Start with your census and current costs
Every real comparison starts with your employee census, current benefits rates, payroll, and workers'-comp details. Without them, any quote is a guess.
Pull your current admin costs, benefits premiums, and comp rates into one view so you have a baseline to measure savings against.
Compare total cost, not the admin fee
PEOs quote an administrative fee, but the real number is total cost: admin plus benefits plus workers' comp plus any pass-through charges.
A low admin fee with expensive benefits can cost more than a higher fee with a better health pool. Always normalize to total cost per employee.
Weigh plan quality and service model
Two PEOs at the same price can differ enormously in network quality, plan menu, and how much HR support you actually get.
Ask how dedicated your service team is, how claims and comp are handled, and what the onboarding timeline looks like.
Ask about renewals
The first-year rate is a sales number. What matters is renewal behavior, how much rates move and whether anyone advocates for you.
An independent broker re-shops your account at renewal so you stay competitive instead of absorbing automatic increases.