In the 12 years that I’ve been working for GMS, I’ve met with thousands of business owners in hundreds of industries. While every company has their unique problems and issues, some issues tend to be universal. In the 26 years that GMS has been in business, we have found that most business owners…
- Think they’re paying too much in worker’s compensation premiums and not getting enough in return for it.
- Want to offer their employees great health insurance, but don’t want to pay the ridiculous premiums being charged.
- Don’t fight their unemployment claims because “it’s just not worth it and they’re going to get it anyway.”
- Hate the stupid bureaucratic paperwork they have to go through, keeping them from more important tasks.
- Have trouble finding good employees.
- Have a hard time keeping them when they do find them because they’re losing them to other companies with better wages and benefits.
Did I miss anything?
Why Do Big Competitors Have an Advantage?
So now, small business owners often compete against bigger companies and are at a distinct disadvantage. Why? Because large companies tend to have a few things that small businesses don’t:
- A payroll department that pays the employees, takes care of their W-2s, does all their quarterly filings, etc.
- An internal benefits department that gets the best rates for them on their ancillary benefits and 401k, and is more often than not, self-insured for their healthcare, giving them the data they need to better manage their benefits and control those costs.
- An internal risk department that manages all their workers’ comp and unemployment claims and has the legal power to contest claims that they feel are fraudulent.
- An HR department that handles the entire lifecycle of an employee from the recruiting, either done internally or through a service, onboarding, training, and eventual separation by departure or retirement.
How You Can Compete
Fortunately, there are measures you can take to stand with the competition. If you’re like most companies your size, you can:
- Hire an accountant or a payroll service to handle your payroll.
- Use a broker for your benefits and rely on your accountant or financial advisor to set you up with the best possible retirement plan option.
- Sign up with a TPA or insurance broker to manage your worker’s comp, hoping for the best possible discount and then pray you don’t lose it.
- Waste your time fighting unemployment claims, or worse yet, don’t contest them at all.
- Use a recruiter, word of mouth or a sign in your front yard trying to find help and then hope that you’re doing all the right things from a regulatory standpoint.
Well, that’s why the PEO industry, Professional Employer Organization, was created back in the 1970s and has grown to a $176 billion industry and why GMS is rapidly becoming one of the largest PEOs in the country. By acting as an outsourced HR department, our clients get all the same benefits of a large company and you can get:
- An internal payroll department that takes on all the tax liability of your employees.
- A benefits department that can get you the best rates and possibly even into a self-insured healthcare plan with minimal risk. You also have the option of a 401k plan that is low cost and relieves you of fiduciary responsibility.
- A risk management department that is self-insured for worker’s comp, providing better rates as well as complimentary legal service on all claims, both for worker’s comp and unemployment.
- An HR department that handles everything from the onboarding of employees to termination and everything in between as well as keeping you compliant with all government regulations.
The best part is that you’re getting all these specialists for less than it would cost you to hire one of them in even a part-time capacity. At its basic level, a PEO consolidates your vendors, increases your buying power, and provides HR support and recruiting assistance to help you in that growth. How do we do that? Through the PEO relationship.
We partner with our clients and mutually share or co-employ our clients’ employees. By adding their employees to our PEO, GMS is a 26,000-employee company that has the leverage to be self-insured for our worker’s comp and healthcare and get better rates on everything from 401k to vision, dental, life, disability, drug testing, background checks, etc. Virtually everything necessary for employee management.
Contact GMS today to talk to one of our experts about what we can do to level the playing field for your business.