PEO Comparison, Marketing Analysis & Exit Evaluation
There is one way to find out... a data led analysis. Let's put the alternatives on paper. We evaluate what you're paying today, compare your current PEO against competitive alternatives, and when appropriate model what employee benefits and the supporting HR infrastructure could look like outside the PEO.
The objective isn't to move you out of your PEO. It's to determine whether you should stay, switch, exit or renegotiate.
Most employers enter a PEO for one reason and stay for another: nobody has ever put the alternative on paper. We build that paper. We compare your current PEO against other certified PEOs and/or the open market so leadership can see the alternatives before making a decision.
PEO vs. PEO · PEO vs. Open Market · Total Cost Analysis
Who this is for
We benchmark your current PEO against other certified PEOs: master medical rates, admin fees, workers' comp loads, service model and technology, so you can see whether your incumbent is still competitive or simply comfortable.
We compare your fully insured or self-funded medical rates against PEO master plan pricing for the same census, so you can see exactly what a PEO master plan would cost, and what it would deliver, before you ever change anything.
We run a structured marketing analysis across certified PEO partners, normalize every proposal onto one apples-to-apples grid, and give you a defensible recommendation you can bring to your board.
Your PEO may have been exactly what your business needed when you entered it. But as your workforce grows, your economics, benefits strategy, technology requirements and internal capabilities change. A PEO Exit Evaluation models what operating outside the PEO could look like, across benefits, payroll, HR technology, workers' compensation, HR and compliance support, administration and total cost, before you make a decision. Don't leave because you assume the open market is better. Don't stay because leaving feels difficult. Put both options on paper.
PEO Exit Evaluation
PEOs can be an excellent solution at certain stages of a company's growth. But the solution that made sense when your organization was smaller may not necessarily remain the best financial or operational model as the business evolves.
Companies often remain in PEOs because leaving feels complicated. Benefits, payroll, HR technology, workers' compensation, compliance and administration may all be bundled together, and that complexity can make maintaining the status quo feel easier than evaluating the alternative.
Status quo is not the same as validation.
A PEO Exit Evaluation models what your organization could look like outside the PEO, financially and operationally, before leadership makes a decision.
Stay. Switch. Exit. Renegotiate.
The analysis determines the recommendation.
A PEO can be the right answer, but as your company evolves it should have to keep earning that answer, like any other major operating expense.
Total operating model comparison
Leaving a PEO isn't simply replacing medical insurance. A true PEO Exit Evaluation has to account for the operating infrastructure currently bundled inside the PEO: each function separated, priced and evaluated on its own.
Inside the PEO today
Current PEO master plan for medical, Rx, dental, vision and ancillary lines.
Outside the PEO
Objective benefits strategy: open-market medical, Rx, dental, vision and ancillary options priced to your own census.
Inside the PEO today
Payroll bundled inside the PEO service agreement.
Outside the PEO
Standalone payroll alternatives priced and evaluated on their own.
Inside the PEO today
The PEO's platform, as configured for its client base.
Outside the PEO
Standalone HRIS/HCM technology selected for your workforce and workflows.
Inside the PEO today
PEO workers' compensation structure and loads.
Outside the PEO
Standalone market alternatives with your own experience and class codes.
Inside the PEO today
HR and compliance resources provided through the PEO.
Outside the PEO
Standalone HR and compliance resources, internal or outsourced.
Inside the PEO today
Administrative functions the PEO currently handles on your behalf.
Outside the PEO
Benefits administration plus implementation and transition support, internally or through partners.
Inside the PEO today
Current PEO economics, all-in.
Outside the PEO
Projected total cost of operating outside the PEO, year one and ongoing.
We put both operating models side by side before recommending a change.
Why companies don't leave
Many companies don't stay in their PEO because they have proven it remains the best option. They stay because leaving sounds difficult.
Benefits need to move. Payroll may need to change. HR technology has to be evaluated. Employees need to be communicated with. Leadership worries about disruption.
Those are legitimate concerns. They are also reasons to build an exit model before making a decision, not reasons to avoid evaluating one.
Is there a compelling financial or strategic reason to leave?
If there is, can the transition be executed without creating unnecessary disruption for employees or HR?
If the answer isn't compelling, staying may be the right decision. That is valuable information too.
The analysis
PEO proposals are built to be hard to compare. Different fee structures, bundled ancillaries, buried admin loads. We rebuild every offer, and every open-market alternative, onto a single total-cost-of-employment model.
One normalized view. So leadership can compare outcomes, not sales presentations.
A diagnostic of this scope would typically be a paid $2,500–$5,000 engagement. For qualified employers introduced through participating strategic partners, the consulting fee may be waived.
Certified PEOs only
We work exclusively with IRS-Certified PEOs. It narrows the field, deliberately. Certification is the difference between a payroll partner you can audit and one you have to trust.
A Certified PEO has been vetted by the IRS for financial stability, bonding and tax compliance. Non-certified PEOs are excluded from every analysis we run.
With a Certified PEO, the CPEO is solely liable for federal employment taxes on the wages it pays your worksite employees. With a non-certified PEO, if payroll taxes are not remitted, the exposure can land back on you.
Moving to a CPEO mid-year does not restart FICA and FUTA wage bases. That is real money, and a detail most PEO sales conversations skip.
The process
You describe your current setup. We confirm fit.
Census, current rates, invoices. NDA in place.
Depending on your situation, we evaluate your incumbent PEO, alternative certified PEOs and/or the open market. PEO proposals and open-market alternatives are normalized into a single decision framework.
One grid, one recommendation, no jargon.
Stay. Switch. Exit. Renegotiate. If your existing PEO remains the best solution, the analysis should validate it. If another option is better, you will have the financial analysis and transition roadmap needed to act.
PEO Exit Evaluation
You don't have to decide you want to leave your PEO before evaluating the alternative. We can model the open market first.
See the economics. Understand the benefits, payroll and HR technology alternatives. Identify what a transition would require. Then make the decision.
Stay. Switch. Exit. Renegotiate.
20 minutes. No obligation to change. Just a clearer decision.
Next step
Twenty minutes to start. Worst case, you learn your current arrangement is already competitive, and now you can prove it to your board.
20-minute conversation · No obligation to change · Stay, switch or exit based on the analysis