Should You Use a PEO Firm for Payroll?

Happy employees can be among the key factors that lead to a well-operating business -- and one thing that keeps employees smiling is ensuring that they are paid accurately and on time. Even if you, as the business owner, don’t have time to commit to time-consuming payroll responsibilities, you can still keep this side of the business humming along by working with a PEO firm.

Check out the factors you should take into consideration if you’re thinking about working with a PEO firm for your payroll needs.

1. Know What PEOs Do

A professional employer organization (PEO) can handle a wide range of tasks that your business requires, from payroll and benefits administration to workers’ compensation claims and staff onboarding. Unlike when you hire an entire payroll department as part of your staff, the PEO only needs to be paid when you use them, so you’ll save money on salaries, office space and office equipment by outsourcing this work to a PEO. You’ll only pay for what your business requires, and you can scale up or down based on your company’s needs.

1. You Can Ensure Strong Compliance

Keeping track of all federal, state and local employment and tax laws can be cumbersome and stressful, especially for a small business. By outsourcing to a PEO, a small business can protect itself from legal issues because there is a team of compliance experts working to ensure that all the rules are being followed including wage, hour, payment and break laws, requirements for insurance and so on. A PEO can also develop an employee handbook that includes appropriate harassment, anti-discrimination and Affordable Care Act (ACA) policies, among others.

1. You’ll Benefit from the Latest HR Technology

Small businesses don’t usually have the budgets and resources for the latest HR technology, such as an advanced Human Resource Information System (HRIS). A PEO can give them access to an HRIS, which makes life easier for both employees and employers. Employers can use it to create, store, access and delete employee records, manage performance reviews and so on. Employees can use the HRIS to enter their hours in a timesheet, request time off, view and print payslips, access employer HR forms and employer benefits programs.

1. Access Better Benefits Options

Your Outsourced PEO Company probably works with a wide variety of benefits providers, allowing them to have the ability to negotiate for better rates on things like health and life insurance. It’s easier for the PEO to get a wide breadth of options because they have so many relationships with benefits firms. That is often harder for an entrepreneur to do since they don’t know as many contacts in the benefits industry.

1. Increased Business Focus

Founders and CEOs should spend more time on revenue-generating activities such as business development and customer relationship management. By partnering with a PEO, they gain an entire team of HR professionals who can take care of HR administration for them.

Overall, working with a PEO firm can give your company the payroll and benefits options that you may not be able to get, or you don’t have the time to investigate. Small businesses can not only save money by using PEO firms for payroll, but they can also streamline their operations, ensure efficiency, and maintain a happy workforce.

Escalon is a one stop shop for essential business services such as accounting, taxes, insurance, benefits, HR & payroll. Back office services that are optimized, well-coordinated and under one roof.