Temporary Staffing Vs. PEO: Know the Difference

You’re a business owner in need of help, and you know where and when you need help, but aren’t exactly sure who to call. In the PEO industry we get calls all of the time from business owners requesting temporary staffing solutions. And it’s vice versa in the temporary staffing industry; people call them looking for the support services of a PEO.

While there are similarities among the two industries, they are actually very different solutions. Let’s take a look:

If you’re in need of HR-related services such as employment administration, recruiting, hiring and firing, workers’ compensation, employee benefits, payroll, compliance, best practices, employee training, and performance management…..

A PEO (Professional Employer Organization) is an organization that offers a cost-effective and comprehensive approach to helping you manage your company’s human resources. Unlike a standalone payroll company, or benefits company, that assists with one single component of HR, a PEO offers a full suite of HR-related services.

PEOs permit business owners to focus on their core competencies, while leaving HR and employee management to the experts! Through this “co-employment” relationship, there is a separation of human resources, employee management and liabilities that occur; your employees work for both you and the PEO. Business and day to day activities go about as usual, but the PEO assumes all administrative functions, and more importantly, shares many of the liabilities associated with your business and employees.

If you are in need of temporary personnel…

Temporary staffing on the other hand involves the placement of human resources for non-permanent employment needs. The duration of the placement may have specific parameters or be undefined. Options include full-time staffing, part-time staffing and even temp-to-hire staffing which is the placement of a candidate within a company for an evaluation period. During the evaluation, it is determined whether the candidate is suited for the position.

Temporary personnel are available in a variety of industries and positions and many temporary staffing firms actually offer access to professionals within multiple fields. Examples include labor and light industrial, food services, hospitality, admin and clerical, and yes, you guessed it: human resources.

Temporary staffing helps reduce labor costs by adding staff when necessary to hit key deadlines, assist with busy seasons, or cover vacations and other absences. Bringing on these professionals also saves business owners a lot of administrative hours, as they are almost always insured by the staffing company and on that particular company’s payroll. No need for adding individuals on to your own payroll, adding them to your insurance plan, or setting them up as an actual employee of yours.

While temporary staffing agencies can provide HR personnel capable of helping with employee administration, hiring, firing and training, they do not provide the technology or complimentary services associated with HR including workers’ compensation insurance, employee benefits, payroll, and compliance. If you’re still in need of all of these complimentary components, a PEO is likely the better option, as it is a full suite solution.

To learn more about PEOs and other forms of outsourced HR solutions, follow our blog each week, or contact us directly at Employer Solutions Plus!