PEO Audit & Review
You’ve been with your PEO for a while now. But are they actually worth what you’re paying? I’ll audit your entire arrangement—fees, service delivery, workers’ comp performance—and tell you if you’re getting a fair deal.
Why Most Businesses Never Realize They’re Overpaying
Your PEO sends you an invoice every month. The amount seems reasonable. Your employees get their paychecks on time. HR issues get handled. Life goes on. But here’s what usually happens: you signed a contract three years ago, rates have shifted, your industry has changed, and you’re still paying under the old terms. Meanwhile, competitors in your space found a better PEO and cut their costs by 20-30%.
PEO fees aren’t published publicly. There’s no standard pricing. Your cost-per-employee might be reasonable, but your bundled costs might be bloated. Your workers’ comp placement might be fine today but outdated next year. Your PEO’s service quality gets weaker as their staff expands. Hidden administrative fees creep in. You never formally re-evaluate—until I show up and ask hard questions.
That’s why ForwardPEO offers comprehensive PEO audits at no cost to your business. I review your actual contract terms, compare your fees against similar-sized businesses in your industry, benchmark your workers’ comp and EPLI costs, assess whether you’re getting the service level you’re paying for, and tell you exactly where the waste is. Sometimes it means negotiating better terms with your current PEO. Sometimes it means switching. Always, it means you get clarity.
“A restaurant group with 85 employees was paying $6,200/month to their PEO. On paper it looked fine. During my audit, I found $1,840/month in ‘service fees’ they didn’t even know about—document processing, onboarding, background check fees that should have been bundled. After I consolidated those charges and renegotiated the contract, they dropped to $4,560/month. That’s $19,680 a year they didn’t know they were losing.”
What a ForwardPEO Audit Covers
Fee Structure Analysis
I dissect your invoice line by line. What are you actually paying for? Base fees, per-employee costs, bundled services, à la carte add-ons, administrative charges, technology fees. I compare your cost structure against what businesses of similar size in similar industries pay. This is where I usually find waste—overlapping charges, outdated pricing, or bundled services you don’t actually use.
Service Delivery Review
Are they actually delivering what you contracted for? I talk to your HR team, your managers, and your employees. Is payroll always accurate and on time? Are HR questions answered quickly? Is benefits administration smooth? Are workers’ comp claims processed efficiently? Is there a dedicated account manager? A lot of PEOs promise service they don’t actually provide at your company’s scale.
Benchmark Against Market
I have data on what hundreds of businesses pay. I know average costs for your industry, your geography, and your company size. Are you in the 25th percentile (great deal), the 50th (middle of the road), or the 75th (overpaying)? This context matters because it tells us whether your PEO is competitive or you’ve drifted into unfavorable terms.
Contract Review
Your PEO contract has terms you probably didn’t read carefully or have forgotten. I analyze termination clauses, renewal terms, fee increase limits, liability caps, and any clauses that lock you in unfavorably. Sometimes I can renegotiate immediately. Sometimes I document exactly when you can exit without penalty.
The Workers’ Comp & EPLI Component
Your PEO’s workers’ comp offering is a huge part of the value—or lack thereof. In the audit, I specifically examine: Are you classified correctly? Is your rate competitive compared to what you’d pay standalone? Is the carrier your PEO partners with reputable and responsive? Are claims being handled well? Is your EMR (experience modification rate) improving or getting worse year over year?
I also verify whether EPLI coverage is included, what the limits are, and whether the coverage is adequate for your business size and risk profile. Many PEOs offer EPLI as an afterthought or at premium pricing. I make sure you’re not overpaying for it or leaving yourself exposed without it.
What Happens After the Audit
You get a detailed report. I walk you through findings and give you options: renegotiate with your current PEO, switch to a competitor, restructure your arrangement, or stay put if you’re already in a good spot. This is about facts and numbers, not sales pressure. If your PEO is actually fine, I tell you that. If there’s a clear problem, I tell you that too.
I’ve found that most mid-sized businesses discover they can save 10-25% with some combination of fee renegotiation and better PEO matching. But I never recommend a switch just to make a sale—I recommend it because the numbers justify it.
How the Free Audit Works
You send me your current PEO contract and last 12 months of invoices. I’ll ask you some questions about your business size, industry, and service experience. I do the analysis work. Then we schedule a call where I walk you through what I found, answer your questions, and discuss next steps. You don’t pay anything for this—ForwardPEO covers the cost. If we end up working together on an optimization, we discuss compensation structure then. But the audit itself is completely free and zero obligation.
Get Your Free PEO Audit Today
No cost. No obligation. No sales pitch. Just an honest assessment of whether your PEO is earning its fees. Send me your contract and invoices and I’ll tell you exactly what I find.
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