There are 700 of them – how do you even figure out the right ones to call to even narrow down the process?

This will address some of the questions, but it really brings up the other questions that you have to think about. Not exactly a checklist but really this gives you an idea of the differences in the complexities of the purchasing process. But don’t be scared – there’s an easy way to do this all – more on that later.

The comparison spreadsheet we use has 48 rows and they are all important.  I know we have said this in other FAQs but it’s worth repeating – they sound like they (PEOs) all do everything – they will all check off they do it on your spreadsheet – just ask any direct PEO salesperson from any PEO- they will tell you how the PEO they are working for (currently)  is the best – here is the short truth to this fundamental and important question – PEOs encompass so many aspects that are each complicated – from payroll to benefits to HRIS to WC, etc… even if you have one now and you think you know what to ask for it will take incredible time to do the right due diligence on them and that presumes you went to the right ones.  What their salesman says, their internet reviews and their glowingly happy client referrals they cherrypick for you is not what you need to hear or internet reviews say or happy client referrals they cherry-pick for you to talk to say is not what you need – even if you had the time to do this time-consuming project, what you need is a professional that really is objective about the companies, has dealt with their problems, knows what is really going on this year with their software or organization.  By the way, a PEO broker doesn’t charge a fee for all this – they get you better rates than if you went direct – you fill out fewer forms – and they will do the comparisons between them all. 

Why do you need to compare? Because they are so very different from technology, from service, from guarantees, from style, from admin rates, from hidden fees, from benefit plan, and WC and benefit rates and renewals, from compliance help and defense.

What are these called? They’re called PEO brokers they don’t charge a fee they get lower rates and most importantly they’re good and that is the only thing they do and there are big differences between PEO brokers, but the most important thing is they will make sure you did not pick the wrong PEO you could get fired because of it literally.

See additional FAQs on how brokers operate:

Why Do People Select ThePEOPeople.com?

How Much do PEOs Really Cost?

What is a PEO Anyway?

Why Should I Call a PEO Broker Instead of the PEO’s Directly?

You would think going directly to a provider is the least expensive way to shop – but it isn’t, and here’s why.

• Direct sales forces are very expensive – see below for more on how much they cost you. Buying through large channel partners is almost always guaranteed to be less expensive, and give you a better deal. Amazon, Wayfair, Hotel Tonight, Priceline, etc.
• A direct rep only sells that company, and once you call them and get in the PEOs salesman’s Retail pricing Sales system, you are often stuck at higher prices. Don’t get sucked into the rabbit hole before it’s too late!
• Direct sales reps have quotas – the more they charge you the more they make and the closer they are to their quotas. When they’re talking to you, they don’t care about you or your business, they just want to hurry up and close a deal so they can move on to the next unsuspected business owner.
• Direct sales reps don’t have the buying power of a large distributor – see below how much this can cost you in all the fees.
• Direct sales reps can only sell one company – so with that being said do you really think they’ll keep you up to date on that company’s issues, or just recommend one that is better?
  • For example – when times get tough they conveniently “forget” to tell you about how they just lost a lot of clients and/or staff, how the modules really aren’t fully integrated, how they’re about to be sold, the ‘new’ software isn’t working well, a bad block of renewals is coming, e They’ll string you along for a client until the absolute last day, and then leave you hanging.
  • Do you think they are going fairly spreadsheet all the competition (all fees, services, medical plans) and break it down in a way that lets you accurately see the best option out of all of the ones you have? No – you’ll have to do all of these comparisons on your own and learn how to do it right. The problem is, doing it right isn’t actually the easiest thing to do unless you know the behind the scenes real facts on this business game-changing decision)
• Do you think they will negotiate with all the other competitions as hard as a large distributor? Do you think they even have the power to? (hint: they don’t).
• You use brokers now – for medical, and workers comp – for a good reason. Would you hire someone who’s just painted a small shed in his backyard to paint your house, or would you rather hire a fully serviced professional painting crew? That’s the difference.
• Don’t call direct and get stuck paying retail. As soon as they answer the phone their one objective is to get you added to a spreadsheet as another client, paying way more than they should for a lot less of the services than they should be getting.
• Don’t call direct – People get stuck on average spending 63 hours talking to each direct rep, looking at their demos, and comparing everything. 63 Whole hours? You would definitely be better off spending all that time optimizing and expanding your business, wouldn’t you? That’s almost 3 days’ worth of time just trying to find the right PEOs and Services when you could meet with a broker and get it done in a fraction of the time!

Want to compare PEOs? Click here to view a sample of potential savings.

1. Their broker told them they are terrible. 
2. They don’t want to spend the time on getting another quote (p.s. it doesn’t take a lot of your time if you use the right PEO broker). 
3. They love their broker and think PEOs are like getting quote from another insurance broker (but it is far from that – it is accessing bulk buying that your broker doesn’t have access to and doesn’t want you to know about. 
4. You got a quote years ago and it wasn’t good – (but the industry has changed dramatically after the federal act came out to regulate this industry and technology has allow you do things you couldn’t before, and the private market health rates still keep going up.) 
5. A major reason to get these quotes is honestly it is your job and now the courts have just made you actually personally liable if you don’t make sure you get the best deals for your employees under ERISA. 

The truth is it can be really time consuming and confusing even if you already have a PEO and know what you want.  Gathering the proper information is not the time-consuming part – that should take about 20 minutes at the most and it is generally the same information you are used to gathering to shop Medical Insurance. The time-consuming part is listening to all the salespeople all sound the same and all asking you the same questions and all telling you how terrific their PEO is, and in may cases filling out different forms with the same information for them.  Then part two – they all ask for more information with mostly the same questions and sometimes different forms and questions. That is really annoying.  They get you quotes that are kind of hard to compare because the services all sound the same, but how they are actually delivered is incredibly different and for you to really find out this you then need to do a deep dive into each type of service (and of course the medical plans never match up) and then demos. In the end the truth is you still will not know everything you need to know. And if you get past all that you need to read their confusing contracts that all have incredible language in their favor that you can and must change and add to. It goes on and on, and that ignores negotiation for price and modules and guarantees.  WOW.   

Or you can use one professional third party to do most of this, tell you the truth and get you better prices while still allowing you to do your job and letting them do all the hard work.  These are called PEO Brokers – just like you use your insurance brokers – they don’t charge a fee, they work for you, not the PEOs, have wholesale discount prices and they make sure you don’t pick the wrong PEO, if you should even have a PEO at all. One of the most important things is which PEO broker you pick – see other FAQs (hint: only select a PEO who is only a PEO broker, not an insurance agent, and only one that has staff and clout – most are either a small team or a single PEO salesperson.

Ok – Glad you asked.   This is all we do.  We have professional staff. We have clout with all the PEO’s. We have infrastructure and systems. We have been doing this for years. We love what we do. On average we save clients 25% but we are totally objective and will help you determine the ROI if a PEO is right for you in the first place.  Our clients use us for years – for renewals with PEOs, for ongoing service issues and even to change PEOs if they have different needs or the PEO isn’t doing their job.  Click here to find out more about us, our history and testimonials. 

We wrote the book on the industry.  We are straight forward and make this exploration of yours efficient, honest and a pleasure. 

Who is SBE479?  You will see that on some of our literature – years ago we had this as our name – it is because this is all we do and SBE479 stands for the Small Business Efficiency Act #479 – this is the federal act that governs the industry.  

We are a PEO Broker.

You most likely charge employees a portion of their benefit costs and hopefully are using a Section 125 Plan (one you have filed and one you submit 5500’s for (that is another story). Under the 125 plan, those contributions are deductible by the employee for Federal and State Income tax. Under Section 125 you as the company, would also save money because your F.I.C.A. matching contribution is based on a lower salary.

Scooping is when the PEO charges you a percentage on your employee’s salary, pays the Government the tax on the salary and keeps the rest! Really? Yes. Who would even think to ask that question – and by the way that percentage of the total employee contributions for all your benefit plans really adds up!

Read about a specific example here!

That is why you need a professional PEO broker to guide and educate you on what you need to know about each of these PEOs – whether it is their fees, modules, service model, history of renewals, etc. That is one of the reasons some many smart HR and Finance professionals use SBE479.org – ThePEOpeople.com

If someone can’t explain their services to you in a way that a 5th grader can understand, there’s a good chance they don’t understand it enough themselves and are just repeating what they heard from somewhere else. Which would you rather have – someone trying to fool you with complex charts and big phrases, or the straightforward real experience and practical answers of multiple clients with multiple PEO’s with YEARS in the business?

Our team has always been a brokerage company. We don’t charge fees and only earn our money if we find options that are great for you. We don’t just sign clients to get paid off of fees, we genuinely care about getting the best for you and the people you’re responsible for taking care of. Our PEO Consulting services are designed around simple aligned objectives with you and your company.

We are Objective. We are in this, for one thing, to help businesses take better care of their people. Our team has always been a brokerage company. We don’t charge fees and only earn our money if we find options that are great for you. It’s not billable hours and time – it’s results we deliver, or we don’t get paid.

Why is it cheaper and better to use a PEO broker vs. calling the PEO directly – doesn’t a broker cost me more?

100% the opposite – 1) PEO direct reps cost the PEOs a lot and they add on a lot to your cost – a lot maybe 20%!  We cut out that expensive bias change and give you access to our wholesale prices, plus we’re objective so we know the good, the bad, and the ugly – the truth about each. That direct salesman is not telling you the pros and cons of them vs the competition – the sell you the company they work for or they don’t get paid – plus as we said they add on up to 20% over our prices with the same PEO. Also, there are over 700 – how do you know the right ones to pick in the first place – their ads? A quality broker knows – who is right for your size, location, industry, service level needs, and other requirements – and most importantly frankly who will make your life great or miserable.

SBE479 – is the federal act that regulates PEOs.  It created a certification process – thus the C in CPEO.  Of the 700 something PEOs only about 30 have actually received this certification.  It is a big deal for an employer.  In order to qualify they have to pass a great deal of government tests including financial, I.T. security, compliance, audits etc… 

It general what it means is your company can receive better tax treatment, not have to pay mid-year F.U.T.A and SUI restarts, qualify for tax credits that a non CPEO will prevent you from receiving , better data security, better software, better compliance protection from the government, make it less likely they (and therefore you) will have any financial problems relating to a PEO and other important protections. 

There are several other certificates that PEO will tell you they have (and several of them have great credibility also (like Employer Services Assurance Corporation – ESAC), and some of the larger PEOs that have this certification also have divisions that don’t so you have to know to make sure you are in the CPEO option. 

Many of the smaller PEOs can’t afford to go through this process and many of the specialty firms can’t either. Ask your PEO broker, consultant or expert about this.   

There’s been a lot of discussion in the HR outsourcing world about certified professional employer organizations, or CPEOs. What are they and why does it matter, you may be asking? 

Here’s the express version: 

• Being certified means a PEO has applied to the IRS to be certified and after providing extensive information about its financials and other background information, received the CPEO designation from the IRS. 
• A CPEO takes on added responsibility related to payroll administration and federal employment tax reporting and payments. 
• A CPEO is responsible for paying the federal employment taxes on the wages it pays to worksite employees. 

