PEOs & the Philadelphia Area As you may be aware Independence Blue Cross recently introduced a PEO offering into the Pennsylvania market/Greater Philadelphia area through a partnership with Clear PEO.

As a leading independent broker in the Northeast, Total Benefit Solutions, Inc.  has experience with PEOs and helping group clients find the best choices to put you in the strongest possible position to shop and compare PEO’s and traditional health benefits.

In fact, Total Benefit Solutions, Inc. has already been partnering with established PEO’s for a number of years.

THE BASICS OF PEOs PEO is an acronym for Professional Employer Organization and it is a business entity that helps service other businesses in the areas of Employee Benefits, Payroll Administration, Human Resources, and Risk Management. There are currently between 800-1000 PEOs operating in the United States, servicing approximately 160,000-180,000 small- and mid-sized businesses.

OUR PEO KNOWLEDGE We have effectively compared PEO partnerships and are now expanding our PEO solutions to our other clients including those in Pennsylvania , New Jersey, New York, Maryland, Delaware, Florida and others nationally. We can help you quickly navigate the complex PEO market and receive quotes from multiple companies, offering a variety of services.

SHOPPING A PEO IS DIFFERENT THAN A TRADITIONAL BENEFITS PLAN While each PEO is different in how they value the client relationship, these are a few things to consider when considering a PEO: typically when a broker is attached to a specific client, the PEO will work with that broker on the service, enrollments and renewal. Partnering with Total Benefit Solutions, Inc will ensure that  we are included and engaged in the renewal process. Why is this important? Because we are there for accountability purposes! If you are working directly with a PEO, we are not there to support you, but keeping us as part of your team means we are also there to help keep things running smoothly and we will make recommendations upon renewal that may mean changing carriers or PEO’s!

Some of the larger PEOs only have a direct sales force, and some will work with independent brokers like us, so it helps to have your impartial broker who understands the complexities of benefits as well as the PEO world.

WHY DO SOME EMPLOYERS CHOOSE PEOs
Consolidate Administrative Processes
Reduce Employment Risk & Labor Costs
Return Focus to Core Business
Streamline Benefits Processing
Single Point Onboarding & Invoicing
Shared Risk and Administrative Burden

WHY DO SOME EMPLOYERS AVOID PEOs?
Inability to carve out certain benefits or vendors
Trusted relationships with sub advisors
Higher costs in certain areas outweigh benefits in other areas

IS IT THE RIGHT SOLUTION? PEO’s can be a viable and reasonable alternative for a smaller group. But it is important to understand the differences involved with co-employment and the impact on your employees and ultimately their satisfaction with their employer.

If you are in a situation in which PEO services are being considered, don’t do it alone, please contact your Total Benefit Solutions, Inc. account manager at (215)355-2121 to help guide you through the process and make sure you are getting the proper representation from more than one perspective.