Money Matters: PEO Payroll Services

As your business continues to grow and add new employees, taking care of the administrative functions of your business can pull attention away from the important daily tasks of running the show. As one of the most important and time-consuming tasks of your company, payroll processing can also distract you from the important daily functions of your business. When you work with a professional employment organization (PEO), your co-employment partner can provide the most efficient payroll system for your business model to reduce the amount of time you spend on payroll. Here are just a few reasons why your small or mid-size business (SMB) should consider using a PEO that offers payroll services.

One of many benefits of co-employment

The National Association of Professional Employer Organizations states that co-employment is the contractual allocation and sharing of employer responsibilities between a PEO and its client. Under a co-employment agreement, employees are technically employed by both you, the business owner, and the PEO, or co-employer.

You handle all daily duties and core job functions of your employees and you make all decisions about which applicants to hire and which employees to dismiss. The PEO does not supply or make decisions about your workforce; instead the co-employer supplies services and benefits to you and your workforce. You maintain control of all of your business decisions and operations, while the PEO manages employee-related responsibilities like payroll, benefits, and HR administration.

Business owners who align with a PEO in a co-employment relationship transfer a substantial portion of the risk and responsibilities associated with employees to the co-employer. The structure of the relationship allows your PEO to offer better benefits and benefit options, handling of wage and employment tax responsibility, freedom from the responsibility of reporting, collecting and depositing the taxes with state and federal authorities, and assistance with workers’ compensation coverage and claim management.

Your company remains the primary employer. You’ll still maintain control over managing your employees’ daily to-dos and core job functions as well as maintaining your organizational structure. As the co-employer, the PEO takes on certain, specific employer obligations, as set forth in your service agreement. This allows the PEO to handle functions such as payroll, benefits, tax remittance and related government filings. Because it acts as an employer for those purposes, the PEO can assume a greater amount of responsibility than, for example, a payroll company. To learn more, check out How the Co-Employment Model Really Works.

The skills and knowledge you need

Doing payroll is so much more than just tracking hours and making out a check for your employees. Keeping up with the constant changes in local, state, and federal employment law, tax changes, and other payroll-related regulations can be daunting for any SMB owner. Ensuring that the proper amount of taxes are withheld and that those taxes are paid on time to the right government agencies can take up an enormous amount of your time that could otherwise be spent on growing your business.

Without the aid of payroll professionals, many SMBs fall victim to missed payment deadlines that can result in heavy penalties or, worse, find that they didn’t withhold the proper amount of taxes from their employees payroll – which can have significant impacts for both your company and your employees. From ensuring that payroll and payments are made on time to ensuring that withholdings are always correct, the payroll services that a PEO provides can really come in handy for many SMBs. Not only do they save you the time and hassle of payroll processing, your PEO payroll partner can also reduce your legal liabilities and help you avoid costly penalties. Read The Rise of Small Businesses Using PEOs to explore more of the many reasons small and medium-size businesses (SMBs) choose to work with PEOS.

One less thing to distract you from your business

Your PEO partner processes payroll for your employees, including managing the regular compensation of your employees, along with payroll record maintenance and management, compliance, online paystubs and W-2s, payroll management reports, garnishment and deduction administration and PTO accruals.

Payroll administration takes away the hassle of completing your employee payroll and doing it accurately each time. Direct deposits or checks, job costing, garnishments and deductions, and PTO tracking are some of the tedious and complicated tasks that our payroll service happily takes over for you. If your company utilizes the services of non-traditional workers, check out our articles are PEOs and the Gig Economy and Independent Contractors: Correctly Classifying 1099s.

Solutions that save you time and money

Don’t let payroll processing get the better of you and your team. Even if you already have an in-house HR team, Sheakley’s PEO experts have the skills and expertise to deliver top-notch human resources solutions to meet the needs of your company. The technology tools offered by Sheakley allow for easier management of your employees PTO, vacation, check stubs and W-2s. The training and on-going education opportunities Sheakley offers to your supervisory staff will ensure that the day-to-day management of your business remains compliant.

Learn more about Sheakley’s PEO team and contact us for your free consultation today. Stay up-to-date on all things Sheakley by subscribing to our blog and following us on social media. Join in the discussion by commenting below.