AMPLIFYING THE PEO STORY

Each year National Small Business Week (May 3-9) shines a well-deserved spotlight on the entrepreneurs and employers who drive innovation, create jobs and support communities across the country. For our industry, it also serves as a powerful backdrop for reinforcing the essential role that PEOs play in helping these businesses succeed.

That’s why May is such an important month for our industry. Alongside National Small Business Week, we celebrate National PEO Week (May 17-23), a dedicated opportunity to highlight the impact of PEOs and the clients we serve. It’s a moment to amplify our voice, share success stories and demonstrate how PEOs strengthen the economy.

PEO Advocacy Day during PEO Capitol Summit is a chance to focus this message on lawmakers and their staff. There is no substitute for face-to-face conversations. When policymakers hear firsthand how PEOs support small businesses in their districts—helping them retain employees, stay compliant and grow—it transforms abstract policy discussions into real-world impact.

While I look forward to many of you joining us this year, PEO Advocacy Day is not a substitute for sustained engagement year-round. NAPEO’s new advocacy toolkit (which will be unveiled soon) contains industry fact sheets, data and messaging guides along with information and best practices on submitting letters to the editor. The goal is to better equip you to communicate with local, state and federal policymakers. The more consistently and clearly we tell the PEO story, the more successful our advocacy efforts – like IRS modernization and passing H.R. 3223 – will be.

NAPEO PAC is another powerful tool to facilitate direct engagement with lawmakers. I appreciate everyone who has already contributed to NAPEO PAC this year, but we need much more support to reach our goals. The PAC allows us to build relationships with influential lawmakers, cultivate PEO industry champions and enhance our influence in Washington.

A misguided policy that fails to properly consider the PEO relationship can have adverse consequences for your businesses and the clients you serve. That’s why it matters that lawmakers understand how PEOs operate and the value they bring to small businesses.

I encourage each of you to take part in celebrating National PEO Week (check out the toolkit) whether through social media, activities in your communities or attending PEO Capitol Summit to help us succeed in amplifying our industry’s voice. As the needs of small businesses continue to evolve, the demand for innovative solutions has never been greater. PEOs can be that solution for millions of American businesses. That’s something worth celebrating.