Have you reached that threshold in small business ownership where you’re able to acknowledge that you’re not a superhero? That’s practically what you’d have to be to successfully grow your business and perfectly manage the day-to-day administrative duties at the same time. If you’re like other smart business owners, you’ve embraced your mere mortal status and elected to outsource human resources and the tedious tasks associated with it to a Professional Employer Organization (PEO).

1. 1
Share Your Liabilities
With A PEO
Unmasking the super power
of co-employment
Produced & Distributed by G&A Partners

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What’s so super about co-employment?
Outsourcing administrative responsibilities is a smart strategy for employers who want
to focus on the fundamentals of their business. However, under most HR outsourcing
structures, the company is still carrying all of the burdens and risks of being an employer:
penalties for late payroll tax submissions, workers’ comp claims, wrongful termination
lawsuits, and the list goes on.
Co-employment is often disguised within the shadows of HR outsourcing and can be easily
misunderstood, but it’s a relatively straight-forward legal structure that allows a PEO to
be the “employer of record” for your company’s employees. What’s so super about that?
It provides you a sort of business insurance that no other outsourcing structure can -- it
allows you to share some of your employment liabilities with your PEO.
There are various ways to structure an administrative or HR outsourcing arrangement, and
each has its strengths and weaknesses. Most full-service PEOs can structure their offering
to match your needs, but before you can uncover the power of sharing certain liabilities
through co-employment with a PEO, it is helpful to understand the distinction between
the various models.
Have you reached that threshold in small business ownership where you’re able
to acknowledge that you’re not a superhero? That’s practically what you’d have
to be to successfully grow your business and perfectly manage the day-to-day
administrative duties at the same time. If you’re like other smart business owners,
you’ve embraced your mere mortal status and elected to outsource human
resources and the tedious tasks associated with it to a Professional Employer
Organization (PEO). Maybe you’re already experiencing the benefits of outsourcing
your payroll or benefits administration: reduced costs, limited paperwork and
minimal time and effort. But are you familiar with your mild-mannered PEO’s true
super power called co-employment?
Share Your Liabilities With A PEO: Unmasking the
super power of co-employment
Position Your Company For Success

3. 3
Comparing outsourcing models
Administrative Service Outsourcing (ASO)
Under an Administrative Service Outsourcing (ASO) arrangement, a service provider
performs the administrative duties associated with one or more of your back office
functions. Outsourcing tedious tasks, like payroll, HR or benefits administration, is very
common. An administrative service provider can collect payroll data and cut checks or
make direct deposits to your employees’ account. They can also conduct open enrollment
for insurance benefits and assist in submitting benefit premiums on time. This can
alleviate an administrative burden, but you and your company are still responsible for
seeing that everything is done correctly and fully liable for any mistakes that might occur
in the process.
Human Resource Outsourcing (HRO)
Using the Human Resource Outsourcing (HRO) model, a professional service provider
essentially becomes an adjunct HR department for your company. Not only can they assist
with administering payroll and benefits, but they can also help with hiring, training,
compensation, succession planning and termination of employees. Outsourcing HR
provides companies access to a breadth and depth of HR expertise that they often can’t
sustain within their own in-house HR departments, but many of the responsibilities and all
of the risks associated with employment still remain.
PEOs & Co-Employment
Unlike other HR outsourcing arrangements, in a co-employment relationship, a PEO
becomes the employer of record to your workers. So in addition to assuming much
of the responsibilities for your
company’s complex employee matters,
such as employee relations, health
benefits, workers’ compensation
claims administration, payroll
administration, payroll tax compliance,
and unemployment insurance claims,
a PEO also shares some of the risks of
employment with you. That means that
the PEO can share certain liability for monetary fees, penalties, or settlement obligations
that can result from administrative mistakes and missed deadlines. (But thankfully,
because the PEO is managing those administrative processes, such mishaps are rare.)
Position Your Company For Success
“So in addition to assuming much
of the responsibilities for your
company’s complex employee
matters ... a PEO also shares some of
the risks of employment with you.”

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Look! Up in the sky! ... Co-employment & liability sharing
Despite its ability to share certain liabilities (in a single bound), co-employment can be a
frightening concept for business owners. If you relinquish some responsibilities for your
employees, doesn’t it stand to reason that you are also handing over a certain degree
of control? Not at all. While co-employment is indeed a paradigm shift, the changes are
procedural, not fundamental. You still determine your strategic objectives, you still dictate
your company’s agenda, and most importantly, you still direct your employees’ activities.
The biggest change you and your employees will experience is in employment and
administrative processes, and if you pick the right PEO to partner with, the change is for
the better. Things run smoother and demand a lot less of your time, because experienced
HR professionals carefully oversee and seamlessly execute proven administrative
procedures.
If you still aren’t convinced, that’s okay. To further unmask the power of co-employment
and liability sharing, let’s walk through a few examples that better illustrate the point.
Tax Structuring
A small commercial printing company has outsourced its payroll administration to a payroll
service provider for nearly a decade. Over the years, the service provider has done a very
good job. Payroll is almost always perfect and they even submit payroll taxes for the small
company accurately and on time. That is, until they didn’t.
When their client companies started to shrink, the payroll service provider was forced to
cut a few key employees, including the woman that had managed the printing company’s
account for four years. As you might expect, a few things fell through the cracks, including
a notice of taxes due. However, when the small
company was hit with penalties for late taxes, the
only reparation from their service provider was a
sincere and heartfelt apology.
A qualified PEO is just as capable of executing
flawless payroll as an administrative service
provider. Within a co-employment arrangement, however, the PEO is listed as the
employer of record with certain taxing authorities, and thus becomes responsible for state
and federal payroll taxes. That means that the PEO’s proverbial neck is on the line, not
yours, to pay any penalties or fees if a mistake occurs.
Position Your Company For Success
“... the PEO’s proverbial neck
is on the line, not yours, to
pay any penalties or fees if a
mistake occurs.”

