According to the folk at VertiSource HR, running every facet of HR, payroll, and compliance in-house can be extremely challenging for organizations of all sizes. The associated administrative burdens divert focus and resources from core business priorities. More and more companies are turning to Professional Employer Organizations (PEOs) to unlock success by lifting these burdens. PEO services provide integrated HR, payroll, benefits, and compliance support through a co-employment model that delivers immense value.
Co-Employment Structure
The foundation of a PEO’s value proposition is built on co-employment. Under this model, the PEO becomes the employer of record for all staff related to the client company. Employees are then co-employed by both the PEO and client organization. This enables the PEO to provide HR services as the legal employer while the client maintains day-to-day workplace responsibilities.
Co-employment allows the PEO to offer robust HR solutions, encompassing everything from talent acquisition to compensation management and performance development. All HR data, systems, and processes are unified under the PEO as the formal employer. This structure fuels major efficiency gains for the client company.
Payroll and Tax Administration
Two of the most burdensome recurring tasks for any organization involve payroll administration and tax compliance. PEOs excel in reliably and accurately handling all aspects of payroll processing, disbursement, and reporting. This includes:
- time tracking.
- pay calculations.
- voluntary deductions.
- Garnishments.
- direct deposits.
- payroll filings and tax payments.
By serving as the employer of record, the PEO assumes these intensive payroll duties so the client organization doesn’t have to. PEOs leverage immense economies of scale and automation to drive payroll efficiency. Their expertise also enhances compliance.
Talent Management
Through its HR reach as the co-employer, a PEO can provide comprehensive talent management support based on leading practices. Services may span needs assessment, job profiling, recruiting, onboarding, skills development, performance management, leadership training and succession planning.
This enables even small companies to implement elevated talent strategies usually feasible only for large enterprises. The PEO’s talent insights strengthen hiring, productivity, engagement, retention, and workforce planning. The breadth of expertise would be difficult for any single organization to replicate internally.
Risk Management
PEOs deliver tremendous advantages for workplace safety, employment practices liability, and regulatory compliance. As co-employer, the PEO assumes substantial liabilities related to employee relations, safety incidents, discrimination claims, wrongful termination suits, and labor disputes. Making the PEO party to such risks prompts enhanced loss prevention practices.
For regulated industries, the PEO also oversees procedural and reporting compliance across wage/hour, OSHA, EEOC, healthcare, FMLA, ADA, FLSA, and other requirements. This lifts heavy compliance burdens from client leadership. The PEO’s shared risk motivates vigilant adherence to regulations.
Benefits Administration
One of a PEO’s most popular services is consolidating benefits administration. This includes securing group rates on a spectrum of insurance offerings and overseeing enrollment, eligibility, deductions, and vendor payments. Benefits may span health, dental, life, disability, 401(k), and more.
Centralizing program management enables the PEO to optimize benefits spending through preferred supplier agreements not feasible for individual companies. Workers also gain access to Fortune 500-level benefits impossible for small firms to offer independently. This elevates recruitment, engagement, and retention.
Conclusion
In essence, PEOs create tremendous value by lifting HR, payroll, risk management, compliance, and benefits burdens through the co-employment model. The wide range of bundled services enables client executives to zero in on business strategy, operations, and growth initiatives rather than administrative tasks. It would be extremely challenging for organizations to match the integrated solutions that an advanced PEO provides through piecing together individual systems and vendors. Partnering with a leading PEO unlocks immense potential for clients by allowing them to focus their efforts on driving the business forward.