How Does a PEO Help With Benefits Plan Options and Costs?
By As a savvy business owner, you may have considered providing employee benefits like health insurance through a professional employer organizations (PEO). But what exactly is a PEO, and how can you use it to optimize your operations and provide a strong benefits package?
PEOs are gaining traction in the business world, providing a one-stop solution for small to mid-sized businesses seeking to streamline their HR functions. Health insurance is just one of the many features and services they offer — but it comes with certain complexities that we’ll dig into here.
Let’s take a look at how PEO benefit options could answer your business needs.
Key Takeaways
- Professional employer organizations, or PEOS, function as co-employers, taking on HR tasks such as benefits administration, payroll, and ACA compliance. This partnership allows businesses to streamline HR operations and access superior health insurance options.
- PEO health insurance leverages the power of collective bargaining by pooling employees from different businesses to negotiate cost-effective, high-quality health insurance plans.
- By utilizing PEO health insurance, businesses can improve employee retention and recruitment through attractive insurance packages usually reserved for larger companies.
- The cost for PEO services is typically calculated per employee, making it a resource-efficient solution. Comparing different PEOs can help businesses find the right fit for their insurance needs.
- Choosing a suitable PEO provider demands careful consideration of factors like types of insurance provided, diversity of coverage options, pricing models, and quality of HR support.
- While PEO health insurance offers several advantages, it also presents challenges such as potential administrative issues and limited customization options. Being aware of these challenges allows businesses to effectively navigate PEO health insurance.
Understanding PEO Health Insurance
PEOs can be a promising option for employers looking to offer health insurance without exhausting their resources. Let’s take a look at what a PEO is and how it works.
What Is a PEO?
A professional employer organization (PEO) operates as a co-employer with your business, sharing responsibilities for your team. This arrangement often involves the PEO taking over HR functions such as payroll processing, benefits administration, workers’ compensation, and compliance with laws like the Affordable Care Act (ACA). By partnering with a PEO, you may be able to tap into better health insurance options more quickly and at a more affordable price.
How PEO Health Insurance Works
A PEO acts as a co-employer to employees from various businesses, which gives them to leverage to negotiate cost-effective, high-quality health insurance plans — meaning you can offer a better benefits package to your team. Through a PEO, your business gets to access insurance plans typically available to larger companies, which are oftentimes more attractive to employees. This pooling method can lead to lower premiums and expanded plan options.
Offering PEO health insurance can give you an opportunity to increase retention and enhance onboarding within your business. Because the PEO is the employer of record for insurance providers, they are responsible for compliance with the ACA and detailed administrative services, freeing you up to focus on growth and other operational needs.
Pricing for PEO services can vary. It’s often calculated on a per employee basis, which means the pricing structure can scale up and down depending on your business. Look for a PEO with a proven track record in your industry, an intuitive system, and a responsive success team.
Benefits of PEO Health Insurance
The right PEO can offer significant benefits, including cost savings, better benefits, and more satisfied workers.
Cost Savings Explained
PEO health insurance can be a huge cost saved. Employers who partner with Fourth see an average cost reduction of 27.3% — that’s money you can use elsewhere.
PEOs help businesses offer more cost-effective health insurance by negotiating with insurance carriers, securing lower premiums and comprehensive plans. Outsourcing compliance support, payroll services, and workers’ compensation in the PEO service package also means that you can use your team’s hard work on other tasks, further driving down expenses.
Streamlined HR Management
Streamlining your business’ HR functions is another benefit of a PEO. Delegating tasks like benefits administration, payroll processing, and ACA compliance to a PEO allows your team to focus on core business operations.
HR solutions provided by PEOs not only include health insurance benefits but also cover various types of insurance, retirement plans, onboarding support, and more. PEOs services go way beyond just health insurance coverage — they also simplify other essential HR tasks, leaving you more time to concentrate on your business.
Many small businesses can retain full-time employees more effectively by offering a competitive benefits package. PEOs can be extremely helpful here, stepping in to handle open enrollment, manage plan options, and take care of the administrative services associated with these tasks.
How PEOs Can Boost Restaurant Ops Success
The ROI of using a PEO in cost savings alone is 27.2%. See how leveraging HR & payroll partnerships can support your restaurant’s growth and streamline operations.
Choosing the Right PEO Health Insurance Provider
The first step to offering PEO health insurance is finding the partner best suited to your business needs. Here’s what to know before you make your pick.
