| Listing Date | Title | Article Link | Source | Article Review / Excerpt |
| 6/10/2009 | Ohio legislature considers amendments to PEO laws | View Article | State of Ohio | The state of Ohio moves to enact legislation that establishes financial capacities and clarify the rights of PEOs and their client companies. A financial statement required under division (B)(7) of this section for initial registration shall be the most recent financial statement of the professional employer organization or professional employer organization group of which the professional employer organization is a member and shall not be older than thirteen months. For each registration renewal, the professional employer organization shall file the required financial statement within one hundred eighty days after the end of the professional employer organization's or professional employer organization group's fiscal year. A professional employer organization may apply to the administrator for an extension beyond that time if the professional employer organization provides the administrator with a letter from the professional employer organization's auditor stating the reason for delay and the anticipated completion date. |
| 6/5/2009 | Florida puts new reporting requirements on Professional Employer Organizations. | View Article | State of Florida | Florida passes "Accurate Employment Statistics Enhancement Act" to require PEO and Employee Leasing companies to submit client level detail information to the state government for use in unemployment compensation data analysis. Known as Florida House bill HB641 and Senate bill SB1062. The bill amends the definition of “employee leasing company” in s. 443.036(18), F.S., to include a statement that requires employee leasing companies to produce quarterly reports concerning their clients and internal staff. The new definition will require employee leasing companies to “produce quarterly reports concerning the clients of the employee leasing company and the internal staff of the employee leasing company.” Quarterly reports will provide AWI with more timely and accurate labor market statistics. |
| 6/3/2009 | State of Nevada approves PEO legislation | View Article | State of Nevada | The state of Nevada has approved significant enhancements to PEO legislation. New provisions ensure PEOs have flexibility for providing clients with workers' compensation insurance coverage and ensures uniform financial standards for the PEO industry. AN ACT relating to employee leasing companies; authorizing the Administrator of the Division of Industrial Relations of the Department of Business and Industry to adopt regulations relating to a third party that may act on behalf of an employee leasing company; providing various means for an employee leasing company and its clients to provide workers’ compensation coverage; requiring employee leasing companies to pay an annual registration fee; requiring employee leasing companies to submit certain audited financial statements; providing the means by which an employee of an employee leasing company may notify a supervisor of an injury for the purposes of industrial insurance; and providing other matters properly relating thereto. |
| 5/29/2009 | State of Texas upgrades PEO legislation | View Article | State of Texas | The State of Texas has modified the Texas PEO statutes to include new definitions for PEO working capital requirements as well as ensure PEO clients are defined as the eligible parties for other employer based tax credits. PEOs renewing their licenses and seeking new licenses to operate in Texas will need to be compliant with the provision effective December 31, 2011. C.S.H.B. 2249 strengthens financial standards for staff leasing services companies, establishes a superior standard for determining a staff leasing services company's liquidity, creates maximum efficiencies at TDLR for the staff leasing services company licensing process, and allows a staff leasing services company to use an approved assurance organization to act on its behalf in complying with licensing requirements. The bill clarifies that nothing in a staff leasing services arrangement affects the ability of a client company to qualify for tax credits or other economic incentives. The bill requires a staff leasing services company to provide employment information required for the administration of any tax credit, grant, or economic incentive that is based on employment. |
| 5/29/2009 | Nebraska moves forward with PEO legislation | View Article | State of Nebraska | Nebraska moves forward with proposed PEO legislation and will consider the bill (LB570) as early as January 2010. Unless otherwise expressly agreed by the professional employer organization and the client in a professional employer agreement, the client retains the exclusive right to direct and control the covered employees as is necessary to conduct the client’s business, to discharge any of the client’s fiduciary responsibilities, or to comply with any licensure requirements applicable to the client or to the covered employees. |
| 5/7/2009 | The Coming of Zerocare | View Article | American Thinker | A Florida doctor discusses the ramifications of nationalized health care. Throughout this, there will be an encouragement to expand primary care while restricting access to anything sophisticated or expensive. Primary and preventative care as forms of cost savings are myths, as frankly these are of little use in an aging population. We spend one third of our budget now on individuals who are in the last three months of their life with terminal incurable illness. The government has a vested interest in having the end of life take place at an earlier date once their productive years are over and they become a negative financial entity on the books for healthcare, Social Security and nursing homes. |
| 5/6/2009 | North Carolina Senate moves to amend PEO regulations | View Article | State of North Carolina | The North Carolina Senate has approved an amendment to the state regulations for PEOs to be licensed in the state. The act - Senate Bill S1029 stipulates that all PEOs licensed prior to October 1, 2008 must post a $100,000 surety bond. PEOs licensed after this date must post a bond equal to five percent of the prior years total sages, benefits, work comp premiums and UI contributions up to a max $500,000. |
| 4/28/2009 | PEOs Ease Human Resource Concerns for Small Business | View Article | Nebraska Cattleman | Nebraska feedlot owners and managers discover the advantages of using a PEO. In the case of the feedlot, the frequency and severity of workmen’s comp issues is much higher than in urban companies, as feedlot cowboys grapple with getting potloads of finished cattle into loading chutes, and ranch cowboys tangle with disagreeable cows at weaning time. Accordingly, aside from HR services, ag-related PEOs provide guidance for improving workplace safety and managing workers’ compensation claims. |
| 4/17/2009 | New Hampshire Employee Leasing Law May Change | View Article | State of New Hampshire | Audit requirements for employee leasing companies in New Hampshire may be improved if senate passed legislation is approved. An employee leasing company may meet its obligation to provide workers’ compensation insurance coverage for leased employees through 2 carriers, provided that each client company’s leased employees shall be covered by only one carrier and that such coverage shall clearly delineate such client company employees by client company name and federal identification number. |
| 4/11/2009 | Outsourcing still effective in saving business funds | View Article | Wisconsin Post-Crescent | New Wisconsin law makes HR outsourcing with a PEO more viable. Not only do PEOs save businesses money and tackle HR matters, they can provide additional savings not accessible to all businesses. Because PEOs provide services to many companies, they can take advantage of economies of scale by combining all of their "employees" to obtain cheaper group rates for life, disability, health, unemployment or workers' compensation insurance and other benefits. |
| 4/6/2009 | Outsource human resources to make time for making money | View Article | Kansas City Star | Kansas City companies confirm the operating efficiencies obtained when they hire a PEO to take over non-revenue producing tasks. "The way many small businesses survive bad economic times is to cut costs, which I refer to as saving paper clips," Milan Yager of NAPEO said. "But you can't save enough paper clips to make money. At some point, you have to increase revenues. What PEOs do is give owners their time back." The concept behind PEOs isn't new. Employers have been using outside services for payroll, insurance and other functions for years. The difference is that PEOs provide one-stop shopping for everything from payroll and risk management to employee recruitment, retention and termination. |
| 4/1/2009 | Avoiding Court During a Recession | View Article | Risk Management Magazine | Good advice for avoiding lawsuits for unfair employment termination. According to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), 2007 had the highest number of incoming private sector discrimination charge filings since 2002, along with the largest annual increase since the early 1990s. All this combined with the expected onslaught of age-bias lawsuits from baby boomers means that risk managers must work harder than ever to avoid employment-related lawsuits during the current recession. |
| 3/17/2009 | Texas makes correct call to reject SUTA - UI strings | View Article | Texas Public Policy | Texas governor Rick Perry rejects federal unemployment insurance assistance because of long term burdens for Texas businesses. This article explores the rationale behind the governor's decision. The fallacy promoted by advocates of these eligibility changes is that the federal funds will "pay" for several years of the expanded benefits. In fact, those dollars will be used immediately to partially shore up the UI trust fund, and employers will foot the cost of the expanded benefits from Day One. There are better options to address the projected trust fund deficit that control the level of taxes paid by Texas employers and preserve Texas' ability to manage our unemployment system as we see fit. |
| 3/14/2009 | Gevity - Trinet Merger Acquisition | View Article | StaffMarket News | General Atlantic Partners engineers taking Gevity private through Trinet merger. |
| 3/13/2009 | State of New Hampshire clarifies rules for PEOs with Group Health Plans. | View Article | State of New Hampshire | Earlier communications from the state of New Hampshire were incorrect and were corrected in the linked memo. |
| 3/9/2009 | Verifying Green Cards Not So Easy | View Article | Long Island Business News | New York company gets caught in grey area when applicants provide bogus work credentials. We’re clearly moving toward more oversight,” said Dawn Davidson Drantch, director of employee relations and counsel a professional employer organization providing human resources services. Mitchell Zwaik, an immigration attorney based in Bohemia, said, “The move is toward enforcement of the rules more than toward changing the rules. The basic principle hasn’t changed.” Employers must complete I-9 forms within three days of hiring, obtaining documents showing identification and right to work. But employers have traditionally filed and forgotten these documents. |
| 3/2/2009 | Some companies find savings in outsourced HR services | View Article | Jacksonville Business Journal | PEOs can offer hard and soft dollar savings for small businesses. The added pressures of a harsh economic climate that has forced many businesses to lay off workers and do more with less have provided little relief. But professional employer organizations, which are essentially outsourced human resources, are flourishing in this climate by offering small businesses the chance to outsource their headaches and save money at the same time. |
| 3/1/2009 | MetLife Releases Annual Study of Employee Benefit Trends | View Article | Met Life | Study demonstrates the value of employee benefit programs to their client companies. |
| 2/25/2009 | Mass Layoffs in January 2009 | View Article | Bureau of Labor Statistics | The BLS reports on the industries reporting the highest number of mass layoffs initial claims in January 2009. Professional Employer Organizations report 11,345 initial claims for January 2009. |
| 2/17/2009 | ADP TotalSource Financial Results | View Article | Seeking Alpha | ADP Reports 2008 fourth quarter financial results By segment, Employer Services (ES) revenue grew 6% to $1.64 billion with 3% growth in the U.S. payroll and tax filing business and 10% growth in beyond payroll revenue. Year–to-date client retention declined 0.5 percentage points. The dollar value of new business sales declined 13% for ES and Professional Employer Organization (PEO) Services due to price sensitivity and the increased number of companies going out of business. PEO Services revenue grew 14% to $285.4 million and Dealer Services revenue decreased 1% to $342.7 million. |
| 1/29/2009 | Workers' Comp Rates to Rise in Florida | View Article | South Florida Business Journal | Florida Workers' Compensation rates will be going up as a result of a recent Florida supreme court ruling that disallows a rate schedule for lawyers. Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty is expected to approve a 6.4 percent increase in Florida's workers' compensation insurance rates on April 1. |
| 1/28/2009 | OSHA 300 Log Posting Requirement | View Article | US Department of Labor | All employers are reminded that workplace posting of OSHA 300 logs must be audited and completed by February 1. You must post a copy of the annual summary in each establishment in a conspicuous place or places where notices to employees are customarily posted. You must ensure that the posted annual summary is not altered, defaced or covered by other material. |
| 1/27/2009 | New I9 effective February 2 2009 | View Article | US Citizenship and Immigration Service | All employers must transition to the new I9 form after February 2 2009. |
| 1/22/2009 | Making Ledbetter Better, or at Least Less Bad | View Article | The Heritage Foundation | The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act (HR 11-S181) is being pushed through congress. All employers need to understand the ramifications for HR practices and the long term financial exposure of this legislation. In particular, three words in the legislation that have received little attention would be particularly conducive to this sort of abuse. Rather than focusing on discriminatory pay decisions, the Ledbetter Act would include within the definition of an unlawful employment practice “a discriminatory compensation decision or other practice.” This loose language would allow trial lawyers to channel potentially all discrimination claims, no matter how tenuously related to compensation, through the Ledbetter Act, thereby evading Title VII’s and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act’s (ADEA) limitations periods entirely. In this way, nearly any alleged discrimination could be the subject of claims brought years after the fact—a recipe for abuse. |
| 1/15/2009 | Nebraska PEO Legislation Introduced | View Article | State of Nebraska | The Legislature finds: That professional employer organizations provide a valuable service to commerce and the citizens of this state by increasing the opportunities of employers to develop cost-effective methods of satisfying their personnel requirements and providing employees with access to certain employment benefits which might otherwise not be available to them; That professional employer organizations operating in this state should be regulated by the Department of Labor; and That any allocation of the employer duties and responsibilities pursuant to the Professional Employer Organization Registration Act will preserve all rights to which covered employees would be entitled under a traditional employment relationship. |
| 1/15/2009 | Wyoming PEO Legislation | View Article | State of Wyoming | Each professional employer organization operating within this state as of July 1, 2009 shall complete its initial registration not later than one hundred eighty days after July 1, 2009. The initial registration shall be valid until one hundred eighty (180) days from the end of the professional employer organization's first fiscal year end that is more than one (1) year after July 1, 2009. Each professional employer organization not operating within this state as of July 1, 2009 shall complete its initial registration prior to commencement of operations within this state. |
| 1/14/2009 | North Dakota Debates removing PEO Financial Requirements | View Article | State of North Dakota | The state of North Dakota proposed amending existing legislation that requires professional employer organizations to provide audited financial statements as a condition of obtaining a license to operate in the state. Industry representatives are opposing the measure and it has been tabled until a subcommittee returns to the legislature with its findings. A person may not provide, advertise, or otherwise hold itself out as providing professional employer services, unless the person is licensed under this chapter. A person engaged in the business of providing professional employer services shall obtain a license regardless of its use of the term or conducting business as a "professional employer organization", "staff leasing company", "registered staff leasing company", "employee leasing company", "administrative employer", or any other name. |
| 1/9/2009 | State of Colorado moves forward with Employee Leasing Legislation | View Article | State of Colorado | The Colorado department of Labor and Employment moves to implement PEO and employee leasing regulations for the first quarter of 2009. Each employee leasing company shall pay wages and collect, report, and pay all payroll-related taxes from its own accounts for all covered employees. each employee leasing company shall pay unemployment compensation insurance taxes and provide, maintain, and secure all records and documents required of work-site employers under the unemployment insurance laws of this state for covered employees. For unemployment reporting purposes, each employee leasing company is the only employing unit for covered employees and shall have the responsibility for unemployment compensation insurance as required of an employer pursuant to the "Colorado employment security act", articles 70 to 82 of this title. |
