Handling all of your human resources (HR) needs, including payroll and administration, employee health and retirement benefits, workers’ compensation insurance, and compliance issues in an ever-changing environment can be a tall task for small businesses. A professional employer organization (PEO) can not only help you tackle these tasks, but provide savings on group health insurance and benefit plans for your employees. Unlike other outsourced HR tasks which typically handle one or two services, a PEO can provide your company with the bulk of key services needed. Listed below are some of the things a PEO can do for your business and the advantages associated with these services.
Payroll Administration
A PEO will take over payroll administration and take responsibility for:
- Payroll
- Employee taxes
- Quarterly reports
- Worker’s compensation insurance
- Premium audits
- Claims management
- Benefits procurement
Affordable Health Insurance & Benefits
Employees under PEO services can get access to a wider range of services at a much better price. This is possible because the employees are essentially hired under the PEO rather than the company they work for. This allows the PEO to pool all of its employees into one larger group and negotiate lower rates and lower annual rate increases.
Compliance
Ensuring your company is compliant with all employer-related state and federal laws is important, as fines for compliance failure can be hefty and reputation damaging. A key advantage in hiring a PEO is that employers do not have to handle as many complex legal HR tasks, and the PEO will ensure that its clients are knowledgeable on standards at the local, state, and federal levels.
Training
A PEO is not set out to replace your internal HR staff, but to align with your existing staff and ease the administration of HR tasks. A good PEO will have an experienced, knowledgeable staff that can provide assistance and guidance in complex HR situations. Some PEOs may provide liability awareness training or employee engagement initiatives.
Focus on Core Competencies
For companies who have been struggling to meet their human resources needs, a PEO can be the perfect opportunity to alleviate a lot of the time and resources being spent towards resolving these issues. This will allow for companies to focus on the tasks they are truly good at and provide more value to them, ultimately increasing profits and growth.