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"With over 250,000 lives on our benefits plan, we are able to bring Fortune 500-level benefits into the small and mid-sized business environment, often at a lower price than the client’s existing ‘less rich’ plans," Erin told me. "In addition to delivering rich benefits plans and an instant HR infrastructure, we help businesses generate revenue, control costs, and reduce employment related liabilities-all at roughly the same cost as their current employment-related expenses."

In other words, factor in the inevitable but nominal markup charged by a PEO and your overall cost is still extremely competitive. For most small businesses, a PEO is a great idea even without the additional time and money savings outlined above.

If you’d like to know more about the PEO option and how it can help your business, please contact Erin Malmquist by phone at (650) 357-5921 or via Last week, I mentioned that the cost of employee turnover is about 25% of that person’s annual salary. I did some additional research and discovered that said 25% only applies to low-level employees who do not come in contact with customers. The cost of replacing people who do come in contact with customers is much higher, especially if the person in question is good at it. When it comes to management and executive staff, turnover can actually exceed 100% of annual salary.

Let’s put this into perspective: If you have a position that pays $10 per hour and the average employee stays 6 months, then you are paying a minimum of $15 per hour to staff that position. Labor is one of the single biggest costs faced by any business. Can your bottom line really afford that kind of hit? As for the human angle of the benefits equation, these numbers should be convincing you that being good to your people can be very good indeed.

There are just a few catches: I have several friends and associates in the human resources and talent management fields and they all agree on one thing: Administering benefits can be a royal pain in the you-know-what. Tack on the maze of trying to figure out which plan(s) to offer and the relentlessly spiraling cost of healthcare and I for one can certainly understand why you may not want to touch benefits with an 11-foot pole despite your best wishes and intentions. Besides, even if you could offer benefits, how can you as a small business possibly offer anything close to what the largest corporations can offer?

Enter the Professional Employer Organization (PEO). A PEO serves as an outsourced Human Resources department that provides employee administration, benefits packages, liability management, and access to training and other productivity-enhancement resources. You and the PEO become co-employers where you are the actual employer and the PEO is the “employer of record.” You set the pay rates, the working rules, etc. just as you normally would and the PEO handles the rest.

Cost aside, what could you do to strategically grow your business with the time gained by not having to deal with the non-productive handling of employee paperwork and administration? My guess is that a PEO may allow you to spend a lot more time working on your business instead of in it. How much is the peace of mind of knowing that you are in full compliance with all applicable labor laws worth to you? And how much can taking steps to retain quality employees add to your bottom line?

A PEO can give your employees Fortune 500-level benefits including full heath, dental, and vision coverage, flexible spending accounts, retirement planning, employee assistance, life and disability insurance, child adoption assistance, credit union access, educational assistance, and college savings plans. They can also help you hire the best candidates from the outset, which alone can dramatically reduce turnover costs. Wage data, background checks, drug & skills testing, and candidate review and interviewing are just some of the services a good PEO offers.

A PEO can offer these benefits because they provide services for many people, which gives them far greater buying power at a much lower per-employee cost than a small business can. Why pay too much to offer too little?

There are a number of companies offering PEO services to choose from. My good friend Erin Malmquist is a business consultant with Administaff, the leading nationwide PEO that has been around for over 20 years and my personal recommendation.

"With over 250,000 lives on our benefits plan, we are able to bring Fortune 500-level benefits into the small and mid-sized business environment, often at a lower price than the client’s existing ‘less rich’ plans," Erin told me. "In addition to delivering rich benefits plans and an instant HR infrastructure, we help businesses generate revenue, control costs, and reduce employment related liabilities-all at roughly the same cost as their current employment-related expenses."

In other words, factor in the inevitable but nominal markup charged by a PEO and your overall cost is still extremely competitive. For most small businesses, a PEO is a great idea even without the additional time and money savings outlined above.

If you’d like to know more about the PEO option and how it can help your business, please contact Erin Malmquist by phone at (650) 357-5921 or via e people can be very good indeed.

There are just a few catches: I have several friends and associates in the human resources and talent management fields and they all agree on one thing: Administering benefits can be a royal pain in the you-know-what. Tack on the maze of trying to figure out which plan(s) to offer and the relentlessly spiraling cost of healthcare and I for one can certainly understand why you may not want to touch benefits with an 11-foot pole despite your best wishes and intentions. Besides, even if you could offer benefits, how can you as a small business possibly offer anything close to what the largest corporations can offer?

Enter the Professional Employer Organization (PEO). A PEO serves as an outsourced Human Resources department that provides employee administration, benefits packages, liability management, and access to training and other productivity-enhancement resources. You and the PEO become co-employers where you are the actual employer and the PEO is the “employer of record.” You set the pay rates, the working rules, etc. just as you normally would and the PEO handles the rest.

Cost aside, what could you do to strategically grow your business with the time gained by not having to deal with the non-productive handling of employee paperwork and administration? My guess is that a PEO may allow you to spend a lot more time working on your business instead of in it. How much is the peace of mind of knowing that you are in full compliance with all applicable labor laws worth to you? And how much can taking steps to retain quality employees add to your bottom line?

A PEO can give your employees Fortune 500-level benefits including full heath, dental, and vision coverage, flexible spending accounts, retirement planning, employee assistance, life and disability insurance, child adoption assistance, credit union access, educational assistance, and college savings plans. They can also help you hire the best candidates from the outset, which alone can dramatically reduce turnover costs. Wage data, background checks, drug & skills testing, and candidate review and interviewing are just some of the services a good PEO offers.

