Texas is a big state with many different industries working within it, and there are regulations on both the state and federal levels to contend with. Additionally, payroll can be a tedious task, and benefits are expected from employers if they wish to consistently retain their top talent.
And while these are important considerations that must be dealt with, you also want to spend most of your time making the decisions that matter and doing the work that your business is known for. Fortunately, outsourcing HR tasks and payroll to a PEO company is the solution many businesses have tried and succeeded with, and we highly recommend them. Whether it is onboarding, payroll processing, or other features that interest you most, there is help available.
Yet which PEOs are best for Texas and perhaps best for your business in particular? After searching through the options available to you ourselves, here are our top five recommendations:
Our top choice for Texas, and the one every business owner or manager should at least consider, is Resourcing Edge. Working with companies in all sorts of industries and of all sizes since 2003, it’s an easy recommendation for the average business.
Resourcing Edge is great all-around doing all the regular PEO tasks well, but where they shine is embracing the latest technology to offer tools and services that relate to business management and employee retention. You will be able to keep track of plenty of data points and access it all in one place.
As far as those great all-around services, there is of course payroll processing, benefits administration, HR assistance, and all of the usual options as well as training courses and recruitment assistance all paired with strong customer service. To learn more about pricing or just their services in general, we recommend contacting them and getting a quote for your business.
We recommend Resourcing Edge if:
- You are interested in working with a PEO that could handle about anything in addition to providing great perks and benefits normally associated with a PEO.
- You are planning to expand your business in the near future or are otherwise thinking of making some new hires.
- You are looking for an easy onboarding process and dedicated customer support is important to you.
2) Amplify PEO
Another excellent choice for Texas businesses, Amplify PEO is a PEO company that works with Texas businesses of nearly all sizes and in most general industries. They are a great fit for the average business owner who wants an easy time working with a PEO and come recommended by many of their clients on top of this.
While other PEO companies can offer excellent services or tools (and Amplify PEO certainly is not lacking in either way), the reason we speak of them highly is their customer service, which is some of the best in the business and allows you to always feel secure in that you will get the support you need if a problem comes up. You can always expect to talk to a human being, which feels like a rarity with so many companies trying to save costs on service.
All the usual and expected services are offered, and none of them will disappoint you in their administration. Amplify PEO also has a great online platform, which is becoming more important as time goes on and PEOs become more competitive, and despite all of the above pricing is competitive.
We recommend Amplify PEO if:
- You want to work with a PEO company that offers excellent customer service and you appreciate the value of working with human beings to solve problems.
- You have not worked with a PEO company in the past and want to start with one (and ideally stick with one) that is easy to work with.
- You are not in a specialized industry and just need to focus on the standard services PEO companies provide.
One of the most popular and largest PEO companies in the United States, ADP Total Source is our third choice for Texas businesses and is responsible for more than half a million employees. They are extremely experienced and know payroll processing as much as any other organization you can think of. They are a truly reliable PEO and will make sure everything gets done and gets done on time.
This stability is their greatest strength, and they can negotiate for great benefits and keep costs lower for clients who need to constantly consider whether the services and perks they are getting are worth it. Some clients might feel a bit disconnected from the machine, but help is there when needed and the systems are generally easy to use.
Despite being larger, ADP Total Source will work with practically any business large or small and has the resources and experience to scale services and perks if you organization grows or shrinks in the future.
We recommend ADP Total Source if:
- You are looking for a PEO company that can offer just about any service the industry can provide and is stable enough to not have any issues with scaling.
- You want some of the best, most efficient, and most accurate payroll processing you can get from a PEO company.
- You do not need to the most flexible provider available, but you are interested in customizable service packages, so your business gets exactly what it needs without waste.
4) Insperity
A PEO company with over 30 years of experience dealing with over 100,000 businesses (and serving millions of employees in the process), Insperity is one of the biggest names in the industry and likely one of the major companies you have heard about already if you have researched PEO options before. They work with clients of most sizes and over a wide range of industries. Whatever your business, they can likely take care of it.
Something special we would like to note about Insperity is that by working with them, you will have access to an extremely large library of courses and online books that you and your employees can use for training purposes, numbering in the thousands of courses (and growing). While many PEO companies can offer training, few can to this extent.
