• In an era where streaming services have become an integral part of our lives, there’s something captivating about having all your favorite shows and movies in one central location. Imagine having access to all the content you love, organized on one platform. It’s not just convenient; it’s also efficient. In the world of business, a similar revolution is happening through the professional employer organization (PEO) model. PEOs consolidate HR services, making them easily accessible to small business owners.

    Continue reading to explore the PEO model and how it operates as the Netflix of HR services, offering many benefits for small business owners.

    What Is A PEO?

    To understand the PEO model, we first need to grasp its core concept. A PEO provides comprehensive HR services to small and medium-sized businesses. These services include payroll management, employee benefits administration, compliance assistance, and more. Essentially, PEOs serve as a one-stop shop for all your HR needs.

    Much like your favorite streaming platform, a PEO offers a variety of “shows” (services) bundled together, ensuring you get access to all the essential HR functions without the hassle of dealing with multiple providers.

    Streamlining HR Operations

    When you subscribe to multiple streaming services, managing different subscriptions, logins, and content libraries can be overwhelming. The same applies to small business owners managing various HR functions. By partnering with a PEO, you can streamline your HR operations in a similar way. PEOs consolidate payroll, benefits administration, employee onboarding, and more into one unified platform. This simplifies the HR process, reducing administrative complexities and improving efficiency.

    Cost-Efficiency

    One of the most compelling aspects of streaming services is the cost-efficiency. However, as more streaming services have launched, you spend more time and money watching different shows on different platforms. Wouldn’t it be more efficient and cost-effective if you could consolidate all your streaming platforms into one?

    Similarly, small businesses that partner with a PEO can experience significant cost savings. PEOs leverage their buying power to negotiate better rates for employee benefits and workers’ compensation. This means that small business owners can provide competitive benefits to their employees at a more affordable cost. It’s like getting premium content at a discounted rate, making your business more attractive to top talent.

    Expertise And Compliance

    Streaming services offer curated content, ensuring that subscribers get the best entertainment options without the hassle of searching. Similarly, PEOs are experts in HR services, guaranteeing that your business complies with the ever-evolving labor laws and regulations.

    PEOs keep you up-to-date with the latest HR trends, best practices, and legal requirements, which can be a complex task when managing HR in-house. This expertise minimizes the risk of costly mistakes, providing peace of mind for business owners.

    Scalability

    Streaming platforms adapt to your needs. If you need more screens or higher resolution, you can easily upgrade your subscription. The PEO model is just as scalable. As your business grows, a PEO can seamlessly adjust its services to accommodate your changing HR needs. Perhaps when you first partnered with a PEO, you only had one employee, so offering benefits wasn’t a top priority. Now, you’ve gained 30 employees, and suddenly, offering benefits is essential to attracting and retaining top talent. We can now provide you with various benefits packages.

    Whether you’re hiring more employees or expanding to new locations, a PEO can scale its services accordingly, ensuring that your HR remains efficient and compliant. It’s like upgrading to a premium subscription on your favorite streaming service, with added benefits and convenience.

    Look No Further

    Much like the joy of having all your favorite content in one place, the PEO model offers a consolidated, efficient, and cost-effective solution for managing HR services. Small business owners can benefit from streamlining their HR operations, cost savings, expert guidance, and scalability, all while ensuring compliance with employment laws.

    Partnering with a PEO like GMS simplifies your business, enhances efficiency, and delivers an exceptional HR experience. So, why juggle multiple HR providers when you can have it all in one place? Make your business HR-efficient and watch it grow with the power of a PEO. We’re one click away – contact us today to learn how we can be your one-stop solution.

  • Employee retention is a critical factor in the success of any organization. It not only reduces recruitment costs but also boosts productivity and employee morale. Human resources (HR) is pivotal in crafting and implementing employee retention strategies. In this blog, we’ll explore how HR can give your company’s employee retention strategy a significant boost and then discuss how partnering with a professional employer organization (PEO) can be a game-changer for small business owners.