| 1/8/2009 | State of North Carolina sets PEO bond requirements | View Article | State of North Carolina | Renewal application still must meet the $100K bond requirements. |
| 12/11/2008 | New Jersey Family Leave Posters Now Required | View Article | State of New Jersey | Starting December 18, 2008 all New Jersey employers are required to post notifications about the new provisions available to employees regarding the family leave insurance provisions that will become effective July 1, 2009. New Jersey law will require up to six weeks of Family Leave Insurance benefits. Employers covered under the Family Leave Insurance provisions of the New Jersey Temporary Disability Benefits Law are required by law to post notification detailing program information and employee rights to New Jersey Family Leave Insurance benefits. Employers must conspicuously display the notification poster in each of your workplaces, in a place or places accessible to all employees by December 15, 2008. Employers must also provide each employee with a written copy of the notification: no later than December 15, 2008; at the time of an employee's hiring; whenever an employee notifies you that he/she is taking time off to bond with a newborn or newly adopted child or to care for a seriously ill family member; at any time, upon the first request of an employee. |
| 12/2/2008 | Ohio Amends UI Regulations | View Article | Commerce Clearing House | Ohio defines terms for SUTA - state unemployment taxes for clients using an employee leasing company. Employee leasing. The term “unrelated third party client” is now defined as an entity unrelated to, or not sharing common ownership, management or control with, an employee leasing company, and to which individuals are provided by the employee leasing company to perform services on a permanent basis. |
| 11/21/2008 | Employers Hurt by Swollen Health Care Costs | View Article | Long Island Business News | The drastic rise in the costs for employer for health insurance is fueling demand for Health Savings Accounts or HSAs Another option is an HSA, in which dollars are allocated to employees, who can roll the accounts over every year and take them with them when they leave. I have a host of clients that uses HRAs, and a host of clients that uses HSAs,” Bradley said. “Some companies prefer HRAs because they are not as cumbersome to set up, and they retain the funds, rather than returning them to employees.” But others favor the HSA for the effect it has on employees. “It encourages them to become better consumers of health care, since they’re spending their own money,” Bradley said. For instance, “if the money is coming out of their own pocket, consumers might ask doctors if they really need all three tests, or if they really need 100 pills instead of 50,” said Lou Basso, president of The Alcott Group, a Farmingdale-based professional employer organization and provider of human resources services. |
| 11/17/2008 | Florida - NCCI Proposes 18.6% Workers Comp Rate Hike | View Article | Palm Beach Post | Although workers' compensation rates are expected to drop in January 2009, NCCI has proposed to hike rates shortly thereafter beginning in March and another hike later in 2009. The schedule, a key part of the 2002 workers comp reform, capped attorneys fees that had helped make Florida's rates among the highest in the nation. Since the legislative overhaul, rates have fallen by 60 percent, and Florida is now among the lowest states in terms of workers comp rates. A representative of the Florida Chamber of Commerce said small businesses cannot tolerate an increase, and he charged trial lawyers with getting a "bailout'' as the result of the Supreme Court decision. |
| 11/13/2008 | California State Fund files for 8.9% workers’ comp increase | View Article | San Francisco Business Times | Since dropping by 63% since 2003, work comp rates in California are now on the rise, with state fund jacking rates up 8.9% for 2009. Since increases in workers’ compensation premium rates typically hit some lines of business harder than others, the steepest increases are likely to affect businesses in areas such as construction, manufacturing, transportation and retail, which are already struggling due to the rapidly weakening U.S. and California economies. |
| 11/6/2008 | Department of Justice Provides Additional No-Match Guidance | View Article | StaffMarket | The Department of Justice (DOJ) has issued new guidance confirming that an employer using the safe harbor provisions of the new Department of Homeland Security (DHS) no-match rule when letters or notices that a worker’s Social Security number does not match existing records, will not be potentially guilty of discrimination. New rules from the DOJ help employers meet the letter of the law for hiring and avoid discrimination charges. |
| 10/29/2008 | Get Ready to Relearn the Americans with Diabilities Act | View Article | Law.com | Beginning January 1, 2009, employers must comply with the ADAAA - Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act. Since originally passed (ADA) in 1990, judicial decisions have limited the scope of coverage originally intended by congress. The ADAAA legislatively broadens the responsibility and liabilities for employers. All employers need to review the new rules and ensure they are ready to be compliant. Consequently, in the new world of the ADAAA, employers should keep records of accommodations requests made and accommodations denied or provided, along with some evidentiary back-up for the decisions made. Further, consider refresher training of human resources professionals and line managers about the ADA's requirements about the interactive process and reasonable accommodations. The ADA is about to change. Your company's managers need to be ready. |
| 10/2/2008 | HR 7103 Introduced to Congress - tax treatment and reporting of wages paid by professional employer organizations. | View Article | PEO Legislation Introduced to Congress | Also known as the small business efficiency act. A certified professional employer organization entering into a service contract with a customer with respect to a work site employee shall be treated as a successor employer and the customer shall be treated as a predecessor employer during the term of such service contract. |
| 10/1/2008 | Administaff Announces Results of Business Survey and Compensation Data | View Article | Business Wire | Survey of small and medium sized businesses show more caution for 2009. The economy was listed by 81.5 percent of business owners as their biggest concern for 2009 versus 45.8 percent last year. More than 60 percent listed controlling costs as a leading concern, compared to 53.3 percent in Nov. 2007. Rising health care costs were another concern for 43.1 percent of respondents, a slight decrease from 44.6 percent in 2007. Retaining their most valued employees ranked fourth by 31.2 percent of those polled, and 28.9 percent of respondents listed hiring the right people. |
| 9/14/2008 | Agencies can offer power in numbers | View Article | Florida Keys Keynoter | Companies in the Florida keys discuss the advantages of co-employment, employee leasing and PEO arrangements. “It helps me stay more focused on what I do, and that’s construction,” he said. “They keep me more in the field and out from behind a desk. Compared to what I was spending doing payroll myself and paying workman’s compensation, I’m saving at least 30 percent going through them.” A PEO provides outsourcing of payroll, workers’ compensation, human resources and employee benefits administration. It does this by hiring a client company’s employees, and becoming their employer of record. It then leases them back under contract to the original employer. This is known as co-employment, employee leasing or staff leasing. |
| 9/9/2008 | Colorado amends law for employee leasing companies | View Article | CCH | Colorado lawmakers formally define the co-employment relationship. The law now defines the term “co-employer” as an employee leasing company or work-site employer. The term “co-employment relationship” is defined as one intended to be ongoing, rather than temporary or project specific, and where the rights and obligations of the employer have been allocated between the co-employers by an employee leasing contract. In addition, the employee leasing company and work-site employer are entitled to enforce only the employer rights and obligations allocated to them under the contract. The work-site employer also may enforce any right and perform any obligation not specifically allocated to the employee leasing company by the contract. The terms “covered employee” and “work-site employee” mean an individual who is in an employment relationship with an employee leasing company and work-site employer and has received notice of the co-employment. |
| 9/2/2008 | Payroll Issues - Knowing when to ask for help | View Article | Nevada Business Journal | Article reviews the ever-changing complexities of doing payroll correctly and maintaining legislative compliance.
Similarly, more companies are outsourcing to professional employer organizations (PEOs), which provide payroll, workers compensation, human resources and employee benefits administration. However, unlike a BPO, PEOs assume employer risks for their clients via co-employment. The PEO becomes the employer of record for tax and insurance purposes. This industry has evolved to where you can go from being the employer into a PEO relationship and not ever have to worry about or know these rules because the PEO handles it as a co-employer. |
| 9/2/2008 | Fast Growing PEOs crucial for small businesses | View Article | Chicago Business Ledger | Why some Chicago businesses have partnered with a PEO for HR Outsourcing services. The process usually involves one HR professional within a PEO who is designated as a representative for a small stable of clients. When employees in any client company have HR-related questions or problems, they can directly call their representative to get the issue resolved. The value proposition for client companies is that a PEO saves time and labor costs associated with payroll and the administration of benefit plans. In addition, the client company may also be able to offer a better overall package of benefits, which is attractive to more skilled employees.This is especially helpful considering the current state of the economy. When businesses aren’t as profitable, the staff is usually the one of the first costs to be cut, said Lisa Callaway, vice president of the Management Association of Illinois, in Downers Grove. |
| 8/27/2008 | The Upcountry Revolution | View Article | Haleakala Times | How small businesses in Hawaii are increasing efficiencies by joining a PEO.
In response to the quiet economy, some businesses are adjusting their hours of operation and staffing, increasing or decreasing as needed, hoping to make it more convenient and appealing for residents to shop locally. Another shift is that businesses are using a PEO (Professional Employer Organization) to run the core functions of a small business such as payroll, insurance, and human resources. Carole Kooy, Maui Chamber of Commerce chair-elect and the owner of KilaKila Professional Employer Services says that in times of economic downturn outsourcing does become an option to alleviate some of the high costs related to owning and operating a business. |
| 7/30/2008 | Gevity earnings up | View Article | Bradenton Herald | Gevity earnings show improvement from focusing on core PEO product areas and reducing expenses. Challenges remain due to the Florida smal business environment. During an earnings conference call Tuesday morning, Gevity officials said they expect to gain traction in gaining new clients, particularly since Gevity Edge Select was discontinued and the company's sales force can focus fully on the company's core business as a professional employer organization, or PEO. |
| 7/21/2008 | Cutting the risk to Workers and the bottom line | View Article | NJ Biz Journal | Article discusses the cost to employers for work related injuries and reviews OSHA tool that calculates the cost of additional sales needed to make up for impact to workers' compensation costs. The average direct cost of a workers' compensation claim is between $5,000 and $7,000 among the clients of Gevity HR Inc a Bradenton Florida based Professional Employer Organization with and office in Edison, according to Chris Davis the firm's vice president of finance insurance. Most injuries occur when employees are doing manual labor such as lifting heavy objects. |
| 7/15/2008 | State of Connecticut releases new legislation for Professional Employer Organizations | View Article | State of Connecticut | Connecticut establishes rules for PEOs who operate in the state including registration with the state. Professional employer organization" means any person engaged in the business of providing professional employer services, regardless of whether such person uses the term or conducts business as a professional employer organization, staff leasing company, registered staff leasing company, employee leasing company, administrative employer or any other name. |
| 6/10/2008 | Contractors must verify employees' legal status | View Article | El Paso Times | Effective June 10, 2008 all contractors and others who do business with the federal government must us the E-Verify system to verify an applicants right to work. Pat Villalobos, president and owner of Barnhart/Taylor, which provides engineering, heating and ventilation, bids on government contracts and has worked on various projects at Fort Bliss. "When it comes to my employees, I keep up with their documents," Villalobos said. "When they come work for me, I ask them for their documents, especially if they're going to be on government property. "The E-Verify system is very user-friendly," she added. "When I use employee leasing companies, the leasing companies verify (in advance) the legal status of the workers they send me. Anyone who is not ready for this will hinder their recruiting efforts, and (immigration authorities) can conduct an audit at any time." |
| 5/28/2008 | State of Colorado passes PEO and Employee Leasing Legislation | View Article | State of Colorado | Colorado passes legislation that clarifies the rights and responsibilities of companies when hiring a professional employer organization. PEO and employee leasing arrangements have recognized legal status in Colorado. EACH EMPLOYEE LEASING COMPANY SHALL PAY WAGES AND COLLECT, REPORT, AND PAY ALL PAYROLL-RELATED TAXES FROM ITS OWN ACCOUNTS FOR ALL COVERED EMPLOYEES. EACH EMPLOYEE LEASING COMPANY SHALL PAY UNEMPLOYMENT COMPENSATION INSURANCE TAXES AND PROVIDE, MAINTAIN, AND SECURE ALL RECORDS AND DOCUMENTS REQUIRED OF WORK-SITE EMPLOYERS UNDER THE UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE LAWS OF THIS STATE FOR COVERED EMPLOYEES. FOR UNEMPLOYMENT REPORTING PURPOSES, EACH EMPLOYEE LEASING COMPANY IS THE ONLY EMPLOYING UNIT FOR COVERED EMPLOYEES AND SHALL HAVE the responsibility for unemployment compensation insurance as required of an employer pursuant to the "Colorado Employment Security Act", articles 70 to 82 of this title. |
| 5/23/2008 | CoAdvantage Resources Acquires Gevity ASO Clients | View Article | StaffMarket | Article about the CoAdvantage - Gevity deal. Gevity’s foray into the ASO marketplace was the brainchild of former CEO Erik Vonk who departed the company in October 2007. Mr. Vonk led the drive to acquire HRAmerica for $10M in February of 2007. At the time HRAmerica was acquired by Gevity it had 75 clients with 16,000 worksite employees. |
| 5/20/2008 | Most Small Business Owners Optimistic | View Article | Jacksonville Business Journal | Administaff survey claims that small business owners are optimistic about growth in the coming year. Nearly 78 percent of owners and managers of small businesses say their companies will meet or surpass growth expectations this year, according to a national survey. The Business Confidence Survey by Administaff found more than 26 percent of employers plan to increase salaries this year, while 50 percent will maintain current wage levels. Sixty-four percent said they expect overtime to remain about the same. The business confidence survey was conducted this month via Administaff Inc.'s database of more than 6,000 small and mid-sized businesses. |
| 5/18/2008 | Tampa Bay Companies Persevere | View Article | Tampabay.com | Brief article about the strengh of Tampa Bay PEOs and employee leasing companies. Bradenton's Bealls defies the national retail chains because it knows the Florida market well. And Clearwater's Frank Crum and Holiday's Southeast Personnel Leasing are big parts of an employee leasing industry that's become densely packed in this part of Florida. |
| 5/16/2008 | Businesses Benefit From Training | View Article | BLR | ADP TotalSource president discusses using a PEO to help implement training programs that reduce employee turnover and employer liability costs. An alternative to in-house training programs is to work with a Professional Employee Organization (PEO). PEOs provide small- and mid-size businesses with full-service human-resource management and payroll services. A major benefit of a PEO relationship is the access to experts it provides its clients. PEOs are available to help employers through employment related situations. Mark Benjamin is the president of ADP TotalSource, the Professional Employer Organization of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. |
| 5/15/2008 | Worklife Financial Plans Growth | View Article | Oakland Business Review | Worklife Financial Plans PEO Growth Through Acquisitions. WorkLife Financial Co. provides financial administration services such as payroll, tax compliance, risk management and succession planning. The company was formed in April by CEO Steve Groulx using outside investment and by acquiring a Dallas-based professional employer organization and restructuring his own company, formerly known as Strategic Business Solutions. |
| 5/15/2008 | The Risk of Using Independent Contractors | View Article | New York Law Journal | Misclassification penalties of independent contractors get more attention from the IRS and state agencies.
