Some employers arrive at a professional employer organisation for one reason: the health plan. If that is you, most of the standard evaluation is noise, and a much shorter set of questions decides it. This page is written for that buyer specifically.
Judge the plan, not the provider
When benefits are the whole reason, the provider's technology, implementation process and account management matter far less than the carrier, the plan design, the network and the contribution schedule. Ask for those four for each provider on your list and compare them side by side against your current cover. A provider with a worse platform and a better plan is the right choice for this buyer.
Model it at your own people
Take your actual salary bands and family compositions and compute what each employee would pay monthly under each option, including what they pay today. Start with your lowest-paid staff and anybody covering a family, because those are the cases where an apparently better plan becomes worse in practice. Cover your people do not join has not improved anything.
Then check the exit before you enter
Benefits are what makes leaving a co-employment arrangement painful, so a benefits-motivated buyer should be the most careful about the exit terms. Renewal date, notice period, and continuity for anybody mid-treatment. Get those three before signing and the arrangement stays a choice rather than becoming a fact.
Questions people ask about benefits peo
How do I choose a PEO for benefits?
Compare the carrier, the plan design, the network and the employee contribution schedule against your current cover. When benefits are the reason, those four outrank everything else about the provider.
What should I model first?
Your lowest-paid staff and anybody covering a family, at real salaries. An apparently better plan frequently becomes worse for exactly those people, and they are the ones whose take-up decides whether the cover is real.
What should a benefits buyer check about leaving?
Renewal date, notice period and continuity for anybody mid-treatment. Benefits are what makes leaving painful, so a benefits-motivated buyer should be the most careful about the exit.