Start working with a PEO today to stay competitive with comprehensive employee benefits and HR support. At PrestigePEO, we make it simple to get started. We will connect with your health insurance broker first, then get you started with us and learn your unique challenges and needs.

With PrestigePEO, you’ll have access to competitive, tailored employee benefits packages to support your workforce with the perks they desire. PEOs make it easier for you to provide and manage these benefits as an SMB.

Investing in your employees through benefits pays off with long-term talent retention and business growth.

Elevate your employee benefits and attract top talent with PrestigePEO. Click here to learn more about our comprehensive offerings and schedule a consultation with our experts.

Even with the high cost of employee benefits, the investment is worth it in the long run. Consider these key value points:

Employees who are adequately supported with benefits are more likely to be productive. This contributes to a better company culture and creates more potential for business growth. For example, one study found that for every dollar invested in more robust depression and anxiety treatment, which can be part of insurance coverage, there is a return of $4 in improved employee health and productivity.

Modern employees want to work for companies with better benefits offerings. They want to improve their work-life balance, and they expect their employer to play a part. SMBs can thus attract better talent and strengthen their brand perception in the industry with more attractive benefits.

The right employee benefits investments are those that carefully balance cost with value. These six strategies can help SMBs minimize impact while improving workplace satisfaction:

Flexibility is key for today’s employees to obtain value from their benefits. Consider options like flexible spending accounts (FSAs), which help people save for healthcare expenses in tax-advantageous accounts. Options like these give employees more control over their benefits so they can invest in what’s most important to them.

A great way for SMBs to maximize benefits value is to enter partnerships that give them access to more affordable – yet more competitive – employee benefits packages.

PEOs, for example, leverage their group negotiating power by pooling employees from multiple client companies, allowing them to secure better pricing and terms for benefits like health insurance and workers’ compensation. This gives SMBs access to comprehensive employee benefits typically reserved for larger corporations, helping them attract and retain top talent while reducing costs.

Incorporate a digital platform, such as benefits software, into your HR processes; this can help you reduce administrative costs, avoid time-consuming errors and improve the bottom line.

Because HR and employee benefits management can be very burdensome to SMBs, consider outsourcing these tasks. One way is by working with a PEO, which can also offer bundled employee benefits solutions and much more.

The government offers many types of tax breaks for SMBs and employee benefits. For example, you can take tax deductions for employer-sponsored retirement plans. Tax incentives can help your SMB save money each year.

PEOs help SMBs with everyday HR tasks, but they also help them access and afford better employee benefits. And when SMBs invest more into benefits, they see trends like higher retention and satisfaction.

For example: Jamie Castagna, business manager at Morey Creative in Syosset, NY, reports the business saw a 30% decrease in health insurance rates when working with PrestigePEO for employee benefits assistance.

A PEO increases buying power, so businesses can obtain premium benefits at lower costs.

Another law that still applies to your remote staff is the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). This legislation outlines requirements for leave should employees experience certain medical or family issues.

Here are the basics:

• Employees can have up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave with job protection for:
  • A family or medical reason including having a baby, adopting a child, caring for a family member with a serious health condition or getting a serious health condition that impacts their ability to perform their job.
• Employees can have up to 26 weeks of unpaid leave per year to care for a family member with a serious injury or illness.
• To qualify for these benefits, employees must have worked for more than a year for the employer, worked at least 1,250 hours over that year and worked at a location where there are 50 or more employees within 75 miles.

Any remote workers who meet these requirements are covered by the FMLA.

In addition, almost half of state governments have laws in place to accommodate paid sick leave, which also applies to remote workers. Check your state’s laws surrounding leave.

Certain federal laws also require that employers post notices where employees can see them, outlining rights and responsibilities. Since remote employees may not travel to a central office for work, these notices can be posted on the company’s intranet, or you can send hard copies to remote employees.

Workers’ compensation laws also apply to remote workers. This insurance covers injuries sustained by employees in the course of their employment, so if they’re doing work-related tasks remotely and get injured, you may have to submit a workers’ compensation claim.

Workers’ comp carriers have a specific code for “work from home” employees. Pay attention to your state’s laws regarding workers’ compensation. Talk to a professional employer organization (PEO) when you’re not sure which steps you’re required to take.

Unfortunately, when employees work from a state different than the company’s location, legal requirements get more complicated. For example, each state has different minimum wage laws, and those laws apply to employees who physically work in that state.

If the company is in one state and a worker telecommutes from another, the employer must be careful to follow that other state’s laws, too. These situations are dictated by wherever the employee is performing the work.

States also typically require that an employer obtains workers’ compensation and unemployment insurance in whichever state the employee is working in. You may also have to start withholding state income taxes for your remote employees in the other state and even filing and paying taxes there.

Finally, be prepared to address risks of remote workers that don’t exist for in-office workers. For instance, say you are unaware that one of your employees works in another state for part of the year, perhaps at a vacation home. If they file a claim to receive disability or unemployment benefits in that state, the state government will be alerted that they’re working there and may see that you didn’t report their wages for tax purposes. You may be subject to fines if you didn’t withhold in that state.

Strengthen company policies to avoid this risk. Require workers to notify you if they’ll be working anywhere new. Let them know why it’s important and how it can also create issues for their personal tax situation. If an employee is going to move states and has your approval to do so, get to know all applicable employment laws for that state to ensure compliance.

