Today, Gusto is expanding its connector for Claude, giving small business owners more ways to manage payroll, people, and hours right from a conversation. Featured in Anthropic's latest expansion of Claude for Small Business, these new capabilities take the connector beyond payroll, helping owners run more of the business so they spend less time on admin and more on what matters.
From knowing your business to acting on it
Running a small business means constantly switching hats: owner, HR, bookkeeper, scheduler, often without the team or time to do it all. AI is starting to close that gap, not just when you’re starting out, but in the daily grind of keeping a business running.
A recent Gusto survey shows 44% of new businesses now use AI for ongoing operations, up from just 21% in 2023. Owners aren't experimenting with AI anymore; they're building it into how they run the business.
The Gusto connector for Claude is built for that shift. It makes it easy to bring your business context from Gusto directly into Claude, so you can run important pieces of the business, including payroll, timesheets, time off, S-corp elections, and more, without leaving the conversation.
The value comes from context and action together: AI that knows the real state of a business and can prepare the next step.
For example, ask Claude what you'd ask someone on your team who already knows your business:
"Gusto, add these quarter-end bonuses to the upcoming payroll run."
"Update [employee]'s hours before I approve this run."
"Pull this period's labor cost and add it to my budget sheet."
"Who's missing a manager or start date on my team?"
"How much should I pay myself if I elect S-corp status?"
"Stage these timesheets as a payroll run. Let me approve it, and then sync the payroll to my books."
"Help me forecast how much cash flow I have before staging the next payroll run."
And small businesses are already seeing the benefits:
"I use the Gusto connector for Claude to make more data-driven decisions for a small business like ours. By pulling timesheet data into Claude, I can see which crew was on which job and how long each job took, then feed that information back in to improve future scheduling," said Alex Aukerman, owner of Ox Asphalt.
"As a result, we're more efficient, our employees are happier and less overworked, and we feel far more confident making decisions based on real data instead of gut feeling."
We’re building towards full support for company setup, employee and contractor onboarding, pay schedule configuration, and benefits visibility.
Businesses stay in control
The Gusto connector for Claude can prep the work and flag what needs a second look, but every action still goes to the owner to review. Nothing Claude prepares (hours, bonuses, deductions, PTO) goes through until you approve it.
AI is changing what’s possible for small businesses, and the Gusto connector for Claude is putting payroll, people, and benefits directly into the AI tools owners already trust.
Try the Gusto connector for Claude and sign up for our upcoming webinar.