    The Role Of HR In Employee Retention

    1. Talent acquisition and onboarding: HR professionals are responsible for attracting top talent and ensuring a smooth onboarding process. By finding the right people for your organization and making their transition as seamless as possible, HR sets the stage for a positive employee experience from day one.
    2. Creating a positive work environment: HR plays a crucial role in establishing a healthy work culture and fostering a positive environment. They can implement initiatives such as wellness programs, diversity and inclusion efforts, and employee engagement activities, which enhance job satisfaction and retention.
    3. Career development and training: HR can work with employees to identify their career goals and provide training opportunities. Investing in employee growth and development not only improves their skillset but also shows your commitment to their success, making them more likely to stay with the company.
    4. Communication and conflict resolution: HR is the mediator between employees and management, ensuring that concerns and grievances are addressed promptly. Effective communication and conflict resolution can prevent workplace issues from escalating and potentially leading to resignations.
    5. Performance management: HR professionals set clear performance expectations and conduct regular evaluations. This keeps employees informed about their progress and provides opportunities for improvement, reducing dissatisfaction that might lead to turnover.

    How HR Boosts Employee Retention

    Now that we’ve established the importance of HR in employee retention, let’s get into how HR practices can make a difference in this area:

    1. Employee engagement: HR can gauge employee satisfaction through surveys, feedback sessions, and one-on-one meetings. By identifying and addressing concerns early, they can proactively prevent turnover.
    2. Succession planning: HR can create a roadmap for employee growth within the organization, ensuring that employees see a future for themselves and are less likely to leave in search of new opportunities.
    3. Work-life balance: HR can implement flexible work arrangements, promote mental health programs, and provide support for work-life balance, which all contribute to employee satisfaction and retention.
    4. Compensation and benefits: HR can develop competitive compensation packages and benefits programs that attract and retain top talent. This includes health insurance, retirement plans, and performance-based incentives.
    5. Recognition and rewards: HR can establish recognition programs to acknowledge employee achievements, boosting morale and loyalty.

    How A PEO Can Help Small Business Owners

    Small business owners often face unique challenges when it comes to HR and employee retention. This is where a PEO can be a game-changer. A PEO is a co-employment arrangement that allows small businesses to outsource their HR functions. Here’s how it can help:

    1. Expertise: PEOs have experienced HR professionals who can provide expert guidance and support on employee retention strategies tailored to your business’s unique needs.
    2. Cost-efficiency: PEOs can often provide access to comprehensive benefits packages at a lower cost due to economies of scale, making it easier for small businesses to compete with larger companies.
    3. Compliance: PEOs can help small businesses navigate the complex landscape of employment laws and regulations, reducing the risk of non-compliance and associated penalties.
    4. Time savings: Outsourcing HR tasks to a PEO frees up your time and resources to focus on growing your business rather than handling administrative HR functions.

    Work Smarter, Not Harder

    HR is a cornerstone in enhancing employee retention, and a dedicated HR department or professional can help your company craft and implement strategies that foster a culture of engagement, growth, and satisfaction. For small business owners, partnering with a PEO like GMS can be a smart move to access expert HR support, ensure compliance, and compete with larger companies in the race to retain top talent. By combining the power of HR practices and the support of a PEO, you can supercharge your employee retention strategy and achieve long-term business success. Work smarter, not harder, and contact us today.

  • As a small business owner, you’re always trying to find new ways to make your business simpler, safer, and stronger. Co-employment is one way that employers can not only accomplish these goals, but also save time by leaving HR tasks to the experts.

    A co-employment relationship with a Professional Employer Organization (PEO) allows small business owners to outsource key HR functions like payroll and employee benefits. While co-employment can help employers free up their responsibilities, it’s not always clear exactly how this relationship impacts a business. Let’s break down what co-employment means and why it may make sense for your organization.

    What is Co-Employment?

    The term co-employment refers to the relationship between your company, your employees, and your PEO of choice. The National Association of Professional Employer Organizations (NAPEO) offers a good co-employment definition to describe this affiliation: “The PEO relationship involves a contractual allocation and sharing of certain employer responsibilities between the PEO and the client, as delineated in a contract typically called a client service agreement (CSA).”

    In short, businesses partner with PEOs to split up employer responsibilities between the two. This agreement extends far beyond simply helping out the business with HR decisions – a co-employment agreement means that your employees are technically employed by both your company and the PEO. 

