location,

•estimates of future cost trends,

•expected loss ratios for the latest accident year or prior accident years, adjusted for the loss trend, the effect of rate changes and other quantifiable factors, and

•LDFs to project the reported losses for each accident year to an ultimate basis.

Final cost settlements may vary materially from the present estimates, particularly when payments do not occur until well into the future. In our experience, plan years related to workers' compensation programs may take 10 years or more to be fully settled.

We believe that our estimate of accrued workers' compensation costs is most sensitive to LDFs given the long reporting and paid development patterns for our workers' compensation loss costs. Our methods of estimating accrued workers' compensation costs rely on these LDFs and an estimate of future cost trend.

The following table illustrates the sensitivity of changes in the LDFs on our year end estimate of insurance costs (in millions of dollars):

Accrued Health Insurance Costs

We sponsor and administer a number of employee benefit plans for our WSEs, including group health, dental, vision and life insurance as an employer plan sponsor under section 3(5) of the ERISA. Approximately 87% of our group health insurance costs relate to risk-based plans in which we agree to reimburse our carriers for any claims paid within an agreed-upon per-person deductible layer up to a maximum aggregate exposure limit per policy. These deductible dollar limits and maximum limits vary by carrier and year.

Costs covered by these insurance plans generally develop on average within three to six months so insurance costs and accrued health insurance costs include estimates of claims IBNP. Data is grouped and analyzed by insurance carrier.

To estimate accrued health benefits costs we use a number of inputs, assumptions and analytical techniques:

•historical loss claims payment patterns and MCT rates related to TriNet’s insurance policies,

•current period claims costs and claims reporting patterns (completion factors), and

•plan enrollment.

MCT rates are a significant factor we use in developing our accrued health insurance costs. MCT are developed through an analysis of claims incurred in prior months, provider pricing and indicators of health care utilization, including pharmacy utilization trends, and outpatient and inpatient utilization. Many factors may cause MCT to vary from our estimates. Such factors include, but are not limited to: the timing of the emergence of claims, volume, severity and complexity of claims, social and judicial trends, medical treatment trends, the extent of our historical loss data versus industry information, rates of participant turnover, the impact of MCT and seasonal trends, the impact of setting prices in advance of benefit periods, new treatment options, and the impact of unanticipated events.

The following table illustrates the sensitivity of changes in the MCT on our year end estimate of insurance costs (in millions of dollars):

Completion factors are an actuarial estimate based on historical experience and analysis of current trends, of paid costs to carriers as a percentage of the expected ultimate costs to carriers. Many factors may cause actual claims submissions rates from our carriers to vary from our estimated completion factors, including carrier claims processing patterns, the mix of providers and the mix of electronic versus manual claims submitted to our carriers.

The following table illustrates the sensitivity of changes in completion factors on our year end estimate of insurance costs (in millions of dollars):

Recent Accounting Pronouncements

Refer to Note 1 in Part II, Item 8, Financial Statements and Supplementary Data, of this Form 10-K for additional information related to recent accounting pronouncements.

Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations

Operational Highlights

Our consolidated results for 2023 reflect our continuing efforts to serve our clients, attract new clients and invest in our platform.

During 2023 we:

•improved sales performance and customer retention,

•continued to grow total revenues, manage expense prudently, and grow earnings per share,

•utilized our scale and knowledge to assist our PEO and HRIS clients during and following the liquidity challenges in regional banks ensuring that our clients were able to successfully run payroll during that time,

•executed a series of transactions to rebalance our capital structure in order to enhance our leverage ratios, including:

◦issued $400 million of our senior unsecured notes maturing in August 2031,

◦executed our 2021 Credit Amendment, to among other things (1) increase the aggregate capacity under our 2021 Revolver from $500 million to $700 million, and (2) extend the maturity date of our 2021 Revolver to August 16, 2028,

◦completed approximately $1 billion in share repurchases of TriNet common stock through a public tender offer in August and a private repurchase from our largest stockholder, Atairos Group, Inc. in September,

•hosted the 4th TriNet PeopleForce, our showcase client and prospect conference focused on business transformation, agility and innovation for SMBs, and

•successfully completed the migration of our general business applications to the cloud.

Performance Highlights

Our results for 2023 when compared to 2022 are noted below:

Our total revenues increased 1%, primarily driven by inflationary rate increases, partially offset by lower volume due to decreases in Average WSEs.

Our Average WSEs decreased 5% and Total WSEs was approximately flat year over year. The decrease in Average WSEs was primarily due to the cumulative impact of lower hiring in our installed base during the past twelve months, particularly within our Technology vertical, which did not offset our attrition. This trend was partially offset by stronger new client additions and retention during the year.

Our ICR was approximately flat year over year as health insurance costs grew at a faster rate than health ISR, partially offset by favorable workers' compensation prior period claims development.

Higher revenues and interest income, partially offset by higher health insurance costs and operating expenses from our investments in sales and marketing, resulted in the 6% increase in net income. Adjusted Net income was flat as the increase in net income was offset by lower transaction and integration costs as compared to 2022.

Results of Operations

The following table summarizes our results of operations for the three years ended December 31, 2023, 2022 and 2021. For details of the critical accounting judgments and estimates that could affect the Results of Operations, see the Critical Accounting Judgments and Estimates section within MD&A.

(1)    Refer to Non-GAAP measures definitions and reconciliations from GAAP measures under the heading "Non-GAAP Financial Measures".

(2)     Total WSEs includes approximately 12,000 incremental WSEs for December 31, 2023 and Average WSEs includes approximately 4,000 incremental WSEs for the fourth quarter of 2023 (1,000 for the full year 2023) that were charged a platform user access fee. Additionally, Total WSEs includes approximately 4,500 incremental WSEs for December 31, 2023 and Average WSEs includes approximately 4,800 for the fourth quarter of 2023 (1,500 for the full year 2023) additional service recipients. These were identified as a result of our ongoing effort to ensure that our billing practices best match the expectations of our customers. For details, refer to the heading "Operating Metrics – Worksite Employees (WSEs).”

(3)    For the year ended December 31, 2022, reflects HRIS Users from February 15, 2022, the date on which we acquired Zenefits, to the end of the period.

The following table summarizes our balance sheet data as of December 31, 2023, 2022 and 2021.