Each May, professional employer organizations (PEOs) use National PEO Week to remind current and (hopefully) future clients of all the ways a PEO can help small and mid-sized businesses succeed. But one of most important contributions a PEO can make to a client’s organization often goes unspoken.

All the capabilities a PEO brings to their partnership – the advanced technology, the reduced cost of superior benefits, the quicker, more accurate payroll processing, the reduced liability – are in service of a greater goal: making sure business owners have the workforce they need. It’s all about service; how PEOs serve business owners, and how those owners can better serve their customers and their employees.

Most owners start their own business because they imagine a better way to practice their trade and new ways to bring value to their chosen industry. As their business grows, they share this vision with their employees, to ensure every customer receives this unique value and the business always represents the owner’s standard of excellence.

But the business can overtake the boss. Administration and operations can drag the owner away from the joy of work and away from time with the employees. A full-service PEO handles all the complexities of HR administration so business owners can be the boss they always wanted to be. Businesses hiring a PEO grow twice as fast, and have 12% lower employee turnover. These are just some of the advantages of a partnership with a PEO.

Providing for Your People

Every boss wants to take care of their employees. This is especially true in smaller businesses where everyone in the company may be on a first name basis. Paydays can feel personal. Owners may know the employees’ extended family members covered by benefits packages.

A PEO enables the owner to deliver employment services comparable to large enterprises. Payrolls are processed like clockwork. Beyond healthcare, benefits packages can include dental and vision care, 401(k) retirement plans, life insurance and more, all made affordable by the larger pools a PEO manages and economies of scale.

Better PEOs deliver these services via HCM (Human Capital Management) software that includes self-service employee portals where personnel can monitor their accounts. This same technology even aids in recruitment and onboarding, so new employees can be welcomed into the company in the same spirit the owner welcomed employee #1.

Mentoring and Modeling

With fewer administrative headaches, business owners have more time and energy to foster company values one-on-one with employees. They can instruct, first-hand, the small touches that distinguish the company’s products and services. Owners can share their insights and wisdom, to help employees grow as they help grow the business.

In the process, owners can also get a better sense of individual employees; recognize their strengths and measure their potential. This can be invaluable to the success of the business as the owner offloads responsibilities, confident that customers will be well-served and the next layer of leadership will extend the company’s values.

A Braintrust You Can Trust

PEOs also serve as essential advisors to their clients. Like the company’s accountant or attorney, the PEO provides domain expertise on the legal and technical intricacies of HR administration and compliance. They share best practices and practical solutions to common challenges faced by all their clients.

PEOs can provide a perspective unique to HR management. Very few people are born leaders; successful supervision – especially as the head of a business – is a learned skill. PEOs can help owners anticipate the challenges of that role, navigate difficulties when they arise, and connect owners to their peers for experienced and empathetic counsel.

As a bonus, a PEO can supplement the perspective they provide with hard data from the HCM system that connects them. Such reports can be a powerful strategic tool to guide decision-making and enable owners to take their business to the next level.

New Ways to PEO

Companies that find their way to a PEO are usually drawn by the cost savings, increased operational quality, and the reduced liability such a relationship delivers. As the largest privately held PEO in the nation and part of America’s leading PEO technology company, VensureHR consistently delivers the financial and operational benefits of a PEO partnership.

The business owner guiding that decision may not fully appreciate how much better they, themselves, can be in their role thanks to the work of their PEO. That is the real, unspoken value a PEO brings to their partnership and worth noting during PEO week.

Then we can get back to all the other PEO goodness every other week of the year.

Find out everything a PEO can do for you. Schedule a no-cost business evaluation from VensureHR today.