The use of a responsible employee leasing organization is a practical and viable alternative that allows 1099ers to continue to provide services to the company, yet it substantially minimizes a company's exposure to liability under the tax, employee benefits and labor laws. This alternative can dramatically reduce a company's risk of liability and substantially diminish the likelihood of a lawsuit or an audit by a governmental agency. Unlike payrolling companies, an employee leasing organization is a third-party employer. Some or all of the company's 1099ers (as well as its long-term temps, project employees, per diems and consultants) can be hired as employees of the leasing organization, which withholds taxes; makes Social Security, Medicare and unemployment payments; pays Workers' Compensation premiums; and may also provide basic medical and dental benefits and offer participation in a 401(k) plan maintained by the leasing organization. |
| 5/5/2008 | Connecticut Advances Legislation for PEOs. | View Article | StaffMarket | Connecticut house bill 5113 is advanced for PEOs and Professional Employer Organizations. Coemployment relationship" means an ongoing relationship, rather than a temporary or project-specific relationship, in which the rights, duties and obligations of an employer are allocated between a professional employer organization and a client pursuant to a professional employer agreement as provided in sections 2 to 6, inclusive, of this act; |
| 4/16/2008 | LMC Resources Acquired by TriNet. | View Article | Centerdaily.com | Longtime StaffMarket member PEO LMC Resources has been acquired by TriNet of San Leandro California. LMC has primarity served the Colorado PEO marketplace. The newly combined operation will capitalize on the best of local service joined with TriNet's industry leading employee benefits, technology, and human resource management expertise. Customers will see a seamless transition process as Richard Lang -- the pioneering founder of LMC Resources and a 30-year industry veteran -- and most of his staff are joining the TriNet team as part of a combined group, now positioned as an industry leader in Colorado. |
| 4/10/2008 | California Flexible Work Week Defeated Despite Support from California Chamber of Commerce | View Article | Calfornia Chamber of Commerce | Party line vote kills employer flexibility in California. Benoit´s bill was sponsored by the California Chamber of Commerce and received a wide array of support from California´s business community, with more than 43 local Chambers signing on as co-sponsors of AB 2127. |
| 4/7/2008 | Valued insurance far from assured with small companies | View Article | Rockford Illinois Star | How small companies are creating health insurance options for their employees through self-funded plans or by joining a Professional Employer Organization. To find the right plan, Muldowney turned the research over to Savant’s business manager, Scott Kaiser, who put together several options to choose from.Many companies, though, don’t have the luxury of one staffer with the time and expertise to find the right plan. That’s when they can turn to Staff Management Inc. of Rockford or Miller Buettner Employee Benefits & Communications of Winnebago.Staff Management, started more than 20 years ago by John and Fran Morrissey, is a human resources outsourcing firm. If you own a small company and would like to concentrate on the core business while leaving such tasks as payroll management, 401(k) management and health care to an outside firm, you would hire Staff Management. In this model, your employees become its employees, with the health-insurance plan it has purchased for the more than 1,000 employees under its coverage. |
| 4/1/2008 | Take Cover | View Article | Financial Planning | How Raymond James uses a PEO to access benefit programs for their groups of independent contractors. LPL Financial struggled for years to structure a health insurance program that would keep the distinctions clear, says Sal Zambito, senior vice president for business development. The broker-dealer put its legal counsel to work on the problem and last fall unveiled a group healthcare option that is administered and marketed by a third party. Advisors are guaranteed coverage from the carrier Trustmark, and LPL contributes nothing toward their premiums. Zambito says LPL considered a professional employer organization model like MyBackOffice uses, but chose the group plan for its competitive rates and ease of use. LPL's health insurance is a standalone option, unlike RJFS's offering. "The feedback has been exceptional," Zambito says. After the plan was announced last fall, 1,250 of LPL's 11,000 advisors enrolled. Prospective advisors visiting LPL are excited to learn health insurance would be available to them if they join the broker-dealer, he adds. |
| 3/19/2008 | Professional Employer Organizations can help small companies cut costs | View Article | San Francisco Chronical | Article covers the basics of how small companies benefit from a PEO. Although sometimes aligned with temporary employment agencies and staff leasing firms, the organization provides a much different type of service. Unlike a temp agency, your employees are intended to be permanent and not moved around to a variety of jobs. In terms of staff leasing, you are not just leasing any employee, you're leasing your own employee. Everything is the same, except that your employee receives paychecks and benefits from an outside firm. The employees still work for you, but all their taxes, benefits and insurance are handled by an outside source. |
| 3/10/2008 | Starbucks and Convergys part ways | View Article | Daily News and Analysis | Outsourcing and Offshoring are often confused. Starbucks ditches offshoring arrangement with Convergys. Cincinnati, Ohio-based Convergys has call centre and back office operations in Gurgaon, Mumbai and Bangalore among other cities in India. The company recently said in an analyst meet that the deal termination would have no effect on its 2008 or 2009 revenue or income targets for this unit. In July last year, Convergys said it will provide HR administration and payroll services for Starbucks’ partners in the US and Canada, along with benefits services for Starbucks’ partners in Canada. |
| 2/27/2008 | Gevity goes back to basics | View Article | Bradenton Herald | Gevity announces plans to focus on core PEO model. Gevity deviated from its traditional role and found the venture 'disruptive and cash dilutive' |
| 2/15/2008 | St. Pete Times Commentary on Employee Leasing is misguided | View Article | StaffMarket | Jim Hamilton, president of StaffMarket Services replies to St. Pete Times editor about E-Verify compliance and employee leasing. |
| 2/15/2008 | DOL proposes changes to FMLA rules for PEOs | View Article | StaffMarket | On February 11, 2008, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) published a proposed major overhaul of its FMLA regulations, including a specific amendment to the joint employer coverage regulation that will address PEO arrangements and clarifies the differences between staffing arrangements and Professional Employer Organizations. |
| 2/14/2008 | Entrepreneur.com magazine article about PEOs is misguided | View Article | StaffMarket | StaffMarket president Jim Hamilton replies to Entrepreneur.com business advisor. Most PEOs also offer an ASO product and many ASO offer a PEO product. Whether a PEO or ASO makes more sense for you company depends on your current insurance, HR and administrative service needs. Companies should look at both options depending on their situation. |
| 2/13/2008 | Employee Leasing Companies May Become Singularly Liable for Wages Based Taxes | View Article | StaffMarket | Bush 2009 budget contains provisions that affect tax liabilities for employer wages Standards for holding employee leasing companies solely liable for such taxes would also be provided for employment tax returns required to be filed for wages paid |
| 2/12/2008 | Gevity Changes Leadership | View Article | Workforce Management | Article discusses changes in leadership and strategy at Gevity and their return to core PEO services. Based in Bradenton, Florida, Gevity started out as a professional employer organization aimed at small businesses. A PEO serves as a co-employer of the client companies’ employees and takes over a wide range of human resources functions, including payroll, health insurance and workers’ compensation. The company sought to expand into the HR outsourcing business, in which clients could outsource certain services like payroll to Gevity without a co-employment relationship and without having Gevity provide health and workers’ compensation coverage. The HR outsourcing business was seen as a way for Gevity to attract larger businesses that were able to contract for health and workers’ compensation coverage on their own but still sought limited outsourcing of things like payroll as a cost-saving measure. |
| 2/11/2008 | Regulating PEOs makes sense for Wisconsin's small businesses | View Article | Wisconsin Small Business Times | Legislators in Wisconsin promote Bill that regulates PEOs AB 760 will require PEOs serving business clients in Wisconsin to register each year with the Department of Regulation and Licensing (DORL) and meet certain requirements to operate in our state. It's revenue neutral; the fees paid by PEOs will offset the administrative costs. The bill is supported by the PEOs already operating in our state and by the National Association of Professional Employer Organizations (NAPEO). |
| 2/5/2008 | Regions Hot Job Growth Doubted | View Article | St. Petersburg Times | Article discusses how the growth of Tampa Bay Employee Leasing companies may be skewing local employment growth statistics.
As late as last year, Tampa-St. Petersburg's higher-than-average job growth earned the area honors as Forbes magazine's seventh hottest jobs market in the United States. But the accuracy of the numbers has been called into question. That's because the Tampa Bay area is unusual in being home base for dozens of professional employer organizations. PEOs are employee leasing firms to which companies outsource services like payroll and health benefits. |
| 1/15/2008 | Oasis Outsourcing Inc. acquires two Tampa Florida PEOs | View Article | Sarasota Herald Tribune | Professional Employer Plans and Advantage Employer Solutions have been acquired by Oasis Outsourcing of West Palm Beach. Oasis Outsourcing Holdings Inc., a privately held professional employer organization with an office in Sarasota, said Monday that it has acquired Professional Employer Plans Inc., Advantage Employer Solutions Inc. and related companies, which are headquartered in Tampa. |
| 1/9/2008 | Help your Business Thrive in 2008 | View Article | American Chronicle | Good thoughts on surviving business cycles and outsourcing non-core activities Employee leasing is a fast growing opportunity, growing by over 20% per year. It's a way to outsource not only the employee contingent of the business, but generally the organizational aspect of employees. Most employee leasing groups handle all the Human Resources function for the funds expended. The most important part of any outsourcing arrangement is that the group supporting the business must understand the business core competencies, how the business operates, and what are the end results desired. Moreover, the outsourced group must be able to support the core competencies for which it is working with quality and integrity. |
| 1/3/2008 | CoAdvantage Holdings completes acquisition of Bradenton professional employer organization | View Article | Orlando Sentinel | NELCO sells to Co-Advantage Holdings of Orlando. Both CoAdvantage and Nelco, which was founded in 1983 and is one of the country's oldest professional employer organizations, have each been major companies in their field, said Milan Yager, spokesman for the National Association of Professional Employer Organizations. |
| 1/1/2008 | Hawaii Proposes PEO legislation | View Article | Hawaii House of Representatives | Hawaii proposes bill that would require client based workers' compensation policies for PEOs operating in Hawaii. NAPEO is working to amend the bill to more closely follow the NAPEO model act. Every professional employment organization that maintains or will be maintaining workers' compensation coverage for assigned employees shall register with the commissioner. An insurer may not issue a workers' compensation insurance policy to a professional employment organization that is not registered, nor enter into an agreement with an unregistered professional employment organization to issue policies to clients of the professional employment organization. |
| 12/26/2007 | Workplace Trends for 2008 | View Article | Kansas City Star | Article mentions that employers are gaining HR efficiencies with a PEO. Similarly, expect more small businesses to look for ways to reduce the cost of benefits administration by turning to professional employer organizations. With PEOs, some businesses take advantage of economies of scale and relieve their human-resources staff of some duties. |
| 12/26/2007 | Human Capital Management | View Article | The Spectrum | Brief on NAPEO assessment of health insurance costs increases. After pay, health insurance is the most important inducement small businesses use to recruit and keep workers. Yet more than half the 365 small businesses in a recent survey said their premiums rose as much as 10 percent this year, and almost one in 10 businesses told the National Association of Professional Employer Organizations they would dump their health coverage next year or are unsure about it. |
| 12/5/2007 | Employee use of Internet limits needed | View Article | Chicago Tribune | With holiday season in full swing, employees spend lots of time surfing. That can sound scary to a company owner worried about work time lost to the Internet. But if you are tempted to ban personal Internet use outright, other business owners, labor lawyers and human resources professionals will advise against it. "It's something that becomes sort of an HR-employee relations goodwill issue," said Rick Gibbs, a senior human resources specialist with Administaff, a Houston-based company that provides human resources outsourcing. |
| 12/4/2007 | Small Business survey on health benefits and government mandates | View Article | NAPEO | PEO clients were surveyed for their thoughts on health benefits and the recent government push for coverage mandates. The vast majority (95%) of the NAPEO survey respondents offer healthcare plans and will not raise employees' share of the cost of their health insurance plans in 2007. They will hold the line on employees' contributions toward the plan premiums, even though employer-sponsored health plan premiums rose an average 7.7 percent this year. Holding the line on employees' contributions is not unusual - many companies large and small aren't contemplating raising this amount, either. Where most employers are making employees reach into their own pockets is in actual expenses at the point of service, such as higher deductibles and co-payments for medical care and prescription drugs. |
| 12/2/2007 | OSHA issues final ruling about employers cost for protective clothing | View Article | OSHA | Employers are now responsible for covering the costs of personal protective equipment (PPE) with a few exceptions for clothing that can be worn off the worksite. Many Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) health, safety, maritime, and construction standards require employers to provide their employees with protective equipment, including personal protective equipment (PPE), when such equipment is necessary to protect employees from job-related injuries, illnesses, and fatalities. |
| 11/7/2007 | US Citizenship and Immigration Services releases revised I9 - Employment Eligibility Verification form. | View Article | USCIS | New I9 Form is in place. The instructions for Section 1 regarding Social Security numbers were also revised. The instructions now state that an employee is not obligated to provide the Social Security Number in Section 1 of the I-9 form, unless the employer participates in the USCIS Electronic Employment Eligibility Verification Program (E-Verify). Employers must begin using the 2007 edition of the I-9 form now because all previous versions of the form are no longer valid. Employers are only required to complete the new I-9 form for new hires, and do not need to complete new forms for existing employees. However, employers must use the 2007 I-9 form when their employees require re-verification. |
| 10/31/2007 | Cedar Hill - PEO Workers Comp administrator is sold | View Article | Insurance Newsnet | Cedar Hill a large insurance administator specializing in workers' compensation programs for the PEO industry has been purchased by Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Cedar Hill Insurance Agency, Inc. is a retail property/casualty insurance program administrator and business process outsourcing firm. They specialize in workers compensation insurance programs for professional employer organizations and temporary service industries throughout the U.S. |
| 10/31/2007 | SOI - Strategic Outsourcing Inc. plans public offering. | View Article | CNN Money | SOI plans public offering through Lehman Brothers and Credit Suisse for $86.2M. The Charlotte, N.C.-based professional employer organization said it plans to use the proceeds from the offering to repay a portion of a term loan. |
| 10/1/2007 | Frank Crum - Extreme Makeover | View Article | Smart Business | FranCrum reengineers - branding and software for future growth While rebranding the company and getting everyone working together was a major part of the process, gaining efficiencies from the newly united companies was the other part. And those efficiencies were only going to happen if people were using the same software systems, and that meant a major conversion project. |
| 10/1/2007 | HR Liaisons Help Small Companies Compete | View Article | IN Business Las Vegas | Article about Las Vegas businesses turning to PEOs. With employee-leasing companies, small businesses can consolidate their workforces to better compete with corporations for employees seeking a lucrative benefits package. Leasing companies also take over the painstaking chores of payroll, hiring and firing, and dealing with risk management issues, such as workers' compensation. The biggest draw to employee leasing companies is the benefit packages — such as health, dental and 401(k) — they offer. |
| 9/24/2007 | Cost of Health Care System Bugs Employers | View Article | Financial Week | USA employers paid over two thirds of the $694B (with a B!) total premiums for employee health insurance. Maybe they should have a say in how the system is reformed. It’s ironic: the main reason people do not have coverage is because they can’t afford it,” she explained. “We must put in protections that control costs too. And this isn’t for the sake of large employers, who already spend an average $9,000 a year per employee on health care—which will go up some with universal coverage, but not much. Politicians say, ‘we’ll get the coverage in first, and we’ll worry about the costs later,’ but you’ll never be able to do the cost part later.” |
| 9/20/2007 | West Virginia Considers PEOs and Work Comp Transition | View Article | West Virginia Record | As West Virginia moves from a monopolistic to a market driven workers' compensation insurance program, legislation needs to consider hybrid employment structures like Professional Employer Organizations. Article discusses actions by NAPEO and others to ensure PEO workers comp plans are effective solutions for West Virginia employers. He said legislators did not act on PEO proposals last year because they felt they needed more information and time. "We made some progress but they wanted to make sure we got it right," Tucker said. "We make workers comp a good line for insurers to write. It is imperative that we have a good understanding of what risk and exposure each client has. "Clark praised PEOs as having "exceptionally good" risk managers. "A PEO can assist in ensuring that worksite employees are provided with a worksite that is safe, conducive to productivity and operated in compliance with employment laws and regulations," the website states. |
| 9/7/2007 | Many Employers Think Applicants Lie on Resumes | View Article | The Journal Record | Survey shows that staffing problems start in the hiring process and explores ways problems can be prevented. For that matter, don’t trust the average worker, either, results from a recent survey by the National Association of Professional Employer Organizations (NAPEO) suggest. The group, which represents companies that do human resource chores for small businesses, found that the majority of the businesses surveyed believe employment applicants are lying to them on their resumes. |
| 9/1/2007 | Using PEOs to Handle Human Resources and Assist in Employment Law Compliance | View Article | AICPA | Brief discussion about PEOs from the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. Rudimentary discussion about how to research a PEO. "We have a PEO because we are competitive, and because of the PEO we stay competitive" says John Maddox CPA. |
| 8/30/2007 | PEOs Stake Claim to Marketplace | View Article | The Business Ledger | Chicago based PEOs and HR experts discuss the lack of awareness about Professional Employer Organizations in their area and the advantages for medium sized businesses.