Essentially, it might provide you further peace of mind when working with a certified professional employer organization. Read on to understand the details and how it may affect your business. 

CPEOs The bottom line 

CPEO’s can won’t steal your money  – bonded and audited. If a non CPEO doesn’t pay your taxes with the money you gave them to pay your taxes you will have to pay it twice.

Better security tax credits available. Not necessarily that is service or better benefit rates. 

A little background 

The Small Business Efficiency Act (SBEA) of 2014 put things in motion when it set out to clarify the relationship between a certified professional employer organization and its customers for the purpose of federal payroll taxes. It is federal recognition that the PEO industry has needed since its early days more than 30 years ago. 

A CPEO establishes a co-employment relationship with its customers. In it, the CPEO assumes many of the employee-related employer responsibilities, while the customer continues to manage and run the business. 

Here’s a quick overview of the co-employment relationship: 

Your company’s role 

• Your company remains an employer. 

• It maintains control over managing your employees’ daily to-dos and core job functions as well as maintaining your organizational structure. 
• Your company’s leadership team remains focused on fulfilling the primary role they were hired for. 

The CPEO’s role 

• As the co-employer, the CPEO takes on specific employer obligations, as set forth in your service agreement. 
• This allows the CPEO to provide benefits and handle functions such as payroll, tax remittance and related government filings. 

• Because it acts as an employer for those purposes, the CPEO can assume a greater amount of responsibility than, for example, a payroll company. 

Not everyone qualifies 

It’s not a simple process to get certified by the IRS, and not every PEO will qualify. Here are some of the requirements of companies seeing certification: 

• An audit of their financial statements 
• CPA-affirmed documentation that they pay employment taxes in a timely manner 

• Documentation that they have positive working capital 
• Background reports of their individuals responsible for employment tax payments 

The IRS wants to take a good look at the PEOs it certifies because they’re solely responsible for paying employment taxes on wages they pay to worksite employees. Previously, the IRS could have looked to the client company if the PEO did not pay the federal employment taxes. Basically, the IRS wants to be sure the taxes get paid. 

Why it matters 

The intent of the law was to give more structure to who is responsible for what and how eligibility for certain tax credits is defined. The highlights of the law and how it relates to CPEOs and their customers include: 

• Payroll tax liability 
• Double payment of taxes 
• Retaining specified tax credits 

Payroll tax liability 

The IRS has traditionally taken the view that in a PEO arrangement, both the PEO and the customer are jointly and severally liable for paying federal employment taxes. Let’s say a small business hired a PEO, paid the invoice, which would have included the employment taxes, and the PEO didn’t pay the employment taxes. Before the SBEA, the IRS could have gone after the client company for the taxes – money that the company thought it had already paid to the PEO. 

The SBEA makes it very clear that a CPEO, certified by the IRS, is solely liable for the payment of federal employment taxes on wages it pays to worksite employees. So, once the customer pays the invoice, which includes the federal payroll taxes, to the CPEO, the IRS can’t come back to the customer to collect employment taxes if the customer is subject to a CPEO service contract or agreement. The CPEO is liable, not the customer. 

Maintaining tax credits 

Because many tax credits hinge on being the employer, oftentimes businesses entering into a PEO co-employer relationship would be concerned about potentially losing eligibility for those tax credits. 

The SBEA clarifies a CPEO customer’s ability to maintain certain tax credits when they’re in a CPEO relationship. 

There’s a list of tax credits in the SBEA that’s very clear that the customers get to retain within the CPEO relationship. Among them are: 

• IRC sec. 41 credit for increasing research activity 
• IRC sec. 45R credit for health insurance expenses 
• IRC sec. 51 work opportunity credit 
• IRC sec. 1396 empowerment zone employment credit 

Wage-base restart 

As an employer, federal employment taxes must be paid on a certain amount of each employee’s wage – referred to as the wage base. 

When a company joins or leaves a PEO mid-year, there has been the issue of paying taxes on the wage base from both the company and the PEO. This is known as an employment tax or wage base restart and occurs when a new federal employer identification number (FEIN) is used. When a PEO begins paying wages (or a company leaves a PEO), it triggers a change in the FEIN of the entity paying wages. 

For example, in June, a PEO takes on a new client that has been paying employment taxes since January. In June, the PEO would be considered a new employer under the Internal Revenue Code. So, paying federal employment taxes on the wage base starts over, resulting in double taxes being paid. 

Under the SBEA, it’s clear that if you’re a CPEO customer subject to a CPEO contract, the wage base no longer starts over. The CPEO gets to succeed to the wage base of the employees at a customer coming into the relationship, so there’s no longer a double payment of taxes. While there are a lot of other meanings to the term “successor employer,” a CPEO would only be the successor employer with regard to the wage base for payment of employment taxes. 

Additionally, if a company doing business with a CPEO pursuant to a CPEO contract or agreement leaves the relationship, it would benefit from the successor employer status and not have to restart the wage base for employees for purposes of federal employment taxes. 

Peace of mind 

The SBE legislation was a long time coming. It gives structure, guidance and recognition to the PEO industry.

In Goldilocks and the Three Bears, a little girl searches for porridge that’s not too hot, not too cold, but just right. Your search for the right professional employer organization (PEO) requires a similar journey of taste-testing to find the perfect match for your company.

As a co-employer, the PEO you choose will ultimately take responsibility for processing payroll, providing workers’ compensation insurance coverage, providing employee benefits, and a host of other sensitive tasks.

A mismatch between your company’s culture and that of your PEO, or partnering with a financially unstable PEO, can spell trouble both for your company and your employees. The internet abounds with stories of PEOs increasing rates without warning or going out of business without paying employees or payroll taxes.

To ensure the best fit possible between your company and this close partner, you’ll need to conduct a thorough analysis of your potential PEO.

Here are five steps you can’t afford to avoid.

1. Check licensing and accreditation
2. Ask for references
3. Explore the PEO’s online presence
4. Assess financial strength and security
5. Research the company history

Doing this on your own is fine, BUT REALLY the way to find the best answers to these is to contact a Qualified, Objective, Large PEO Broker – then supplement your research by talking to a representative of the PEO to verify what you’ve read and found out details that may not be found online. Here are some questions to consider: 

• When was the company founded? How long has the current leadership team been in place? 
• How many years has the company offered PEO services? Are its PEO services its core offering or a sideline to another business? 
• Where is the company headquartered? How many other offices does the company have and where are these located? 
• How many corporate employees does it have? 
• How many clients and worksite employees (i.e., employees of client companies) does it have? 
• What is the mission? 
• What are the company’s values? 
• What credentials does its staff members have? 
• Does the PEO have HR professionals in your company’s key locations? If not, what is their expected response time, should you need them onsite? 
• How does the PEO usually communicate with its clients? Does it proactively contact clients or wait for clients to call? 
• Can you meet the people who will service your account? 
• How many clients does an account representative typically handle? 
• Can you see your service agreement? 

And there are literally 50 other questions you NEED TO ASK THE WILL BITE YOU IF YOU DIDN’T, UNFORTUNATELY.  PEOPLE LOSE THERE JOBS WHEN THEY PICK THE WRONG PEO. 

Answers to these questions will give you a better understanding of the personality of the PEO and whether your cultures will be aligned in a co-employment relationship. They can also help you determine the stability and sustainability of the PEO. 

Click here to see a sample of a comparison for a company with 113 employees. 

There are 700 of them – how do you even figure out the right ones to call to even narrow down the process?

This will address some of the questions, but it really brings up the other questions that you have to think about. Not exactly a checklist but really this gives you an idea of the differences in the complexities of the purchasing process. But don’t be scared – there’s an easy way to do this all – more on that later.

The comparison spreadsheet we use has 48 rows and they are all important.  I know we have said this in other FAQs but it’s worth repeating – they sound like they (PEOs) all do everything – they will all check off they do it on your spreadsheet – just ask any direct PEO salesperson from any PEO- they will tell you how the PEO they are working for (currently)  is the best – here is the short truth to this fundamental and important question – PEOs encompass so many aspects that are each complicated – from payroll to benefits to HRIS to WC, etc… even if you have one now and you think you know what to ask for it will take incredible time to do the right due diligence on them and that presumes you went to the right ones.  What their salesman says, their internet reviews and their glowingly happy client referrals they cherrypick for you is not what you need to hear or internet reviews say or happy client referrals they cherry-pick for you to talk to say is not what you need – even if you had the time to do this time-consuming project, what you need is a professional that really is objective about the companies, has dealt with their problems, knows what is really going on this year with their software or organization.  By the way, a PEO broker doesn’t charge a fee for all this – they get you better rates than if you went direct – you fill out fewer forms – and they will do the comparisons between them all. 

Why do you need to compare? Because they are so very different from technology, from service, from guarantees, from style, from admin rates, from hidden fees, from benefit plan, and WC and benefit rates and renewals, from compliance help and defense.

What are these called? They’re called PEO brokers they don’t charge a fee they get lower rates and most importantly they’re good and that is the only thing they do and there are big differences between PEO brokers, but the most important thing is they will make sure you did not pick the wrong PEO you could get fired because of it literally.

See additional FAQs on how brokers operate:

Why Do People Select ThePEOPeople.com?

How Much do PEOs Really Cost?

What is a PEO Anyway?

Why Should I Call a PEO Broker Instead of the PEO’s Directly?

The short answer-

A PEO is the iPhone of human capital – payroll, hr compliance, HRIS systems, time and attendance, performance management, PTO, health insurance and workers comp and unemployment, benefits admin (one bill), easy onboarding – everything annoying, time-consuming and that you can waste money or be sued for – all in one easy integrated bundle that can often save you a ton on health insurance because they are giant buying groups, and a ton of time because it is all integrated, and with HR and legal back up  –  those are the good ones.  The bad ones can make you more miserable. (so how do you make sure you don’t pick the wrong one? – see below in these FAQs) 

Watch a quick video here

There are 700 and growing, and our guess is you should do business with about 650 of them. Of the 50 left you have some that specialize, while others are local, and you even have some that are national – some have great service, some have great technology, some a history of great renewals, others are about to be purchased, there are some that hide so many fees you will never know about, some are CPEOs (see the FAQ on this), some are putting in new i.t. systems, some were good last year and now omg they are so terrible it’s baffling and–  wow that was a mouthful. So, in short, they all will tell you they do everything a PEO should do, but most don’t and most just don’t do them well.  Basically it’s like most businesses, but because this one encompasses so many aspects (things like medical, PTO, 401k, payroll, OSHA, etc) the worst thing you can do is pick the wrong one and end up having to switch the next year (DON’T be like Caesar in our picking the wrong PEO video linked).  Finally, once again we must caution you – the direct reps from the PEO’s are paid a lot and to do one thing – sell you the PEO they are working for that year. Our informant spills ALL!

So, who do you get objective advice from?  See our FAQ about the shopping process.

Ok – Glad you asked.   This is all we do.  We have professional staff. We have clout with all the PEO’s. We have infrastructure and systems. We have been doing this for years. We love what we do. On average we save clients 25% but we are totally objective and will help you determine the ROI if a PEO is right for you in the first place.  Our clients use us for years – for renewals with PEOs, for ongoing service issues and even to change PEOs if they have different needs or the PEO isn’t doing their job.  Click here to find out more about us, our history and testimonials. 

