South Dakota Businesses Reviewing Their PEO Options.

This company is starting a franchise operation that will have 20 FT and 40 PT employees. FT ees work 32 hours per week she said they want Health insurance for the FT staff and BCBS is preferred. She also said they have WC coverage now through the franchisor. They have cooks bartenders and servers.

Company specializes in leasing equipment to the oil and gas industry. These employees do inspections on that equipment. They use a Professional Employer Organization for a sister company, but that Professional Employer Organization does not like this kind of class code. They will move those other Professional Employer Organization employees over once that contract expires.

Company is a new company that will be hiring their first employee, a plant manager, on April 1st. The plant will be fully employed by June 1st. They are a Pea and Lentils processing plant. The processing is done by air and light beams that blow the pea into the cylinder and then the beams will pull out the bad pea. The rest falls into the conveyor and then to the bagging and onto pallets to ship out. There is NO growing of crops, or agriculture exposure here. They buy everything from the area farmers. They are interested in the full suite of Professional Employer Organization services. But, since they have no current employees, they are not able to provide a census.

This company is a security company that has grown to the point that they need additional HR admin support but they do not want to hire internal EEs to handle it. There payroll is currently done by their accountant but some of the issues they have are time keeping, new hire onboarding and EE handbook maintenance. He said turnover wasn't particularly high, but he expects to grow about 50% over the next year so anything to keep turnover low would help. He is also close to hitting his 50 FT equivalents so he is also going to need consulting on ACA compliance. When asked about if any of their guards are armed, he responded saying that yes, some are, but said that felt that one they explain their "use of force" policy, this should not pose an obstacle. LRs for the last 5 years have been requested.

Company is a builder that is currently in the state fund. Company is interested in securing Professional Employer Organization quotes to help him with his Risk control and health care options. .

Company provides small business assistance, financial literacy, free tax preparation, and credit counseling services to low-income families. They are with Merit Resources out of Des Moine now, but have recently switched them to Aetna. Aetna does not have a strong network in their area. They have also had a few issues with the Professional Employer Organization's knowledge of South Dakota state taxes.

This company is a cellular phone retailer that currently has locations in SD, WI, MN and IA. They expect to be moving into NE, LA and MS shortly. The contact has only been with the company for a couple of weeks, but said the search for an outsourced HR provider actually started before he did. They are not interested in Professional Employer Organization.

Company is a non-profit organization that trains and assists mentally disabled adults to be more independent. They just lost 2 of their 4 HR people, including the director, and they are now wanting to evaluate the possibility of outsourcing to an ASO type service provider. All EEs are located within Sioux City but are spread out amongst 7 or 8 buildings. They are looking for an a la carte offering that would include an HRIS and most HR functions, but they seem to want to keep their benefits admin. The contact said they would like to start discussions right away.

Company is a distributor and manufacturer of agriculture parts, custom cabs for construction equipment and hydro vac booms. The contact is the owner who does not have a strong knowledge of the Professional Employer Organization model, but has done some research. One of their primary reason for looking at Professional Employer Organization is to see if they can improve the benefits compensation package they currently provide for their EEs. Their group medical is paid 100% for the EE only premium and they use an Avera McKennan plan. The plan description has been requested. They also provide a 401k with a max 3% match. Dental and AFLAC are made available but are EE paid. They also expect significant growth over the next year so outsourcing HR/payroll admin has become a priority as well. More details on this expansion are forthcoming. A census, W/C loss run report and Avera McKennan plan description are attached to the RFP.

Company is a restaurant and banquet facility. They were told by their accountant that a Professional Employer Organization could help them with payroll administration, and gain access to better insurance products. They are new to the Professional Employer Organization concept, so put your sales hat on.