Recently, a non-profit client located in Virginia came to Smart HR with what seemed to be a simple request: Help them move away from a PEO (Professional Employer Organization). The challenge was that it wasn’t quite that simple. In addition to the actual migration, the organization also needed to create a detailed transition plan, find new vendors, and get employees up to speed on the new processes. Not an easy task – which is why they turned to Smart HR, who has experience working with other clients to migrate off of a PEO and find the right blend of services and offerings that best match their organization.
There are many different reasons companies choose to move away from a PEO. PEOs focus on compliance and risk—not people, employee engagement, or company missions and goals. They may be ideal for small organizations with less than 10 employees, but businesses with larger workforces may need a more customized solution than what a PEO provides. No matter what your reason, there’s a lot more that goes into it than the actual transition. From the beginning, Smart HR was able to look at the bigger picture, putting together a detailed transition plan that covered tasks that weren’t even on the client’s radar.
First, the organization knew they wanted to move away from the PEO – but what (or who) were they moving to? The Smart HR team not only evaluated new service providers for each component that was to be migrated from the PEO, we also provided recommendations for new vendors and eventually facilitated those moves, serving as project manager through the entire transition process.
In the end, the client successfully migrated from a PEO to an “unbundled” service model with vendors they trust and minimal disruption to the organization. Once the transition was complete, we trained employees on the new systems, updated the employee handbook based on new policies and procedures, and continue to manage the ongoing relationships with each service provider.
By taking a detailed and complex problem and applying a simple but thorough solution, Smart HR helped a non-profit organization unbundle and ultimately do what was best for their team and the people they serve. Looking to make a similar transition? Smart HR can help.