We wrote the book on the industry.  We are straight forward and make this exploration of yours efficient, honest and a pleasure. 

Who is SBE479?  You will see that on some of our literature – years ago we had this as our name – it is because this is all we do and SBE479 stands for the Small Business Efficiency Act #479 – this is the federal act that governs the industry.  

We are a PEO Broker.

You are going to get sued as an employer – that is the world, unfortunately.  Running a business with employees is really hard and the state, federal and even local laws continue to carry more enforcement and bigger penalties – and that’s before we get into form violations in PTO, overtime, sex discrimination, pay discrimination, 1099 vs. w-2 suits, Job offers, ACA reporting, etc.

PEOs actually protect you from most of this – their HR and legal staff are there to help you avoid these suits (even class-action suits). They protect you three ways actually; The Call – how do I fire this person without getting sued, The Documents – policies and documents in place in advance to pre-empt suits and protect you,  and actual HR lawsuit insurance protection called EPLI coverage. Lastly, they don’t just do it because they say they will like some vendor – they are actually liable also and will be sued along with you, so they have skin in the game to protect both you and themselves. 

How do they protect you from all of this? Training! A PEO will help you build a plan and put into place the proper protocols and training your employees need to avoid any lawsuits and manager harassment. It’s important for every single employee to understand what constitutes discrimination and harassment and how to properly report concerns, BUT your managers should spend a lot more time learning about anti-discrimination and harassment best practices. 

Many PEOs offer Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) training, or workplace discrimination training, for managers and employees, as well as ongoing HR support as part of their services they provide your company.

When EEO Training is completed your employees should be able to name the protected categories under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act:

• Race
• Color
• National origin
• Gender discrimination
• Religion
• Sexual harassment

And also understand:

• Retaliation discrimination (including whistleblower retaliation)
• Disability/Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
• Equal Pay Act
• Age Discrimination in Employment Act
• Genetic Information Non-Discrimination Act
• Any state or local fair employment practice laws

We want to avoid discriminatory comments in the workplace, corporate discrimination, workplace harassment by a manager and we cannot stress enough that training is the way to do that. We know you are busy trying to run your business and that is where your focus should be. A PEO will implement all of this training for you so you can successfully focus on the thing you do best. Don’t get sued. Don’t Get held responsible. Get quotes from multiple PEOs and find the right fit for you and your employees. Read more about what a PEO can provide you and your company.

Stay up to date by subscribing to our Free Stuff page where we constantly update new documents and information you need to know.

Read about the new E.R.I.S.A. Court Ruling that could make you personally liable.

Read about the New Executive Order Addressing Healthcare Issues. 

2019 Compliance Digest.

DOL Penalties increased for 2019

We are here to keep you informed. We are constantly updating our Free Stuff page. Subscribe and check back often to find out new information that will keep you protected.

This is a term that sounds scary – are PEO’s your business partner, can they fire your people or tell you how to run your business? The answer is absolutely not.   

Well, the opposite is kind of true. Co-employment is actually another layer of protection for you under the SBE479 federal act! 

In a PEO the federal government defines only certain responsibilities (it is not joint employment) – basically pay your taxes, allow you to be in their group medical and Workers Comp buying consortium, and for some purposes look like they act as an employer of record.  This makes them liable for all these issues and therefore they have skin in the game – they will help make sure you are compliant because if something goes wrong and you get sued, so do they.  That is why they also provide you with EPLI coverage. 

Yes, it sounds unusual, and this is the term that your insurance broker will dwell on to scare you from even getting a quote.  Remember your broker makes a lot less (75%)  if you use a PEO.

Will a PEO integrate with your existing accounting and point of service systems?

This is right to the point. It’s not selling you want from your PEO, it’s not an “I’ll tell you all the great things I can do and show you all the things you gotta lookout for” situation – but don’t forget as you’re reading this that they really are great and they really do amazing things. The purpose of this is to make you realize that the shopping process itself and the selection process is fundamentally important to decide, whether you decide, to use a PEO in the first place, and which PEO to choose.

Technology Changed EVERYTHING:

In the past, most PEO‘s were not really fully integrated. The systems just really didn’t work well together even if they were the same platform, and most were simply a patchwork of systems.

Now many – but definitely not all – have fully integrated systems that: Are user-friendly, easy to implement, and seriously help with running a business.

This industry now has middlemen that actually tell you the truth! They save you money, cut out the expensive direct sales-y sales rep, and pass on the wholesale rates they get from the PEO’s. In addition to that, they know who is good and bad and why – and they’ll save you tons of time making sure you don’t pick the wrong one!

Of course not! We eliminate the annoying and expensive parts of running a business so that you can focus on growing your business.

It all started originally as staffing companies or employee leasing companies that primarily operated in employee leasing services. Sometimes the PEOs were even used to play recruiting companies to assist businesses in getting Worker’s Comp. When the state wouldn’t provide it or for highly paid doctors who wanted to get defined benefit plans and pensions for themselves but not give it to their employees.

Today a PEO has the ability to focus your time on building your company into what you have always dreamed it could be.

Read more here.

All the medical plans are presented the same – the real answer is they’re all different than what you have and it’s annoyingly complicated to compare them especially when you’re shopping more than one PEO.

Read more about comparing PEOs here.

Read more about the shopping process here.

And do PEOs avoid the audit course?

At this point just to be clear you might be saying what a big job and I don’t have the time for this – or the weird things about a PEO sound like I’ll do it next year sounds interesting but I’m fine with what I got – but in fact what you should be saying at this point is if there is an alternative that doesn’t take a lot of time and will save us a lot of that money and make us more efficient and do all the cool things that you read about – is at least get a quote. And then if it goes good spend the time and if the quote is that good, even best, get it.

It’s a little calculator for you.

Learn more about finding the right PEO for your company. Download our PEO for Dummies ebook.

• Who has the service model you want and who has the technology that really makes it user friendly for you and your employees?
• Who really does have good long-term medical and workers comp renewals?

What they’re not is an insurance broker that doesn’t know anything about HR or payroll.

They are not a payroll company that doesn’t know about HR or Benefits. Think of a PEO as an HR company that also does payroll, HR technology, and all the expertise of HR. PEOs are the iPhone of human capital with people behind them that enables you to run your company better and safer and much less expensively.

Well, that’s how it all started – they were originally staffing companies, staffing agencies, employment agencies, private employment agencies, temp agency, or employee leasing companies that primarily operated in employee leasing services. What is a staffing agency? A staffing agency is an organization that has a list of employees that can be hired out for temporary or long term work. They provide staffing for any company looking to fill a position. Sometimes they were even used to play recruiting companies to assist businesses in getting Worker’s Comp. When the state wouldn’t provide it or for highly paid doctors who wanted to get defined benefit plans and pensions for themselves but not give it to their employees.

The concept originated in the 1960s by three businessmen – Eugene Boffa, Louis Calmare, and Joseph Martinez, but was further popularized by Marvin R. Selter.

Today all of that has changed, and the industry is the valve to take the big step from small business to professional, to have the ability to focus your time on building your company into what you have always dreamed it could be.

Are temp agencies worth it and other staffing companies worth it? PEO employee leasing allows you to put an end to all the headaches of employee benefits and insurance management, allowing you to scale your company, take care of your workers and get better prices for all of your employee care plans across the board.

Well in most industries consulting companies generally charge fees and provide canned answers. They have a list of questions and a list of answers that go to those questions, and you usually get some type of generic or automated response when you want to go deeper into what’s included with these fees.

PEO consulting services may seem complex or confusing, but what we really are is a bridge. There are companies that want to help the businesses they work with get the best programs for their employees, and businesses who want their employees to be taken care of and their business to be secure – and we connect the two and eliminate the stress and headaches of trying to figure out who to trust.

We’ve been doing it for years, DECADES even. We know the ins and outs of PEOs and collaborating with them to ensure the best of both worlds, keeping you from being taken advantage of (especially since you usually don’t realize you are until it’s too late). With us, you’re dealing with real, experienced PEO consultants that know what they’re doing & know how to do it.

Our team has always been a brokerage company. We don’t charge fees and only earn our money if we find options that are great for you. We don’t just sign clients to get paid off of fees, we genuinely care about getting the best for you and the people you’re responsible for taking care of. Our PEO Consulting services are designed around simple aligned objectives with you and your company.

It’s not billable hours and time – it’s results we deliver, or we don’t get paid. We aren’t into PEO consulting for the money, we’re into it for the better options we’re able to get for businesses to take care of their employees, the better conditions their workers are able to secure for them. Better conditions mean better moods, better moods mean better work, better work means more profit & sales – so basically just making one small change and selecting the right PEO can be a snowball effect that can advance your company.

We are Objective. We are in this for one thing, to help businesses take better care of their people. We are PEO Consulting done right – not caring about the vendor, but only caring about our clients. We are into negotiating and getting the best deal, not just spreadsheeting and putting you on a client list – but getting together with you and talking about the real practical truth in each of the cells of a spreadsheet and the best way to get the plans that do the most for you.

All that being said beware of those companies that are PEO consulting services and charge for overly academic analysis, sometimes all of those big words and terms are meant to confuse and distract you from the fact that they really don’t know what they’re talking about in-depth.

If someone can’t explain their services to you in a way that a 5th grader can understand, there’s a good chance they don’t understand it enough themselves and are just repeating what they heard from somewhere else. Which would you rather have – someone trying to fool you with complex charts and big phrases, or the straightforward real experience and practical answers of multiple clients with multiple PEO’s with YEARS in the business?

The choice is obvious, isn’t it?

The classification system makes sure that employers with higher risks of worker injuries pay more for insurance than employers with low risks.

An employer’s workers’ compensation premium is calculated by multiplying a rate times your payroll and then dividing the result by 100 (RATE x PAYROLL/100). Workers’ Compensation (WC) rates depend on some classifications assigned to the employer and the state in which the business operates. A WC classification represents a group of employers that operate similar types of businesses or similar industries. Employers assigned to the same classification in the same state pay the exact same rate. These classifications are intended to distribute the cost of insurance among employers equally.

The most widely used classification system was developed by the NCCI. The NCCI classification system consists of written descriptions of business operations and four-digit classification codes (or class codes). Two examples are Plumbing NOC & Drivers, code 5183, and Restaurant Fast Food, code 9083. Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Wyoming use three-digit codes called NAICS codes.

Important Terminology:

• Basic Classification
  • Describes the nature of your business
• Standard Exceptions
  • Two examples of these exceptions are clerical office workers (code 8810) and outside sales employees or collectors (code 8742). These jobs perform low-risk work, they are less likely to be injured on the job. These rates assigned to the clerical and sales class codes are relatively low. Note that the standard exceptions don’t apply to workers that are included in the description of the basic classification.
• Governing Classification
  • This refers to the classification, other than a Standard Exception, which generates the most payroll.
• General Exclusions
  • Risks that are not included in the Basic Classification of the job.
• General Inclusions
  • Types of operations that might appear to be separate, but are actually included in the Basic Classification.

