If you attended PEO Marketing Day during NAPEO’s 2019 Annual Conference & Marketplace in Austin in September, you were a part of an exciting and energizing event that showcased the slick new marketing resources we’ve created to help us all promote and grow the industry, and introduced the “October Push,” the industry-wide, all-hands-on-deck marketing effort we’re launching this month. If you weren’t able to be there in Austin, you’ll still be able to take advantage of these great resources and be a part of the October Push.
As NAPEO started the process of building a first-class marketing program, it realized it needed a better understanding of the end client—business owners and key decision-makers. Therefore, NAPEO hired Povaddo to lead the marketing research program aimed at developing a keen understanding of this audience. Our goal is to uncover thoughtful insights that NAPEO and its members can use to best connect with potential clients and, in the end, elevate the profile of the PEO industry.
Marketing has transformed over the years into a digitally driven environment, demanding that businesses step up their efforts to command consumer attention. We on NAPEO’s Marketing & Communications Committee regularly hear that marketing is one of your top concerns as you look to educate and engage prospective clients
It has been said that if you don’t manage your own brand, someone else will do it for you.
As NAPEO President and CEO Pat Cleary mentioned several times during NAPEO’s 2019 Annual Conference & Marketing last month in Austin, Texas, SWBC PEO has been making a concerted effort to help raise general awareness about the PEO industry as well as the various service offerings we provide to business owners. As a member of NAPEO, we all have access to our association’s marketing resources, including the latest market research that helps us better understand the state of the industry and consumer trends, and, more importantly, allows us to better gauge the awareness of the PEO industry as a whole.
Exactly how much do you have in common with your clients? It might be more than you think! Many PEOs are similar to the customers they serve, whether it be a family-owned business, a small or mid-sized company, or a location in the same geographical area. It is rewarding to see our clients thrive, knowing that our PEO services helped them not only to grow, but to prosper.
I have been warned that the hardest part of serving as NAPEO chair is writing the monthly column for PEO Insider.® I lucked out, as my first topic is one that I am extremely passionate about: branding and marketing.
NAPEO thanks the hundreds of people who donated to our philanthropic partner, Anthropos Arts, during NAPEO’s 2019 Annual Conference & Marketplace in Austin, Texas, in September, as part of our NAPEO Gives Back initiative. Due to their generosity, we, as an industry, raised $52,405 to directly benefit Anthropos Arts. Anthropos Arts is an Austin-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization whose mission is to connect low-income students with professional musicians, cultivating confidence, integrity, and life skills through musical instruction and mentorship.
Andrew “Andy” Lubash is the founder and CEO of Prestige Employee Administrators, a Melville, New York-based PEO. He was elected chair of NAPEO’s Board of Directors during the association’s Annual Membership Meeting on September 17, 2019. Previously, Lubash served as NAPEO’s vice chair, secretary/treasurer, and board member. He has chaired NAPEO’s State Government Affairs Committee and has served on numerous other NAPEO committees and task forces.
SEPTEMBER 16 -18, AUSTIN, TEXAS
Sweeping changes to Minnesota, Colorado, and New Jersey wage laws require immediate attention from PEOs operating in these states. Minnesota recently adopted additional paystub and records retention requirements, mandatory written notices to employees, and criminal penalties (up to felony charges) for wage theft. Colorado enacted similar criminal penalties for wage theft. New Jersey’s recently enacted Wage Theft Law adopts comprehensive changes to its wage and hour laws.
PEOs, like many other businesses, may soon be required to comply with the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). This new law, which takes effect on January 1, 2020, with enforcement by the California attorney general beginning on July 1, 2020, requires covered businesses to implement policies and procedures that provide consumers—including employees—certain privacy rights not available under existing law.
State and local governments continue to pass laws to provide civil rights protections for employees beyond what federal law affords. Employers, especially those operating in multiple states, not only have to closely track federal law, but also the laws of the states in which they have employees. This includes just about all PEOs, adding to the complexity of dealing with multi-state issues for clients.
I was speaking at a workers’ compensation conference a few weeks back and was struck by the passion of those in the industry. There is a plethora of fantastic potential partners and resources to assist you with managing your workers’ compensation program. As a PEO leader, you would be remiss in not understanding such an important part of your business. There is nothing to fear about workers’ compensation. With education and the right tools, you can successful manage your program and control costs.
A common problem for businesses is the synchronization of data across various applications. Ideally, changes to data in one application would update other applications that depend on the same data, even when the software vendors are different. Unfortunately, reality is usually different than the ideal state. Most PEOs have sales, quoting, payroll, benefits, human resources, and accounting systems from various software vendors that all share common data elements (e.g., employee names, hire dates, addresses, and departments).
The revenue growth rate for all respondents in NAPEO’s 2019 Financial Ratio & Operating Statistics Survey (FROS) was 10 percent. The operating income per worksite employee continues to rise, as it has over the past few years, to $259 in this year’s survey. The survey represents 2018 data.
Every conference planner frets about attendance at the last session—they just do. Invariably, people make plans to duck out early, and so the last session—whenever it is, it’s last—is usually sparsely attended. And that’s being charitable. Imagine my surprise when I walked into the last day of our annual conference in Austin on PEO Marketing Day and saw a full room. I was even more shocked at noon that same day when our closing lunch was similarly packed. Why? It was the lure of marketing and the resources and materials that everyone received, together with the hopes of growing the industry.