Simply click on any of the links below or call us at (561) 954-4744 for more information.
General PEO FAQs
Payroll FAQs
Human Resources FAQs
Employee Benefits FAQs
Risk Management FAQs
HRIS
A Professional Employer Organization (PEO, in short) is a company that takes care of your non-core competencies such as Payroll Administration, Compliance Management, HR Administration, Risk Management, and Benefits Administration.
With a PEO by your side, you can get better benefits for your employees at cheaper rates, retain your best employees, and focus on growing your business while not worrying about things that shouldn’t matter in the first place.
Companies of all shapes and sizes can work with a PEO.
As far as Employers-Rx is concerned, we’ve helped companies with an employee count ranging from 5 to 500 better manage their HR functions.
No, you will not lose any control over your company. PEOs work with you to make it easier for you to run your business.
A co-employment relationship makes the PEO the ‘Employer of Record’, making the PEO responsible for all HR-related administrative functions such as Payroll Administration, Risk Management, Benefits Administration, Workers’ Compensation, etc. However, every work-related and hiring/firing decisions rest solely with the business owner.
Employee leasing is basically a contractual arrangement that lets you hire employees, usually for short-term periods. The PEO maintains its position as the ‘Employer of Record’, and all employee responsibilities are shared between the PEO and the business owner. While the business owner handles essential management control over the leased workforce, the PEO handles HR-related administrative tasks.
PEO agreements are far more common than what you might think. These systems operate in all 50 U.S. states and cover over 3 million American employees.
A PEO service is an outsourced HR solution for businesses that want additional HR and payroll support. Your PEO service provider handles most of the logistical tasks related to hiring and paying employees, including running payroll, administering benefits, onboarding new team members, and offering HR support.
PEO services become co-employers with your business, meaning the IRS holds the PEO (not you) legally responsible for labor law compliance, payroll tax remittance, and HR-related liabilities. You’ll continue to be responsible for running your business and making decisions about who to hire and fire, but your employees will reach out directly to the PEO to deal with issues like workers’ compensation, benefits, and payroll tax withholding.
For the most part, PEO services don’t disclose their prices online. However, with most PEOs, you’ll pay a monthly per-employee fee that can range from hundreds to thousands of dollars a year for an individual employee.
According to PEO service provider ADP, a PEO typically costs the equivalent of 2% to 12% of each employee’s wages. You can use that estimate to calculate your hypothetical PEO costs, but the best way to figure out how much a PEO service will cost is to contact multiple PEO companies for quotes.
Additionally, some PEO services offer different packages with different features. Be prepared to pay more for PEO services with additional HR features. For instance, Justworks has two plans with more or less the same HR features – but only the higher-tier plan, which costs $99 per employee per month, includes benefits administration.
Cost
First, consider how much you can afford to spend on a quality PEO service. With a few exceptions, most PEO providers require you to request a custom quote. We recommend requesting quotes from at least two PEO providers if not more to make sure you’re getting a fair quote at industry-standard prices.
Services Offered
Most PEO services offer a combination of the following HR and payroll features:
Payroll processing
Benefits options and administration
Time and attendance tracking
Employee onboarding
Legal compliance
The more features your PEO offers, the higher the cost (and the lower your administrative in-house HR burden).
Since you’ll rely on your PEO service to offer expert HR advice whenever you need it, it’s essential to pick a provider with excellent customer service. Your employees will also interface primarily with your PEO provider to resolve questions about payroll and benefits, so prioritizing a PEO’s customer service reputation will make life easier for you and your employees alike.
You need a PEO service provider that can accommodate your business’s employee growth. For instance, PEOs like Rippling can easily adjust to support companies with between one and 500 employees. Other companies offer solutions specific to companies with fewer than 50 companies and separate packages for companies with over 50 employees.
Follow this process to find a PEO service that both meets your employees’ needs and suits your budget constraints:
If a PEO service isn’t the right HR solution for you, a variety of other options could suit you better.
In-house HR and payroll software is a cheaper software solution for business owners who are comfortable running payroll on their own. Options like Gusto start at $40 a month plus $6 per employee paid per month, which might make it a better fit for small-business budgets.
On the flip side, if you need more HR and payroll features than most PEO services can offer, a more robust human capital management (HCM) service or human resources information system (HRIS) could work better. These cloud-based software solutions include PEO-style features like benefits administration and payroll, but they also include personnel management tools like performance reviews, talent acquisition, and built-in learning management systems.