A PEO can provide workers’ compensation for your employees. Review PEO Services and Employee Leasing.

By joining a PEO they can help manage workers’ compensation costs and claims, and help you navigate the safety challenges in your business.

A PEO can help you:

• Choose a workers’ compensation plan coverage that fits your needs.
• Can cut workers’ compensation premiums by negotiating competing programs with insurance providers
• Make sure the safety of your workplace is at a high standard along with help design a safety program to prevent future injuries
• Resolve claims efficiently
• Manage relationships with injured employees
• Implement a return-to-work program that increases employee morale and reduces the length and cost of workers’ comp claims

These applications can make a big difference in your company’s workers’ compensation. If a good matched PEO can provide safety services that will yield a high-return and a culture of safety for your employees.

Read other services a PEO can provide you and your company. Then let us find the best fit for you by comparing plans, services, and prices.

Overworked employees can affect every single aspect of your business. Consequences of overworking employees include:

• Low productivity when employees aren’t able to accomplish all their tasks.
• Low quality of work when employees don’t have the time to do their jobs right.
• No growth because employees can’t take advantage of new training while being overworked and stressed out.
• Poor customer service because employees experience tunnel vision trying to only get their jobs done with now spare time to build and sustain customer relationships.
• Bad reputation when a company is overloading employees with work.
• Low morale when employees are being overworked and lose their passion then burn out.

Pay attention to these 6 signs of overworking. When employees are feeling overworked and stressed it is only going to make the company as a whole suffer.

1. Poor work performance
2. Absenteeism
3. Heightened employee emotions
4. Poor customer feedback
5. Working long hours
6. Revealing statements (“I practically live here” or “I wish I could take a vacation, but…”

To learn how a PEO can help your business build reliable procedures and strategies to operate more efficiently. Putting these procedures in place will help prevent any employee burnout and allow your business to keep growing. Read more about what a PEO can provide you and your employees then talk to a PEO-OLOGIST and get quotes.

Why is a PEO cheaper they going directly to an insurance company for the same health insurance with the same insurance company?

1. Size Does Matter: PEO’s are the largest medical buying groups for health insurance in America. They have over $11 Billion Dollars in buying power and under federal act (unavailable to your insurance broker) a PEO can aggregate the groups together for better negotiations and other cost efficiencies. Your insurance agent cannot even if they are giant and even if you love them.
2. Swim in a clean pool! When your broker shops your benefits with the few carriers left in your area, the ACA requires them to take all companies – good risks and bad risks at mostly the same rates (age adjusted). PEO’s don’t have to take the bad risks! The skim the good risks.  So, if you can get in that claims pool you are golden. PEOs therefore have much better claims experience – and therefore the rates are significantly less then then when your insurance broker gets you rates your own.  Another important note – because of this not only are the rates lower when you join the PEO BUT their renewals tend to be half that of the private market – and that compounding is really important to your bottom line and employee satisfaction and retention.
3. Lastly, because PEO’s provide a fully integrated HRIS – payroll, benefits, administration, enrollment, compliance (not just benefits compliance but full HR compliance – you know protection from the HR stuff you might/will get sued about – hiring, workplace stuff, fmla, overtime, terminations) and education service – it’s much more efficient for the insurance companies and for you – generally 20 to 30% less than your current costs!

 

Really, what do you have to lose by getting a quote?

(PS your insurance broker doesn’t want sell you a PEO – they get 90% less commission plus it is not really their business)

My group health insurance renewal is only 6%, why would I get another quote? Isn’t that a great renewal?

It’s amazing how U.S. business owners have been brainwashed to believe that 6% is acceptable, or even great. 6% is three times more than inflation and it’s starting from a price that’s probably 20% too high in the first place.

You may think that because every year your brokers shops the few insurance markets left and no other insurance broker has done much better and you like your broker – so why bother – that is the way it is – high prices and you are trapped?

ThePeoPeople.com is not an insurance broker! That is the big difference – AGAIN, WE ARE NOT ANOTHER INSURANCE BROKER CALLING YOU UP LIKE YOU GET CALLS EVERY DAY!  We are America’s largest insurance buying group and gets prices your broker does not have access to.

We have $11 billion in premium behind us, your competitors use us, but your insurance broker does not (and cannot).

Employee Benefits is one of your largest expense line items, one of your most important retention tools, one of your most important hiring arrows and you need to make sure it’s always as sharp as can be.

By the way, if you get another quote from us your broker will not know that you’re shopping or looking for alternatives behind their backs – this is important to a lot of people. Again we are not insurance brokers, we are America’s largest buying group of health insurance, workers comp and payroll. Why not give us a try – it takes literally 11 minutes of your time and can save you so much in time, money and so much more!

UP TO 20% LOWER ADMIN, MEDICAL AND WC FEES. HOW?

1 – We cut out the expensive direct salesforce that generally makes up to 20% of the fees that they charge you.

2 – Our sales volume and contracts give your company complete access to our wholesale channel rates.

3 – Because the PEO’s know we shop the coverages and because of our ability to negotiate, we make sure you get all the modules and price breaks available at no extra cost to you.

And 4 – Our personal relationships with the salespeople and the PEO executives enables us to get you the best rates.

P.S. This is really important when you really need help for finding a solution to a service problem in the future.

Here is an example of a company that we had go directly to a major PEO, and then we went to that PEO independently through the wholesale channel – look at the price differences!

Annual Cost – 126 employee manufacturing firm

Also check out our testimonials and videos.

We have the clout to get you lower admin rates, lower set up fees, lower medical costs, and lower worker’s comp costs. We leave no stone unturned and have decades of experience choosing the right services for you, getting the modules you wouldn’t normally get! We tell you everything you can get and make sure nothing is left out, while also getting them for less than the PEO direct salesperson (who you will never see again after the sale) would!

They’re a big franchise supermarket chain – they couldn’t care less about the average, daily customer as their way of thinking is “We’ll just get more,” but we treat you like family, like a valued member of the community.

Because that PEO salesperson is only representing a single company, they will only try to steer you toward their direction.  They aren’t telling you what is inferior with their only product, and they’ll do whatever it takes to turn you into just another client on their list. It’s easy to overlook the problems they have if they hide all of them from you in the first place. You need to go to the people who care about getting the best for you and your employees. Macy’s doesn’t sell Gimbels.

The difference between us is we treat you like a person – they just treat you like another client on a spreadsheet, and once you sign on the dotted line with that salesperson that’s usually the last, you’ll see of them. They’ve got 299 more customers to sign-up and you’re immediately put on the backburner.

The answer can be yes – another reason you really need a professional to let you know all this and which PEO’s have what fees you may not know to even look at. Often when people receive the quote they ask if that includes health insurance, Worker’s Comp and unemployment and the answer to that is no.

PEOs really have an extraordinary range – they can be anywhere from $49 per month per employee to over $150 a month per employee. Yes, that sounds high but remember you probably save way more than that on the Medical, Workers Comp and Unemployment. Some PEOs also charge a percentage of a payroll basis, and this is often the best pricing model for those companies with lower-paid employees. Those costs might range from 2 to 3.5% of payroll. (some also charge by check)

The answer is usually yes, however not always. It depends on what you’re spending on health insurance, participation in your plans, etc. They generally can save a lot of money, buy it varies depending on your situation. But, the truth is you never know, and it’s worth the effort to get quotes because sometimes it’s dramatically cheaper. Choose an experienced PEO broker to help figure this out – they are objective, actually save you money, and save you from having to talk to 5 different PEO salespeople and finding the right PEO’s to compare.

You are going to get sued as an employer – that is the world, unfortunately.  Running a business with employees is really hard and the state, federal and even local laws continue to carry more enforcement and bigger penalties – and that’s before we get into form violations in PTO, overtime, sex discrimination, pay discrimination, 1099 vs. w-2 suits, Job offers, ACA reporting, etc.

PEOs actually protect you from most of this – their HR and legal staff are there to help you avoid these suits (even class-action suits). They protect you three ways actually; The Call – how do I fire this person without getting sued, The Documents – policies and documents in place in advance to pre-empt suits and protect you,  and actual HR lawsuit insurance protection called EPLI coverage. Lastly, they don’t just do it because they say they will like some vendor – they are actually liable also and will be sued along with you, so they have skin in the game to protect both you and themselves. 

How do they protect you from all of this? Training! A PEO will help you build a plan and put into place the proper protocols and training your employees need to avoid any lawsuits and manager harassment. It’s important for every single employee to understand what constitutes discrimination and harassment and how to properly report concerns, BUT your managers should spend a lot more time learning about anti-discrimination and harassment best practices. 

Many PEOs offer Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) training, or workplace discrimination training, for managers and employees, as well as ongoing HR support as part of their services they provide your company.

When EEO Training is completed your employees should be able to name the protected categories under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act:

• Race
• Color
• National origin
• Gender discrimination
• Religion
• Sexual harassment

And also understand:

• Retaliation discrimination (including whistleblower retaliation)
• Disability/Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
• Equal Pay Act
• Age Discrimination in Employment Act
• Genetic Information Non-Discrimination Act
• Any state or local fair employment practice laws

We want to avoid discriminatory comments in the workplace, corporate discrimination, workplace harassment by a manager and we cannot stress enough that training is the way to do that. We know you are busy trying to run your business and that is where your focus should be. A PEO will implement all of this training for you so you can successfully focus on the thing you do best. Don’t get sued. Don’t Get held responsible. Get quotes from multiple PEOs and find the right fit for you and your employees. Read more about what a PEO can provide you and your company.

Stay up to date by subscribing to our Free Stuff page where we constantly update new documents and information you need to know.

Read about the new E.R.I.S.A. Court Ruling that could make you personally liable.

Read about the New Executive Order Addressing Healthcare Issues. 

2019 Compliance Digest.

DOL Penalties increased for 2019

We are here to keep you informed. We are constantly updating our Free Stuff page. Subscribe and check back often to find out new information that will keep you protected.

The short answer-

A PEO is the iPhone of human capital – payroll, hr compliance, HRIS systems, time and attendance, performance management, PTO, health insurance and workers comp and unemployment, benefits admin (one bill), easy onboarding – everything annoying, time-consuming and that you can waste money or be sued for – all in one easy integrated bundle that can often save you a ton on health insurance because they are giant buying groups, and a ton of time because it is all integrated, and with HR and legal back up  –  those are the good ones.  The bad ones can make you more miserable. (so how do you make sure you don’t pick the wrong one? – see below in these FAQs) 

Watch a quick video here

There are 700 and growing, and our guess is you should do business with about 650 of them. Of the 50 left you have some that specialize, while others are local, and you even have some that are national – some have great service, some have great technology, some a history of great renewals, others are about to be purchased, there are some that hide so many fees you will never know about, some are CPEOs (see the FAQ on this), some are putting in new i.t. systems, some were good last year and now omg they are so terrible it’s baffling and–  wow that was a mouthful. So, in short, they all will tell you they do everything a PEO should do, but most don’t and most just don’t do them well.  Basically it’s like most businesses, but because this one encompasses so many aspects (things like medical, PTO, 401k, payroll, OSHA, etc) the worst thing you can do is pick the wrong one and end up having to switch the next year (DON’T be like Caesar in our picking the wrong PEO video linked).  Finally, once again we must caution you – the direct reps from the PEO’s are paid a lot and to do one thing – sell you the PEO they are working for that year. Our informant spills ALL!