There are simple but insightful metrics that tell you about HR and company culture. Here are seven great places to start, which relate to both your employees and your customers:

Employee satisfaction can make or break a company. Happy workers are more productive and contribute to a more positive work culture. They are committed to the job and the organization.

Unsatisfied employees, on the other hand, don’t perform as well, contribute to dwindling morale and are more likely to leave an organization.

Start measuring employee satisfaction by building open, honest dialogue into your onboarding and offboarding processes. Keep track of what’s working and what’s not.

Start measuring how many employees are taking advantage of your perks and benefits, which can indicate satisfaction and engagement. Additionally, a PEO partner can help track and make sure participation meets carrier standard minimums and communicate to you when there is reason for concern.

Calculate the benefits participation rate this way:

Due to economic shifts and industry trends, employee priorities are always changing. Employees continue to value and prioritize health insurance, wellness incentives, retirement savings accounts and other perks.

Your employee benefits package is just as important as the salaries you offer.

Whether you’re selecting a benefits package for the first time or it’s time to consider your open enrollment update for the next plan year, it’s important to ensure you’re satisfying employees and staying aligned with your mission. This guide will help you understand why it’s so important to choose the right plan, and how to establish a stronger program that will attract and retain great talent.

This is why businesses are more frequently negotiating employee benefits, such as paid time off, retirement or wellness perks, when making a job offer to top talent to sweeten the deal. Candidates will leverage what they can, even outside of their salary, to find the right situation for their lifestyle and goals.

Why? Because the landscape continues to change with employee vs employer expectations.

Prioritizing benefits that employees can afford and value helps them establish and maintain more work-life integration. Selecting the right employee benefits plan is critical for workplace satisfaction and engagement. When workers feel like they’re supported at work, they’re more likely to stay, helping you reduce turnover.

Additionally, when you can build and launch a competitive employee benefits plan, you’ll attract and retain top talent in your industry. Focus on selecting the benefits package that meets the expectations of the employees you hope to hire and retain.

In today’s job climate, where employees are looking for better salaries and employee benefits and more satisfying positions, your company need to keep up. Legal insurance can make a big difference, helping your employees improve their quality of life while you stay competitive as an employer.

Consider these key benefits of legal insurance:

A big issue for Americans is the ability to pay for the legal services they need. According to a report from the Legal Services Corporation, low-income Americans can’t get the legal help they need for 92% of their substantial civil legal problems. Offering legal coverage helps your team members cover these costs.

Legal insurance isn’t nearly as expensive as most health insurance plans. It varies from provider to provider, but premiums can be as low as $10 per month, up to about $25 per month. Compare that to the average hourly attorney rate of nearly $400.

Buying a home is a common goal – around 4 in 10 Americans said they’re planning to buy a home in 2024. A big part of that process can be working with an attorney to guide them through and ensure their best interests are being represented, which is an important step, especially for first-time home buyers.

Legal issues concerning family law impact millions of people every year. These issues are related to marriage and families and include divorce, child custody battles, alimony, division of property, domestic violence, adoption and others. Any time an employee deals with these emotionally distressing issues, legal insurance helps them resolve the matter with the help of the legal professional of their choice.

Estate planning can be complicated. Employees may want to work with an attorney to create wills, trusts, a power of attorney, advanced health care directives or retirement accounts. These steps are critical for workers to protect their families’ assets and set up a plan for later in life.

Legal conflicts and lawsuits can take a toll on employees, especially when they don’t have help to resolve them. They can become expensive fast, as attorneys may charge hundreds of dollars per hour to work on a complex case, not to mention the stress and loss of time spent on these issues. Legal insurance helps your employees avoid dealing with disputes on their own.

Employers should do everything they can to stay competitive, especially in a job market like ours, where top talent increases its expectations and requirements each year. Providing legal insurance helps you show a new level of employee support, offering a benefit that other companies aren’t offering.

On the business side of things, you need to start preparing early. Open enrollment should be a year-round priority, not just once per year. These tips will help you implement open enrollment best practices:

Employees need to know well in advance that open enrollment is coming. They need to plan for what they want to change, especially if they’re going through life changes outside of work. Clearly communicate about upcoming dates they need to know, any changes you’re making to their benefits offerings and key deadlines they need to follow.

Part of open enrollment preparation on the business end is budgeting. Carefully weigh the benefits your employees want with what is realistic. A major benefit of working with a PEO is access to premium benefits normally reserved for large companies because of the PEO’s purchasing power.

Incorporate tech tools that help you improve the enrollment process even more. PEOs offer access to innovative, convenient HR tech and software that allow employees to view options and make selections from their computer or smartphone. This can make the process more efficient for them and for your HR staff.

Track enrollment process as employees are learning and the open enrollment period begins. Be proactive about individual roles and processes to quickly address any issues and concerns as they arise.

On the employee side, take these steps to support your workforce to ensure open enrollment success:

Motivate employees to remain active participants in their benefits selections. Involve them in new technology implementation and ensure they understand every option they have for proper review and decision-making.

Employees will succeed with more personalized assistance during open enrollment. They may have specific questions or concerns about their benefits that deserve more one-on-one attention.

The more informed employees are, the better decisions they’ll make for themselves and their families. Resources you could provide include employee benefits comparison charts, decision guides and cost calculators. Make sure employees know who to contact with questions about enrollment questions and challenges.

Review how employee procedures went after open enrollment is over. Put survey mechanisms in place to gather feedback from the workforce about how the enrollment process went. Ask for areas they think could improve and for suggestions they have for the future.