SMALL BUSINESS TIPS THAT WORK!
Small Businesses are the cornerstone of our economy. They provide jobs, services, and products that are essential to not only the communities in which they are located, but across the US! Small businesses compete against each other as well as against large corporations. This competition isn’t just for more sales or more customers, but also for employees. When you think about all the things small businesses have stacked against them, its no wonder they have such a hard time succeeding. They have to juggle all the tasks we see as consumer, as well as all the back office tasks that it takes to operate a business within all the regulations and to do so cost effectively! Afterall, most business owners know their specialty really well, but are not nearly as well versed in payroll taxes, workers compensation insurance or other insurance requirements, developing a handbook, human resource compliance or best practices, obtaining a group health insurance plan, the necessary documents required by the state or federal government when hiring new employees, what to do when someone files for unemployment, and the list goes on.
There are several ways a small business owners can address all the challenges they face. Some of these methods include learning on the job, googling various search terms, asking other business owners, hiring consultants, hiring an experienced manager, or the way we prefer – use a PEO. Learning on the job seems like a cost effective way, but it only takes a few fines and late night reading of regulations for hours before this method becomes expensive. The other methods have expenses as well. When a small business uses a PEO, they not only get access to professionals that make running a small business easier, but small business owners get to transfer the liability of many of these responsibilities. If that isn’t enough good news, they often get all these benefits and save money.
PEO’s or professional employer organizations work with small business owners as a co-employer. This relationship is spelled out in the PEO’s contract. They all differ slightly depending on the attorney that wrote it, but basically, a PEO becomes the employer of record when it comes to several aspects of reporting taxes, unemployment, obtaining group health, 401k, and more. By becoming the employer of record, the PEO now in effect, has a lot of employees. They use this volume buying power to shop for services like health benefits and pass on a savings to the small business owner. As the employer of record, they also have experts to help small business owners in areas of payroll, payroll taxes, human resources, workers compensation, and more.
A PEO has all these great services for a small business owner. The net effect is the small business owner is now freed up of these tasks to focus on revenue generating tasks and servicing customers. The small business owner also has the ability to attract and retain top quality employees given the large company benefits they can now offer. The best part is that the small business owner gets all these services and saves money.