So, who do you get objective advice from?  See our FAQ about the shopping process.

You would think going directly to a provider is the least expensive way to shop – but it isn’t, and here’s why.

• Direct sales forces are very expensive – see below for more on how much they cost you. Buying through large channel partners is almost always guaranteed to be less expensive, and give you a better deal. Amazon, Wayfair, Hotel Tonight, Priceline, etc.
• A direct rep only sells that company, and once you call them and get in the PEOs salesman’s Retail pricing Sales system, you are often stuck at higher prices. Don’t get sucked into the rabbit hole before it’s too late!
• Direct sales reps have quotas – the more they charge you the more they make and the closer they are to their quotas. When they’re talking to you, they don’t care about you or your business, they just want to hurry up and close a deal so they can move on to the next unsuspected business owner.
• Direct sales reps don’t have the buying power of a large distributor – see below how much this can cost you in all the fees.
• Direct sales reps can only sell one company – so with that being said do you really think they’ll keep you up to date on that company’s issues, or just recommend one that is better?
  • For example – when times get tough they conveniently “forget” to tell you about how they just lost a lot of clients and/or staff, how the modules really aren’t fully integrated, how they’re about to be sold, the ‘new’ software isn’t working well, a bad block of renewals is coming, e They’ll string you along for a client until the absolute last day, and then leave you hanging.
  • Do you think they are going fairly spreadsheet all the competition (all fees, services, medical plans) and break it down in a way that lets you accurately see the best option out of all of the ones you have? No – you’ll have to do all of these comparisons on your own and learn how to do it right. The problem is, doing it right isn’t actually the easiest thing to do unless you know the behind the scenes real facts on this business game-changing decision)
• Do you think they will negotiate with all the other competitions as hard as a large distributor? Do you think they even have the power to? (hint: they don’t).
• You use brokers now – for medical, and workers comp – for a good reason. Would you hire someone who’s just painted a small shed in his backyard to paint your house, or would you rather hire a fully serviced professional painting crew? That’s the difference.
• Don’t call direct and get stuck paying retail. As soon as they answer the phone their one objective is to get you added to a spreadsheet as another client, paying way more than they should for a lot less of the services than they should be getting.
• Don’t call direct – People get stuck on average spending 63 hours talking to each direct rep, looking at their demos, and comparing everything. 63 Whole hours? You would definitely be better off spending all that time optimizing and expanding your business, wouldn’t you? That’s almost 3 days’ worth of time just trying to find the right PEOs and Services when you could meet with a broker and get it done in a fraction of the time!

Want to compare PEOs? Click here to view a sample of potential savings.

1. Their broker told them they are terrible. 
2. They don’t want to spend the time on getting another quote (p.s. it doesn’t take a lot of your time if you use the right PEO broker). 
3. They love their broker and think PEOs are like getting quote from another insurance broker (but it is far from that – it is accessing bulk buying that your broker doesn’t have access to and doesn’t want you to know about. 
4. You got a quote years ago and it wasn’t good – (but the industry has changed dramatically after the federal act came out to regulate this industry and technology has allow you do things you couldn’t before, and the private market health rates still keep going up.) 
5. A major reason to get these quotes is honestly it is your job and now the courts have just made you actually personally liable if you don’t make sure you get the best deals for your employees under ERISA. 

Ok – Glad you asked.   This is all we do.  We have professional staff. We have clout with all the PEO’s. We have infrastructure and systems. We have been doing this for years. We love what we do. On average we save clients 25% but we are totally objective and will help you determine the ROI if a PEO is right for you in the first place.  Our clients use us for years – for renewals with PEOs, for ongoing service issues and even to change PEOs if they have different needs or the PEO isn’t doing their job.  Click here to find out more about us, our history and testimonials. 

We wrote the book on the industry.  We are straight forward and make this exploration of yours efficient, honest and a pleasure. 

Who is SBE479?  You will see that on some of our literature – years ago we had this as our name – it is because this is all we do and SBE479 stands for the Small Business Efficiency Act #479 – this is the federal act that governs the industry.  

We are a PEO Broker.

Will a PEO integrate with your existing accounting and point of service systems?

This is right to the point. It’s not selling you want from your PEO, it’s not an “I’ll tell you all the great things I can do and show you all the things you gotta lookout for” situation – but don’t forget as you’re reading this that they really are great and they really do amazing things. The purpose of this is to make you realize that the shopping process itself and the selection process is fundamentally important to decide, whether you decide, to use a PEO in the first place, and which PEO to choose.

Technology Changed EVERYTHING:

In the past, most PEO‘s were not really fully integrated. The systems just really didn’t work well together even if they were the same platform, and most were simply a patchwork of systems.

Now many – but definitely not all – have fully integrated systems that: Are user-friendly, easy to implement, and seriously help with running a business.

We have plans for every vertical.

Including:

• Technology
• Manufacturing
• Medical
• Staffing
• Hospitality
• Venture Capital
• and so many more!

Our underwriters have quality providers in every vertical and industry- in every state, and every size from 25 to 5,000 employees.

Set up a meeting here to get fast quotes.

Of course not! We eliminate the annoying and expensive parts of running a business so that you can focus on growing your business.

It all started originally as staffing companies or employee leasing companies that primarily operated in employee leasing services. Sometimes the PEOs were even used to play recruiting companies to assist businesses in getting Worker’s Comp. When the state wouldn’t provide it or for highly paid doctors who wanted to get defined benefit plans and pensions for themselves but not give it to their employees.

Today a PEO has the ability to focus your time on building your company into what you have always dreamed it could be.

Read more here.

Finding the right PEO and employee leasing solutions is our business.

Read more here.

We have the clout to get you lower admin rates, lower set up fees, lower medical costs, and lower worker’s comp costs. We leave no stone unturned and have decades of experience choosing the right services for you, getting the modules you wouldn’t normally get! We tell you everything you can get and make sure nothing is left out, while also getting them for less than the PEO direct salesperson (who you will never see again after the sale) would!

They’re a big franchise supermarket chain – they couldn’t care less about the average, daily customer as their way of thinking is “We’ll just get more,” but we treat you like family, like a valued member of the community.

Because that PEO salesperson is only representing a single company, they will only try to steer you toward their direction.  They aren’t telling you what is inferior with their only product, and they’ll do whatever it takes to turn you into just another client on their list. It’s easy to overlook the problems they have if they hide all of them from you in the first place. You need to go to the people who care about getting the best for you and your employees. Macy’s doesn’t sell Gimbels.

The difference between us is we treat you like a person – they just treat you like another client on a spreadsheet, and once you sign on the dotted line with that salesperson that’s usually the last, you’ll see of them. They’ve got 299 more customers to sign-up and you’re immediately put on the backburner.

The short answer-

A PEO is the iPhone of human capital – payroll, hr compliance, HRIS systems, time and attendance, performance management, PTO, health insurance and workers comp and unemployment, benefits admin (one bill), easy onboarding – everything annoying, time-consuming and that you can waste money or be sued for – all in one easy integrated bundle that can often save you a ton on health insurance because they are giant buying groups, and a ton of time because it is all integrated, and with HR and legal back up  –  those are the good ones.  The bad ones can make you more miserable. (so how do you make sure you don’t pick the wrong one? – see below in these FAQs) 

Watch a quick video here

PEOs talk about the intangible and soft dollars they save – tons of time, lawsuits, compliance, and did I say avoiding and defending HR lawsuits – BUT the bottom line is still what is important – how much in hard dollars will YOUR firm save.  The real answer is who knows – here’s how it plays out in getting quotes for 100 firms (between 25 and 400 employees) – 74 will save so much they really consider changing (39 with an implement it that year, and after another year of medical renewals, 16 of the rest will implement a PEO the following year), 19 will not save that much. But 6 will implement a PEO because of the way it will help them run their business better, and the other 17 the PEO will be much more and they should stay where they are. 

P.S. we define a lot of money as over 22% of the annual cost of their medical and workers’ comp premiums. 

Click here to view a sample of potential savings for a company with 113 employees.

1. Their broker told them they are terrible. 
2. They don’t want to spend the time on getting another quote (p.s. it doesn’t take a lot of your time if you use the right PEO broker). 
3. They love their broker and think PEOs are like getting quote from another insurance broker (but it is far from that – it is accessing bulk buying that your broker doesn’t have access to and doesn’t want you to know about. 
4. You got a quote years ago and it wasn’t good – (but the industry has changed dramatically after the federal act came out to regulate this industry and technology has allow you do things you couldn’t before, and the private market health rates still keep going up.) 
5. A major reason to get these quotes is honestly it is your job and now the courts have just made you actually personally liable if you don’t make sure you get the best deals for your employees under ERISA. 

The truth is it can be really time consuming and confusing even if you already have a PEO and know what you want.  Gathering the proper information is not the time-consuming part – that should take about 20 minutes at the most and it is generally the same information you are used to gathering to shop Medical Insurance. The time-consuming part is listening to all the salespeople all sound the same and all asking you the same questions and all telling you how terrific their PEO is, and in may cases filling out different forms with the same information for them.  Then part two – they all ask for more information with mostly the same questions and sometimes different forms and questions. That is really annoying.  They get you quotes that are kind of hard to compare because the services all sound the same, but how they are actually delivered is incredibly different and for you to really find out this you then need to do a deep dive into each type of service (and of course the medical plans never match up) and then demos. In the end the truth is you still will not know everything you need to know. And if you get past all that you need to read their confusing contracts that all have incredible language in their favor that you can and must change and add to. It goes on and on, and that ignores negotiation for price and modules and guarantees.  WOW.   

Or you can use one professional third party to do most of this, tell you the truth and get you better prices while still allowing you to do your job and letting them do all the hard work.  These are called PEO Brokers – just like you use your insurance brokers – they don’t charge a fee, they work for you, not the PEOs, have wholesale discount prices and they make sure you don’t pick the wrong PEO, if you should even have a PEO at all. One of the most important things is which PEO broker you pick – see other FAQs (hint: only select a PEO who is only a PEO broker, not an insurance agent, and only one that has staff and clout – most are either a small team or a single PEO salesperson.

The average PEO salesperson makes $250,000 -$300,000 or more, and their annual quota is about 300 to 400 new employees a year. Not 300 new companies. (average employer size is 30 to 35 employees per company).

So, you can do the math how much the PEO must add on to use their expensive direct sales force. SBE479 – ThePEOPeople bypasses the local salesperson and saves you all that money.

ALSO, ALWAYS FOLLOW THE MONEY! Insurance brokers make a lot on your benefits programs, 3-5% of your total premiums every month. Sometimes they try to get involved in PEOs, but they make about 75% fewer commissions on PEOs as they do with regular benefits programs. What would you do if you were them? Plus, oddly enough they don’t really understand the breadth of what PEOs can do.

