October 19, 2007

Does HR Outsourcing using a Professional Employer Organization (PEO) yield effective results?

My company for years was stayed small, 15 people. We never experienced HR difficulties.

Recently the company has been blessed with booming growth. Since then, the company has doubled in size repeatedly.

With our new found expansion, we had no idea that hiring and caring for our employees would take so much time and effort. I'm now spending half a day managing HR issues instead of my company's strategic future.

I'm looking to remove these employment issues and focus on the business. During a meeting at a professional org. a member suggested I look into a Professional Employer Organization (PEO).

Has anyone been in a similar situation as mine?
Can anyone speak to the effectiveness of a PEO?

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Comments

bigbruce: My firm works with small and midsized business owners to help them find the "right" Professional Employer Organization for your company. You may find our guide entitled "The ABC's of PEO" to be helpful. It is available at no cost at PEO-quote.com. There are many useful articles on our blog HR Outsourcing Solutions at http://employers-rx.blogspot.com/index.html or from the articles posted on our corporate website at http://employers-rx.com/. Feel free to contact me at bruce@employers-Rx.com.
IreTreat: Thanks for the post bigbruce. Don't take this the wrong way, but you work for a PEO so I have to feel your response is somewhat biased. What would be helpful is client testimonies. Do you have one or two clients available that I could call to hear about their experiences. Or perhaps one or more white papers / case studies?

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October 19, 2007

Posted by kWissot

3 stars ( 2 ratings )

A Professional Employer Organization (PEO) works great, especially for technology start-ups, which I can speak to.

The company I am with now has seen HUGE benefits ever since working with the PEO. The PEO handling items such as getting new employees set up has been a tremendous life saver.

When you work for a company that is booming and hiring faster than ever before, training is essential or else you start losing people or risk losing the company culture.

The PEO handling all the other items 401k, benefits is one of those things you don't notice how great it is until its gone.

To start your search take a look at these PEOs which are large national companies: ADP, Doherty, StaffMarket.com, The PEO Brokers Group and TriNet.

You can also use NAPE Online which is an index of PEOs searchable by state/country.

There are also online brokers and networks that will help you find a PEO, such as bigbruce above (hi bruce!).

Last note, you might want to narrow your search to finding a PEO with ESAC Certification. (Employer Services Assurance Corporation (ESAC) is an accreditation and surety group founded to vouch for the financial stability of these PEOs, and bonds them against the possibility of default on any of their financial obligations.)

Comments

bigbruce: Staffmarket and PEO Brokers Group are Marketing Groups not PEO's. Most leading PEO's provide all of the services you mention at different levels of service and quality, and at different rates.

It is more important for business owners to identify what they need, and what they can afford. PEO charges range from $800 to $1400 per employee. West Coast and NE PEOs seem to charge more because of the higher cost to operate. PEOs that deliver a high level of service pay, more for skilled employees.
EthanBroadway: Its also important to note that groups need to be flexible with a wide range of services.

Identifying what you need is easier for a larger more established company, however smaller startups have rapidly changing needs. Find out what happens if services change etc...

October 23, 2007

Posted by ek1049

0 stars ( 0 ratings )

I have worked for a PEO for 11 years in the Kansas City area and we are the best kept secret I've ever seen in my life. In Feb. '03 Journal of Accountancy Peter Drucker said PEO was the fastest growing service industry in the country. We are well into our second decade with many of our clients, having started the company in 1988.

The concept is slower to catch on in the midwest but we are growing steadily. Our clients tell us they would never bring their hr functions back in house.

A word of caution: PEOs service offering can vary quire a bit. Some only offer payroll and cheap work comp insurance. Some, like Axcet offer a full suite of HR outsourcing, benefits, and risk management, as well as payroll.

October 30, 2007

Posted by dshewmake

0 stars ( 0 ratings )

My company, Pantheos , is a PEO and we meet challenges for hundreds of our clients with almost 2,000 employees. We help our clients go to the next level in business by helping them find, hire, mentor, and get happy productive employees. They concentrate on their business to help it be much better. It does not end at getting an employee. There is training, supervising, promoting, disciplining, terminating, paying, problem solving, and on and on. We provide any research, advice, best practices, and anything else that will take the pain away from my client. We also provide any benefits such as Health Insurance, 401k plan, credit union, EAP, travel. discount programs, and on and on. We are trying to make an employee say that he would rather work at a company that uses a PEO than a company without one. We want our clients to say that they no longer have pain being an employer.

October 30, 2007

Posted by bigbruce

0 stars ( 0 ratings )

No offense taken. To set the record straight, I do not work for a PEO, I am the founder and managing member of an employee management consulting firm that specializes HROs and PEOs. You are welcome to email me with your specifics. I will be happy to provide you with a list of satisfied clients and you can see more testimonials on our website.

bruce@employers-Rx.com

October 01, 2008

Posted by MikeBurgelin

0 stars ( 0 ratings )

A PEO service provider can be a strong partner in assuming your payroll, benefit and worker’s compensation administrative burdens. But PEO services are not all alike! Each employee leasing company has its own available options, so it is extremely important that an employer knows which benefits are most important to his/her company. If you need a true independent resource to answer questions, provide a free cost analysis (that you can understand), or explore benefits your company needs – call us. If we can’t help, you’ll leave knowing why, and we’ll do everything to refer you to a service that can. We can be reached at 1-888-582-8388 or www.EmployeeLeasingQuotes.com.