3 Reasons Cheap PEOs Could Actually Be Expensive

The pressure is on for small business owners to stay competitive in the job market with unemployment rates being at their lowest in years. For the business looking for candidates, the pool for talent is proving to be smaller and smaller by the day. The incentives for talented candidates to be attracted to your open position has to be there or they won’t even apply. What candidates are looking for as deciding factors between opportunities comes down to benefits. With this in mind, small businesses are looking to PEOs now more than ever to fill the void of benefits that may currently exist. The allure of cheap PEOs to take care of this need in an effort to offer some sort of package is a strong one. Does cheap ever mean good?   If you are a small business owner who has made any sort of effort to find small business health insurance in the past, you probably choked on the price tag. Not only are they usually too much of an expense for the business, but the employee’s portion of the bill is often not even in the realm of affordable. If this sounds like your story, you are in good company. Many discouraged small businesses owners have come to their employees with their hands in their pockets with the disappointing news of no benefits again this year. Could cheap PEOs be good enough to cover what they are looking for?  

Cheap PEOs Are Cheap For A Reason More Often Than Not

  When you are desperate to fill a need and budget is an issue, cheap seems better than nothing. In some cases, it really is the best you can do. At least you are offering some benefits, right? Cheap PEOs could be good enough to get by for now. Maybe you’ll offer something better later. Before you sign that contract for a whole 365 days of misery, let’s consider a few things you and your employees will have to take into consideration:  

1. When the PEO is cheap, take a good look at what the benefits are actually covering -Your cheap PEOs may be waving some brand name health insurance offerings in the air in an effort to get your attention, most of them do. What you need to read is the fine print as far as what exactly that brand name insurance carrier is going to cover when you and your employees need it. Too often cheap health insurance means limited coverage and/or high deductibles.

 

2.   Find out what your employees are being asked to go without for cheap PEOs -

     Getting just a little and calling it better than nothing may sound good to you, but is that      what your employees want? It might be worth everyone’s time if everyone involved fully      understands what it’s in it and not in it for them. Before you make a decision your      employees don’t want to live with or spend their money on, ask them. Chances are, they’d      be willing to spend a little more money to get what they need then spend anything on what          they don’t.  

3.   Sometimes employees will go with less pay for better benefits - What if you asked your

     employees what they’d rather have before you decide you can’t afford anything more than         cheap PEOs to fill the benefits gap? You might be surprised to learn that they’d be willing      to skip the raise this year if you promise to do better on benefits packages.  

If Cheap PEOs Are Really All You Can Afford Then Read This

  What if this is really the best you can do; cheap PEOs or no benefits? Well, do you really know that? What have you done to find out before you’ve made up your mind? Google searches are one thing, but working with a PEO broker like PEO Spectrum will help you cut through all the noise on the Internet to focus just on what the options are in your price range and what is in the best interest of your employees. They’ll do their due diligence to put the right options in front of you so you can decide if maybe something better really is within reach. Better yet, put your checkbook away; their services are free. How much does it cost to see if you can offer good benefits at lower costs than small business health insurance? Just a few minutes of your time.