Study: PEO Clients Grow Faster and Show Greater Resilience than Non-PEO Businesses
PEOs have a positive impact on client growth, turnover, and resilience, making a clear case for why businesses benefit from outsourcing HR.
Want Success? 6 Strategies for Startup Growth
Growth mode can be a challenge for startups, but adopting 6 simple strategies can help keep entrepreneurs and the entire company focused on success.
John Farnsworth, Stratus HR Chief Executive Officer
Feb 27, 2017
Managing growth spurts can be do-or-die for a startup. Says author and entrepreneur David Williams, "Nine out of ten startups fail because they lose focus on producing something meaningful and selling it. They spend all their time in the business of 'doing business internally' with one another instead of with the world."
The key to success? Knowing how to manage the workload while remaining focused.
How Startups Can Keep Work from Being Overwhelming
Most startups don't have the capital required to immediately increase staff, which is why Williams recommends the following six strategies to keep growth in check and healthy. These, says Williams, allow startups to "bust out of the pack and create lasting success."
- Focus
- Use a virtual assistant
- Outsource HR to a PEO
- Stay in the Cloud
- Don’t Spend Your Resources on Expensive Sales People
- Be the Outsource
Each may also help increase productivity and reduce burnout in a budget-conscious manner.
How Startups Can Get the Most Benefit from a PEO for HR
Williams' PEO suggestion requires more explanation.
Small businesses often work with a Professional Employer Organization, or PEO, to handle all aspects of human resources. This includes payroll, hiring, paperwork, employee handbooks, benefits plans, and employee management. PEOs are more affordable than an in-house team and are capable of scaling up and down as the business needs.
In a PEO relationship, the startup continues to handle the worksite responsibilities and decision making. Meanwhile, the PEO has the fiduciary responsibility of handling administrative tasks such as payroll and benefit, as well as guide the startup regarding employment-related compliance issues.
Other PEO Benefits: Competitive Recruiting for Startups
A PEO like Stratus HR may also have access to large group benefits that employers can access -- benefits that can make small employers vying for the best talent more attractive. Additionally, in terms of tax withholdings, because taxes are filed using the PEO's employer identification number, the IRS (or state tax commission) will pursue any problems, penalties, or inconsistencies with the PEO rather than the worksite employer.
Stratus HR Owner, Michelyn Farnsworth, coined it perfectly by saying, "Most employees want to work for a small company because they feel more valued, but don’t want to sacrifice the perks of working for a large organization. By outsourcing to Stratus HR, employees can have both."
Lower Turnover for Startups with a PEO
In addition to improved startup growth, PEOs can also help startups retain the best employees. A 2014 report from the National Association of PEOs (NAPEO) titled Professional Employer Organizations: Keeping Turnover Low and Survival High found that employee turnover rates for PEO clients "is 10 to 14 percentage points lower per year than that of comparable companies" and that "businesses that work with PEOs are approximately 50 percent less likely to fail from one year to the next when compared to similar companies."
Stratus HR has additional details about how a PEO assists startups during the growth phase and beyond. Book a free consultation for more information and our team will contact you shortly.