    While both you and your PEO employ your workers, you still remain in command. Some people avoid co-employment because of misconceptions that you’ll lose control of your business. That’s simply not true. You get to set the co-employment arrangements in your CSA. While your PEO may be viewed by the state as the employer of record, you have the final call when it comes to critical business decisions. 

    Reasons Why Businesses Choose Co-Employment

    As we said before, the co-employment relationship opens businesses up to a variety of benefits. The main reason for sharing employer status is that it opens your business up to tools and HR services that you wouldn’t have access to as a small company. Here are five big ways that co-employment adds value to your business.

    Greater buying power for benefits

    As a small business, you simply don’t have the same buying power that big companies enjoy. Co-employment helps you level the playing field.

    The co-employment relationship allows your business to take advantage of economies of scale. PEOs can leverage the collective buying power of all their group health clients. This large employee base means that your PEO can give you a lot more bang for your buck when purchasing quality group health plans on your behalf. 

    Co-employment doesn’t necessarily mean that your business’ group is pooled together with all the employees from other companies. Some PEOs build their own plan designs to keep your group separate from the others. That means your company is rated for your own group and you won’t have to settle for less. In turn, you can focus on getting quality, cost-effective plans that are competitive with bigger companies.

    Simpler, less time-consuming payroll

    In a co-employment relationship, your PEO takes on the responsibility of paying your employees. Every business needs to apply for an Employer Identification Number (EIN) in order to manage their own payroll. Companies in a co-employment relationship agree to have the PEO assume this responsibility under its own EIN.

    Changing out the EIN may not sound all that exciting, but it allows you to offload a lot of complicated, time-consuming tasks off your plate. By allowing the PEO to use its own EIN, that PEO is now responsible for more than just passing out paychecks. These other payroll administrative tasks include:

    That’s a whole lot of time (and math) that’s no longer your main responsibility. The other benefits of having your PEO handle these tasks is that it can help ensure that all your calculations and filings are both accurate and compliant with payroll guidelines. With a PEO, you know your payroll is being handled by people who were trained to handle these tasks.

    Better risk management and workers’ compensation practices

    Another way that businesses can benefit from a co-employment relationship is through improved workplace safety and risk management. A PEO can help your company qualify for workers’ compensation discounts and keep unemployment tax rates down, saving you plenty of money and headaches in the future. 

    As a co-employer, a PEO may even be able to assume the financial risk of providing workers’ compensation benefits to employees for you. For example, GMS is self-insured in the state of Ohio and can offer potential discounts that still comply with state regulations.

    Even outside of monopolistic states, a PEO can help you through means like safety culture and claims management. These processes not only help you create a safer environment for your employees, they also help you save money on workers’ compensation costs. Risk management measures include:

    • Safety training
    • Risk assessments
    • Timely reporting
    • Post-accident investigations
    • Return-to-work programs

    Better business alignment

    When you enter a co-employment agreement, your PEO acts as more than just a vendor. This relationship means that your PEO is a true partner that is invested in the growth of your company. In turn, a good PEO should do everything it can to drive good, sustainable growth for your business. 

    As your company grows, you may need more than just payroll administration or benefits help. The co-employment relationship gives PEOs more reason to care about your business goals and work with you to find ways to grow. A PEO can help you identify ways that you can enable that growth and retain talented employees, including: 

    • Employee recruiting and training
    • Performance management
    • Unemployment claims
    • Human resource audits
    • Wellness programs
    • Telemedicine

    In addition to helping you grow when you need to, being co-employed by a PEO also means you have access to experts when you need them. This breadth of resources can help you stay on top of any trends or regulatory changes that can impact your business.

    Find the Right Co-Employment Partner for Your Business

    Running a small business is no simple task. Small business owners have to maintain a delicate balance between trying to grow their business and manage a litany of critical HR responsibilities. Co-employment gives them the means to delegate those time-consuming tasks to professionals who are invested in the success of your business.

    Ready to make your business simpler, safer, and stronger? Contact GMS today about how we can save you plenty of time and headaches through a mutually beneficial co-employment relationship.