ThePEOPeople.com do not charge a fee, but we do get paid by the PEOs on the backend. Our fees are low but we do a lot of volumes. Your costs including our fees are much less than rates that you will get on directly – their direct sales forces are very expensive and are a bigger low-cost channel and we pass that on to you.

Industry Secret: The complex nature of this means many PEO sales reps simply don’t understand the life of an HR manager or CFO and really feel your pain. they are there for one thing – make a sale and move on.

Read more here.

Let’s compare the process between using a broker and you going directly to a PEO without a broker.

Calling PEO’s Without a Broker 

 – Look online and start doing research. 

– Get 50 calls because they sell your lead information to other companies. 

– Talk to 5 of them ’til you can’t take it anymore and you’re ready to rip your hair out. 

– Research some more and decide to call some directly. 

– You finally think you decided on few you want to get quotes from. 

– You really don’t know if out of the 700 you have the right one for you, and, how could you? Unless you’ve been doing it for years and have the experience to know who’s who they all sound the same. 

– You start to gather all the information and fill out their different forms. 

– They ALL call you up with questions – mostly the same questions 

– Then most call up with more questions and by this point, you are regretting even getting quotes, but in the end, you’re hoping they will great and worth the time. 

– Some then want to give you demos before you get rates, some want to meet and show the rates and then give you demos. 

– Most of the demos are done poorly – either too detailed or too sales-y, and leave you confused as to what exactly you’re being told. 

– Even though you saw the demo you don’t still know if it works well – but they look and sound good, and this is how they trap you. 

– Ahh, finally! You finally start to get some proposals and hopefully they look good… but they all start to look the same. 

– Then you realize the unfortunate truth – you may be smart but honestly, you don’t know what’s missing or the issues their salespeople will not tell you. You only know what they tell you and you’re never made aware of what they don’t. 

– They go over all of the services and modules. 

– Integrations most aren’t really fully integrated for all their modules. 

– Contracts – e.g. do they scoop, termination fees, nickel and dime costs, etc. 

– Medical – oh no, now you have compared everyone’s plans and they are almost never apples to apples. It can get confusing, especially when you aren’t completely sure what you’re looking at or being told. 

– After many long, agonizing hours you think you narrowed it down.  

– You feel confident and secure in your decision, figuring you have done your due diligence. 

– You do some more final negotiations and pick one (whew, even reading about it takes forever doesn’t it?) 

– Some of this is an exaggeration, but the reality is that negotiations with a PEO is like buying a carpet in turkey – you think you got a great deal, but you will never know what you really should have paid or got thrown in. You really need to have experience with the industry to know what the right choices are. 

– Then it is time for implementation (finally!) – and you figure they know what they are doing, so you’re just going to leave it to the pros. 

– How do you make sure you get the A-team? You don’t have the clout for this or future management access to solve problems, you don’t know the right people, you don’t have the experience picking the best of the best for your clients – so how can you know you made a good choice? 

– And you want to know the worst part?  

– AFTER ALL THAT YOU WILL NOT KNOW IF YOU PICKED THE WRONG ONE OR PAID TOO MUCH TILL IT IS TOO LATE! 

Using a PEO Broker 

(ThePEOPeople Process) 

 What You Get: 

– We have one universal form, eliminating the hassle of filling out multiple forms. 

– We consolidate and disseminate all information from a single professional point of contact. 

– We do apples to apples comparisons, ensuring you always understand exactly what it is that you’re getting. 

– We may get you rate guarantees, ensuring what you pay now is what you pay forever. 

– We have more negotiation power than you, allowing us to get you: 

• Lower set up fees. 
• Lower medical rates. 
• Lower WC rates. 
• Lower admin. 

Who We Are: 

– We have the experience to know the right PEO’s for you and the wrong ones. 

– We are objective & professional. 

– We know what you may not know – and that’s why we’re here to help! We know a lot about PEOs, it’s all we do. 

– You meet with a single experienced underwriter who is able to consolidate all information in an easy to understand format. 

– We will tell you all the modules you can and should get thrown in, ensuring you get the best you can get for the least. 

You Also Get: 

– Ongoing Assistance. 

– The right team and Reps who have the experience to know what they’re doing. 

– No fees, no obligations. 

– We are less expensive than going to the expensive direct rep sales force. 

IN THE END, YOU GET THE RIGHT PEOPLE, YOU SAVE TIME, YOU GET MORE MODULES, LOWER SET UP FEES, LOWER ADMIN FEES, LOWER WC FEES – AND YOU SAVE TIME, MONEY AND HEADACHES! 

Click here to view a sample of potential savings for a company with 113 employees.

Do you need help evaluating a PEO? Check out our free e-book, PEO secrets. In it, you’ll learn how to make shrewd comparisons between PEOs and learn which questions to ask to make sure you’re getting what you want before you sign on the dotted line. 

Turn your wishlist into a checklist.

You most likely charge employees a portion of their benefit costs and hopefully are using a Section 125 Plan (one you have filed and one you submit 5500’s for (that is another story). Under the 125 plan, those contributions are deductible by the employee for Federal and State Income tax. Under Section 125 you as the company, would also save money because your F.I.C.A. matching contribution is based on a lower salary.

Scooping is when the PEO charges you a percentage on your employee’s salary, pays the Government the tax on the salary and keeps the rest! Really? Yes. Who would even think to ask that question – and by the way that percentage of the total employee contributions for all your benefit plans really adds up!

Read about a specific example here!

That is why you need a professional PEO broker to guide and educate you on what you need to know about each of these PEOs – whether it is their fees, modules, service model, history of renewals, etc. That is one of the reasons some many smart HR and Finance professionals use SBE479.org – ThePEOpeople.com

Some don’t do a lot.

PEOs don’t recruit – they are not staffing operations or leasing companies.

Some will do actual employee relations, disciplinary actions, etc. But most do not.

Most will do training, but it is primarily discrimination and sexual harassment. Many also will have online training classes on everything from Excel to OSHA to leadership skills in multiple languages.

Read more here.

Health insurance costs continue to rise, and carriers have left the market

Health insurance costs continue to rise, and carriers have left the market

These massive buying groups can now save even more money in purchasing benefits than they used to! Sometimes up to 30% for the same plans and often the same carriers (same with Workers comp and sometimes with SUTA as well).

Not only do they save you money over the first year, but they continue to have Lower Renewals than the private market.

HR COMPLIANCE AND LAWSUITS HAVE CHANGED

From the Employee side: everybody is suing everybody about everything.

Sexual harassment, FMLA, Overtime, discrimination of all kinds, Equal Pay, ACA, wrongful termination, wrongful hiring, wrongful looking the wrong way, etc…

From the Government side:

Fines and penalties from the DOL, IRS and OSHA for everything from the ACA to you name it – are being enforced for real finally.

From the PEO side:

Many PEO’s, but absolutely not all, have dramatically improved their assistance in HR to reduce your liability, and included a comprehensive EPLI that will give you and your firm legal and insurance protection for most HR lawsuits.  Remember – under the federal act they are liable too, so their job is to make sure you don’t get sued at all.

We help you get the best benefits for your employees without costing you a fortune. Every year company’s costs are on the rise while having to cut their employee’s benefits.

Did you ever wonder why larger groups can offer better insurance with lower premiums?

• We have buying power of over 130,000 companies
• We know what businesses your size need and want to be successful
• We know you just don’t have the time, staff or expertise to find, do due diligence and negotiate many services
• We specialize in your largest and most expensive line items and those that waste your time and create exposure.

That is what we do and we do it all under a Federal Act.

Read more here.

All the medical plans are presented the same – the real answer is they’re all different than what you have and it’s annoyingly complicated to compare them especially when you’re shopping more than one PEO.

Read more about comparing PEOs here.

Read more about the shopping process here.

Why shouldn’t I just ask my current insurance or P&C broker to get me PEO quotes? 

The short answer is they don’t want you use a PEO because they make a lot less – like 75% less then they do now on you. And no, you don’t lose any services by selecting a good PEO vs the insurance broker you have become friends with.  So they will scare you into not using a PEO, they really don’t understand them – they sound the same – because you are getting medical insurance but it is a totally different industry – your insurance broker doesn’t understand HR, payroll, the other insurances  (would you ask your medical broker to do your Property and Casualty or vs versa  – no of course not).  So, they have no incentive personal, no clout, not enough knowledge, maybe have a relationship with one or two only.  I think you get the point – get a professional who only does PEO brokerage – it is to important for your company and for you personally. 

My group health insurance renewal is only 6%, why would I get another quote? Isn’t that a great renewal?

It’s amazing how U.S. business owners have been brainwashed to believe that 6% is acceptable, or even great. 6% is three times more than inflation and it’s starting from a price that’s probably 20% too high in the first place.

You may think that because every year your brokers shops the few insurance markets left and no other insurance broker has done much better and you like your broker – so why bother – that is the way it is – high prices and you are trapped?

ThePeoPeople.com is not an insurance broker! That is the big difference – AGAIN, WE ARE NOT ANOTHER INSURANCE BROKER CALLING YOU UP LIKE YOU GET CALLS EVERY DAY!  We are America’s largest insurance buying group and gets prices your broker does not have access to.

We have $11 billion in premium behind us, your competitors use us, but your insurance broker does not (and cannot).

Employee Benefits is one of your largest expense line items, one of your most important retention tools, one of your most important hiring arrows and you need to make sure it’s always as sharp as can be.

By the way, if you get another quote from us your broker will not know that you’re shopping or looking for alternatives behind their backs – this is important to a lot of people. Again we are not insurance brokers, we are America’s largest buying group of health insurance, workers comp and payroll. Why not give us a try – it takes literally 11 minutes of your time and can save you so much in time, money and so much more!

The short answer is that they don’t want you using a PEO because they make a lot less (like 75% less than they do now from you going through them), and no you don’t lose any services by selecting a good PEO vs the insurance broker you have become friends with.  They will attempt to scare you into not using a PEO because they really don’t understand them, and to them they sound the same but because you are getting medical insurance but it is a totally different industry. Your insurance broker doesn’t understand HR, payroll, or the other insurances – would you ask your medical broker to do your Property and Casualty, or vice versa? No, of course not, because they have no incentive personal, no clout, not enough knowledge, maybe have a relationship with one or two only… I think you get the point – Get a professional who only does PEO brokerage – it’s too important for you, your company and for you personally.

Link to visual example here.

Finding the right PEO and employee leasing solutions is our business.

Read more here.

UP TO 20% LOWER ADMIN, MEDICAL AND WC FEES. HOW?

1 – We cut out the expensive direct salesforce that generally makes up to 20% of the fees that they charge you.

2 – Our sales volume and contracts give your company complete access to our wholesale channel rates.

3 – Because the PEO’s know we shop the coverages and because of our ability to negotiate, we make sure you get all the modules and price breaks available at no extra cost to you.

And 4 – Our personal relationships with the salespeople and the PEO executives enables us to get you the best rates.

P.S. This is really important when you really need help for finding a solution to a service problem in the future.

Here is an example of a company that we had go directly to a major PEO, and then we went to that PEO independently through the wholesale channel – look at the price differences!