To find the best PEO services for businesses like yours, we at U.S. News 360 Reviews extensively researched the most popular PEO services among U.S. businesses today. We looked at verified third-party reviews on sites like G2, TrustRadius, and Gartner to understand customers’ experiences with top products. Our expert reviewer has also participated in demo calls with the PEO companies on our list and, whenever possible, used demo accounts and free trials to test software features and examine UX.
Kylie McQuarrie, this article’s author, has 10 years of experience writing for and about businesses and the technology that keeps them running smoothly. Most recently, she worked as the lead payroll writer for TechRepublic. She also managed the payroll and accounting beat at Business.org for several years. Kylie is passionate about getting first-hand experience with the software she reviews and recommends you do the same – there’s no better way to find out if any given software works for you.
If you’re part of a small or midsize company and find yourself overwhelmed with HR tasks, it could be time to outsource personnel issues to a PEO. Specifically, if approving payroll and onboarding employees is eating into your valuable work time, turning these tasks over to a PEO service can free up your schedule to focus on growing your business.
Signing up for a PEO service is also useful if you’re nervous about employment law compliance: Outsourcing to a PEO can shift some aspects of payroll tax compliance from your shoulders to that of the PEO, though you’ll need to read the fine print of your customer service agreement to understand exactly how you and your PEO will split risk management going forward.
Yes, a PEO can help with compliance. PEO services have legal experts on hand to help you understand all state, local, and federal regulations related to your industry. Plus, once a PEO becomes your co-employer, the two of you will share legal risks.
Carefully read the terms of your customer service agreement to see which aspects of employment law your business is responsible for and which are covered by the PEO.
A PEO can help with employee benefits administration. Depending on which PEO service you choose, they likely offer a range of top-notch employee benefits that you can choose to offer. The PEO provider will also handle your employees’ benefits enrolment.
Many PEOs handle payroll processing for their customers. If your PEO provider doesn’t have built-in payroll processing, it likely syncs with popular payroll software options to make HR data tracking as easy and accurate as possible. Be aware that some providers charge an additional fee for payroll while others include it in their baseline service package.
No. By working with a PEO, you certainly will not lose control of your employees.
The PEO you partner with will offer many different types of reports, from comprehensive payroll ones to hourly reports on single employees.
If you have a question about your payroll system, simply call your company representative or contact the PEO help desk.
Yes, you can determine what your employees have access to and see when they log into the payroll site. You can grant or deny access at your discretion, whenever you like.
Because we take the effort to understand your payroll concerns, gather key information about your business, and pair your business with a PEO who will customize the payroll system to meet your specific needs. We’ll make the switching easy and convenient.
The PEO we help you partner with can handle your W2 and quarterly forms for you, and can even take care of your tax payment, but you still may need to keep your accountant on retainer for other business purposes.
Your PEO will process the W2s the moment they receive your payroll information. If you join the PEO mid-year, they will enter all your W-2 information into their system and bring things up-to-date for you and your employees to log in and see.
No. W2s are included in the price of PEO services.
Your company’s name will be on the check stubs.
Your PEO will work out your submission dates when you enroll in their services.
Things also depend on your current payroll schedule and whether your employees get paid weekly or biweekly.
The PEOs we help our clients partner with do offer direct deposit, and it does not cost extra.
The easy answer here is that you don’t have to. PEOs give you both the options — direct deposit or paper checks.
You can enter your payroll into the PEO provided payroll system from any device with internet access, including your phone.
To ensure information accuracy and avoid making unnecessary mistakes, it’s the client who takes responsibility for the payroll entries.
You can either submit the hours manually on the payroll site or opt for a file upload.
Yes. The payroll software provided by your PEO will offer the ability to do job costing.
While your PEO won’t run all of your books, they can take care of your payroll and HR ones for you if you so wish.
Among some of the many HR functions that your PEO will offer you is the ability to track employee vacation days, paid time off, and the number of hours worked. You can also upload and keep instruction materials, handbooks, and other documents for your employees to see whenever they like.
Absolutely. Your PEO can take care of this for you.
Yes, your PEO can get you time keeping systems as well.
No, you remain in control of all of your work-related and hiring/firing decisions. Your PEO simply handle the HR-related administrative operations and make things easy for you.
