The workplace has changed. Open offices are now the norm. Employees in the field use mobile devices to track their work. Unlimited paid time off (PTO) has become a thing. These changes mirror the evolution of the workforce, which is now made up of a majority of Millennial and Gen Z employees. Perhaps the largest shift, however, has been the emphasis younger workers place on “meaningful work.” To attract and retain the best talent, top employers of today are also advocates on issues that impact their employees.
Small PEOs face many challenges with building scale and obtaining master health plans. It’s like the old adage, “Which came first, the chicken or the egg?” because without a master health plan, it can be difficult to attract clients, but to get into a master health plan, you need a minimum number of clients.
What a difference 25-plus years makes. Building a PEO in the 1990s was a very different experience than it is today. The industry has progressed, the business climate has gone through cycles, government regulations have increased, and insurance products have evolved. These are only a few of the events we have navigated in the PEO industry.
The PEO industry, at least in some geographical locations, is often a largely unknown business model outside of our own network. I’ve been in the industry since 2004 and I am pretty sure even my mom still doesn’t know what I do. It is a dynamic industry, given the legal and financial complexities in managing payroll, benefits, and HR activities. These complexities create a fair number of barriers to entry in the PEO space, but they are also what makes this business model so rewarding for me—being able to support other businesses.
There’s no question the PEO industry and the services it provides have always represented a considerable value proposition for thousands of small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs). From HR consulting, risk mitigation services, and payroll processing, to workers’ compensation coverage, health benefits, and regulatory compliance assistance, the PEO industry provides SMBs with an array of products and services they might struggle to obtain on their own. Even more, PEOs allow our nation’s entrepreneurs to focus on what they do best—building businesses that bring their ideas and visions to fruition.
In my 26 years of experience in the PEO industry, one emerging trend is PEOs using independent agents and brokers in their sales strategy. With the continued growth of our industry and Wall Street’s demand for numbers fueling the PEO market, it’s no surprise that many PEOs are acquiring new business though brokers and independent agents.
The shortest distance between two points is a straight line. The shortest distance to organizational success is a sound and well-executed strategic plan. Periodically, the NAPEO Board of Directors and NAPEO staff create/update NAPEO’s strategic plan. The following is a snapshot of our five-goal strategic plan for 2019-2022.
What if you were to hire people who are already motivated and create an environment where those employees could excel? According to author Shawn Burcham, this is the key to engaging employees who will go the extra mile for customers and co-workers alike.
Mark Perlberg entered the PEO industry in 2003 as the president and CEO of Oasis Outsourcing. He is also a former chair of NAPEO’s Board of Directors. In 2018, Oasis was acquired by Paychex, allowing Perlberg to expand his role in the PEO industry. He spoke with PEO Insider® about how he sees the PEO industry now and how PEOs should respond to evolving needs of employers and employees.
This has been an active, albeit inconsistent, year for guidance about multiple-employer health and retirement plans. This increase in guidance can largely be attributed to a pair of executive orders, through which the Trump administration signaled its interest in promoting multiple-employer health and retirement plans and charged the agencies responsible for regulating them to consider policies that would expand their availability to small employers.
All PEOs know that employees must complete the Form I-9 within three days of their hire. By way of background, the I-9 is a United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) form. Mandated by the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) of 1986, it is used to verify the identity and legal authorization to work of all paid employees in the United States.
You are your PEO’s HR resource assigned to service the PEO’s clients. Imagine this scenario: Late one Friday afternoon, you’re sitting at your desk, planning your weekend, when the telephone rings. It’s the owner of one of your client companies. He is very agitated.
It is often said that “you don’t know what you don’t know.” This phrase can relate to a skill that has not yet been learned, such as an accountant who is proficient in financial strategy and taxation but is weak in technology, or a seasoned payroll professional who has experience in all aspects of payroll processing and taxes but lacks experience in the PEO space.
I love football—always have. My father played for the Green Bay Packers. Football has been in my DNA since birth. In the years since dad played for the Packers, football has become much more strategic: year-around preparation; game films; meetings about strategy, tendencies, strengths, weaknesses, and statistics; and of course, practice.
Despite a lag to the gross domestic product (GDP), the PEO Employment Index revealed a strong upward trend in the last quarter, once again correlating positivity. The lag, in part, is explained by the difficulty businesses of all sizes, but especially small and mid-sized businesses, have in hiring new employees. There are several other economic indicators that are pointing to a slowing economy, which will eventually affect both the GDP and the PEO index.
On the cover this month, you’ll see a smiling Mark Perlberg, vice president of PEO, Paychex, and president and CEO of Oasis, a Paychex® Company. It is impossible to overstate the impact that Mark has had on this industry. He has led one of the largest PEOs for many years at Oasis, and now at Paychex. He was secretary-treasurer of NAPEO when I arrived, then ascended through the vice chair position to become chair in September 2012. During his years on the NAPEO Board of Directors, he was known as a smart, insightful, and reasoned voice throughout many tumultuous debates.