PEO FAQs

A professional employer organization (PEO) is a company that provides comprehensive benefits, payroll, risk management, and HR services for small and midsize businesses.

A PEO provides comprehensive HR services for businesses, including payroll, tax administration, HR, benefits, and risk management.

PEOs work with companies in all industries. GMS typically works with small to midsize companies.

A PEO helps business owners spend less time managing complex HR responsibilities and more time growing their business. By outsourcing functions such as payroll, benefits, HR, and risk management, businesses can streamline day-to-day operations, offer competitive employee benefits, and gain additional support navigating workforce challenges.

When choosing a PEO, you must first assess your business needs to determine how your business can benefit from a PEO. From there, you’ll want to consider the health care providers and benefits packages offered by the PEO, perform a PEO background check, and evaluate a PEO’s technology before making a final decision.

Absolutely not. You retain ownership of the company and control over its operations. Quality PEOs will simply help you make more informed business decisions.

Co-employment allows you to maintain control of your business and employees while your PEO helps manage many of the administrative responsibilities that come with being an employer. GMS provides support with areas such as payroll, benefits, HR, and risk management, giving you more time to focus on running and growing your business.

Employee leasing involves supplying new workers to a company, usually on a short-term basis. The business owner “borrows” the labor and does not have control over decisions impacting those workers.

PEOs do not supply labor to worksites. Instead, they enter into a co-employment agreement in which the employer retains full control over employees.

PEOs are more common than you may think and are widely used by small and midsize businesses. Today, approximately 233,000 businesses use PEO services, employing 5.4 million people.

According to NAPEO, businesses that use a PEO see an average ROI of 27% based on cost savings alone.

NAPEO states that businesses that use a PEO tend to report higher employee satisfaction and engagement. Employees are more likely to stay with their current company rather than look for a new job.