Payroll Services

By Dylan Mazeika

To understand Payroll Leasing Companies the small business owner must first understand the concept of Professional Employer Organization. The small business and the PEO become partners where the employer provides the work area and the PEO provides the workers.

• The PEO is responsible for wage payment in the co-employment relationship, as well as the regulation of workers' compensation claims and other administrative functions related to the assigned employees.


• The PEO is responsible the regulatory paperwork and compliance issues.


• The PEO can advise managers on proper termination procedures, proper disciplinary procedures and more.


• The PEO supplies the client and/or its worksite employees with unemployment insurance, workers' compensation insurance, Employment Practices Liability Insurance (EPLI), a 401(k) Plan, a Section 125 Plan, health insurance, voluntary insurance products and a variety of other employee benefits programs.


• The client remains accountable for directing and controlling the daily activities of the employees assigned to its worksite.


• The client remains responsible for maintaining a safe work environment.


• The client remains responsible for tracking actual hours worked and relaying those hours to the PEO for processing.


• The client is responsible for ensuring payroll funds are paid to the PEO.

Payroll leasing is a solution for companies that for whatever reason cannot afford to or do not get a dedicated accounting team to manage all the payroll issues. Payroll, tax reporting, human resources and compliance with laws can be extremely complicated and might deter people from getting into business. Payroll leasing companies can alleviate you of this burden and allow you and your workers to focus on what they do best - fulfilling your company's mission and purpose.

Top companies to consider

Before entering into any deals with a PEO provider, you should also check out their rating on the Better Business Bureau website. This is probably the most important step, because even though you hire a company and they take responsibility and liability for many issues, ultimately, as a CEO you are still responsible for the services your firm uses.

Some of the features that you will need to account for are:

• Do they allow you to offer your own benefits?
• Time clock or attendance system available?
• Can you call in payroll?
• Do they offer local HR resource for support?
• Do they offer recruiting services?
• Can employees access their benefits on line?
• Can employees make changes to their records online?

When should you consider a payroll leasing company?

This solution is a good idea for companies that simply do not have the time to deal with the requirements of managing the payroll and human resources issues that come with running a company. Often, a payroll leasing company can be less expensive than hiring an HR team or a payroll division. Many companies fall into the trap of having to take competent staff away from important duties to deal with payroll issues for 1-2 weeks per month.