On PEO Brokers, PEOcompare.com
... But Is It Enough Bang For Your Buck?
With unemployment at record highs, many are taking a stab at being business owners, but this is far from an easy task. It seems that in today's economic climate, small businesses are popping up all over, but are quickly going under as fast as they begin. To try to survive in today’s tumultuous market, many small business owners are turning to outside help. It should come as no surprise then that the PEO industry is on the rise. A Professional Employer Organization can provide services for a number of administrative tasks and HR functions that the mint business owner simply does not have time for.
One of the most important responsibilities a PEO company undertakes is that of providing employer-sponsored health insurance to employees, along with other benefits. Now, of course, one can take the "Do-It-Yourself" route and brave the long, tiring, and time-consuming search for insurance providers that fit a company's needs and the employees’ wants. For the relatively inexperienced small business owner, this yields one of two results: either the employer fails and finally resorts to a PEO (which should have been done in the first place); or the employer fails even more miserably resulting in a sub-par insurance offering for employees. Not to say that finding insurance and handling the administrative tasks of a company internally cannot be done, but it can be a very difficult and risky endeavor. While it may save the small business owner a few Benjamins in the short-term, in the long-term, employees will be left unsatisfied and the business could be in danger.
For those small business owners who are slightly less ambitious (but also probably more reasonable), there is always the option of turning to PEO Services in order to save time and focus on what truly matters: running a business and making a profit. However, once this decision is made, another fork in the road is reached, another decision to be made: How does the employer know which of the hundreds of PEOs operating in the US is the Right PEO? Again, the small business owner can always go ahead and manage their HR and administrative tasks on their own, a prospect which I am not fond of personally. Another alternative is hiring a PEO broker. As Mike Burgelin writes in “PEO Brokers Can Provide More Bang For Your Buck,” PEO brokers can save time and money, and eliminate frustration. They allow small business owners to communicate the needs of their businesses without having to determine proposals, options, and strategies (since the broker does that), all while minimizing employee-related costs.
While all of this is true, one must keep in mind that a broker is being paid commission by the PEO on leads they provide and deals they cut; therefore, they may be selling a package that has everything an employer needs from a certain national PEO but at a higher amount than what could be paid for the same services provided by a different PEO. This is something that every small business owner needs to be weary of when considering a PEO broker. Additionally, employers need to remember that while PEO brokers are more time-efficient compared to searching for a PEO with no help, using a broker still requires some time to discuss, propose, negotiate, communicate, contemplate, list, decide – well, a lot of time that a small business owner does not have.
Fortunately, there is a third option which does not involve a broker and that is PEOcompare.com, which offers a free PEO services matching tool. This innovative selection tool is automated and unbiased, and gives the business owner the control of deciding which services he or she would like more information about. Put in what a company is looking for and the matching tool presents a list of top PEO firms that have the ability to serve those particular needs. The tool even determines if a PEO contracts within a particular state, industry and even size, saving a considerable amount of research time. This is one of the many resources at the disposal of the small business owner that will not cost a thing. Talk about more bang for your buck!
About the Author
Anthony Kelly is a frequent contributor to PEOcompare.com and has experience working PEO companies since 1997. He frequently writes about compliance, Outsource HR, PEO Insurance, PEO Brokers and other issues affecting the small business owner.
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