PEO Blog in Advice

by Matt Thomas

In addition to slick roads and shovel-related injuries, another hazard lurks in each winter storm. This hazard, however, is easily prevented by having a plan in place.

Businesses need to be careful how they pay their employees on any day, but particularly so when winter weather is involved. For example, did you know you must pay your exempt employees even if no work is performed on a day the business closes due to bad weather?

Outsourcing human resources to a PEO melts away stress because businesses can trust a PEO to update company policies so that employees know what to do when bad weather strikes, whether it’s a blizzard or a hurricane.

Why doesn’t everyone know what a PEO is?  What’s the confusion, what can Professional Employer Organizations do to help clarify and promote the PEO Industry?

Early this year we set out on a mission to help promote the PEO – Professional Employer Organization Industry.  If you’ve read some of my earlier blogs we’ve discussed the issue of why hasn’t the PEO Industry managed to grow more than it has?  I mean, the concept is brilliant, if you are a small to medium sized business you need to find a quality PEO to manage your Human Resources, Workers Compensation, Benefits, Payroll and more. 

The bottom line is… there isn’t a small to medium sized business that couldn’t benefit from finding and using the services of a quality PEO.  So with that being said, why hasn’t the PEO Industry been able to grow past a market penetration hovering around 3%?

by Bruce Silver

Human resource outsourcing and professional employer organizations provide SMEs, small and mid-size companies with a wide range of valuable administrative, professional, and technical services, whose functions can be burdensome, and disruptive to an organization, if not handled appropriately. Every day we work with clients to assist in their evaluation and selection of HR outsourcing providers who can not only provide the level and quality of services that will enable our clients to operate more effectively and efficiently, but will develop into a mutually rewarding long term partnership.

In the course of our evaluation process, we examine all of the important functions that a company transfers to the professional employer or employee leasing company. We will look closely into their payroll application and HRIS human resource information system. Usually we arrange a demonstration, so that HR managers and payroll administrators can test a program’s ease of use, flexibility, and experience the power of the HR platform first hand.

All too often companies spend hours analyzing, assessing, and comparing the cost or savings that one HRO (Human Resource Outsourcing) or PEO (Professional Employer Organization) service provider offers versus another. While a detailed spreadsheet of costs may help to determine “hard dollar” expenditures, it very rarely accounts for the intrinsic value of the competing service models which is what HR directors and management is trying to compare.

When working with executives and consultants, very often items such as the co-pays of a health plan, workers compensation rates and administrative fees take precedence over far more important questions.  Are you teaming up with an outsourcing partner who is flexible enough to meet your demands? Will you have to conform to “their” way, and if so, when and how often? Is their expertise, services and strengths complimentary or duplicative? Is your corporate philosophy compatible? Only by completing a thorough investigation can busy executives be assured of making the “right” choice.

by Joe Caulfield

Human Resource Outsourcing (HRO) and Professional Employer Organizations (PEO) are proven to help improve service and manage operating costs and cash flow. So it’s not astonishing, given the grimness of our current economic situation that companies are increasing their use of outsourcing to cut costs in many areas, to include HR.

HR outsourcing offers key benefits, including reducing costs, increasing the potency of HR delivery, providing greater expertise, and moving HR up the value chain to aid in organizational growth. The motivations for outsourcing Human Resources are access to skills and knowledge, quality and cost reduction.

The past fifteen years have seen an unprecedented rise in employee to employer litigation, employment regulations and tax laws. Effective management of Human Resources has become a complex task for small to mid-market business owners. Then, there is the laundry list of unfriendly policies, including laws governing hiring, family leave, sexual harassment, paying employees, leaves of absence, employee benefits, and workers’ compensation, not to mention the new healthcare laws coming.