"Do your homework and do a cost benefit analysis," said Mary Lynn Fayoumi, president and CEO of the Management Association of Illinois in Downers Grove. "Get multiple quotes from PEOs and make sure that you are getting a plan that is designed for your company and not a vanilla form. Kick the tires and make sure you are happy with what you are paying for." |
| 8/28/2007 | Workers' Comp falls for fifth time | View Article | Daytona Beach Business | Work comp rates may be dropping once again for Florida employers. NCCI is proposing a 16.5 percent rate reduction. The latest decrease, the fifth in five years, will trim rates to just half the level in 2002, before the Legislature enacted stricter rules for paying benefits to injured workers, according to Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty. Costs of claims rose 2.2 percent over the past year, but fewer claims were filed, making a rate reduction possible, he said. |
| 8/27/2007 | StaffMarket Sponsors 2007 NAPEO Conference | View Article | StaffMarket | StaffMarket again sponsors annual NAPEO conference. This year's annual conference being held October 21-24 in Chicago, Illinois in the Sheraton Chicago Hotel and Towers. Hosted by NAPEO – the National Association of Professional Employer Organizations. StaffMarket will be sponsoring the musical entertainment for the Tuesday evening event “Celebrate Sinatra”. |
| 8/20/2007 | DHS Issues SSN - Final Mismatch Rule | View Article | DHS | The Department of Homeland Security issues the Final Mismatch Rule effective 9/14/2007. The Social Security Administration (SSA) delayed the issuance of SSN mismatch letters from 2006 W-2 returns, that now will be released in to employers across the nation. The DHS has indicated that the fines for known violations will be going up by up to 25 percent, and by the end of the 2007, it expects to mandate that federal contractors participate in the E-Verify Program. DHS Rules for IRS - SSN Non Match letters. |
| 8/9/2007 | Labor laws force businesses to outsource HR | View Article | Las Vegas Business Press | Las Vegas based business has $1.14M fine levied by the Labor Department Wage and Hour division for improperly recording employee work hours. PEO owner discusses how outsourcing HR tasks with a PEO can prevent these problems. A PEO eliminates many of the employer responsibilities and liabilities, as well as eliminates non-productive administration functions. It also allows a small business to re-focus on its bottom-line activities, create predictable operating costs, reduce vulnerability to key employee turnover and enhance the perceived value of benefits. |
| 8/7/2007 | PEOs assist employers with EEV - Basic Pilot Program | View Article | StaffMarket | Brief article on what Professional Employer Organizations are doing to assist business owners with the Employment Eligibility Verification Program offerd by USCIS. Since compliance with employment law is one of the core services of a PEO, many PEOs are reviewing the rules being established by the US Citizenship and Immigration Service and various state bodies for compliance. |
| 8/7/2007 | PEOSelect.com | View Article | StaffMarket | Malicious website experience Further research show that address listed as the office for peoselect.com is also the address for many business that appear to be using the address as a business front. A Google search of their address shows 10 pages of business all using the same address and often the same suite number 1. Business owners seeking a PEO are advised to use caution with this "company". Additional research shows that the domain owner is hidden and no records are available for the existance of a legitimate company or it's ownership. |
| 7/16/2007 | PEOs get a boost in Hawaii | View Article | Hawaii Reporter | Hawaii resolves general excise tax problems for PEOs. This year after more than seven years of being debated in the legislature, a measure has passed and been signed into law that recognizes that the amount of reimbursement for wages, salaries, benefits and insurance premiums is really not gross income to the PEO and should not be subject to the general excise tax. HB 317 became Act 225 of the 2007 session. |
| 7/9/2007 | The Bigger Picture: No more HR headaches? | View Article | Physicians Practice | Many medical practices are considering hiring a PEO. Some of the concerns over costs in the article are a bit overstated. Ronald L. Evans loved the PEO he used as a manager at a nine-physician cardiology practice. “The transition to the PEO went rather smoothly for us,” he recalls. “The practice saved a considerable amount of money on group health insurance expenses, and the PEO afforded our physicians and staff a much wider menu of benefits.” Evans is now executive director of finance and administration of the internal medicine department at The University of Texas Health Sciences Center in Houston. The staff there is also under a PEO beloved for its benefits. |
| 6/25/2007 | The state of Indiana clarifies PEO status. | View Article | StaffMarket | Regulatory rules for PEOs in Indiana. With the adoption of this regulation, Indiana joins the the growing list of states in the nation with legal and operational certainty afforded to PEOs by comprehensive statutes. |
| 6/25/2007 | Professional Organizations give 'peace of mind' | View Article | Kansas City Star | Article talks about the value of PEOs for small and medium sized businesses. Also, because a PEO aggregates its clients’ total employee numbers, it can get a better deal on health-insurance costs, for example, and can offer more employee benefits than a small business could on its own. |
| 6/14/2007 | Florida - PEO client based Workers' compensation policies. | View Article | NAPEO | Florida reviews client based WC policies. The national advocacy group for the PEO industry - NAPEO has indicated it is urging the Florida Board of Employee Leasing Companies (BELC) to challenge the legislature's Joint Administrative Procedures Committee's (JAPC) interpretation that current Florida statute does not permit PEO clients to have individual workers' compensation policies. NAPEO is meeting with key legislative leaders and agency staff to defend the PEO industry's position regarding the permissibility of PEO client-based policies. |
| 5/30/2007 | Ceridian to be sold for $5.3B | View Article | TwinCities.com | HR Outsourcing supplier is being sold to private hedge fund Thomas H. Lee partners. Ceridian traces its corporate lineage back to Control Data Corp. and now is among the largest human-resources outsourcing companies. Despite steady growth, the company ran into difficulties with its largest investor earlier this year. |
| 5/5/2007 | The Human Resource Network | View Article | Hawaii Business | Business owners in Hawaii discover the advantages of HR outsourcing and using a PEO. The biggest obstacle that the PEO industry has to overcome is the misconception that PEOs handle temporary staffing or employee recruiting. Contributing to the misconception is that PEOs - "professional employer organization" - that handled administrative functions for clients were often called employee leasing companies. Misleading as the term is, "employee leasing" is still sometimes used in the PEO industry. |
| 5/4/2007 | Hewitt Has Growing Pains | View Article | Chicago Daily Herald | Article covers the financial underperformance of HR Outsourcing company Hewitt Associates. Hewitt, founded in 1940, has enjoyed the status of an HR leader for many years. Until 2000 the company typically grew by acquiring relatively small consultancies. Then, following the industry trend toward consolidation of human resources services, Hewitt acquired Exult, a company widely recognized as a “full-spectrum” pioneer and the clear leader in outsourcing, actually operating a client’s HR department rather than merely providing advice. |
| 5/1/2007 | Small Business ins and outs of HR Outsourcing | View Article | Business Tennessee | How to evaluate outsourcing effectiveness for your company. As businesses grow, Cornwall says business owners tend to hand off human resources functions. While he says it’s cost-effective to outsource payroll and other time-consuming HR functions, it may not be necessary to outsource all HR responsibilities. HR outsourcing firms allow businesses to outsource components of HR functions or even services by the project. Generally, however, outsourcing is key to business growth. Small businesses don’t have the time, money or manpower to do it all, and, in fact, trying to do it all won’t be cost-effective in the long run. |
| 4/29/2007 | Employer Solutions Group has new owner | View Article | NCBR | Indianapolis based Fortune Industries acquires Loveland Colorado's Employer Solutions Group for $11.2M. Fortune Industries provides technology solutions to businesses in five main segments: wireless infrastructure, business solutions, transportation infrastructure, ultraviolet technologies and electronics integration. This is the second professional employer organization, or PEO, bought by Fortune Industries in the past 90 days, and the second acquisition for the Loveland site in less than two years. In September 2005, Employer Solutions acquired Employer Source of Loveland. |
| 4/17/2007 | Better Business Solutions and Ohio based Sequent merge | View Article | Birmingham News | Article reviews merger of Better Business Solutions based in Birmingham, Alabama and Sequent Inc. based in Columbus, Ohio. The new company will operate under the name of Better Business Solutions. The combined firm will handle 7,000 outside employees in 40 states. Such "professional employment firms" take over many personnel and payroll functions for small- and mid-sized companies. They also serve as the legal employer of record, allowing them to negotiate pooled retirement and insurance plans on behalf of the employees they represent. The large pool of workers usually means more options and better rates than small employers can negotiate individually. |
| 4/16/2007 | ClearPoint and HRE file letter of intent | View Article | Yahoo! Finance | Publicly traded ClearPoint Business Resources (CPBR) is seeking to acuire some of the assets (clients?) of The Human Resources Corporation (HRE) which includes National Med-Staff, AEM and Paradyme Inc. This article relays that the Work Comp carrier - SUNZ insurance intents to continue the workers' compensation insurance coverage. The closing of the acquisition is contingent upon ClearPoint satisfactorily completing, in its sole discretion, its financial, legal, operational and customer due diligence. HRE has agreed to negotiate solely with ClearPoint and its affiliates for a 45 day exclusivity period. |
| 4/4/2007 | Cure Your HR Ills | View Article | CNN | Article discusses the business advantages of engaging a PEO. For the business owner PEOs take on the headache of payroll taxes, regulatory compliance, and a gamut of HR issues, from hiring to drafting an employee handbook to mediating conflicts. Although PEOs have been around since the early 1980s, the industry has been growing at 15 to 20 percent annually over the past several years, according to the National Association of Professional Employer Organizations, an industry trade group. |
| 3/26/2007 | State of Washington draft legislation affecting PEOs | View Article | State of Washington | Proposed legislation may alter the landscape for PEOs in Washington state. |
| 3/15/2007 | National Association of Insurance Commissioners Model Rule for PEO Workers’ Compensation. | View Article | NCOIL | NCOIL proposes a national model for regulators and PEO. All PEOs need to be aware of this draft (model rule) and the way it affects PEO workers' compensation policies. The purpose of this Act is to require the registration of professional employer organizations (PEOs) and to regulate the use of experience ratings in PEO relationships. [Drafting Note: This model is specifically designed to address the registration and use of experience ratings by PEOs in workers’ compensation insurance. Some states may wish to address additional PEO rights and responsibilities, or require PEOs to be licensed.] |
| 3/14/2007 | The February 2007 Survey of Businesses Served by Professional Employer Organizations | View Article | NAPEO | NAPEO survey results on how the workplace will be affected by the aging of the baby boom generation. During three weeks in February and March, almost 400 PEO clients—most of them with less than 50 employees—responded to the survey. What they said offers a timely and unusual glimpse of how small business owners are coping with the aging of their work forces; indicates where these employers can make changes; and shows where they're already taking advantage of older workers' expertise. |
| 3/13/2007 | Employee Benefits and Retention Study for PEOs | View Article | StaffMarket | MetLife releases a study the shows that employee retention is a major reason companies want to keep a strong benefits package in place for their employees. The challenge for employers is clear: how best to use benefits as a retention tool that meets the needs of an increasingly diverse workforce, while keeping rising costs at a reasonable level. |
| 3/12/2007 | Arizona considers Work Comp discount for drug testing. | View Article | Arizona Star | Drug testing for Arizona workers may allow insurance companies to offer discounts to employers with drug testing programs. Workers' compensation in Arizona is a no-fault system. Employees injured on the job are entitled to have their medical bills paid and a percentage of their salary, regardless of who caused the mishap. In exchange for guaranteed compensation, the workers give up the right to sue the employer for negligence. Most companies buy insurance coverage, though some larger firms are self-insured. A 1999 state law says that if a company has a drug-testing policy, an injured worker can be denied benefits for failing a drug test or refusing to take one. But two years ago the state Supreme Court ruled that law unconstitutional. The justices said the workers' compensation system — and the no-fault provision — is part of the state constitution and lawmakers are powerless to alter that. |
| 3/9/2007 | Workers' compensation insurance reforms in SC | View Article | TheState.com (SC) | South Carolina experiences a 70% increase in four years. Experts say the work comp system in SC is broken and must be fixed for SC business to be competitive. Between 2001 and 2005, employer premiums increased by more than $275 million — a 70 percent increase in only four years. Costs are skyrocketing because the system, which mandates all employers with four or more employees must carry workers’ compensation insurance, lacks competition among insurance providers. Why? Despite recent premium increases, insurers are still losing an average of about 25 cents on every premium dollar, giving them a rational incentive to leave South Carolina. |
| 3/3/2007 | ADP CEO identifies growth goals | View Article | Business Week | ADP CEO Gary Butler discusses outsourcing of administrative functions and HR self service as their biggest growth opportunities. CEO discusses the challenges and rewards for offering co-employment and bundled worker's compensation insurance, recruiting and legal advice - services offered by many PEOs. Our biggest challenge there is not the leads, but doing the proper underwriting. If I'm your co-employer and you're a bad worker's compensation risk and you've got people falling off roofs and running over people with lawnmowers, I don't want you on my worker's comp policy. If you have a tainted health care history, my suppliers of health care are not going to be interested in underwriting you on our health care policy. |
| 3/2/2007 | IBM gets HR outsourcing deal with American | View Article | InfoWorld | IBM and Mercer HR Services take over HR outsourcing functions for American Airlines. Researchers at Gartner estimated that the market for HR-related business process outsourcing reached $24.6 billion in 2006, a roughly 5 percent gain over 2005. However, the research firm has also predicted that some services providers might struggle with profitability during 2007, impeding growth of the U.S. sector of the market specifically. HR remains the largest segment of the worldwide business outsourcing market at 18.7 percent, Gartner reported, with payroll and benefits administration ranking as the most popular tasks that are being farmed out to service providers. |
| 2/24/2007 | A quiet Florida giant begins to make noise | View Article | St. Petersburg Times | Growth at FrankCrum (formerly known as Crum Staffing) is taking off. Summary article about the company and its president and CEO, Frank Crum Jr.
The company, FrankCrum, is a PEO, or professional employer organization, which means it does human resources work for other companies. Crum, 57, also owns Crum Staffing, a temporary staffing firm; and Frank Winston Crum Insurance, a workers' compensation insurance carrier. Up next: FrankCrum is rolling out a service called Frank Advice. Crum hopes that his 3,000 client companies will use the information, available online and by hotline, to make sure they're following the law when hiring, firing, paying and educating employees. |
| 2/23/2007 | Senate and House bills contain different PEO provisions | View Article | SHRM | The US Senate and House each are proposing minimum wage increases and the senate bill contains a provision for PEO bonding -this provision is being supported By NAPEO. The House bill, unlike the Senate version, does not include a provision that would establish a certificate program for professional employer organizations (PEOs). The Senate proposal would change the federal tax code to allow any PEO that posts a bond, files audited financial statements and has its top executives pass background checks to collect and pay federal taxes for their small-business clients. Grassley, who is the ranking minority member of the Senate Finance Committee, pushed to include the PEO provision in the Senate bill. His support for the proposal could make it a key part of the conference committee’s negotiation to forge a final minimum wage bill, according to sources familiar with the issue. |
| 2/19/2007 | Small Business Growth Boosts Professional Employer Organizations | View Article | NJBIZ | New Jersey PEOs comment on the growth they are experiencing with NJ based businesses. According to a January report by IDC, a Massachusetts-based market intelligence and data company, small businesses are increasingly turning to human resources outsourcing companies that handle payroll, tax filings and other work-related administrative functions. IDC says 5 percent of small businesses with 50 or fewer employees use PEOs. |
| 2/19/2007 | Gevity expands technology through acquisition | View Article | Tampa Bay Business Journal | Gevity pays $10M for 75 ASO clients and Ultimate Solutions HR platform. While the client portfolio of HRAmerica fits the profile of those businesses who could benefit from Gevity's broader comprehensive offering, the key reason for the transaction is to acquire the processes and technology to support our growth," said Erik Vonk, chairman and chief executive officer, in the release. |
| 1/31/2007 | PEOs provide human-resource, payroll services | View Article | Orlando Sentinel | Business columnist Harry Wessel answers a question from an employee whos' company recently hired a PEO. Question: The company where I've worked for several years recently signed an agreement with another company to take over all labor-relations activities. An "employee leasing" statement we were given to sign expressly acknowledges this new company, which I've never heard of, as a co-employer. It appears to make me an employee of the new company. The statement even says there will be a 90-day evaluation period, during which I could be dismissed for any reason, and that I could be reassigned to another job at the company's discretion. In addition to having to revert to rookie status, I'm worried that, if I sign, it will affect the benefits I've accrued, as well as unemployment benefits should I need them. Can the company legally do this? |
| 1/28/2007 | Labor and business seek common ground on workers' comp | View Article | New Your Journal News | New York moves to revise workers' compensation benefits in order to reduce premium costs. New York state has some of the hightest workers' compensation insurance costs in the nation and yet also has some of the lowest benefits for injured workers. The workers' compensation program cost New York businesses $5 billion in 2004, or nearly as much as all the state's business taxes combined, Robert Ward, director of research at the business council, said in a study released last week. That staggering cost comes despite the low benefit payments and even though New Yorkers get hurt on the job 17 percent less often than the national average, he said. The maximum benefit is less than half as much as it is in some states, Ward wrote. "There's obviously a problem when employers are paying Cadillac prices and workers are getting Volkswagen benefits," said Matthew Maguire, a spokesman for the business council. |
