PEO (Professional Employer Organization)
A PEO is a firm that co-employs a client company’s workforce to provide payroll, benefits, workers comp, and HR compliance as a bundled service.
The client pays an administrative fee, often per employee or as a percentage of included payroll, for a contract that can combine payroll, tax administration, benefit options, workers compensation, and HR support. The insurance structure and exact services vary by provider and client.
PEOs are not interchangeable. They differ on state authority, industry appetite, benefits carriers and networks, workers compensation programs, service model, technology, contracts, and pricing transparency. Compare actual proposals on the same census rather than assuming the PEO label produces a particular price or benefit result.