Annual Cost – 126 employee manufacturing firm

Also check out our testimonials and videos.

Is your business becoming too hard to manage on the employee side? It’s one thing to run a growing business. It’s another thing to hire, manage, and maintain a healthy and happy workforce. But it’s pretty hard to grow your business without one.

SBE479 Plans give HR and C-Suite support to small and mid-size businesses. These kinds of services gobble up your time and money, and smaller companies just don’t have the resources to do it well. This includes things like tax compliance, payroll, benefits, ACA, things that cause employee Lawsuits, Government audits, and other HR and Technology related services.

Businesses that use an SBE479 Plan have been shown to grow faster, retain more employees, and are less likely to go out of business.

But if that’s true, why do so many companies try to do it the hard way – on their own?

Here are 7 reasons your company might not use an SBE479 Plan:

1. Insurance agents keep you in the dark

Insurance agents get paid an amazing amount of commissions – between $300 and $700 for each of your employees every year. If you switched to an SBE479 Plan they would lose most or all of that income. So if you ask your agent about an SBE479 Plan, what do you think they’ll say? Sure use them and fire me?

Plus, SBE479 Plans do things insurance agents often don’t even know about – it’s way out of their myopic world of deductibles and self-insurance. They often have no idea about benefit administration systems that connect to all your other systems – a huge time-saver and just one more reason to get an SBE479 Plan.

2. HR managers worry about being replaced

Many HR managers fear that an SBE479 Plan will take away their tasks and make their jobs obsolete. The good news is, the opposite is actually true. A good SBE479 Plan empowers your HR department to run better and spend their time on more valuable aspects of your business, such as improving your recruiting and retention procedures.

Plus, there is no way your HR director can keep up with all the regulations a small business faces. The constant changes are just overwhelming. Having another company to help, and to be liable if there is a mistake, relieves you of a major job stressor.

3. Co-employment: A scary-sounding word

SBE479 Plans can do all this because of the concept of co-employment. “Co-employment” doesn’t mean you lose control of your company or your employees – but it kind of sounds that way. Co-employment isn’t about giving anything up through some weird sleight of hand. It’s about sharing liabilities. SBE479 Plans operate based on a federal law specifically designed for them. Here’s how co-employment works:

Your business shares the E.I.N. of a large group of small companies like yours. Because of this, you bypass all the regulations about small “groups” from insurance companies. It may sound scary like they now run your company and your employees, but the law is really clear on what this ‘sharing of
tax IDs’ is about.

The best benefit regarding your employees is that if they get hurt or sue you – whether it’s a baseless lawsuit or a legitimate one – they are suing the entire EIN. Your SBE479 Plan handles this and is liable for it – so they make sure you have systems in place that protect both you and them. And if for some reason you decide you don’t like your SBE479 Plan, you can fire them.

4. It’s complicated

Explaining what an SBE479 Plan does isn’t the easiest task. Their real value is a complicated bundle of services and behind-the-scenes benefits. It’s not just a great price saving on health insurance and worker’s compensation, though it has that too. The software, compliance, and other services simplify and strengthen the foundations of small and medium-sized businesses.

5. You think everything’s fine the way it is

Small employers and their HR directors often have no idea about the real liabilities they face from new regulations and audits. There’s just too much stuff coming down from all the levels of government (city, county, state, federal) that makes it harder for your business to prosper. If you knew what you don’t know, you would be up all night and your spouse would make you close the business.

6. Poor salesmanship

SBE479 Plan salespeople are so terrible at explaining what they do. Seriously. The industry is full of ex-insurance agents who couldn’t sell, and now they’re trying to sell a complicated mixture of services.

Selling SBE479 Plans is something only a well-trained consultant, someone in HR, or a former businessperson can do in such a way that companies can clearly see and understand how it helps them. Yes, the industry cannot sell its own great value most of the time.

7. Opposition from all fronts – and you just might not qualify

Even if you see the value and want to join or buy into an SBE479 Plan, it’s still possible you may not qualify. Different SBE479 Plans operate under various buying group umbrella rules. These can include things like specializing in certain industries, location, and a dozen other things.

You’ll also get opposition from all kinds of Salespeople – the ones who stand to lose out if you join an SBE479 Plan. And they will try to talk you out of it. For instance:

• Your health insurance agent (who would make less or lose the business)
• Your workers’ comp broker
• Your 401k administrator (SBE479 Plans do all the admin on this – and you still keep the investments you want)
• Your payroll company
• Your HR consultant
• Any of the many other vendors you have to deal with who aren’t integrated in any way.
• Even your own HR department or payroll manager might try to talk you out of it (perhaps for some of the other reasons on this list).

And remember, even if you ignore all that opposition, you might still be turned down by the SBE479 Plan for various reasons. But have no fear – there is a good SBE479 Plan that will take you. They all have niches and specialties.

The question is, how do find them and how much time will it cost you to hunt them down?

The best way is to call a company that does all this stuff for you.

ThePEOPeople.com is the premier educational organization for a business that determines whether it is worth your time to explore in the first place, which SBE479 Plan is best for you, help negotiate the best deals for you and follow up to make sure you are being served properly.  Our volume with these large Certified SBE479 Plan’s gets you the best service, prices, and guarantees.

Click here to set up a 10-minute call to save you thousands of hours and hundreds of thousands of dollars over the next 3 years and protect you from government audits and employee lawsuits.

We have the clout to get you lower admin rates, lower set up fees, lower medical costs, and lower worker’s comp costs. We leave no stone unturned and have decades of experience choosing the right services for you, getting the modules you wouldn’t normally get! We tell you everything you can get and make sure nothing is left out, while also getting them for less than the PEO direct salesperson (who you will never see again after the sale) would!

They’re a big franchise supermarket chain – they couldn’t care less about the average, daily customer as their way of thinking is “We’ll just get more,” but we treat you like family, like a valued member of the community.

Because that PEO salesperson is only representing a single company, they will only try to steer you toward their direction.  They aren’t telling you what is inferior with their only product, and they’ll do whatever it takes to turn you into just another client on their list. It’s easy to overlook the problems they have if they hide all of them from you in the first place. You need to go to the people who care about getting the best for you and your employees. Macy’s doesn’t sell Gimbels.

The difference between us is we treat you like a person – they just treat you like another client on a spreadsheet, and once you sign on the dotted line with that salesperson that’s usually the last, you’ll see of them. They’ve got 299 more customers to sign-up and you’re immediately put on the backburner.

The Problem of Growth, Turnover,Increasing Liabilities and Everyday Operations.

When it comes to your benefits, payroll, and HR administration, you have to get it right.

Recruitment – retention – engagement – production – ‘human capital’ and technology combined with incredibly expensive health insurance costs that are continually rising.

Your HR and CFOs manage payroll, admin, hiring, recruiting, training, retention, culture, and your two largest line items – salary and benefits.

A PEO seems to offer a way for businesses to navigate all this growth without it costing them so much time and personnel. It looks like a way to get all your HR done in one place rather than buying each service separately and save direct insurance costs and indirect costs and liabilities and time.

Secret: About one third of the time, the financial benefits of switching to a PEO are clear beyond any doubts. But, for another one third of companies, you can be rejected from these Professional Employer Organizations and their buying groups. For the last third, it depends on the specific details a bit more.

The short answer is you have to look at them as a total package because some PEOs charge a lot for administrative fees and have very low health insurance premiums and workers comp premiums and some of the opposite. In general, an admin fee is from $70 dollars to a $ 180 dollars per employee per month. There are tremendous differences in costs among these PEO’s – and watch out for hidden fees! But usually, this cost is more than absorbed by the savings – about 75% percent of the time the net savings are serious, and a responsible HR director or CFO should get a quote. 

The price of a PEO is based on a combination of things within a bundled price. It sounds like a vague answer but it’s not. These massive buying groups can now save even more money in purchasing benefits than they used to! Sometimes up to 30% for the same plans and often the same carriers (same with Workers comp and sometimes with SUTA as well).

The total cost of the PEO is a combination of the cost of the Administration, (Payroll, HR, Compliance, Time and Attendance, etc.), Worker’s Compensation, Medical, Unemployment, and a few other services. Generally, when people ask how much does a PEO cost they’re really thinking about the administrative fee, but you really have to think about the total cost and then compare it to your current expense for the apples and apples products and services.

Not only do they save you money over the first year, but they continue to have Lower Renewals than the private market.

(other related FAQs – how much time is involved to get quotes, are they really different and how do I make sure I get the best price and most importantly that I don’t pick the wrong PEO – hint – you can not trust the PEO direct salespeople) 

Read more here.

Click here to view a sample of possible savings for a company with 113 employees.

There are 700 of them – how do you even figure out the right ones to call to even narrow down the process?

This will address some of the questions, but it really brings up the other questions that you have to think about. Not exactly a checklist but really this gives you an idea of the differences in the complexities of the purchasing process. But don’t be scared – there’s an easy way to do this all – more on that later.

The comparison spreadsheet we use has 48 rows and they are all important.  I know we have said this in other FAQs but it’s worth repeating – they sound like they (PEOs) all do everything – they will all check off they do it on your spreadsheet – just ask any direct PEO salesperson from any PEO- they will tell you how the PEO they are working for (currently)  is the best – here is the short truth to this fundamental and important question – PEOs encompass so many aspects that are each complicated – from payroll to benefits to HRIS to WC, etc… even if you have one now and you think you know what to ask for it will take incredible time to do the right due diligence on them and that presumes you went to the right ones.  What their salesman says, their internet reviews and their glowingly happy client referrals they cherrypick for you is not what you need to hear or internet reviews say or happy client referrals they cherry-pick for you to talk to say is not what you need – even if you had the time to do this time-consuming project, what you need is a professional that really is objective about the companies, has dealt with their problems, knows what is really going on this year with their software or organization.  By the way, a PEO broker doesn’t charge a fee for all this – they get you better rates than if you went direct – you fill out fewer forms – and they will do the comparisons between them all. 

Why do you need to compare? Because they are so very different from technology, from service, from guarantees, from style, from admin rates, from hidden fees, from benefit plan, and WC and benefit rates and renewals, from compliance help and defense.

What are these called? They’re called PEO brokers they don’t charge a fee they get lower rates and most importantly they’re good and that is the only thing they do and there are big differences between PEO brokers, but the most important thing is they will make sure you did not pick the wrong PEO you could get fired because of it literally.

See additional FAQs on how brokers operate:

Why Do People Select ThePEOPeople.com?

How Much do PEOs Really Cost?

What is a PEO Anyway?

Why Should I Call a PEO Broker Instead of the PEO’s Directly?

PEOs talk about the intangible and soft dollars they save – tons of time, lawsuits, compliance, and did I say avoiding and defending HR lawsuits – BUT the bottom line is still what is important – how much in hard dollars will YOUR firm save.  The real answer is who knows – here’s how it plays out in getting quotes for 100 firms (between 25 and 400 employees) – 74 will save so much they really consider changing (39 with an implement it that year, and after another year of medical renewals, 16 of the rest will implement a PEO the following year), 19 will not save that much. But 6 will implement a PEO because of the way it will help them run their business better, and the other 17 the PEO will be much more and they should stay where they are. 