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Safety & Risk Management
After several years in an HRO arrangement, an accident-prone manufacturing company
decided to enter into a co-employment agreement with a PEO. As co-employer, the PEO
maintained a much lower Experience Modifier Rate (EMR), so the company was able to
significantly reduce the amount it paid in workers’ compensation insurance premiums.
Plus, thanks to the PEO’s better-rated workers’ comp coverage, the manufacturer became
eligible to bid on and win several government contracts.
The PEO also took responsibility for submitting workers’ comp premium payments and
conducting the company’s yearend workers’ comp audit, so there were no costly mistakes
or miscodings. Better still, under the co-employment arrangement, the manufacturing
company no longer had to pay a workers’ comp deposit, and in fact, when they cancelled
their previous policy, their prior carrier refunded their original deposit. The company
was able to reallocate that money to purchase a new piece of machinery for the plant.
Best of all, because the PEO ramped up the safety training for employees throughout the
company, the company experienced noticeably fewer workplace accidents and they saw a
sizable decrease in the cost of claims filed.
PEO professionals may know little about operating machinery inside a manufacturing
plant, but they know how to make HR and administrative processes run like a well-oiled
machine. It’s what they do, and because they do it for a multitude of clients and serve
as co-employer for thousands of worksite employees, PEOs experience a lower average
occurrence of accidents and can maintain A-rated workers’ comp coverage. But only their
co-employment clients can reap the benefits of that.
Benefits Administration
When a growing family-owned business engaged a PEO, their new partner quickly
discovered some outstanding issues with regard to benefits administration. For starters,
the company had continued to pay costly health insurance premiums for several employees
who’d been terminated months earlier. Over
the past year, these extra premiums cost the
company more than $100,000.
Paying unnecessary premiums is like spilling
cash. (And like any spill, once the money is
dispersed it can rarely be recouped.) Sadly
though, paying excess premiums is relatively common for companies attempting to
manage their own benefits. PEOs, however, have proven processes that prevent excess
premiums from ever happening.
Position Your Company For Success
“Paying unnecessary premiums
is like spilling cash. (And like any
spill, once the money is dispersed
it can rarely be recouped.)”

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Human Resource Management
A large law firm has an excellent working relationship with their PEO of six years. In fact, the
firm’s HR director values the professional advice she receives from her PEO so much that she
rarely makes a big move without first consulting them. So when a young law associate isn’t
performing up to the standards of the firm and the senior partners are eager to show him the
door, the HR director quickly contacts her PEO for advice before terminating the young lawyer.
That was a smart move on her part. Her PEO representative directed her on how best to proceed
and was by her side, literally, throughout the termination process. And when the litigious young
associate decided to file a claim for wrongful termination, the PEO continued to stand by the
firm to fight the claim. Because the HR director followed the advice of her PEO to the letter, the
firm could demonstrate strong cause for termination and they followed the appropriate steps to
ensure the termination was executed properly. The claim was quickly dismissed.
HR matters can be tricky, and for those HR professionals going it alone inside their organizations,
it can be especially tough. A PEO provides them access to a variety of professional consultants
with a breadth of skills and experience that few mere HR mortals can achieve on their own. PEOs
can provide a reliable resource and a welcomed sounding board for those lone HR professionals.
What’s the source of a PEO’s super strength?
A common question for PEOs is how do they do it? -- how, under co-employment, can they share
the risks of all their client companies? You could ask a trapeze artist a similar question. How can
he risk falling from high above the ground without a net to catch him? The answer for the PEO is
no different than for the trapeze artist. They are both trained experts at what they do, so the risk
of a mistake is minimal.
There are no secret super powers at play. Instead, a PEO’s strength is its focus and dedication.
A PEO employs HR professionals who have extensive experience and knowledge of a variety
of HR disciplines, so they can understand and manage the nuances of HR that an in-house HR
professional may not be trained nor have time to manage properly. PEOs also dedicate significant
resources to developing systems and proven processes that greatly reduce the possibility of the
most common and costly mistakes employers often make on their own.
Conclusion
Outsourcing your administrative and HR functions is a smart strategic move for any growing
business. You can’t unlock the full power of your PEO, however, unless you are willing to take
that super human step to co-employment, because only when you enter into a co-employment
arrangement can you share some of your employer liabilities and unleash your company’s
maximum power potential.
Position Your Company For Success