9 Ways PEOs Benefit Your Business to Drive Prosperity

If you're running a small or medium-sized business, you may be "balancing a lot of plates" or "wearing many hats" as you try to keep everything running smoothly. A great way to help lighten your load is to consider working with a professional employer organization (PEO). There are numerous benefits to businesses when working with a PEO. PEOs continue to grow in popularity as more and more businesses find them helpful. According to NAPEO, awareness of professional employer organizations has risen by 44% since 2018. In this article, we'll look at what a PEO is and some of the ways they can help serve your business.

What is a PEO?

A PEO provides human resources outsourcing services to client companies.

A PEO and client enter into a co-employment relationship. The PEO and client responsibilities are expressly described in a service agreement between the PEO and the client. The client maintains control over daily operations, including hiring, job roles, and business decisions. The co-employment model allows businesses to outsource certain HR-related administrative burdens and responsibilities to the PEO.

As a result, businesses can leverage the PEO's expertise, technology, and economies of scale, potentially realizing cost savings and improving services for their employees. Meanwhile, the business manages its operations and direct their employees' day-to-day tasks.

What are some PEO Benefits?

A PEO can help your business with many time-consuming and essential HR functions so you can focus your efforts elsewhere. Let's look at nine specific ways using a PEO can prove beneficial.

1. Relief from handling HR administrative duties

PEOs help with HR demands and administrative tasks for businesses, allowing companies to focus on other core activities. These HR tasks range from payroll processing and benefits administration to payroll tax filing and remittance.

PEOs provide expertise and technology so businesses can save on in-house resources. This can be a lifesaver, particularly for small businesses.

2. Streamlined payroll administration

PEOs specialize in streamlining payroll administration and helps businesses meet their pay obligations to employees and the agencies.

If you run a small business, would you rather spend time learning how to deal with "leap year payroll" and the latest changes in tax withholdings, or rolling out a new product and improving your marketing? Professional employer organizations offer comprehensive payroll services and take on human resources tasks that are sometimes monotonous and sometimes dauntingly complex. They have the experts and software that can keep up with ever-changing rules and requirements and helps you get things done accurately.

3. More expertise on compliance

Another question or two for the owner of a small or medium-size business: How much time do you have to keep up on the latest updates to the Affordable Care Act? Do you know compliance requirements for certain leave policy? PEOs specialize in employment compliance and can help businesses navigate the complex landscapes. The right PEO can help companies mitigate certain HR risks. By staying updated on changing employment laws, professional employer organizations can help businesses with compliance.

4. Enhanced employee onboarding experience

Employee onboarding is a critical part of a business, but smaller businesses often lack the resources to do it systematically. According to a Harvard Business Review article, companies with a formal onboarding program experience a 50% increase in long-term new hire retention. Furthermore, those new hires are 62% more productive than their counterparts at companies without standardized onboarding.

PEOs can offer hiring best practices to help their clients. Leveraging their expertise and systems, this help businesses streamline processes to smoothly integrate new hires into a company's culture and operations.

By centralizing onboarding tasks such as documentation, training, and benefits enrollment, PEOs help to ensure a consistent and efficient introduction for new team members. This helps foster a positive employee experience from day one, setting the stage for long-term engagement and productivity.

5. Better employee benefits packages

PEOs are instrumental in shaping and administering and access to robust employee benefit packages. By pooling resources from multiple client companies, their offerings may be more cost effective than a single business could. Employees get access to a wider range of options for their benefits packages. This not only helps to attract better employees, but also helps retain employees you value.

6. Support on workers' compensation coverage

PEOs offer invaluable support with workers' compensation solution. They have workers' compensation specialists. These experts help navigate the complexities of appropriate coverage according to state-specific and industry requirements. Additionally, PEO claims management team is proactive and focused on helping with claims management, minimizing disruptions and helps with cost for businesses.

7. A personal approach

A business might worry about being just another account to a PEO, but some PEOs designate a relationship manager to help serve a client. This manager acts as a single point of contact, ensuring consistency and familiarity. Rather than navigating various departments or facing impersonal customer service, businesses can directly reach their relationship manager for queries, concerns, and help.

With this personalized approach, your relationship manager knows the nuances of your business and serves as a strategic resource for guidance. It’s a proactive and personalized relationship — the PEO is on your side to help you grow a resilient business.

8. Access to expertise on specialty issues

PEOs often have expertise on specialty issues, such as navigating the complexities of hiring multistate employees. As globalization intensifies and businesses increasingly tap into talent, understanding and adhering to employment laws in multiple states is crucial.

When you use a PEO, its specialists can help you through the intricate landscape of multistate hiring. This can range from employment-related laws to compliance with local, state, and federal agencies. With a PEO’S help, businesses can confidently comply with requirements and rules governing pay and payroll taxes in any state.

9. Industry-specific HR experts

PEOs offer industry-specific HR experts who have deep knowledge of the unique compliance challenges within particular sectors. Whether a business operates in healthcare, tech, manufacturing, or hospitality, these experts are familiar with the nuances and intricacies of the specific industry. Leveraging this specialized expertise, PEOs help companies with HR best practices tailored to their field, helping business with compliance as it relates to employment laws and industry-specific regulations.

Is Your Business Ready to Take Advantage of PEO Benefits?

With TriNet as your PEO you can discover how it feels to have an HR team committed to your growth and peace of mind. For you, we provide help with payroll services, talent acquisition and retention, and proactive risk mitigation and up-to-date compliance guidance. For your employees, we offer access to big-company benefits, personalized support, quick access to expertise, and tools for leadership and development training.

Forbes named TriNet as Best for Enrollment Support in 2023, a testament to its ease of use for employees. And TechRepublic named TriNet Best for Specific Industries in 2023. Contact TriNet if you're ready to take advantage of all the PEO benefits they have to offer.

This communication is for informational purposes only, is not legal, tax or accounting advice, and is not an offer to sell, buy or procure insurance.

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