Insperity does have fewer health care benefit options compared to some of the options on this list and the smallest Texas businesses might find a better fit elsewhere, but many businesses will find that Insperity is the perfect fit and path forward.
We recommend Insperity if:
- You are interested in working with a PEO that has decades of experience and one of the largest client bases in the industry.
- You want to work with a somewhat flexible PEO compared to many other companies in Texas.
- You like the idea of having a large library of training resources at your fingertips and know you will be focusing on employee development in the future.
5) Justworks
Our last recommendation here for Texas businesses is Justworks, which is a PEO company that has experience working with businesses of all sizes and has all of the services a standard business will want, including benefits administration, payroll administration, HR support, and everything else you can expect.
And while Justworks excels at all the usual PEO fare, we would like to point out that they are especially known for their online platform and technology-related tools. Designs are intuitive and your employees will likely be happy with the options they have when working with JustWorks. As you can imagine, these options and tools have only become more important as more businesses are relying on remote work.
Justworks also provides competitive benefits for your employees and are vouched for by some of the top organizations in the industry. There is a reason they are well-liked, and we think you should at least consider them for your business.
We recommend JustWorks if:
- You are looking for excellent online options and a great online platform from your PEO company, given how important technology is to running a business in the modern age.
- You are looking for a PEO company that will have you take more of an active role in HR management compared to other providers.
- Your company has a number of remote workers or employees that are in other states. JustWorks can handle a decentralized workplace.
What Makes for a Top-Rated PEO Company?
What criteria did we use to make our top selections? What should you look for in a PEO company? These are questions with multiple answers, and the delate can last a long time, especially considering different businesses will have different needs. However, you should at least be aware of all the following about a PEO company:
- Payroll and tax processing competency
- HR assistance and management
- Recruitment and retention assistance
- Training options and services
- Industry-specific offerings and services
- Benefit offerings and benefits administration
- Workers’ compensation insurance offerings and support
- Compliance assistance and risk-management services
- The quality of the online portal
- Availability and quality of time tracking and productivity tracking tools
- Customer service, timely response to requests,
- Positive response to feedback
- Personalization or tailoring of services
- Additional unique features or services
- The ability to respond to local problems or regional regulations.
How much each of these facets matters to you is up to the needs of your business, and only you, perhaps in consultation with managers or advisors, can know what is needed. Do additional research as needed and take notes on both what you need and what you think each PEO can offer your business.
Why You Should Work with a PEO Company
If you are still on the fence about working with a PEO company, we understand. Making such a change can be difficult and at times costly. Yet here are a few reasons why you should seriously consider working with one:
- While PEO companies have a cost to work with (often a percentage of your total payroll), this cost will almost always be less than if you were to try and handle everything in-house, especially if you take into account the cost of your time and energy.
- A PEO company can provide better and more affordable benefits than you would be able to negotiate for on your own. PEO companies represent thousands to millions of employees and have far more bargaining power than your average business.
- By working with a PEO, you, your managers, and your employees will have less paperwork to deal with, which means more time to work on other tasks that improve your business.
- Your business will get the help it needs by making sure it complies with both federal and local regulations, which can be tough for some businesses. Reducing risk is absolutely worth the price of a PEO.
How to Select and Start Working with a PEO Company
Picking out a PEO company is one thing, but getting the ball rolling can be quite another. Here are a few steps you should take before and during the signup process:
- Make sure that the PEO company has a certificate of insurance and is capable of handling your business needs. Even if a company looks fantastic or specializes in something you could use, they need to cover the basics first.
- Try to research the PEOs on your shortlist further, looking into reviews and testimonials from other business owners. Look for reviews in your region in particular and look for other businesses in your industry.
- Meet with a representative of the PEO company (either remotely or in person) to confirm that you will have a good working relationship and to double-check the services that will be offered.
- Carefully go over all documentation, paperwork, and instructions you might be given. While you will not get scammed by a PEO company listed above, you do want to be clear about what is expected and what you are getting.
- Once onboarding is certain, be sure to tell your employees about it as soon as possible.
Conclusion
Starting to work with a PEO company (or perhaps switching service providers) can be the best business decision you make this year, both for your bottom line and for the well-being of your employees. Not all the above choices will be perfect for your business, but we are certain that you will find the perfect fit with one of them. We wish you good fortune with your decision and hope you find the perfect partner without delay or hindrance.