| 1/26/2007 | Workers' Comp in Crisis | View Article | Charleston SC - Channel 2 News | Article descrbes how the lack of prosecution for fraudulent workers' compensation claims has caused South Carolina workers' compensation insurance premiums to increase. This story illistrates another reason business managers need to partner with a PEO who can assist with safety programs and contest questionable claims that drive experience factors and wc expenses high enough to stop business growth. Her business has had only four workers' comp claims in more than 20 years. "Out of those four cases, three were fraudulent. Three of those three cases which were fraudulent were given awards, either by the Workers' Comp Commission or by the insurance companies," she says. In one of those cases, the commission awarded a worker $25,000, even though three doctors testified the worker's condition was normal. The state also has no award standards for cases, which the NFIB says are needed to control costs. June Lennon, a partner at Martin & Lennon CPAs in Greenville, says she works with small business owners all the time who are being hurt by high workers' comp rates and high health insurance rates. |
| 1/25/2007 | Payroll, benefits, accounting among the outsourced tasks | View Article | Kansas.com | More accolades from business owners who have partnered with a PEO. The past two decades have seen the emergence of businesses providing one or more back-office services, called business process outsourcing. The types of businesses providing such services can range from accounting and financial services firms to human resource consultants and professional employer organizations, or PEOs. A couple of groups said various parts of back-office outsourcing are growing. Research firm the Yankee Group projects that human resources outsourcing will be a $42 billion market by 2008. And data from the National Association of Professional Employer Organizations indicates that their 400 member firms across the country are growing by double digits. Spokesman Mike Flagg said NAPEO's average member saw 16 percent growth in gross revenue in 2005, the most recent data it has available. He said the PEO industry overall totaled $51 billion in gross revenue in 2005. |
| 1/25/2007 | Tracking Paid Time Off | View Article | SHRM | PTO Banks are being used that lump all time off into one bucket. Time off includes sick time, personal days, short-term disability and unscheduled days off. In addition, most employers do not design their programs to attract and retain employees effectively, it said. Only 11 percent of 421 companies surveyed provide the same time-off programs across all employee groups. This makes them difficult to administer, track and manage, according to Hewitt, a provider of HR outsourcing and consulting services. |
| 1/22/2007 | Best practices back PEO industry certification | View Article | Business Insurance | Information about ESAC and the value for Professional Employer Organizations who participate. The $51 billion U.S. professional employer organization industry has worked hard to develop independent performance certification and accreditation programs to provide greater assurance to the marketplace, including insurance companies, business clients and regulators. With leadership from the National Assn. of Professional Employer Organizations, the industry developed the PEO Workers Compensation Risk Management Certification Program (IF, March 2005) based on best performance practices determined by insurance carriers. |
| 1/16/2007 | Barrett Business Services | View Article | Seeking Alpha | Nice investment related article about StaffMarket member PEO: Barrett Business Services in California. All this while the company has said they've still been able to pick and choose among prospective clients to keep their risk low (as essentially a co-employer with their PEO clients, BBSI is the one that takes out the workers comp insurance. So, for example, they wouldn't typically want to contract for PEO services with a roofing company). After my first run through on the company's materials and reports, this looks like a promising company with very steady and growing sales. PEO contracts generally run on annual cycles, and BBSI has a very high (90%) renewal rate. The hassle of changing companies in this business is pretty substantial, and the hassle of taking the work back yourself is worse still. This part of the business has been growing faster than the traditional staffing business for Barrett, and now makes up close to half of revenues. |
| 1/7/2007 | Employee Leasing Solutions moves to Guard for Work Comp | View Article | Business Wire | ELS in Bradenton Florida obtains workers' compensation coverage from Guard of Pennsylvania. Susan Shoval, President of GUARD Insurance Group, announced today its intention to expand into the Florida workers’ compensation market through the development of a strategic relationship with Employee Leasing Solutions (ELS), a Bradenton based PEO. |
| 1/1/2007 | Many small firms hand off nonessential work | View Article | Rockford Register Star | Companies find alternatives for handling HR paperwork. But now many small businesses, which make up the overwhelming majority of U.S. employers, are offloading their nonessential tasks to experts to shave costs and concentrate on their profit-making efforts. And the complexity of workplace regulations makes it desirable for many to contract their human-resources duties. For instance, employers with more than 50 workers must provide unpaid leave under the Family Medical Leave Act, and compliance require large amounts of record-keeping. |
| 12/6/2006 | Minimum Wage increases effective January 1, 2007 | View Article | StaffMarket | Review states increasing the minimum wage in 2007. The following states will have a new minimum wage effective January 1, 2007. Your Professional Employer Organization should automatically increase the wages of any employee that falls below the new minimum wage. |
| 12/4/2006 | Kelly Services sells PEO-Staff Leasing business unit to Oasis Outsourcing | View Article | Yahoo Finance | Oasis pays $6.5M for PEO clients of Kelly Staff Leasing business unit. Carl T. Camden, President and Chief Executive Officer commented, "The sale of the Staff Leasing business unit is an important part of our strategy of reviewing our existing operations, selectively divesting non-core assets and reinvesting the proceeds in strategic growth initiatives. Although our staff leasing business is successful and profitable, we will concentrate our resources on growth opportunities more consistent with our large global customer strategy. We're pleased that this transaction provides our staff leasing customers with access to a wide range of professional employer organization services through Oasis Outsourcing, a recognized leader in that industry." |
| 11/29/2006 | Workers' comp costs likely to fall | View Article | Contra Costa Times | California Work Comp reforms are lowering costs for many business owners. Small businesses are especially heavily affected by the fund's moves. An overwhelming majority of its clients, about 150,000 out of 220,000, are small businesses, Tudor said. Those are the most vulnerable businesses, for whom the workers' compensation payments are a huge burden. |
| 11/28/2006 | State Fund files for 9% workers' comp premium decrease | View Article | San Jose Business Journal | California State fund lowers work comp rates. The State Compensation Insurance Fund has filed for an average 9 percent decrease in 2007 workers' compensation insurance rates, officials at the state's largest workers' comp carrier said Monday. |
| 11/28/2006 | Juggle No More | View Article | Pitney Bowes | Real life stories about companies who have partnered with a PEO. PEOs’ best-known services include payroll, health insurance (the organizations typically represent thousands of employees, so they can negotiate good rates), worker’s compensation, 401(k)s, and other benefit plans. In fact, however, those offerings only scratch the surface. PEOs also can help with management training, policy development, employee handbooks, OSHA compliance, workshops on issues such as sexual harassment and workplace safety, leadership development seminars, headhunting services, guidance for compensation plans and employee evaluations… the list goes on and on. “Most small-businesspeople probably aren’t aware of all the HR consulting services that PEOs offer,” says Monette Galello, vice president of Burlington, Massachusetts PEO Genesis Consolidated Services. “Those services can boost productivity, protect small businesses and their employees from various risks, and help small firms compete with big corporations for employees.” |
| 11/13/2006 | ID Theft Services Offered | View Article | Financial Week | Article discusses that some HR Outsourcing providers have added ID theft protection services to their array of employer related services. He said the company has 30,000 subscribers, and many of them have joined the program through employers. Debix, a LifeLock competitor, charges $24 a year, and Julie Fergerson, vice president of emerging technologies at the company, said Debix’s products are also being used as an employee benefit by such companies as staffing firm Administaff and human resources provider LifeCare. |
| 11/10/2006 | Small Business under financial pressure from health insurance and wage demands. | View Article | Long Island Business News | New York’s small businesses are paying more to attract and retain talent, according to two new surveys. Lou Basso, president of professional employer organization The Alcott Group in Farmingdale, said his 300 small business clients are not increasing salaries because of Sarbanes-Oxley demands. But they face other challenges, according to Basso, who chairs the leadership council of the National Federation of Independent Business in New York. |
| 11/6/2006 | PEOs cover ABC of human resources | View Article | Akron Beacon Journal | Companies take care of hiring, payroll and benefits. Most small businesses are new to the ``human resources'' or ``HR'' field. One advantage of using a professional employer organization is that they already have experienced HR pros who can handle benefits, payroll, Occupational Safety and Health Administration compliance and just about everything else you will need. By bringing employees into a larger overall group, a PEO can offer your workers benefits, such as health insurance and retirement plans, that you would be hard-pressed to deliver on your own. |
| 11/2/2006 | Name change for AmStaff | View Article | Gulf Breeze News | AmStaff changes company name to Landrum Professional. About Landrum: Landrum Professional operates as a Professional Employer Organization (PEO). It provides comprehensive outsourced HR services at a fraction of the cost of a fully staffed human resource department. These services include: regulatory compliance, workers' comp and claims, "Fortune 500" benefits, background checks, drug testing, unemployment claims and payroll administration. |
| 10/27/2006 | Is It Time to Outsource Your HR? | View Article | TheStreet.com | Good overview of HR Outsourcing with a Professional Employer Organization. Generally, a PEO will legally hire a company's current employees, thereby making the PEO the "employer of record" for taxation and insurance purposes. Having the employees of multiple businesses "on staff" allows PEOs to enjoy lower benefits' costs because more employees mean better rates. The employees are then leased back to the original employer (now a PEO client) under a shared-employment contractual relationship, which sets out the powers, responsibilities and liabilities of the parties. This practice is also known as "employee leasing" or "staff leasing." |
| 10/24/2006 | Cell Phone Use: Employer Liability? | View Article | WorkForce Management | Article discusses the 'vicarious liability' that employers may have for auto accidents caused by employees use of cell phones while driving. So what should employers do to limit their exposure to vicarious liability from employee cell phone use? It's easy: Clearly limit job scope so that it prohibits cell phone use that is unreasonably dangerous. That can be done through written rules—in employee contracts, handbooks or personnel policies—that either prohibit cell phone use while driving altogether or allow cell phone use only if it complies with state and/or local rules. This would include any applicable rules requiring hands-free devices. |
| 10/23/2006 | Outsourcing: boon for small companies | View Article | Newsday | Article discusses the advantages for small businesses when outsourcing non-essential tasks. Although it's certainly not for everyone, outsourcing is a tool used by many small businesses to help lighten the load, cut costs, improve efficiencies and meet regulatory standards, experts say. "Outsourcing becomes a convenient way for small businesses to offload burdensome tasks and allows them to focus on the strategic aspects of growing the company," says Robert H. Brown, a research director at Stamford-based Gartner Inc., who specializes in business process outsourcing. |
| 10/19/2006 | Staffing Company Hires New CIO | View Article | Tampa Bay Business Journal | FrankCrum hires Cynthia McGathey as CIO. Cynthia McGathey was appointed chief information officer for FrankCrum, a professional employer organization and staffing company. Prior to joining FrankCrum, McGathey served as vice president of information technology with Certegy; held various information management positions at Abra Software, Inc.; and held information services and finance positions with Ascom Timeplex. |
| 10/12/2006 | Insurance commissioner made the right call | View Article | Small Business Times | Wisconsin's regulators recognize the value of PEOs for small businesses. With passage of a PEO registration bill, Wisconsin can join a majority of states that have successfully adopted such bills, from industrialized states such as New York to more rural states such as Oklahoma and southern states like Florida and Arizona. That makes sense for Wisconsin and the growing PEO industry, the small businesses they serve and the workers they employ. |
| 9/27/2006 | Gevity's profit down in third quarter | View Article | HeraldToday.com | Third quarter results for Gevity (GVHR). In August, the company reported an almost 20 percent drop in its second-quarter net income, the result of a $4.7 million charge needed to cover losses from the liquidation of Hatteras Reinsurance Ltd., a reinsurer that once handled Gevity's workers' compensation claims. |
| 9/25/2006 | Florida Workers' Comp Rates May Decline | View Article | South Florida Business Journal | Could be good news for Florida based companies. The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation is planning a public hearing on a 13.3 percent proposed workers' compensation insurance rate filed by the National Council on Compensation Insurance. McCarty pointed out in two of the last three NCCI filings, his office ultimately approved rate cuts greater than those advocated by NCCI. |
| 9/22/2006 | Dalrada Financial Appoints Industry Veteran as Vice President of Operations | View Article | Yahoo News | California based PEO expands state coverage. Costello comes to Dalrada from All Staffing, Inc., which was acquired by Dalrada earlier this month. She has 11 years experience in the professional employer organization (PEO) industry, overseeing all departments, including human resources, sales, worker's compensation, safety, benefits, payroll, and accounting. |
| 9/22/2006 | Health-care Premium Hikes Returning | View Article | Business First | Health insurance price increase averages 8.6% nationally. But employers won't be able to sustain double-digit rate increases for much longer, Waterhouse said. That has them looking for more ways to shift part of the costs to workers and encourage them to improve their health through wellness and disease management programs. |
| 9/20/2006 | Massachusetts Fairshare Contribution | View Article | Mass.gov | Massachusetts clarifies client level reporting for PEOs under employer fairshare contributions. Employee Leasing Company. A sole proprietorship, partnership, corporation or other form of business entity whose business consists largely of leasing employees to one or more Client Companies under contractual arrangements that retain for such employee leasing companies a substantial portion of personnel management functions, such as payroll, direction and control of workers, and the right to hire and fire workers provided by the employee leasing company; provided, however, that the leasing arrangement is long term and not an arrangement to provide the client company temporary help services during seasonal or unusual conditions. |
| 9/20/2006 | Colorado amends its UI law | View Article | CCH | Colorado clarifies rules on Unemployment Insurance as it relates to PEOs and employee leasing arrangements. A transfer of experience will not occur when a work-site employer's account is made inactive as a result of entering into a contract with an employee leasing company, or when a contract between a work-site employer and an employee leasing company is terminated. |
| 9/18/2006 | Gevity Revises Earnings Forecast | View Article | Tampa Bay Business Journal | Gevity revises earnings forecast for 2006. Summary of new office openings and stock repurchase plans. Based on the ranges of updated guidance below, Gevity expects full year 2006 earnings of at least $1.31 a share, on 27 million shares outstanding, representing at least a 9 percent increase compared to earnings of $1.20 a share, on 28.5 million shares outstanding in 2005. Previous guidance for earnings guidance was $1.43 to $1.47 a share on 27.2 million shares outstanding. |
| 9/15/2006 | Calif. Workers' Comp Rating Bureau Proposes Rate Decrease | View Article | Insurance Journal | California's Workers' Compensation Insurance Rating Board has proposed a 6.3 percent reduction in the pure premium rate. On Sept. 14, 2006, the WCIRB amended its Aug. 16, 2006 filing to include a proposed 6.3 percent reduction in pure premium rates with respect to new and renewal policies with an anniversary rating date on or after Jan. 1, 2007. In addition to proposing a decrease in pure premium rates, the WCIRB also proposed a decrease in the experience rating eligibility threshold from $16,971 to $16,600. |
| 9/15/2006 | Administaff Renews Workers' Compensation Program | View Article | Yahoo News | Administaff renews AIG work comp plan. Under the arrangement, Administaff makes monthly payments to AIG comprised of premium costs and funds to be set aside for payment of future claims. Administaff bears the economic burden for the first $1 million layer of claims per occurrence, while AIG bears the economic burden for all claims in excess of the first $1 million layer. Administaff employs a third-party actuary to assist in the estimation of incurred claim costs. |
| 9/11/2006 | NAPEO Conference - StaffMarket sponsors PEO industry annual conference | View Article | StaffMarket | StaffMarket announces sponsorship at NAPEO conference. The principals at StaffMarket are looking forward to the opportunity to visit with our many business partner PEO company representatives throughout the country. |
| 8/1/2006 | PEO Industry Continues to Grow | View Article | New York CPA Journal | Article discusses PEO accreditation through ESAC - Employer Services Assurance Corporation. The PEO industry has matured to a $51 billion industry serving an estimated 100,000 small to mid-sized businesses and 2 million to 3 million workers. With strong annual growth rates, about 700 PEOs offering a wide array of employment services and benefits are operating in 50 states. |
| 8/1/2006 | Staff Leasing | View Article | Oswego County Business | New York state company 'Staff Leasing' thrives. With Staff Leasing concentrating on the aspects of business that aren’t core to an operation like human resources, clients are able to concentrate on their business, whether that is their clients or patients, products, marketing or profits. |
| 7/26/2006 | Leased employees benefit plan is a MEWA | View Article | CCH | EBSA determines that a Nevada company's benefit plan is not a single employer benefit plan but is ruled a multiple employer welfare arrangement. The company in question provides payroll services for the employees, as well as benefits and worker's compensation. The company's clients control the training, hiring, and firing of the employees. ERISA §514(b)(6)(A) permits state insurance regulation of a MEWA, without regard to whether or not it is a qualified employee benefit plan. |
