How To Know If Your PEO Is Right For Your Business

Small businesses love the promise of a PEO. The ability to offer good benefits at a reasonable rate seems attractive enough on its own. Many entrepreneurs long to bring a great employee benefits package to the table when offering opportunities to top talent, but often the funds are just not there. When a PEO comes along offering to solve the problem, many are eager to sign on the dotted line and be free from the shackles of subpar benefits. Sometimes that is not the end of the story. Know if a PEO is right for your business before you sign up for one.   No PEO is a one-size-fits-all for all businesses. Many PEO customers find that out the hard way. In a fit of frustration, they may opt out of their PEO contract, soured by the experience and resentful of considering a PEO relationship again.   PEOs are as varied as their customers. With 700 of them to choose from, you can clearly see why some small business owners do not get the right PEO for their business right the first time. To know if your PEO is right for your business is to do an analysis of needs and match them up with which PEOs offer the things that are aligned with your company’s needs.

When A PEO Is Right For Your Business

  There is definitely some internal investigation that has to happen when deciding if your PEO is right for your business. Often, as a company grows their needs change. What was right for your PEO relationship in the beginning may have shifted during growth, creating new needs that may not be met as well as they were before, or even not at all. Don’t wait until the relationship is truly broken. Find out now if there is a change in contract that is needed with your current PEO or if perhaps a new PEO altogether is the right move.  

• Has your company grown substantially over the last year?
• Are you planning to or has your company added employees out of state?
• Is your company planning to or has it grown internationally?
• What is the satisfaction rate of your benefits plans from your employees?
• What is your customer satisfaction rating?
• Do you understand your fee schedule with your current PEO?
• Do you know if you are paying a competitive PEO rate?
• Is there choice in what you can select for benefits and services?

  It is also important to make note of what really works well with your PEO relationship so you know what to look for in making a PEO comparison. You’ll want to make sure you can keep what you already like about your existing PEO. Also, write down what is not working. You’ll see what PEO services would alleviate those issues without making you sacrifice what you need to keep in a PEO contract.   Sometimes, it is not even a new PEO service that you need but a renegotiation of your existing contract. It is true, sometimes you can keep the same PEO and adjust the terms and services without having to undo everything and go with another PEO. For many small business owners, this truly is the best of both worlds.   PEO brokers can help you take all the research work out of finding out if your PEO is right for your business and steer you in the direction of ones that can help if it isn’t. They’ll even see if a renegotiation of your existing contract is in order if you really want to keep the one you have. Best yet, most PEO brokers don’t charge to you to find out. Your insurance agency didn’t charge you to find the right car insurance for your needs did they? A PEO broker works the same way.   Having a PEO does an awful lot of good for a small business trying to grow. If you want to know if your PEO is really working for you, there is an easy way to find out.