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Solve_Your_Health_Care_Headaches_With_A_PEO
| Solve Your Health Care Headaches With A PEO!
Solve Your Health Care Headaches With A PEO!
There are many complications to being a small business owner but
none so pressing as the need for health, dental and life
insurance. Many small business owners obtain coverage through
the employment of their spouse. However, there are just as many
small business owners who are not married, whose spouse is also
self employed or not offered benefits through their employer.
Another option for a small business owner is to partner with a
Professional Employer Organization (PEO). PEO’s, also known as
employee leasing companies, handle the human resources functions
of companies of any size but they focus primarily on small and
medium sized businesses. Some of the human resources functions
handled by a typical PEO are:
* Payroll * Direct Deposit * Worker’s Compensation Insurance *
Health Insurance * Dental Insurance * Life Insurance *
Retirement Plans * Tax Deposits and Reporting * Regulatory
Compliance
A PEO groups together businesses of all sizes in order to get
the best rates for benefits and to reduce human resources costs
to a minimum. In order to work with a PEO you will be asked to
fill out an application and provide a set-up fee ranging from
$50.00 to $300.00 depending upon the size of your business.
Monthly fees will be determined by the PEO and are usually based
on the number of payroll checks issued during each month and the
number of employees. Your company will be billed, at least
monthly, for the cost of fees, benefits, taxes, etc. not paid by
employees.
After signing a contract with a PEO your employees will need to
fill out employment and tax forms that will then be forwarded to
the PEO. The PEO then becomes the employer of record for the
employees and from then on handles all payroll and benefit
tasks. Timesheets, benefit enrollments and changes will all be
submitted to your PEO and you will receive regularly scheduled
management reports. At the end of a calendar year the PEO will
provide all employees with a W-2.
Some PEO’s work with companies in every state and others are
state specific. You can find individual PEO’s by using a search
engine such as Google. You can save time by using the free
services of a PEO clearinghouse such as www.StaffMarket.com. You
can also find a SEO by visiting The National Association of
Professional Employers Association (NAPEO) at
http://www.napeo.org. NAPEO offers a directory of members
searchable by company name, state or country and offers
guidelines to help you screen and select a PEO.
A PEO may not be the perfect solution for every small business
but it is an option for individuals and companies who are
willing to outsource human resource functions to obtain much
needed benefits, improve employee retention and save time that
can be better used to growing the business.
© 2003, Davis Virtual Assistance. All rights reserved.
The author grants reprint permission to all venues so long as
the copyright and by-line are included intact.
About the author:
Bonnie Jo Davis is the President of virtual assistant firm
http://www.DavisVirtualAssistance and the author of the new
e-book “Articles That Sell.” Visit
http://www.ArticlesThatSell.com for frugal small business
marketing tips.
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