| Are you currently shopping or working with an | | | | An Administrative Service Organization or, ASO, can |
| employee leasing company? Perhaps you are looking | | | | be considered as an HR Outsourcing firm, but since |
| into a Professional Employer Organization? Surely you | | | | ASOs do not coemploy with their clients, they are not |
| have heard about the benefits of HR Outsourcing... | | | | a PEO. ASOs usually provide payroll processing, HR |
| If you said "yes" just once then read on, this article will | | | | support, and can administer workers comp insurance, |
| help you to understand the similarities and differences | | | | employee benefit packages, and 401(k). Notice the |
| between each of these terms. | | | | difference here in the word "administer", as opposed |
| Employee Leasing, Professional Employer Organization, | | | | to "provide" which was when referring to PEOs. This is |
| and PEO, all mean the same exact thing. Particularly, | | | | due to the fact that PEOs offer clients their own |
| they all refer to an HR Outsourcing company that | | | | benefit plans and workers comp insurance through |
| partakes in coemployment with its clients, which | | | | coemployment, whereas ASOs only help administer |
| fundamentally means two companies employing the | | | | policies that you can attain through a normal broker. |
| same employee base and splitting the responsibilities of | | | | PEOs usually cater to small businesses with |
| properly managing them. | | | | employees from 5-200 employees, with the true |
| HR Outsourcing is a broad definition that refers to a | | | | sweetspot being 10-50 employees. PEOs often save |
| wide range of companies and services that all have | | | | companies on purchasing health insurance and to also |
| one thing in common; they help companies offload | | | | help keep them in compliance with the rapidly |
| some part of the responsibilities necessary to manage | | | | expanding base of regulations that weigh on small |
| their workforce. The simplest and most common is a | | | | businesses. |
| payroll processing company such as ADP, the most | | | | ASOs usually work well with bigger companies, from |
| comprehensive and less known would be Administaff, | | | | 100 employees into the thousands. Companies that use |
| which is considered to be a PEO. PEOs provide an | | | | ASOs, or HROs, usually have the need to offload the |
| array of services including payroll processing, workers | | | | administrative burden of human resources, but are |
| comp insurance, employee benefit packages, HR | | | | large enough to qualify for a better benefit program |
| support, and even 401(k). | | | | than smaller businesses. |