Professional Employer Organization (PEO)

Employee Leasing service is sometimes referred to as PEO, or Professional Employer Organization. The National Association of Employee Leasing Services doesn’t make a distinction between an Employee Leasing Service and a PEO. Distinctions made by other organizations are supercilious and connote a difference in the length of a relationship that can’t be determined at the onset of the relationship and are subject to change anyways.

In a PEO relationship, the employees of the client company receive a check on which the employee leasing Service or the PEO is the employer of record. Also, when they get their W2 at year end, the name of the employer is that of the employee leasing service.

The workers’ compensation policy covering the employee is a policy covering the entire employee leasing company’s employees. It follows from this statement that the risk management and safety guidelines are provided by the employee leasing company.

Health plans, employee benefits, and HR services are usually included in the employee leasing services, though often priced separately.