By: Shraga Jacobowitz
With New Year’s just past (Do we all remember Y2K pandemonium? Can you believe it was 18 years ago?), it’s time to reflect on those resolutions. For many that means personal resolutions. But believe it or not, New Year’s is also a good time for business resolutions, especially if your business is showing any of the following seven signs. And with the help of ARC, this is a resolution you can actually keep.
So what are the 7 signs you might need a PEO?
Read on and see if any sound familiar.
#1: Your administrative duties overwhelm you
If you’re desperately searching for more hours in the day to get through your entire workload, a PEO is the ideal solution for you. A thriving, growing business translates into growing administrative duties that you may not be able to keep up with.
A competent PEO will streamline all of your administrative processes, such as overseeing payroll, new hire and termination processes, HR compliance and medical coverage for your employees. They assume the bulk of hiring and recruiting new workers, supervise employee data management and more.
This might especially apply to you if: You have multiple locations, recently underwent an expansion, or experienced a large growth surge.
#2: You’re not 100% certain you are compliant with regulations and laws related to your industry
Running a lawful business has never been more complicated. New rules and regulations are constantly being passed, and just keeping yourself and your business updated with these laws can consume most of your time and energy.
Free up your brain space and drive for the things that really matter – like launching a new line of products or expanding your clientele beyond its current base – by outsourcing this tedious task to a PEO. They’ll do the hard work for you and ensure that your business is always fully compliant with all relevant laws.
This might especially apply to you if: Your industry is high-risk and is governed by many complicated rules and regulations.
#3: You want access to a Fortune 500 benefit employee benefit package
Small businesses sometimes have to resort to hiring less-than-ideal candidates because they don’t have access to the handsome benefits package offered by larger firms. In an employee’s market, job-hunters can afford to be choosy and might not even give your business a chance if you can’t offer an attractive package.
By using the services of a PEO, you’ll have access to a much wider pool of benefits you’d otherwise never be able to reach. This way, you can give your employees what they really deserve.
While this is true with all employee benefits, it’s especially true with regards to medical coverage. A smaller business is often stuck with less-than-ideal coverage at ridiculously high premiums.
This might especially apply to you if: You are a smaller company but have exorbitantly high premiums and/or deductibles.
#4: You’ve outgrown your current administrative system but don’t yet have the financial resources to build an internal HR department
Your business used to run perfectly well with its current administrative practice, but now it’s outgrown itself. You might be entertaining the thought of building an internal HR department and are wondering what this might run you in costs.
While the exact price tag varies with need, establishing an HR department is always time-consuming and relatively expensive. It can mean recruiting and hiring an HR director, using the services of a payroll company, and paying host of cost and fees that can be incurred by doing your HR in-house – all of which can total up to $200,000!
Do you stick with the system you have in place even though it’s not working too well or drop a ton of money on establishing an HR department?
You might think you’re stuck between a rock and a hard place, but there’s a simple solution: Hire a PEO! You’ll outsource all of your HR and you’ll have a greater depth and breadth of services at a reasonable price.
This might especially apply to you if: You’ve already experienced the fallout of administrative practices that aren’t sufficient for your current level of growth.
#5: You recently acquired a company
Acquiring another company is an exciting step for growing businesses and opens a plethora of new opportunities. Unfortunately, though, this process often leads to the realization that the current HR process was undermanaged or insufficient for the business’s needs. This can present a significant risk to acquirers, particularly in a stock purchase. You don’t want to end up losing out on the acquisition because of faulty administrative practices. By using a PEO, your HR will be handled efficiently and competently, removing all the employer risk inherent in an acquisition.
This might especially apply to you if: Your administrative process was already floundering prior to the acquisition.
#6: You’ve just lost a long-time employee who handled all aspects of HR
Every business owner likes to think their best employees will stick around forever, but this is hardly true. Employees leave their places of work all the time – even ones they’ve worked in for decades. If you have an employee you depend on to manage HR, you might be lost if this worker leaves your company. It’s best to have a PEO working together with your employee so that you’re not up a creek if this key worker leaves.
If the inevitable happens and you did not employ the services of a PEO before it did, it’s not too late to start now. A PEO can swoop in and save the day when you feel like you’re completely lost without your key employee managing HR.
This might especially apply to you if: You’ve never played any part in the HR department at your business.
#7: Your industry has higher Workers Comp exposure causing higher workers comp rates and premium
Every business does it best to keep its employees safe, but understandably some work environments provide higher risk to their employees than others. When you are in an industry that has higher risks to your employees, the cost of your workers comp insurance can be quite high.
Because PEO’s are shopping for this insurance in higher quantities they can provide better rates on workers comp insurance plans. And since the company partnering with the PEO can often take on the EMR (Experience Modification Rate) of the PEO, even those companies with high EMRs can benefit from the PEOs lower rate. In addition, PEOs can provide safety compliance guidance, improving your environment’s risk factors and your personal EMR to qualify your business for lower rates even if taking on the PEOs EMR is not an option. So essentially a PEO can both make your business a safer place to work and save you money on workers comp insurance. Now what’s not to love about that?
This might especially apply to you if: You are in the construction or manufacturing industries which have high risk environments.
Okay, you have to admit it, at least 2 or 3 of those signs apply to you. If that’s the case, you definitely can benefit from a PEO.
Still not convinced? Contact ARC Consultants today so that they can determine if a PEO is right for you and if so, which PEO is the right partner for your exact business! Now, that’s something to cheer about! Happy New Year to all! Wishing you a stress-less and successful new year.