A PEO can offer these benefits because they provide services for many people, which gives them far greater buying power at a much lower per-employee cost than a small business can. Why pay too much to offer too little?

There are a number of companies offering PEO services to choose from. My good friend Erin Malmquist is a business consultant with Administaff, the leading nationwide PEO that has been around for over 20 years and my personal recommendation.

"With over 250,000 lives on our benefits plan, we are able to bring Fortune 500-level benefits into the small and mid-sized business environment, often at a lower price than the client’s existing ‘less rich’ plans," Erin told me. "In addition to delivering rich benefits plans and an instant HR infrastructure, we help businesses generate revenue, control costs, and reduce employment related liabilities-all at roughly the same cost as their current employment-related expenses."

In other words, factor in the inevitable but nominal markup charged by a PEO and your overall cost is still extremely competitive. For most small businesses, a PEO is a great idea even without the additional time and money savings outlined above.

If you’d like to know more about the PEO option and how it can help your business, please contact Erin Malmquist by phone at (650) 357-5921 or via ductivity-enhancement resources. You and the PEO become co-employers where you are the actual employer and the PEO is the “employer of record.” You set the pay rates, the working rules, etc. just as you normally would and the PEO handles the rest.

Cost aside, what could you do to strategically grow your business with the time gained by not having to deal with the non-productive handling of employee paperwork and administration? My guess is that a PEO may allow you to spend a lot more time working on your business instead of in it. How much is the peace of mind of knowing that you are in full compliance with all applicable labor laws worth to you? And how much can taking steps to retain quality employees add to your bottom line?

A PEO can give your employees Fortune 500-level benefits including full heath, dental, and vision coverage, flexible spending accounts, retirement planning, employee assistance, life and disability insurance, child adoption assistance, credit union access, educational assistance, and college savings plans. They can also help you hire the best candidates from the outset, which alone can dramatically reduce turnover costs. Wage data, background checks, drug & skills testing, and candidate review and interviewing are just some of the services a good PEO offers.

A PEO can offer these benefits because they provide services for many people, which gives them far greater buying power at a much lower per-employee cost than a small business can. Why pay too much to offer too little?

There are a number of companies offering PEO services to choose from. My good friend Erin Malmquist is a business consultant with Administaff, the leading nationwide PEO that has been around for over 20 years and my personal recommendation.

"With over 250,000 lives on our benefits plan, we are able to bring Fortune 500-level benefits into the small and mid-sized business environment, often at a lower price than the client’s existing ‘less rich’ plans," Erin told me. "In addition to delivering rich benefits plans and an instant HR infrastructure, we help businesses generate revenue, control costs, and reduce employment related liabilities-all at roughly the same cost as their current employment-related expenses."

In other words, factor in the inevitable but nominal markup charged by a PEO and your overall cost is still extremely competitive. For most small businesses, a PEO is a great idea even without the additional time and money savings outlined above.

If you’d like to know more about the PEO option and how it can help your business, please contact Erin Malmquist by phone at (650) 357-5921 or via rement planning, employee assistance, life and disability insurance, child adoption assistance, credit union access, educational assistance, and college savings plans. They can also help you hire the best candidates from the outset, which alone can dramatically reduce turnover costs. Wage data, background checks, drug & skills testing, and candidate review and interviewing are just some of the services a good PEO offers.

A PEO can offer these benefits because they provide services for many people, which gives them far greater buying power at a much lower per-employee cost than a small business can. Why pay too much to offer too little?

There are a number of companies offering PEO services to choose from. My good friend Erin Malmquist is a business consultant with Administaff, the leading nationwide PEO that has been around for over 20 years and my personal recommendation.

"With over 250,000 lives on our benefits plan, we are able to bring Fortune 500-level benefits into the small and mid-sized business environment, often at a lower price than the client’s existing ‘less rich’ plans," Erin told me. "In addition to delivering rich benefits plans and an instant HR infrastructure, we help businesses generate revenue, control costs, and reduce employment related liabilities-all at roughly the same cost as their current employment-related expenses."

In other words, factor in the inevitable but nominal markup charged by a PEO and your overall cost is still extremely competitive. For most small businesses, a PEO is a great idea even without the additional time and money savings outlined above.

If you’d like to know more about the PEO option and how it can help your business, please contact Erin Malmquist by phone at (650) 357-5921 or via r>
"With over 250,000 lives on our benefits plan, we are able to bring Fortune 500-level benefits into the small and mid-sized business environment, often at a lower price than the client’s existing ‘less rich’ plans," Erin told me. "In addition to delivering rich benefits plans and an instant HR infrastructure, we help businesses generate revenue, control costs, and reduce employment related liabilities-all at roughly the same cost as their current employment-related expenses."

In other words, factor in the inevitable but nominal markup charged by a PEO and your overall cost is still extremely competitive. For most small businesses, a PEO is a great idea even without the additional time and money savings outlined above.

If you’d like to know more about the PEO option and how it can help your business, please contact Erin Malmquist by phone at (650) 357-5921 or via email at erin_malmquist@administaff.com. You and your employees have nothing to lose and possibly a lot to gain by exploring a PEO.

Please note that I do not work for Administaff, nor is my endorsement solicited or paid for by them in any way.