SUPREME COURT’S WORKPLACE DECISIONS WILL KEEP PEOS ON THEIR TOES FOR THE REST OF 2022

The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) has certainly received much attention in recent weeks, but PEOs need to keep their eyes on the highest court in the land for an altogether different reason: The decisions we have already seen—and soon expect to see—from SCOTUS in 2022 will alter the landscape of workplace law. We’ve seen two big workplace law decisions already this year, we expect another one in the next month, and the court just accepted review of another case we will most likely see decided around the end of the year.

• LEGAL & LEGISLATIVE

WORKPLACE VIOLENCE: HELPING CLIENTS CREATE A CULTURE OF CIVILITY

While workplace violence incidents may not have dominated the news cycle during COVID, incidents of workplace violence have increased over the past three years. According to one recent survey conducted by a major insurance carrier, 34 percent of small and mid-sized businesses experienced at least one employee threat or violent incident. This article examines some of the fundamental causes of workplace violence and the unique value PEOs can bring to their clients in addressing workplace violence and workplace culture issues.

• RISK

CYBERSECURITY FOR PEOS

With the recent rise of cybercrimes, PEOs, like many businesses, must now recognize that data security in cyberspace and in their own systems is of the utmost importance for the safety of not only themselves but also for their clients.

• CYBERSECURITY & TECHNOLOGY

LONG-TERM LEAD NURTURING

The prospecting your team does today often doesn’t result in closed business for several weeks or months. How do you keep a prospect engaged for an extended sales cycle? How do you keep your qualified leads from going into a “black hole?”    Longer sales cycles and shortened attention spans are often deal-breakers, but lead nurturing gives you an advantage when it comes to converting prospects and building trust. 

• SALES & MARKETING

NAPEO FEDERAL GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS

Since 2018, NAPEO has found itself caught up in a series of federal legislative and regulatory issues.

• LEGAL & LEGISLATIVE

PEO 2.0

Cognition: The mental action or process of acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought, experience, and the senses. Digital disruption has transformed the way businesses operate. Consider this: The world’s largest retailer has no physical stores, the world’s largest hotelier owns no hotels, and the world’s largest taxi company owns no cabs. Amazon, Airbnb, and Uber have all disrupted their respective industries. Looking back, the level of disruption resulting from the recent wave of digital transformation is truly astounding. 

PEO INDEX REFLECTS UNIQUE ECONOMIC ENVIRONMENT

Looking at this month’s PEO Index, it appears at first glance that gross domestic product (GDP) is taking off and the PEO Index is lagging. However, the unique employment environment of today belies first impressions. 

• SALES & MARKETING

PEO News

Acquisitions, Philanthropy, Anniversaries, Expansions, Awards

WHAT HAVE BEEN THE GREATEST CHALLENGES IN STARTING UP YOUR PEO?

Decent launched in Austin, Texas, last year. Our team comes from the world of...

WHY NOW IS THE TIME FOR PEOS

Scholars, leaders, and researchers often speak about how widespread catastrophes or crises can lead to re-evalutions, new perspectives, and dramatic changes that affect various areas of society. COVID is a prime example that certainly fits into this scenario. For business leaders, it illuminated the importance of a sophisticated human resources department. It drove home the need to focus on people and develop a robust people strategy for business success. 

Employee Retention Tax Credits

The Employee Retention Tax Credit (ERTC) was designed to give relief to employers that retained their employees, whether working or not, by paying them throughout COVID. Initially, employers could get $5,000 total per employee for the whole year of 2020. The parameters changed in 2021, giving employers the opportunity to claim $7,000 per employee, per quarter, for the first three quarters of 2021. While this is a great idea in theory, the mechanics of administering it are very burdensome for PEOs. 

• LEGAL & LEGISLATIVE
• PAYROLL

NAPEO’s 2022 PEO Capitol Summit

Laws and regulations that impact PEOs change every day, and NAPEO’s PEO Capitol Summit is the only event focused specifically and exclusively on compliance and emerging legal issues for PEOs. Attendees will benefit from the opportunity to gather in the nation’s capital with PEO owners, senior managers, legal advisors, and HR professionals for valuable policy discussions, legal analysis, and lobbying opportunities. Highlights of the conference include industry expert discussions of PEO industry hot topics that deliver practical information on applying legal concepts to your management decisions and day-to-day operations, a chance to ask the experts your burning questions, and the opportunity to hear from leading lawmakers and policy gurus. 

NEWS AND STATISTICS

THE IMPACT OF COVID ON HOURLY WORKERS The COVID pandemic has had a big impact on hourly wage workers in America. The United Way of the National Capital Area recently surveyed more than 1,000 American workers about how they felt about working during the pandemic and how they feel about their wages. Some companies have increased their wages, but others have struggled to keep staff. 