Because by outsourcing your non-core job functions, like payroll, compliance, and HR administration to a PEO, you can focus your attention and dedicate your critical resources to tasks that help your business grow.
From handling your payroll and employee benefits to managing risks and compliance, and providing you with a reliable HRIS (Human Resource Information System), Employers-Rx provides a gamut of HR services and solutions that help businesses grow.
You can track every employee’s HR information through the PEO-provided HRIS (human resource information system). You will also have access to a customer service representative who will answer any of your HR information related questions and pull up details for you.
You will have a designated customer service representative who will be responsible for answering any question that you may have.
You can meet with your HR account manager as little or as much as you’d like. It really is up to you.
While you – or your designated employee – is responsible, your PEO will work with you to ensure that you are compliant with all laws and regulations.
Companies of all types and sizes outsource their HR services.
At Employers-Rx, we have had extensive experience in working with companies with an employee count ranging between 5 to 500. If you want us to take care of your HR burden, let us know — we’re just a call away.
Employers-Rs work with top carriers to help its partner companies get the best insurance products. So, if you are an insurance broker and wish to get your client the best insurance deal, we welcome you to get in touch with us.
We can help by providing you with Fortune-500 level employee benefits packages, which will help you attract and retain top talents. Besides, you’ll have access to a dedicated off-site HR department who’ll constantly take care of your employee benefits packages and sort out any issues you may have.
Yes, we do offer comprehensive benefits for all of your qualified employees.
Owing to our immense experience in working with some of the most renowned and trustworthy names in the PEO industry, we have industry connects and the negotiating power to get you the HR solutions and employee benefits packages that your present broker may not have access to.
That depends. If you’re happy with your current broker, then stay with him or her.
However, if you decide to move your business to Employers-Rx, you can rest assured that you shall have access to the best employee benefits packages — which usually are beyond the reach of small businesses — and a dedicated off-site HR team to look after your paperwork and all the nagging administrative hassles.
We work with some of the best carriers in the business — which is why we can get you attractive employee benefits packages.
Yes, we offer individual plans, company plans, and everything in between.
Yes, your PEO can have someone come out to your office on demand in order to go over everything.
We simply need you to fill out this form.
No. Your employees remain in their own group. However, having thousands of employees clubbed together does have its advantages in the form of better benefits packages and discounts.
MEP, short for Multiple Employer Plan, lets unrelated small businesses club their 401(k) plans together to manage their 401(k) risks and responsibilities and leverage better prices and increase operational efficiency.
Employers-Rx can help you access a lucrative MEP.
No, your PEO shall take on all the fiduciary responsibilities.
By partnering with Employers-Rx, you can rest assured that you will get access to the best 401(k) plans provided by some of the most reputed and trustworthy names in the business.
Yes, just like with any 401(k) plan, your employees are in control of where their funds go.
Sure. You can remain in charge of the IRA or 401(k) that you are currently invested in.
You can avail everything from dental and vision care plans to disability and more.
If you decide to opt for your PEO’s PTO model, they would take responsibility for guiding and suggesting you on what would work best for your company and its employees.
Absolutely. Your PEO can help you update all of your policies to meet current regulations.
Yes. The PEO we help you partner with will handle COBRA and send out necessary COBRA documents and letters to all of your former employees.
If you have a question related to healthcare, simply contact the customer service representative or contact your PEO’s help desk.
This is a special part of the regulatory code that allows health insurance costs to come out of each employee’s paycheck on a pre-taxed basis. Contact us for further details.
An HSA is a health savings account, where you can put aside money to be used towards health care charges. This money is taken out before taxes. An FSA or Flexible Spending Account works similarly but can be used for childcare as well.
Can my PEO help save me money when it comes to workers’ compensation?
All that you need to do is gather as much information as possible and contact your service representative. If we need additional information, we will let you know.
No, you won’t, since your PEO will check in with you as needed and won’t move forward on important claims without your permission.
Having workers’ compensation claims do not necessarily impact your ability to secure lower rates with your PEO. Your rates depend on many different factors. Please call us today for further details on this.
Again, that depends on the type and size of the claim. Often one claim won’t hurt your discount rate, but it really does depend on the details.
Yes. Your PEO can and will absolutely help you comply with all relevant worker’s safety rules and regulations.