P.S. we define a lot of money as over 22% of the annual cost of their medical and workers’ comp premiums. 

Click here to view a sample of potential savings for a company with 113 employees.

There are 700 and growing, and our guess is you should do business with about 650 of them. Of the 50 left you have some that specialize, while others are local, and you even have some that are national – some have great service, some have great technology, some a history of great renewals, others are about to be purchased, there are some that hide so many fees you will never know about, some are CPEOs (see the FAQ on this), some are putting in new i.t. systems, some were good last year and now omg they are so terrible it’s baffling and–  wow that was a mouthful. So, in short, they all will tell you they do everything a PEO should do, but most don’t and most just don’t do them well.  Basically it’s like most businesses, but because this one encompasses so many aspects (things like medical, PTO, 401k, payroll, OSHA, etc) the worst thing you can do is pick the wrong one and end up having to switch the next year (DON’T be like Caesar in our picking the wrong PEO video linked).  Finally, once again we must caution you – the direct reps from the PEO’s are paid a lot and to do one thing – sell you the PEO they are working for that year. Our informant spills ALL!

So, who do you get objective advice from?  See our FAQ about the shopping process.

We have the clout to get you lower admin rates, lower set up fees, lower medical costs, and lower worker’s comp costs. We leave no stone unturned and have decades of experience choosing the right services for you, getting the modules you wouldn’t normally get! We tell you everything you can get and make sure nothing is left out, while also getting them for less than the PEO direct salesperson (who you will never see again after the sale) would!

They’re a big franchise supermarket chain – they couldn’t care less about the average, daily customer as their way of thinking is “We’ll just get more,” but we treat you like family, like a valued member of the community.

Because that PEO salesperson is only representing a single company, they will only try to steer you toward their direction.  They aren’t telling you what is inferior with their only product, and they’ll do whatever it takes to turn you into just another client on their list. It’s easy to overlook the problems they have if they hide all of them from you in the first place. You need to go to the people who care about getting the best for you and your employees. Macy’s doesn’t sell Gimbels.

The difference between us is we treat you like a person – they just treat you like another client on a spreadsheet, and once you sign on the dotted line with that salesperson that’s usually the last, you’ll see of them. They’ve got 299 more customers to sign-up and you’re immediately put on the backburner.

The answer can be yes – another reason you really need a professional to let you know all this and which PEO’s have what fees you may not know to even look at. Often when people receive the quote they ask if that includes health insurance, Worker’s Comp and unemployment and the answer to that is no.

PEOs really have an extraordinary range – they can be anywhere from $49 per month per employee to over $150 a month per employee. Yes, that sounds high but remember you probably save way more than that on the Medical, Workers Comp and Unemployment. Some PEOs also charge a percentage of a payroll basis, and this is often the best pricing model for those companies with lower-paid employees. Those costs might range from 2 to 3.5% of payroll. (some also charge by check)

The answer is usually yes, however not always. It depends on what you’re spending on health insurance, participation in your plans, etc. They generally can save a lot of money, buy it varies depending on your situation. But, the truth is you never know, and it’s worth the effort to get quotes because sometimes it’s dramatically cheaper. Choose an experienced PEO broker to help figure this out – they are objective, actually save you money, and save you from having to talk to 5 different PEO salespeople and finding the right PEO’s to compare.

SBE479 – is the federal act that regulates PEOs.  It created a certification process – thus the C in CPEO.  Of the 700 something PEOs only about 30 have actually received this certification.  It is a big deal for an employer.  In order to qualify they have to pass a great deal of government tests including financial, I.T. security, compliance, audits etc… 

It general what it means is your company can receive better tax treatment, not have to pay mid-year F.U.T.A and SUI restarts, qualify for tax credits that a non CPEO will prevent you from receiving , better data security, better software, better compliance protection from the government, make it less likely they (and therefore you) will have any financial problems relating to a PEO and other important protections. 

There are several other certificates that PEO will tell you they have (and several of them have great credibility also (like Employer Services Assurance Corporation – ESAC), and some of the larger PEOs that have this certification also have divisions that don’t so you have to know to make sure you are in the CPEO option. 

Many of the smaller PEOs can’t afford to go through this process and many of the specialty firms can’t either. Ask your PEO broker, consultant or expert about this.   

There’s been a lot of discussion in the HR outsourcing world about certified professional employer organizations, or CPEOs. What are they and why does it matter, you may be asking? 

Here’s the express version: 

• Being certified means a PEO has applied to the IRS to be certified and after providing extensive information about its financials and other background information, received the CPEO designation from the IRS. 
• A CPEO takes on added responsibility related to payroll administration and federal employment tax reporting and payments. 
• A CPEO is responsible for paying the federal employment taxes on the wages it pays to worksite employees. 

Essentially, it might provide you further peace of mind when working with a certified professional employer organization. Read on to understand the details and how it may affect your business. 

CPEOs The bottom line 

CPEO’s can won’t steal your money  – bonded and audited. If a non CPEO doesn’t pay your taxes with the money you gave them to pay your taxes you will have to pay it twice.

Better security tax credits available. Not necessarily that is service or better benefit rates. 

A little background 

The Small Business Efficiency Act (SBEA) of 2014 put things in motion when it set out to clarify the relationship between a certified professional employer organization and its customers for the purpose of federal payroll taxes. It is federal recognition that the PEO industry has needed since its early days more than 30 years ago. 

A CPEO establishes a co-employment relationship with its customers. In it, the CPEO assumes many of the employee-related employer responsibilities, while the customer continues to manage and run the business. 

Here’s a quick overview of the co-employment relationship: 

Your company’s role 

• Your company remains an employer. 

• It maintains control over managing your employees’ daily to-dos and core job functions as well as maintaining your organizational structure. 
• Your company’s leadership team remains focused on fulfilling the primary role they were hired for. 

The CPEO’s role 

• As the co-employer, the CPEO takes on specific employer obligations, as set forth in your service agreement. 
• This allows the CPEO to provide benefits and handle functions such as payroll, tax remittance and related government filings. 

• Because it acts as an employer for those purposes, the CPEO can assume a greater amount of responsibility than, for example, a payroll company. 

Not everyone qualifies 

It’s not a simple process to get certified by the IRS, and not every PEO will qualify. Here are some of the requirements of companies seeing certification: 

• An audit of their financial statements 
• CPA-affirmed documentation that they pay employment taxes in a timely manner 

• Documentation that they have positive working capital 
• Background reports of their individuals responsible for employment tax payments 

The IRS wants to take a good look at the PEOs it certifies because they’re solely responsible for paying employment taxes on wages they pay to worksite employees. Previously, the IRS could have looked to the client company if the PEO did not pay the federal employment taxes. Basically, the IRS wants to be sure the taxes get paid. 

Why it matters 

The intent of the law was to give more structure to who is responsible for what and how eligibility for certain tax credits is defined. The highlights of the law and how it relates to CPEOs and their customers include: 

• Payroll tax liability 
• Double payment of taxes 
• Retaining specified tax credits 

Payroll tax liability 

The IRS has traditionally taken the view that in a PEO arrangement, both the PEO and the customer are jointly and severally liable for paying federal employment taxes. Let’s say a small business hired a PEO, paid the invoice, which would have included the employment taxes, and the PEO didn’t pay the employment taxes. Before the SBEA, the IRS could have gone after the client company for the taxes – money that the company thought it had already paid to the PEO. 

The SBEA makes it very clear that a CPEO, certified by the IRS, is solely liable for the payment of federal employment taxes on wages it pays to worksite employees. So, once the customer pays the invoice, which includes the federal payroll taxes, to the CPEO, the IRS can’t come back to the customer to collect employment taxes if the customer is subject to a CPEO service contract or agreement. The CPEO is liable, not the customer. 

Maintaining tax credits 

Because many tax credits hinge on being the employer, oftentimes businesses entering into a PEO co-employer relationship would be concerned about potentially losing eligibility for those tax credits. 

The SBEA clarifies a CPEO customer’s ability to maintain certain tax credits when they’re in a CPEO relationship. 

There’s a list of tax credits in the SBEA that’s very clear that the customers get to retain within the CPEO relationship. Among them are: 

• IRC sec. 41 credit for increasing research activity 
• IRC sec. 45R credit for health insurance expenses 
• IRC sec. 51 work opportunity credit 
• IRC sec. 1396 empowerment zone employment credit 

Wage-base restart 

As an employer, federal employment taxes must be paid on a certain amount of each employee’s wage – referred to as the wage base. 

When a company joins or leaves a PEO mid-year, there has been the issue of paying taxes on the wage base from both the company and the PEO. This is known as an employment tax or wage base restart and occurs when a new federal employer identification number (FEIN) is used. When a PEO begins paying wages (or a company leaves a PEO), it triggers a change in the FEIN of the entity paying wages. 

For example, in June, a PEO takes on a new client that has been paying employment taxes since January. In June, the PEO would be considered a new employer under the Internal Revenue Code. So, paying federal employment taxes on the wage base starts over, resulting in double taxes being paid. 

Under the SBEA, it’s clear that if you’re a CPEO customer subject to a CPEO contract, the wage base no longer starts over. The CPEO gets to succeed to the wage base of the employees at a customer coming into the relationship, so there’s no longer a double payment of taxes. While there are a lot of other meanings to the term “successor employer,” a CPEO would only be the successor employer with regard to the wage base for payment of employment taxes. 

Additionally, if a company doing business with a CPEO pursuant to a CPEO contract or agreement leaves the relationship, it would benefit from the successor employer status and not have to restart the wage base for employees for purposes of federal employment taxes. 

Peace of mind 

The SBE legislation was a long time coming. It gives structure, guidance and recognition to the PEO industry.

The truth is it can be really time consuming and confusing even if you already have a PEO and know what you want.  Gathering the proper information is not the time-consuming part – that should take about 20 minutes at the most and it is generally the same information you are used to gathering to shop Medical Insurance. The time-consuming part is listening to all the salespeople all sound the same and all asking you the same questions and all telling you how terrific their PEO is, and in may cases filling out different forms with the same information for them.  Then part two – they all ask for more information with mostly the same questions and sometimes different forms and questions. That is really annoying.  They get you quotes that are kind of hard to compare because the services all sound the same, but how they are actually delivered is incredibly different and for you to really find out this you then need to do a deep dive into each type of service (and of course the medical plans never match up) and then demos. In the end the truth is you still will not know everything you need to know. And if you get past all that you need to read their confusing contracts that all have incredible language in their favor that you can and must change and add to. It goes on and on, and that ignores negotiation for price and modules and guarantees.  WOW.   

Or you can use one professional third party to do most of this, tell you the truth and get you better prices while still allowing you to do your job and letting them do all the hard work.  These are called PEO Brokers – just like you use your insurance brokers – they don’t charge a fee, they work for you, not the PEOs, have wholesale discount prices and they make sure you don’t pick the wrong PEO, if you should even have a PEO at all. One of the most important things is which PEO broker you pick – see other FAQs (hint: only select a PEO who is only a PEO broker, not an insurance agent, and only one that has staff and clout – most are either a small team or a single PEO salesperson.