| 7/12/2006 | HP Enters HRO Market in Deal With Nestlé | View Article | Workforce | HP enters the HRO marketplace. Hewlett-Packard has signed a human resources outsourcing deal with Nestlé, the first of its kind for the Palo Alto, California-based technology company. |
| 7/11/2006 | TriNet acquires assets of Outsource Group | View Article | Business Wire | Press release disclosing the acquisition of assets of Outsource group by TriNet. TriNet, a nationwide provider of human resource (HR) outsourcing services for small and mid-sized companies, today announced the purchase of the customer assets of Outsource Group, a nationwide HR services. |
| 6/9/2006 | DHS Announces Federal Regulations | View Article | Department of Homeland Security | DHS reviews employer obligations when SSA or DNS issues no-match letters for social security numbers listed on I9 forms. It also describes “safe-harbor” procedures for employers to use in dealing with such a letter. If followed in good faith, these procedures would provide certainty that DHS will not find, based on a receipt of a “no-match” letter, the employer in violation of their legal obligations. |
| 5/22/2006 | The Experts - Human Resources | View Article | Hampton Roads Business Journal | Short overview of PEO services. There are two primary advantages for a small business in retaining PEO services. First, a PEO provides appropriately trained human resource professionals with the expertise to provide payroll and human resources functions. |
| 5/19/2006 | Small Business Assistance Bill Introduced | View Article | StaffMarket.com | Senator Chuck Grassley introduces the Small Business Efficiency Act to qualify PEOs. Bill describes certification requirements which a PEO must demonstrate to the IRS by written application. As established by the Secretary of the Treasury, these could include requirements with respect to tax status, background, experience, business location, and annual financial audits, as wellas verification of the continuing accuracy of representations and information on a periodic basis |
| 5/1/2006 | Fed up with HR? | View Article | Inc Magazine | Nice article offering real life examples of the benefits gained by engaging a PEO. PEOs are becoming one-stop shops for business owners eager to outsource all of their HR functions and focus instead on their core business. |
| 4/19/2006 | Putting a Band-Aid on small firms' health costs | View Article | USA Today | Artice reviews health insurance options for small businesses. Think of a PEO as an off-site personnel department. For an annual fee, often 2% to 7% of the dollar value of annual payroll, a PEO manages everything from recruiting and hiring to managing health benefits. They're a boon to small businesses, many of which don't need and can't afford a full-time human resources department. PEOs started in the early 1980s in Texas and Florida, says the National Association of Professional Employer Organizations trade group. There are now about 700. |
| 4/5/2006 | In Massachusetts, Health Care for All? | View Article | Business Week | Proposed legislation requires companies with 11 of more employees to provide health insurance or pay $295 per worker per year. The legislation also includes such liberal measures as huge government subsidies to help low-income individuals buy insurance. What's more, all companies with 11 or more workers are required to help pay for health insurance -- a so-called employer mandate. |
| 3/16/2006 | Fighting Off Health Care Headaches | View Article | Business Week Online | Article discusses health coverage advantages of HR outsourcing with a professional employer organization. We went to a model that was able to provide Fortune 500 benefits at a reasonable cost," says Butler, who estimates that her company saves 20% to 25% on health coverage as a result of the arrangement. |
| 3/9/2006 | As medical bills mount, who pays? | View Article | St. Pete Times | Why everyone on a job site must be covered by a worker's compensation policy. When workers' compensation investigators find an employer is operating without coverage, they can shut down a work site, require employers to pay back premiums and impose hefty penalties, Holloman said. The most egregious cases of flagrant or repeat offenders may be referred to the insurance fraud division, which can file criminal charges. |
| 3/1/2006 | PEO with sizable local presence snapped up by R.I. firm | View Article | Tampa Bay Business Journal | Article discusses the recent acquisition of Oasis Outsourcing by Nautic Partners LLC. Oasis, based in West Palm Beach, is a large professional employer organization. It has 10 Tampa offices and 240 employees in the Tampa Bay area. It specializes in providing comprehensive human resources products and services, including consulting and training, healthcare benefits, payroll services, risk management services, recruiting and staffing support. |
| 2/10/2006 | Are You In or Out with HR? | View Article | Area Developer | How franshisees can handle HR with a PEO. Ken Hutcheson, president of Floridabased U.S. Lawns, says he is a passionate cheerleader for outsourcing HR. After one of his very successful franchisees got tapped with a huge workers' comp bill in 1993 that very nearly put him out of business |
| 1/17/2006 | Hire an HR Director without adding a new employee. | View Article | Review of Optometry | By outsourcing our personnel duties, we save time, trouble, and the expensive cost of health insurance. As a responsible employer, we appreciate another important job that a PEO does: keeping compliant with state and federal employment requirements. This is a big issue here in California. The rules for employers are complex and strict, and navigating them is difficult to do on your own. Our PEO keeps up with the latest rules and requirements, and advises us accordingly. |
| 1/5/2006 | Everyone gains as HR Tasks are outsourced. | View Article | mysa.com | A texas based non-profit organization discusses the advantages of HR outsourcing. Professional employer organizations, commonly called PEOs, provide human resources services to small and medium-sized companies. |
| 12/30/2005 | Five Ways to Reduce Workers' Compensation Claims | View Article | occupationalhazards.com | Article reviews the options to reduce work comp costs. With all this to worry about, it is not difficult to understand that there is a growing trend in small businesses to outsource these functions to a professional employer organization (PEO). Advantages for the business owner include reduced premiums, safety and loss control expertise, nationwide coverage and professional payroll processing and tax filing. |
| 12/2/2005 | Why every business needs a cafeteria plan. | View Article | Accounting Web | Article discusses the tax advantages of section 125 plans for employers and employees. Small businesses wanting more help establishing and administering a Section 125 plan might wish to consider consulting a professional employer organization (PEO). |
| 11/28/2005 | The UI Blues | View Article | HR Magazine | The article reviews the significant financial impact of unemployment insurance claims. Any benefits paid to former employees count in an employer's experience rating--and drive up the employer's SUTA costs in the future. So employers that pay for unqualified claimants today will also pay more tomorrow for unemployment insurance. |
| 11/28/2005 | PEO industry builds trust of insurance carriers | View Article | onrec.com | PEOs create Workers' Comp - Risk Management certification program. PEOs arrange workers’ compensation coverage, provide risk management and manage claims for several million workers as part of their service to small to mid-sized businesses. PEOs also enable their clients to cost-effectively outsource the management of human resources, employee benefits and payroll. As a result, their clients focus on their core competencies to maintain and grow their bottom line. |
| 11/24/2005 | Insurance Shopping | View Article | Sarasota Business | Article explains high deductible HSA plans as a medical insurance option. HMO, PPO, meet the new kid on the block: HDHP, or the high-deductible health plan, and its twin, HSA, health savings account. Created as part of the Medicare bill that President Bush signed in December 2003 and put into effect Jan. 1, 2004, HSAs are intended to combat the high costs of medical care and create a consumer approach to healthcare while giving the patient more control of their healthcare dollars. |
| 11/16/2005 | Small firms benefit from outside help | View Article | Orlando Sentinal | How one company used a StaffMarket PEO to help grow their company. The regulatory environment gets tougher and tougher," Perlberg said. "A large company can handle it, but when you're a small or medium-sized business, you're not in a position to hire people to worry about that kind of thing. A PEO gives you an advantage." |
| 10/31/2005 | Keeping insurance costs bearable | View Article | Seattle Bizwomen.com | Health insurance alternatives with a Professional Employer Organization. Another alternative is to work with a professional employer organization (PEO), which not only groups many smaller employers together for benefits purposes, but also delivers a full range of human resources administration and support -- usually more cost-effectively than a small company can do in-house. |
| 10/27/2005 | Employee Leasing Solutions employee wins prize | View Article | MarketWatch | If only all employees could be this great. Sidney Karr is an 88-year-old courier for Employee Leasing Solutions, an employee benefits and payroll company in Florida. He says he doesn't really need the paycheck but "I want to do something until I get old, and this keeps me occupied." |
| 9/28/2005 | Manatee PEO grows after deal | View Article | Bradenton Herald | Short article about the purchase of Sunwest PEO. In a deal that closed Tuesday, Manatee County-based Progressive Employer Services - the larger human resourcing company - announced an agreement to purchase the assets of Tampa-based Sunwest PEO of Florida Inc. |
| 9/21/2005 | Workers' Comp Insurer Tries 'Common Sense' Approach | View Article | Tampa Bay Online | Short article on innovative approaches to holding down workers' comp costs. One is SunWest Professional Employers of Tampa, which provides human resources services for 600 client companies and 5,800 workers in the state. |
| 9/21/2005 | Businessman fined for defrauding workers' comp | View Article | Times Standard | Running a business without providing legitimate workers' compensation coverage can be expensive. On Friday, Constanzo was convicted of workers' comp insurance fraud for underreporting payroll, misclassifying and failing to report wages that were paid in cash. Victor Ferro, Constanzo's lawyer, said the charges were reduced to a misdemeanor and that Constanzo is also on probation for two years. |
| 9/20/2005 | RMI Celebrates 10th Anniversary | View Article | Sentinal and Enterprise | Short Article about RMI one of the nation' s largest Hispanic owned Professional Employer Organizations. RMI is a professional employer organization that provides employee leasing to small- and medium- sized companies in New England. |
| 9/18/2005 | Flexible Spending Accounts just got a bit more flexible | View Article | Newsday | Deadlines for using funds set aside in Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA) have been extended by two and a half months for the tax year 2005. It's a way to give another perk to workers, and may even encourage more employees to participate in these tax-friendly accounts that never have quite caught on. And companies themselves can save money because they don't have to pay payroll taxes on income employees contribute to the accounts. |
| 9/9/2005 | NCCO amends state workers' comp filing | View Article | Orlando Busines Journal | Good news for Florida employers, Workers' Compensation insurance rates are dropping. Now, Boca Raton-based NCCI is amending its overall 4.5 percent decrease for workers' comp in the five major industrial classes, increasing it to 7.2 percent. |
| 8/15/2005 | How States Differ on Workers' Compensation insurance laws | View Article | MSNBC Small Business | An excellent article describing the rules, challenges and risks faced by businesses regarding finding and maintaining Workers' Comp coverage. If you're in an assigned risk plan, check with your state's insurance regulators to see if assigned risk policies in your state have higher rates and premiums. If this is the case, then do everything in your power to find coverage outside the assigned risk plan. Talk with other agents, talk with direct-writing insurance companies, talk with employee leasing companies, investigate group self-insurance programs available in your state-but don't let it be your agent's responsibility to get you out of the assigned risk plan. |
| 8/2/2005 | HR Outsourcing: A Stratregic Solution | View Article | About.com | A recent SHRM survey shows the major reasons and functions companies are HR Outsourcing. Take a look at what other organizations are outsourcing. Outsourcing certain business processes might make sense for you, too. |
| 7/25/2005 | Americans Paying More for Health Insurance | View Article | MSNBC Small Business | This article discusses the amounts employers and employees health insurance costs have increased in the last few years. The average employer’s contribution for a private-sector employee taking family coverage increased by 89.3 percent (59.9 percent when adjusted for inflation) -- from $3,679 in 1996 to $6,966 in 2003. |
| 6/14/2005 | The Hartford Announces 18% Rate Reduction in CA Workers' Compensation Rates | View Article | Yahoo Finance | Many California PEO companies have workers' compensation coverage available through the Hartford. The Hartford, one of the 15 largest workers' compensation writers in the state, has now reduced California workers' compensation rates three times since January 2004. The total decrease in rates since then, including the reductions announced today, is 32 percent. |
| 6/7/2005 | HR outsourcing takes on new life | View Article | Network World | Article discusses the impact on IT of HR outsourcing. In general, the average running cost for HR business process outsourcing providers is between $1,500 and $2,000 per supported employee per year, depending on the type of HR functions managed.. |
| 6/2/2005 | More good news for Workers' Comp Rates | View Article | California Chamber of Commerce | Brief Article about Workers' Compensation Insurance rate reductions in California. Although this announcement shows a great improvement to the workers’ compensation system, some employers still may not see the full effect of the recommended rate reductions. California insurance rates vary from company to company. |
| 5/20/2005 | SCI Expands in India and Atlanta | View Article | Tampa Bay Business Journal | Short article about StaffMarket member PEO SCI expanding operations and acquiring PEO Employee Professionals. The Atlanta operations center was relocated to larger offices to accommodate a growing number of clients, SCI said. The Atlanta operations center handles payroll distribution, benefits administration and other HR services for SCI clients primarily in the southeastern region. |
| 5/9/2005 | Strategic HR | View Article | RedCoat Publishing | Discussions about what kind and size of companies are choosing to outsource their HR functions with a PEO. Of companies currently outsourcing, nearly 90% reported a vendor’s track record was the most important selection criteria, followed by cost of services (82%), guaranteed service levels (64%), and flexible contracting options (53%). |
| 5/5/2005 | Florida Agency Issues 94 Stop-Work Orders After Workers' Comp Compliance Sweep | View Article | Occupational Hazards | Florida cracks down on employers without Workers' Compensation Insurance. All general contractors need to read this article. Under a stop-work order, a business must immediately cease all business operations. The order is lifted once the employer obtains the proper coverage and pays a civil penalty equal to the amount of 1.5 times the workers' compensation premiums avoided. Florida employers who violate a stop-work order face a penalty of $1,000 per day of violation and also may face criminal charges. |
| 5/2/2005 | Arizona Workers and Businesses to Benefit from PEO Registration | View Article | NAPEO | Arizona passes PEO legislation. The Arizona PEO registration law gives businesses a standard definition of a PEO and enhances their confidence in a PEO's qualifications. Registered PEOs need to meet certain operational, financial and management criteria. They must have written contracts for services in compliance with the new law. |
| 4/29/2005 | Mount Laurel company develops growing PEO niche | View Article | Philadelphia Business Journal | Article discusses tha value a NJ based PEO has delivered for their clients. (PEO) is part of a burgeoning national industry known as professional employer organizations, or PEOs. The companies take over nearly all the human resources functions -- and headaches -- for small and midsize business, doing everything from processing payroll and administering benefits to labor law compliance. |
| 3/14/2005 | A Helping Hand | View Article | Maryland Gazette | Companies discover that PEOs can assist clients with rising Health Insurance Costs. By negotiating with health insurance companies with a larger base of client employers, PEOs can often come away with better policies and value for the money, Clark said. |
| 2/9/2005 | Trend to outsource HR work is giving area firms a boost. | View Article | Chicago Daily Herald | Several company owners discuss the advantage they have by using a Professional Employer Organization. An increasing number of small and medium-sized businesses are choosing to outsource the duties typically performed by their human resources person or department, fueling a booming business among professional employer organizations. |
| 12/27/2004 | Gevity inks new deal for workers' comp | View Article | Bradenton Herald | Gevity renews workers' compensation coverage with AIG. Gevity HR has renewed its agreement with member companies of American International Group Inc., AIG, to provide workers' compensation coverage for Gevity's internal and client employees in 2005. |
| 10/26/2004 | Bottom-line improvement continues for Barrett | View Article | Portland Business Journal | Barrett Business Services - StaffMarket member PEO continues building financial stability. About 45 percent of Barrett's business comes from placing temps, while another 45 percent comes through consulting and placing employment contract workers through its professional employer organization duties. |
| 6/6/2004 | Outsourcing HR | View Article | Realtor.org | Brief article about PEOs and how to select a PEO. According to Jim Hamilton, president of staffmarket.com, which helps employers find the right PEO, the organizations typically offer four general categories of service: |
| 3/29/2004 | Gevity buys key rival in HR services, Epix | View Article | St. Petersburg Times | Henry Gonzalez, who owns a Tampa plumbing company that has used Epix for the past four years, said he got a fax announcing the deal, with more details to follow. But after outsourcing HR duties for his 30 employees for more than 20 years, Gonzalez said change is nothing new. "I was relatively happy with Epix," he said. "But we've gone through five or six companies since we started farming out payroll." |
| 3/14/2004 | StaffMarket Services hires Dodson | View Article | Sarasota Herald Tribune | Newsclip about Chris Dodson joining StaffMarket Services. Christopher Dodson has joined Bradenton's StaffMarket Service as national director of broker relationships. He was previously a sales director with The Cura Group and has seven years of experience in the professional employer organization industry. |
| 3/14/2004 | PEO Rountable in South Carolina | View Article | South Carolina Consumer Affairs | South Carolina creates a roundtable to discuss issues in the SC PEO marketplace The Professional Employer Organization (PEO) Roundtable was established to assist the Department in its licensing and regulation of the PEO industry by maintaining an open line of communication between the industry and the Department. The first meeting was held on March 14, 2004. |
| 3/5/2004 | Gevity sets out to prove its value to business | View Article | Sarasota Herald Tribune | Gevity engages Cornell University to study the value of HR services for small businesses. Jim Hamilton, president of StaffMarket.com, a Bradenton-based company that helps small businesses find PEOs, added that increased knowledge about human resources will benefit everyone. |
| 2/13/2004 | PEO Forges Ahead | View Article | Sarasota Herald Tribune | Nice article on Progressive Employer Services. Twice in the last five years, Progressive Employer Services has had to purge clients that insurance carriers deemed too risky or too geographically dispersed to insure. And the professional employer organization has had to ante up millions of dollars in collateral to convince carriers that it had the wherewithal to remain in business. |