Yes. Your PEO can help you with employee safety training programs.
PEOs generally prefer to enforce a drug-free work environment, as that provides a safe working environment for every one of your employees.
Yes, we do, and we have a list of providers available should you need one.
Your PEO will get you access to risk management experts who will ensure you don’t get ripped off on fraudulent unemployment claims.
Unemployment claims are handled by the customer service representatives provided by your PEO. The customer service representative will discuss every part of the unemployment claim with you and bring in risk management experts who will help you with the claim.
Yes, your PEO will offer this as an option. However, every state has a different rule regarding this, and your PEO will handle your request as per the applicable laws and regulations.
Human resource information systems (HRIS) are a foundational type of HR software that businesses use to automate core administrative processes such as onboarding, new hire reporting and employee data management.
An HRIS is considered a must-have tool for most small businesses. Here are just three of the ways an HRIS can benefit your business:
Every HRIS tool is different, which is why many vendors offer more than one plan to accommodate businesses’ varying needs. That said, here are the features we consider essential in an HRIS.
The cost of HRIS platforms varies depending on how many employees your business has, how comprehensive of a solution you choose and the length of the contract you agree to (vendors often offer discounts on annual subscriptions).
Most systems follow a PEPM (per employee per month) pricing structure. Based on pricing information for the products in this guide, small businesses can expect to pay between $1.50 to $10 per employee per month. OutSail (an HR software broker) reports a wider range — from $7 to $42 per employee per month — based on the pricing of 16 different HRIS systems.
To help you find the best HRIS system for your business’s needs, we researched the top providers in the industry using a specific set of desired data points. After we collected this data, we narrowed our list to 29 solutions based on 33 different metrics. We then weighted each metric based on what matters most in an HRIS platform for small and medium-sized organizations. Once we had the final score for each product, we selected the 10 that rose to the top for this list.
We assigned each product an Editors’ Score encompassing four key areas before converting the final scores to a star rating out of five. This score does not affect our selection methodology or assessment of key data points for ultimate list inclusion.
To determine whether a system offers essential HRIS functionality, we evaluated its core HRIS features. Core HRIS features are administrative functions that support employee data management. The features factored into our scoring include employee databases, employee handbooks, org charts and reporting dashboards.
When choosing an HRIS platform, it’s essential to know whether the system offers the features you need to manage a workforce. General HR features considered in our scoring include employee portals, onboarding, document management, compliance tools and notification systems.
To thoroughly judge the comprehensiveness of each HRIS tool, we considered any additional features, which — in this case — may or may not be directly related to HR processes. For example, we factored in software integrations, e-signatures, automated workflows, workforce analytics and offboarding capabilities, since such functionality is a key part of any robust HRIS.
How responsive and helpful a software vendor’s support team is can have a big impact on a business’s success with its system. To measure this, we factored in the channels available to contact support (including live chat, phone and email), and whether or not the company offers a self-help knowledge base for its customers.
We pulled information from three reputable review aggregators (Trustpilot, G2 and Capterra) to see how former and current users rate each system.
The value of a system is incredibly important for small and medium-sized businesses on a budget. To judge the value of each HRIS system, we considered whether pricing information is publicly available, if a free trial is offered (and the length of the trial) and subscription cost when billed monthly and annually.
Our Editors’ Score for the top HRIS tools for small and medium-sized businesses considered four key factors: value for money, features, popularity and ease of use.
Based on our research, the best HRIS system is Zoho People followed by Omni HR and UZIO.
Most HRIS vendors provide implementation support. If this service isn’t free, we suggest paying for it to ensure a smooth and accurate migration of your employee data over.
HRIS and HRMS (human resource management system) are used interchangeably. Both terms refer to a type of HR software that automates administrative processes and supports employee data management.
HCM (human capital management) systems differ from HRIS in their scope. HCM solutions have a broader scope; they generally offer the features of an HRIS along with additional functionalities that assist with workforce and talent management.
The best HRIS systems will include employee profiles and a searchable employee database. They’ll also have org charts, HR document management, automated onboarding workflows, self-service portals, and time- and attendance-tracking capabilities.
Simply click on any of the links below or call us at (561) 954-4744 for more information.
General PEO FAQs
Payroll FAQs
Human Resources FAQs
Employee Benefits FAQs
Risk Management FAQs
HRIS
