With another benefits renewal season around the corner, small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) face familiar challenges: skyrocketing healthcare costs, limited negotiating power, and the pressure to offer competitive benefits packages that attract and retain top talent.
Professional Employer Organizations (PEOs) like Ethan Allen HR Services offer a powerful solution to these struggles. PEO partnerships create new opportunities for you to enhance your benefits renewal strategy, access better packages, reduce administrative burden, and control costs.
At Ethan Allen HR Services, we’ve been helping Hudon Valley SMBs navigate this transformation successfully for over 50 years. In this blog, we’ll show you exactly how to make the most of your benefits renewal strategy through a PEO partnership.
Understanding the PEO Advantage in Benefits Management
At the heart of a PEO’s value proposition is the power of collective bargaining. When you join a PEO, your business becomes part of a larger pool of employers, instantly gaining access to the purchasing power typically reserved for Fortune 500 companies. As a result, PEOs leverage consolidated numbers to negotiate better rates and more comprehensive coverage options with major carriers.
Beyond cost savings, PEOs offer your employees the kind of benefits package that drives recruitment, retention, and satisfaction in today’s competitive hiring market. In fact, businesses that use PEOs grow 7-9% faster, have 10-14% lower turnover, and are 50% less likely to go out of business than those that don’t!
Strategic Timing and Planning for Renewal Season
To fully capitalize on the advantages of using a PEO, benefits renewal requires careful planning and precise timing. The key is to begin your renewal evaluation process a few months before your current plan expires, so you have adequate time to gather utilization data, research market options, evaluate employee feedback, and negotiate with carriers before open enrollment begins.
In support of this strategic approach, modern PEO technology platforms (like the Ethan Allen HR Cloud) provide real-time access to benefits utilization data, empowering you to make informed decisions about plan design and cost-sharing strategies.
With these tools at your disposal, you can analyze your current benefits performance against industry benchmarks, identifying opportunities for optimization and cost reduction while maintaining or improving coverage quality.
Leveraging PEO Expertise for Better Outcomes
Building on your foundation of data and timing, a PEO partnership gives you access to experienced benefits specialists who understand the intricacies of the insurance market and stay current with emerging trends. Your team of experts shoulder the burden of carrier negotiations, so you receive the most competitive rates and terms available.
Additionally, you gain access to compliance specialists who ensure your benefits programs meet all federal and state requirements, including ACA regulations, ERISA compliance, and required notices. Your business will be protected, and you’ll significantly reduce the administrative burden on your internal team—a win-win!
Maximizing Employee Value Through PEO Benefits
With these fundamentals in place, you can focus on expanding your offerings to meet modern employee expectations—which go far beyond basic health insurance. Through a PEO partnership with Ethan Allen HR Services, you gain access to a comprehensive benefits package that includes:
- Multiple Medical Insurance Options
- Dental Insurance
- Vision Plan
- Life Insurance
- Short-term Disability
- Long-term Disability
- Supplemental Benefits
- Flexible Spending Accounts
- Cafeteria Benefits Plan Administration
- 401k Plan
- Employee Assistance Plan
- And More!
To streamline the delivery of these enhanced offerings, your PEO will provide a state-of-the-art benefits administration platform to simplify enrollment and provide ongoing management; your employees will have 24/7 access to their benefits information and support resources.
Taking the Next Step
A PEO partnership means better rates, enhanced coverage options, reduced administrative burden, and improved employee satisfaction. The results speak for themselves, as businesses consistently report significant cost savings while offering more competitive benefits packages that help them attract and retain top talent in their industries. In fact, the ROI of using a PEO (in cost savings alone) is 27.3%.
At Ethan Allen HR Services, we bring these benefits to life through our comprehensive solutions. Our IRS-Certified Professional Employer Organization (CPEO) status, coupled with our state-of-the-art technology platform and experienced benefits specialists, ensures you get the full advantage of PEO partnership. We handle everything from initial benefits analysis and carrier negotiations to ongoing administration and compliance management, allowing you to focus on what matters most—growing your business.