| 1/12/2004 | PEOs Grow | View Article | Indiana Business Magazine | Indiana business owners discuss the advantages of engaging a Professional Employer Organization. Regenstrief agrees that a PEO is a good resource for dealing with thorny HR issues. For example, if it becomes necessary to fire someone, representatives at the PEO know the best procedures for doing so and may even come out to handle the dirty work. It saves Kipp Brothers the hassle and also the expense of consulting with an attorney, he says. In general, he says, the variety of cost savings of dealing with a PEO more than offset the administrative fee for PEO services, and the elimination of hassles is an added bonus. |
| 1/2/2004 | HR Outsourcing | View Article | Credit Union Executives | Article discusses the advantages of HR outsourcing for credit unions. One major source of satisfaction for credit unions that choose PEOs like Administaff is relief from administrative or compliance concerns. Rick Wilson, a regional manager with Administaff, says: "From a co-employment platform we offer the users of our services the highest and best approach to this. Without the PEO or the co-employment relationship, the credit union is 100 percent responsible for the liabilities and responsibilities of the employer/employee relationship. With the relationship of a PEO, many of those liabilities are passed to a company like ours." |
| 12/5/2003 | Human Resources Headaches | View Article | ABC News | This articles discusses the value a professional employer organization relationship can provide for business owners. The practice of "employee leasing" has been around for decades, but the PEO industry picked up speed during the 1990s as employers struggled to keep pace with new employment regulations. The modern PEO functions like a full-service human-resources department, responsible for everything from hiring and training to payroll taxes and personnel management. |
| 11/19/2003 | Small businesses must be creative to find affordable health insurance. | View Article | Florida Trend | This article discusses rising insurance costs for small business owners and some of the options. More importantly, because the company's employees now are combined with other members of the PEO, the company can leverage the PEO's total enrollment to enjoy premiums $100 less per month than they had been paying before joining, Barney says. |
| 11/17/2003 | Gevity Acquires TeamStaff | View Article | PR News Wire | Gevity acquires TeamStaff. From the TeamStaff perspective, the sale of our PEO operation paves the way for us to pursue a strategy that I believe offers our company the greatest opportunity for growth and profitability going forward. |
| 10/3/2003 | Smaller employers target of Legislature's new rules. | View Article | Denver Business Journal | Article about legislative changes for Health Plans in Colorado. The reason why small employers have been interested in alternatives to the small-group market can be summed up in two words: lower prices. For groups with relatively healthy employees, those alternatives have included partial self-funding, some types of Professional Employer Organizations (PEOs) and individual insurance. These products, in most cases, are medically underwritten. |
| 10/2/2003 | Shouldering the HR burden - PEOs make personnel management easier for business owners. | View Article | Photo Marketing | Business owners comment on the benefits of using a PEO. Administrative functions like doing payroll and managing benefits programs are many business owners’ least favorite duties. Companies that can afford to often hire someone, or a whole department, to handle personnel issues. But for many businesses, a Professional Employment Organization (PEO) can take on those duties and more at a significantly smaller cost. |
| 10/1/2003 | Small-business owners have options when it comes to curbing health care costs. | View Article | Hawaii Business | Article about health care cost reductions through an employee leasing arrangement. Brown, who also owns a money exchange booth in Waikiki, has eight employees for whom she is required to provide health care. She minimizes costs by leasing her employees from a professional employer organization, which is able to buy health care in bulk and pass on the savings. |
| 10/1/2003 | Fla. Workers' Comp Reforms Take Effect Oct. 1.(2003) | View Article | Insurance Journal | Articles explains the new Workers' Compensation Insurance reforms in Florida. Under the new law, in addition to issuing a stop-work order to an employer whose coverage lapses, the department can now issue a stop-work order to an employer committing any of the following acts: Understating payroll in order to evade or reduce premium payments: Misrepresenting or concealing employee duties to avoid proper classification: Failure to provide business records to the department. |
| 9/23/2003 | Small businesses must be creative to find affordable health insurance. | View Article | Florida Trend Magazine | Article discusses the health insurance options for businesses. When a PEO is hired by a small business, the business' employees become employees of the PEO, providing them with benefits, including health insurance. While in RBB's case the PEO gets a $14,000 annual service fee, the move saved the company $50,000 in an office manager's salary and benefits each year, says CEO Christine Barney. More importantly, because the company's employees now are combined with other members of the PEO, the company can leverage the PEO's total enrollment to enjoy premiums $100 less per month than they had been paying before joining, Barney says. |
| 9/22/2003 | State investigates 'tribal coverage' | View Article | MSNBC | CHECK OUT THE COVERAGE OF ANY PEO YOU ARE CONSIDERING. Be careful with this questionable practice. The Department of Insurance's Whitfield said that in some cases, tribes are taking a program created for their gaming industry and trying to extend that business through staffing companies to employers outside by making outside employees their own and applying tribal law. But he said the Occupational Injury Indemnity and Medical Benefits policies obtained through tribal staffing companies do not, in the view of the Department of Insurance, meet the requirements of California law. |
| 9/5/2003 | Association answers employers' questions | View Article | Tampa Bay Business Journal | Summary article from NAPEO about PEOs. Through the use of a PEO relationship, client companies make a long-term investment in their workers because in most cases the PEO provides access to health insurance, retirement savings plans, and other critical employee benefits for their work site employees. In the event a PEO relationship is terminated, the co-employees will cease to work for the PEO but will continue as employees of the client. |
| 9/5/2003 | Database to track workers' coverage | View Article | Sarasota Herald Tribune | The state of Florida is attempting to track Workers' Compensation Coverage for contractors and sub-contractors. "This database will be an excellent tool for contractors who need to receive updated policy information on the subcontractors they hire," said Tom Gallagher, the head of the Department of Financial Services. "If a subcontractor cancels its policy or fails to pay the required premium, the contractor will receive an e-mail notification from the department." |
| 8/26/2003 | Administaff Announces New Workers' Compensation Program | View Article | Yahoo News | Press release from Administaff. the structure of the new program includes the formation of Administaff Captive Insurance Companies, Ltd. ("ACIC"), a wholly- owned Bermuda-based licensed subsidiary of Administaff. PricewaterhouseCoopers, the company's tax advisors, provided consulting services related to the formation of ACIC, which will be managed by International Advisory Services, Ltd. |
| 8/19/2003 | Employers find strength in numbers for health-care coverage | View Article | Kansas City Star | Commentary from a PEO executive about the situation facing small business owners when seeking health care coverage. Professional employer organizations, one of the fastest-growing service industries in the past 15 years, have the ability to pool together their client base -- usually companies with 15 to 150 employees. By partnering with a PEO, companies create an economy of scale that can be leveraged into negotiating affordable health-care and benefits packages that are on par with those offered by large corporations. A PEO can serve hundreds of organizations and represent thousands of employees from a wide range of businesses. |
| 8/16/2003 | Workers' comp exemptions harder to get | View Article | Sarasota Herald Tribune | Article about the new Florida rules for Workers' Compensation exemptions. Last month, the Florida Legislature repealed the requirement that contractors buy workers' comp if they work on commercial projects valued at more than $250,000. At the same time, however, the Legislature tightened requirements governing how many officers in a company are eligible to file for workers' comp exemptions. It also authorized the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation to hire 65 additional fraud prevention officers to visit construction sites and make sure that contractors play by the rules. |
| 8/6/2003 | Meridian closes operations department | View Article | Bradenton Herald | Article about consolidation at AmerHR - Certified Services. Meridian client relations and payroll manager Sarah Williams said the professional employers organization, or PEO, closed the Meridian Staffing operations division on Aug. 1. It had 30 employees at 518 13th St. W. Meridian relocated the department to Apopka in central Florida. |
| 8/6/2003 | PEOs relieve business owner of some HR issues | View Article | Birmingham Business Journal | Article about the benefits of using a PEO. Enter the company behind the curtain: a Professional Employer Organization (PEO), which works "behind the scenes" to give companies (typically with fewer than 150 employees) all the resources of the big guys, thereby relieving them of the burdens and challenges associated with the "business of employment." |
| 7/22/2003 | Gevity doubling staff | View Article | Sarasota Herald Tribune | Article about the sales force expansion at Gevity HR. Over the past three years, Gevity has seen its revenues stagnate as it made a transition from providing payroll and employee-benefits processing services to companies with mainly blue-collar workers to providing a wider variety of human resource services to companies with mainly white collar workers. |
| 7/18/2003 | Farmworker Suit Could Extend Liability | View Article | Yahoo Business News | Article about liability for leased agricultural workers. The suit seeks to sidestep employers' usual immunity from liability in the cases of workplace injury or death. Employers who purchase workers' compensation coverage are immunized from civil liability for negligence. And workers' comp death benefits in Florida are capped at $100,000. But under Florida law, that immunity is forfeited when the employer's conduct is "substantially certain" to result in injury or death. |
| 7/17/2003 | Meridian's parent firm gets reprieve. | View Article | Manatee Herald Tribune | Article about the Cura Group and Certified Services Worker's Compensation carrier situation. While most PEOs operating in the state have been able to obtain year-long contracts with workers' comp carriers or have sold out to companies that already had long-term contracts, American HR and its predecessor companies have faced the threat of contract terminations every two or three months. In June, CNA, the huge Chicago-based workers' comp carrier that has been gradually exiting the PEO business, granted American HR its final extension. |
| 7/8/2003 | Outsourcing HR tasks can reduce overhead. | View Article | Austin Business Journal | Article about how HR Outsourcing. If your HR outsourcing needs require more than an a la carte option, consider a professional employer organization, or PEO. A PEO assumes full responsibility of your company's HR administration, becoming a co-employer of your company's workers by taking full legal responsibility for your employees. But some HR outsourcing services like to use the recognized term "PEO" when they handle the primary aspects of HR such as payroll and benefits, yet they don't take this legal partnership. |
| 7/7/2003 | Staffing provider Meridian sold to Certified Services | View Article | Bradenton Herald | Article about the finalization of the sale of Staff America to Certified Services Inc. The purchase more than doubles Certified Services' stake in the PEO industry. The deal now gives the company 1,800 commercial clients with more than 58,000 work-site employees in 37 states with a gross payroll/revenue base of nearly $1.1 billion. |
| 7/7/2003 | Workers' comp rates to fall for some employers | View Article | Jefferson City News Tribune | Article about Workers' Compensation in Missouri. Workers' compensation premiums are set to decline for most Missouri businesses that participate in the state-run pool of last resort, Department of Insurance Director Scott Lakin said Wednesday. Companies that buy workers' compensation insurance through the state pool usually cannot find the coverage in the standard commercial market. |
| 7/7/2003 | System on the Brink | View Article | Sacramento Bee | Great article on the Workers' Compensation insurance situation in California. End of article displays state premium and payout charts. California insurance companies have the unenviable distinction of charging employers the highest rates in the nation while delivering some of the lowest benefits to employees. There is plenty of blame to go around, including industry deregulation, insurance company bankruptcies, high health-care costs, excessive litigation and fraud. |
| 6/25/2003 | Cost of Insurance for Work Injuries Soars Across U.S. | View Article | Yahoo News | This article explores the crisis being faced in many states on the Workers' Compensation Insurance subject. Prices are escalating, government and industry officials said, because of rising medical and legal costs; a recent devastating price war by insurers; and, many insurers and business executives say, a significant amount of fraud. In the last few years, the cost of almost all kinds of insurance has been rising sharply. But workers' compensation insurance, which pays for treatment of on-the-job injuries and lost wages, is a particular problem because its purchase is mandatory. Businesses cannot trim their workers' compensation coverage to save money because, every employee must be fully insured. |
| 6/25/2003 | As business grows, outside help is the in thing to get | View Article | NJ.com | Article about HR Outsourcing. Also known as PEOs, personnel management companies handle everything from payroll, tax filings and compliance with government regulations to hiring and firing employees in exchange for becoming co-employers of your staff for a fee. The largest PEO, Texas-based Administaff, charges about 3 percent of total payroll. CSSC, a Morristown-based regulatory compliance consulting firm serving the pharmaceutical and biotech industries, signed on with Administaff in 2001. Through the PEO, the 75-employee company has saved money and provided better health and retirement benefits to its employees, Chief Financial Officer Don Viglione says. |
| 6/25/2003 | Staffing firms opt to grow in other states. | View Article | Orlando Business Journal | Staffing firms in Florida feel the Workers' Compensation insurance squeeze. As a result, says Robert Skrob, executive director of the Florida chapter of the National Association of Professional Employer Organizations, "competition within the industry has really suffered." Among those agencies still growing, the search for a stable workers' compensation climate has led them to states notorious for tax-heavy business climates. |
| 6/24/2003 | Ranking shows three-year results for 200 companies | View Article | Tampa Bay Business Journal | Information on the 2002 performance for several Tampa Bay area PEOs. Professional employer organizations showed excellent gains in revenue, including six of the 25 fastest growing companies. One of the major reasons for the PEO increases is the hard market that exists for workers' compensation coverage, said John Porreca, president of Southeast Personnel Leasing Inc. Southeast Personnel -- with a two-year increase of 151 percent -- rose to No. 5 overall in 2002 revenue from No. 12 in 2002. "The PEOs that had coverage have been able to grow significantly," Porreca said. "When C&A Insurance Co., which insured more than 60 percent of the state's PEOs, dropped its coverage for workers' comp last February, it caused many companies to either merge or sell out. |
| 6/24/2003 | TeamStaff gets new president | View Article | PR Newswire | Newswire article. TeamStaff, Inc. (Nasdaq: TSTF), one of the nation's leading Business Processing Outsourcers and Professional Employer Organizations (PEOs), today reported that its Board of Directors has named T. Kent Smith as TeamStaff's President and Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Smith succeeds Donald W. Kappauf, who agreed to relinquish position as President and Chief Executive Officer on June 18, 2003. Mr. Smith has also joined the Company's Board of Directors. |
| 6/24/2003 | Ranking shows three-year results for 200 companies | View Article | Tampa Bay Business Journal | Information on the 2002 performance for several Tampa Bay area PEOs. Several professional employer organizations showed excellent gains in revenue, including six of the 25 fastest growing companies. One of the major reasons for the PEO increases is the hard market that exists for workers' compensation coverage, said John Porreca, president of Southeast Personnel Leasing Inc. Southeast Personnel -- with a two-year increase of 151 percent -- rose to No. 5 overall in 2002 revenue from No. 12 in 2002. "The PEOs that had coverage have been able to grow significantly," Porreca said. "When C&A Insurance Co., which insured more than 60 percent of the state's PEOs, dropped its coverage for workers' comp last February, it caused many companies to either merge or sell out. |
| 6/24/2003 | Ranking shows three-year results for 200 companies | View Article | Tampa Bay Business Journal | Information on the 2002 performance for several Tampa Bay area PEOs. Professional employer organizations showed excellent gains in revenue, including six of the 25 fastest growing companies. One of the major reasons for the PEO increases is the hard market that exists for workers' compensation coverage, said John Porreca, president of Southeast Personnel Leasing Inc. Southeast Personnel -- with a two-year increase of 151 percent -- rose to No. 5 overall in 2002 revenue from No. 12 in 2002. "The PEOs that had coverage have been able to grow significantly," Porreca said. "When C&A Insurance Co., which insured more than 60 percent of the state's PEOs, dropped its coverage for workers' comp last February, it caused many companies to either merge or sell out. |
| 5/29/2003 | Biz Skeptical over new insurance help | View Article | Orlando Biz Journal | Article discuss the impact of new Florida legislation on lawyers representing Work Comp claimants. To be sure, some employers in the construction industry welcome the proposed changes. We think it is a great bill, says Stephen Munnell, executive director of the Florida Roofing, Sheet Metal & Air Conditioning Contractors Association Inc. Munnell's enthusiasm is more understandable given the legislation's proposed closure of a major loophole. Currently, company officers, independent subcontractors and sole proprietors can legally go without worker's compensation coverage. For example, a construction company could claim it only had two employees who perform clerical and administrative work -- while also claiming a small army of employees were independent subcontractors, even if the independent subcontractors showed up at 8 a.m. every morning, took a one-hour lunch break and never worked for any other company. State insurers estimate such exemptions from coverage cost in excess of $1 billion a year. |
| 5/20/2003 | Small groups feel benefits crunch | View Article | Rocky Mountain News | Article on health insurance access in Colorado. Some cite other causes. Businesses with robust, college-age workers are leaving the small-group market because they don't want to pool their risk with older workers who are more likely to get sick. Instead - if they offer any health insurance - they opt for insurance provided by professional employer organizations, self-insured plans or individual policies. These other options can cost less than small-group policies. |