Factors to Consider
To ensure that you pick a PEO provider that’s well-suited to your business, you’ll need to ask yourself (and the PEO team) several questions. First, make sure you understand what the PEO offers, whether that’s benefits administration, ACA compliance, payroll processing, or full-service HR outsorucing. Make sure your potential PEO can handle your unique HR functions.
Next, consider the types of insurance that your prospective PEO offers. Look for diverse health insurance coverage options to meet the varied needs of your team. You may also look for a PEO that offers life insurance, disability insurance, and other perks like commuter benefits.
Pay attention to the pricing. PEO health insurance comes with different premiums, which may depend on diverse factors such as the size of your workforce and the level of insurance coverage you select. It’s important to transparently understand the costs upfront.
Finally, don’t overlook the quality of HR support. Your PEO solution should streamline administrative services — but for this to be successful, you’ll need to feel confident about their expertise and track record.
Comparing Different PEO Providers
Once you fully understand your own needs, your next step involves comparing PEOs. You’ll find PEOs that specialize in smaller-sized businesses, while others cater to larger companies. Some PEOs work with specific industries, which can be important if you’re in a niche with specific needs. Fourth PEO, for instance, works with the restaurant and hospitality industry to ensure compliance across complex industry-specific issues.
Start your comparison by creating a list of potential PEOs. You may consider working with an insurance broker to guide your selection process. They can provide in-depth insight into the PEO health insurance market, making it easier to compare providers.
Evaluate the PEOs based on the insights you’ve gained from the previously listed factors. Look at their health insurance options, pricing, and how well they streamline HR functions. Remember, each business has unique needs and one PEO’s strengths may not necessarily be a good fit for yours.
The right PEO health insurance provider aligns with your business objectives, boosts cost savings, and strengthens your benefits package. With careful consideration and comparison, you can find a PEO that benefits both your business and your employees.
Common Challenges With PEO Health Insurance
Finding the best PEO to partner with isn’t always an easy task. In this section, we’ll examine two key hurdles: administrative issues and finding the right fit.
Administrative Issues
While PEOs are designed to streamline administrative tasks, introducing PEO health insurance arrangements can create initial confusion. As the employer of record, the PEO deals with a host of administrative services such as benefits administration, payroll processing, and compliance with healthcare regulations. This is often a huge boon for employers, but it can also blur the lines of responsibility between the client company and the PEO.
Let’s take benefits administration as an example. In a scenario where an employee has a dispute about their health insurance benefits, it may be unclear whether they should contact the HR department, the PEO, or the insurance broker. This confusion can cause delays and dissatisfaction.
The best way to get ahead of this problem is to select a PEO with a support system you trust — and ideally, a PEO with experience working with businesses similar to your own.
Challenge of Finding the Right Fit
While PEOs can facilitate access to high-quality, cost-effective health insurance plans, not every PEO will cater to your unique needs. Given that PEOs pool employees from various businesses to negotiate health insurance coverage with insurance providers, their focus is on securing the most competitive premiums. While this is beneficial for cost-effectiveness, it can limit your ability to tailor your health insurance options — meaning you need to find a PEO with options you feel good about from the jump.
While offering healthcare insurance through a PEO can have huge benefits, being aware of these challenges will help you navigate the vetting process and find a partner that makes sense for your business.
Conclusion
Offering PEO health insurance can be a game-changer for a small to mid-sized business. Partnering with a PEO can be an easy way to gain access to cost-effective health insurance — and many other perks and benefits. Combined with the streamlined HR services PEOs offer, these benefits can add up to an attractive package that boosts employee retention and allows you to focus on business growth. If you’re looking for a way to offer competitive health insurance without putting undue strain on your team or resources, take some time to explore PEOs. They may be the perfect solution.
Let Fourth manage your payroll and employee benefits so you can focus on your business, not the HR business.
FAQ
What is a Professional Employer Organization (PEO)?
A professional employer organization (PEO) acts as a co-employer to small and medium-sized businesses, taking care of HR tasks such as payroll, tax compliance, and benefits administration, enabling businesses to focus on their core functions.
How does PEO health insurance benefit small businesses?
PEO health insurance benefits small businesses by giving them access to cost-efficient insurance plans. By pooling together employees from multiple businesses, PEOs can negotiate for better rates and attractive benefits packages, thus aiding in employee retention.
What administrative challenges come with PEO health insurance?
The main administrative challenges associated with PEO health insurance include role ambiguity in administering benefits and ensuring the proper integration of payroll and HR systems. Having a strong relationship with your PEO partner and success team can mitigate this challenge.