Recent Developments in Cybersecurity

As hackers continue to target critical infrastructure sectors, attempt to steal personal data, threaten to release such data, and collect ransom, the need for more regulation and corporate diligence could not be more necessary.

• CYBERSECURITY & TECHNOLOGY

Remember the Alamo

Nearly 200 years ago, a fiercely determined band of Texas soldiers in San Antonio prepared for imminent attack from the Mexican army. As they fortified their defensive positions, urgent calls for reinforcements were dispatched. Unfortunately, their pleas were not heeded in time to stop General Santa Anna’s forces from laying siege to the Alamo and killing all her defenders. The Battle of the Alamo is central to the founding history of Texas, which declared its independence from Mexico on March 2, 1836, a mere four days before Santa Anna’s forces attacked. 

• PEO PROFILES

Sharpening Your Sales Team’s Business Acumen

The PEO sale is a complex sale. To be successful at selling PEO, salespeople should have a real-world understanding of human resources practices, from hiring to retiring and all the drama in between. They should be knowledgeable about: • Employment regulations; • Workers’ compensation and regulations; • Risk management; • Employee benefits, administration, and regulations; • Payroll, payroll forms, payroll taxes, and regulations; • Time and attendance systems; and  • HR technology. 

• SALES & MARKETING

The CSA in a Multi-State Environment

As the industry has grown over the years, PEOs have evolved naturally in the direction of multi-state operations. This has always been true, but the pace or scope of this effect accelerated with the rise of remote work during the pandemic.  The PEO client service agreement (CSA) is a challenging document. The complexities and ambiguities of the PEO arrangement require a lengthy contract to reasonably address the risks and to protect the PEO. These challenges are magnified by the need to address state-by-state issues. 

• LEGAL & LEGISLATIVE
• RISK

The Mysterious WC Carve-Out Arrangement

The term “carve-out” is commonly used in the industry, but how it works may not be quite as clear. For those who are not familiar with the term, it describes an arrangement in which the onsite client secures its own direct workers’ compensation coverage for its workforce. Because that client has contracted to be in a PEO arrangement, the co-employees performing services for that client are covered under the client’s own workers’ compensation insurance policy, not the PEO’s policy. Typically, that coverage is sufficient and no other problems arise. 

• RISK

A Scaling Roadmap for Your PEO

All PEOs start somewhere and create systems that work for them. Eventually, if the goal is to grow, scalable systems and operations need to be in place to sustain the PEO’s growth, along with the right people who can manage and execute these operations. Scaling can create many benefits for the PEO: ongoing client satisfaction, a great employee experience for team members, hitting growth targets, and ensuring profitability over the long-term. This is hard work, and it’s not for the faint of heart. Therefore, I hope to put together a practical guide to give you a roadmap for scalability.

• FINANCE & OPERATIONS

Big Changes on the Way for Employee Arbitration Agreements

Despite being described as more deeply divided than ever, Congress found a way to pass the Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act (EFASASHA). President Biden has said he will will sign the bill into law, and may have already done so by the time this article goes to press. This means all employees subject to arbitration agreements will have the right to choose whether to bring covered claims in arbitration or in court, even if they previously signed a PEO’s mandatory arbitration agreement. This development significantly impacts PEOs from both an operational standpoint and a liability standpoint. 

• LEGAL & LEGISLATIVE

NEWS, STATISTICS

Member News • Statistics • Industry News

PEOs Make 2022 the Great Rejuvenation

2021 was filled with many story lines and trends that impacted PEO worksite employers. One of those story lines that will continue in 2022 is The Great Resignation. According to the Department of Labor (DOL), 47 million American voluntarily quit their jobs in 2021. In November and December of 2021, 4.5 and 4.3 million Americans quit their jobs, accelerating the quit rate to 3 percent. It has also been recently reported that the unemployment rate dropped below 4 percent, but there are still 10 million open positions across the country. 

PEOS Remained Confident as They Closed 2021 Despite Omicron Dominating the U.S.

Steady growth continued for PEOs in the fourth quarter of 2021, despite the dominance of the Omicron variant in the U.S., as shown in the Q4 2021 NAPEO PEO Pulse survey results.

Stop Copying Me!

Back in the late fall of 2008, when we started Premier Employer Services, Inc. here in Denver, Colorado, my partner at the time and I went back and forth trying to find the perfect name, with little luck. We finally settled on the name, but I must be honest with you—I never liked the name; it was too bland and way too long. We had nothing else, so we opened the doors and away we went. The name was never so bad that it rose to the top of the “important things to address” list. Every once in a while, someone would mention it and I would remark that I wanted to change it, but it was never an emergency. I continued to struggle with coming up with anything better.

• PEO PROFILES
• SALES & MARKETING