| 5/19/2003 | Health Options are Growing | View Article | ABC News | This article discusses the rules surrounding health insurance deductions and options for business owners. Another way to gain bargaining clout is to join a professional employer organization. PEOs provide an array of reasonably priced employer benefits and safeguards, but business owners must give up most of their autonomy. In effect, the PEO becomes the employer and “leases out” the employees. The National Association of Professional Employer Organizations offers a clear definition of PEO members’ rights and responsibilities. |
| 5/8/2003 | NCCI explanation of the issues tracking Workers Compensation loss information and PEOs (PDF) | View Article | NCCI | NCCI Article on PEOs. Excerpt Not Available. |
| 5/6/2003 | Cura Work Comp Extension press release | View Article | Business Wire | Article on the Cura Workers' compensation insurance extension. CSRV is a New York based holding company engaged in the PEO industry. Through its wholly owned subsidiary, Cura, CSRV provides a broad range of services for small and medium size businesses including payroll and benefits administration, employee record keeping and regulatory compliance, health and worker's compensation insurance programs and worksite safety management. CSRV currently services more than 800 clients with more than 32,000 worksite employees in 28 states. |
| 5/6/2003 | Startup companies and HR subjects | View Article | St. Louis Today.com | Article about the problems small business owners face dealing with HR issues and tasks. There are administrative nightmares, and employers continue to try to handle them because of the cost of hiring an HR person or outsourcing it," said Maisch. "They must weigh the benefits against the costs. Outsourcing firms that allow business owners to customize services, sometimes on an as-needed basis, charge $800 to $1,500 a day, Case said. Rates for project work start from $125 to $300 an hour. PEOs that sell a package of services may charge 2 percent to 4 percent of a firm's gross payroll. |
| 5/6/2003 | Taking work out of having workers | View Article | Palm Beach Post | Article about why small business owners have partnered with a PEO. Sandie Foland is not trained as an accountant or attorney. She's not a human resources specialist or a recruiter, either. Foland sells signs. She and husband, Jerry, employ 32 people at Baron Sign Manufacturing in Lake Park, one of many small and medium-sized companies in the area that have handed over human resources, payroll and insurance matters to employee-leasing companies known as professional employer organizations, or PEOs. "In my early years, I was doing payroll until 4 in the morning," Foland said. "I don't want to go back to that." |
| 5/6/2003 | Make the most of your PEO | View Article | CNN Fn | Article the covers what you should expect when you engage a PEO for your business. It's been nearly a decade since professional employer organizations (PEOs) came on the scene as the hot new trend in corporate outsourcing, providing small business owners with a low- cost way to cut personnel problems down to size. For many, it was the solution they were looking for -- a third party administrator that would manage the company's benefits, payroll and administrative needs, while freeing up internal resources to focus on core competencies. But for others, industry insiders acknowledge it hasn't been the panacea they had hoped for. |
| 5/6/2003 | Outsourcing your HR | View Article | CNN Fn | Article about cost savings and retaining employee control when you partner with a PEO. "I didn't have the time or the personnel to deal with the human resources, safety and OSHA regulations," said Strasse, whose firm makes industrial scales. The fact that First-Weigh's health insurance carrier dropped the company after its first two years added to his worries. When he could get coverage, the premiums were increasing about 30 percent a year. "We were always looking for new insurance," Strasse said. Strasse needed more than a payroll service that provided benefits. He also needed help complying with a myriad of state and federal laws. "With the ways the laws are written, especially related to questions you can't ask during job interviews, it was impossible to train all our managers about what not to do," Strasse said. In addition to providing insurance benefits and workers' compensation coverage, the PEO's experts also handle everything from regulatory compliance to payroll administration and sexual harassment training. |
| 5/6/2003 | Making benefits benefit you | View Article | CNN Fn | Article that describes how small business owners can offer a benefits package the competes with larger companies by joining a PEO. Small businesses often pay even more, lacking the buying power to cut competitive deals with insurance companies and pension firms. But small-company owners don't need to bang their heads against the wall. For one thing, small-business owners can enrich their benefit packages by turning their staffs over to a "professional employer organization," or PEO. Once known as "staff-leasing firms," PEOs "hire" the employees for the purposes of benefits, human resources and tax administration. In return, the employees' company pays the PEO either a percentage of payroll, or a flat fee per week for the service. Because PEOs bring lots of employees together into a single group, they can offer participating small businesses lower group-rate fees for standard benefits such as health insurance, 401(k) plans, disability, life insurance and more. |
| 5/6/2003 | Let a Pro handle benefits | View Article | CNN Fn | Article about the benefits of using a PEO. Businesses with fewer than 100 employees spend as much as 25 percent of their resources handling management and personnel matters, according to the Small Business Administration. But a fast growing industry is taking on these management hassles, while offering small business employees better benefits. Professional Employer Organizations are managers hired by small businesses to oversee payrolls, pay taxes, advise on hiring and firings and even administer health and 401-k plans. Because PEOs manage the operations of numerous companies, they get volume discounts for benefits. Those cost savings to a company can offset the expense of PEO services, averaging three to five percent of payroll. Sal Carfaro, who runs his own auto repair business, turned to a PEO after helping one of his seventeen employees get a green card two years ago. An administrative mistake in the process cost his business dearly. |
| 5/6/2003 | Do your homework on PEOs | View Article | Business Week | Article about the fundamentals of using a PEO. Professional employer organizations position themselves to serve as outsourcers for the human resource functions for all kinds of businesses. Their ability to offer lower, group-insurance rates is often very attractive to smaller and midsize companies, and they also offer a range of other services. For example, PEOs can ease administrative burdens by doing things like providing employee handbooks and policies, training supervisors and workers, selling employers' liability insurance, and supplying a central staff to help the employer with human resources questions and employee discipline issues. |
| 5/6/2003 | To PEO or not to PEO | View Article | Business Week | Article where a PEO customer explains his view of the PEO industry. It saves money: You can probably get a better rate on workers compensation through a PEO because the policies they offer often feature high deductibles and multiple categories. As a rule, they tend to handle claims efficiently and put a lot of effort into rooting out fraudulent claims that can end up costing big bucks. Legal Advice: You now have a place to turn when seeking straight answers to tough questions about employees. The PEOs I have worked with helped with guidance concerning terminations, as well as my obligations to comply with employment and workplace laws and regulations that seem to change every year. |
| 5/6/2003 | The appeal of a PEO | View Article | Business Week | Article on when a PEO can make sense for small and medium sized companies. The use of professional employer organizations is becoming increasingly popular with small businesses, especially those with few employees that lack the resources to establish an in-house human resources department. Although there are many variations in the details of PEOs contracts, typically PEOs establish a "co-employment" relationship with a company's employees, so that the employees work jointly for the PEO and the contracting firm. The upside, as you have found in your research, is that PEOs can help your company manage increasingly complex employee-related matters such as personnel management, health benefits, workers' compensation claims, payroll, payroll-tax compliance, and unemployment insurance claims. By contracting with a PEO and becoming part of a larger insurance pool, you may also be able to provide health benefits for your employees that you wouldn't otherwise be able to afford on your own. |
| 5/6/2003 | You do the work, they do the paperwork | View Article | Business Week | Article on what responsibilities get shared and what don't. Across the country, entrepreneurs and small-business owners are turning to professional employer organizations (PEOs), as companies such as San Leandro (Calif.)-based TriNet are called, to be their human-resources managers. Billing themselves as "co-employers" PEOs check references, set up 401(k) plans, and even do the dirty work of firing while generally exercising no more than a veto over key personnel decisions. More than 2.5 million workers are hired through such arrangements, up from 200,000 a decade ago, according to the National Association of Professional Employer Organizations. Most are full-time, permanent employees, not temps. For a small business, the potential benefits are obvious. Imagine if someone else screened job candidates you interviewed, and sorted through health and retirement plans--and then ran them. What small-business owner would not gladly give up scrutinizing compliance with federal and state employment laws? |
| 5/6/2003 | Premium problems | View Article | Fortune | Article on how to get help with insurance issues. Outsource it. Insurance costs became so unmanageable for Frayda Levin, owner of Regent Book in South Hackensack, N.J., that she decided to enlist the help of a professional employer organization (PEO). Giving a small business the insurance advantages of a large company, PEOs (formerly called employee leasing plans) can lower your costs and still offer your employees a wider choice of carriers. The downside? You can't get your insurance questions answered by your on-site HR department anymore. |
| 5/6/2003 | How a PEO can benefit staffers | View Article | Fortune | Quick Q&A on using a PEO. Q: I have a small company with only five employees. If I join a Professional Employee Organization (PEO), will I be able to offer more benefits, such as family leave? What other benefits or drawbacks are there?-- Name withheld A: Whether joining a PEO (also known as an employee leasing arrangement) would be beneficial to your firm is a matter of research. On the plus side: You would remove some administrative work from your "to-do" list. You also would be able to add many employee benefits to the ones you currently offer — usually at lower cost, since PEOs buy large quantities of benefits and can negotiate better deals with vendors than can solo firms. Therefore, benefits such as family leave, pension plans, disability insurance and cafeteria plans, may become more available to your employees, at better pricing. |
| 5/6/2003 | The cheapest way to set up dependent care accounts | View Article | Fortune | Quick Q&A on using a PEO. Well, you've discovered one thing: Cost is a major reason some organizations don't provide certain benefits packages that larger companies can. Call your payroll servicing company, if you use one, and see if it offers and administers low-cost boilerplate plans. Some do -- at a cost of less than $500 per year plus weekly processing fees (about $1 per employee per payroll). Or, as we have previously discussed, find a professional employee organization. A PEO can offer big-company benefits to small companies by grouping many companies together. Again, there are administrative costs built in, but it may provide what you need. Remember, cost is not the only issue. As we like to say over and over, providing good benefits is a great way to attract and keep good workers. |
| 5/6/2003 | How to handle the nitty gritty | View Article | Info USA | Quick notes on using a PEO. PEOs can give you a much-needed recruitment and retention edge over large corporations. "Small businesses need to attract the very best employees," Yager observed. "If you're not able to offer a tight benefit package, how do you stay competitive? Use a PEO." PEOs often provide the only way in which a small business owner can offer Fortune 500-caliber benefits such as retirement savings plans, life insurance, health insurance, vision and dental care, job counseling, and education reimbursement. Employee morale and job satisfaction increase with a PEO, Yager said. In addition to benefits, workers feel secure having human resource materials like employee handbooks and grievance procedures. |
| 5/5/2003 | Is a Professional Employer Organization in your future? | View Article | SmartPros | This article explores the basic advantages that business owners and managers can get from engaging a PEO. For a fee, a Professional Employer Organization (PEO) assumes responsibility and liability for the "business of employment," including risk management, human resources, labor law compliance, payroll, and employment taxes. The Client Company manages product development and production, marketing, sales and service. The PEO and the Client Company contractually allocate some and share other traditional employer responsibilities and liabilities. Thus, both the PEO and the Client Company enjoy an employment relationship with the workers. |
| 5/5/2003 | PEOs endure Workers' Comp Pull Out | View Article | Tampa Bay Biz Journal | Article on the Workers' Compensation insurance troubles being experienced in the some Florida PEOs. When insurance companies that provided workers' compensation coverage to professional employer organizations began pulling out of the Florida market last year, the dominoes started falling. A trickle-down affected large and small businesses. Core Employer Services Inc. in Largo, a large professional employer organization, was among them. The crisis started with the loss of a major workers' comp carrier, CNA Insurance Co. In February 2002, the company announced it would not renew policies for PEOs. |
| 5/5/2003 | Gevity HR Sales Force article | View Article | Sarasota Herald Tribune | Nice article on the turn-around underway at Gevity HR and the new sales VP. The Bradenton professional employer organization, or PEO, has reported five straight quarters of earnings growth. Its stock price has more than doubled since the beginning of the year, and investors and analysts are already cheering. But Gevity, which processes payroll and employee benefits for small to medium-size companies and provides them with human resources consulting services, still faces several major issues. |
| 5/5/2003 | Of checks, balances and outsourcing | View Article | Business Week | Article about where startup companies should spend their time. As your business grows, you may find that you lack the necessary human-resource training, knowledge of regulatory compliance, or background in safety, insurance, and employee-benefit programs to manage your growing workforce. If you don't want to hire a human resources director, you can also look into outsourcing employee management, experts say. TIME IS MONEY. Professional Employer Organizations not only do payroll and tax reporting, they also offer retirement benefits, health insurance, and worker's compensation packages geared to small-business needs. Many payroll services have value-added PEO functions that can be opted into as companies grow. |
| 5/5/2003 | Leased employees and stock options | View Article | Business Week | Article explores the fine lines between contingent workers and regular employees. Increasingly, these workers are professionals hired for specific projects or individuals working full time for PEOs — not temps filling in for someone on vacation. Under a PEO contract, a business places most or all of its work force onto the payroll of a staffing firm, which assumes responsibility for paychecks, benefits, and other human-resource functions. When employee leasing is done right, the staffing agency becomes a human-resources partner for an entrepreneur. |
| 5/5/2003 | Companies turn to PEOs for relief | View Article | Employment Review | Overview of PEOs. Generally PEOs take over human resource management of white-collar or skilled blue-collar companies with anywhere from 10 to 500 employees, and sometimes more. Also, there is not one specific industry that hires PEOs. Services include payroll processing, human resources administration, workers' compensation administration, health-benefits administration and the monitoring of complex government regulatory affairs in a cost-efficient manner. For instance, consolidating all of its clients into a larger organization to gain negotiating leverage allows the PEO to obtain preferred rates on health insurance and other benefits that would otherwise be unavailable to small and midsize businesses. Many PEOs perform additional services such as employee-handbook and policy development, counseling, training and screening of employees, and performance appraisal assistance |
| 5/5/2003 | For PEOs business is booming | View Article | HR Magazine | Article discusses the legal status of PEOs and the growth of the industry. The fundamental appeal of PEOs, the ability to provide employers a complete array of outsourced HR services and expertise, hasn't changed since the industry began in the early 1980s. That basic strength, plus expansion of PEOs' core small-business market, has fueled annual revenue growth rates of 25 percent to 30 percent--a pace industry experts say won't let up any time soon. |
| 5/5/2003 | Free at last! | View Article | Success | The basics of PEOs. A new, fast-growing industry consisting of so-called professional employer organizations (PEOs) has sprung up in the past two decades to help overworked entrepreneurs control time bandits like human-resources and payroll tasks. Sometimes known as employee-leasing firms, these outfits divide with you some of the duties of being an employer, sharing financial responsibility for liabilities, such as sexual-harassment lawsuits, that develop on their watch. |
| 5/5/2003 | HR efficiency without the hassles | View Article | Black Enterprise | Article about why people are turning to PEOs. Many small businesses are partnering with professional employer organizations (PEOs) to handle payroll, worker's compensation, and employment laws and regulations. And by signing on with a PEO, small business owners find they can get a reprieve from everyday HR duties. The PEO and the company split the employer's responsibilities. PEOs handle benefits, 401(k) plans, and labor law compliance issues. The small business is responsible for managing daily work assignments and on-site supervision, ensuring production or service delivery, and providing supplies and equipment to employees. Though state rules vary, the IRS generally considers the PEO to be the employer of record responsible for paying trust fund, income, and employment taxes. |
| 5/5/2003 | The Inc Magazine #1 company for 2002 | View Article | Inc | Article on The Outsource Group. However, PEOs vary in how broadly they define their role under coemployment. The National Association of Professional Employer Organizations believes that PEOs should share the right to hire, reassign, and fire employees. But in those key areas, Grauman prefers to leave his clients in control. The Outsource Group doesn't pretend to be an employer, he explains. For that reason, he prefers to call it an "employee process outsourcing company" rather than a PEO. |
| 7/15/2002 | The professional employer organization is alive and well. | View Article | Boston Business Journal | A PEO executive responds to questions about the health of the PEO industry and recent IRS rulings on benefits plans. Ultimately, PEOs and HROs will be measured by the level of service they provide. The critical difference here is that a PEO enters into a co-employment relationship with their clients. HROs do not. As a result, PEOs partner with their clients, accepting employer responsibility and risk. This is an important advantage for the client company of a PEO. |
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