Independent broker · Authorized Paychex partner
PEO, payroll, HR and benefits — bought properly.
We broker Paychex and the rest of the market side by side, then stay on as your advisor — through implementation, every renewal and every escalation. You pay nothing for that.
- No fee to you
- 42 states supported
- Named advisor, not a queue
Renewal review
Sample32 employees · NC, SC, GA · dental group
Same plan design, richer network, and payroll, HR and workers’ comp folded into one invoice. This is the comparison we build for every client.
Appointed and independent across the market
500+
employers advised
18,000+
lives under management
42
states with active clients
$0
cost for our advisory services
Solutions
Everything an employer has to buy, brokered by one team.
Take one piece or the whole stack. We are appointed across the market, so the recommendation depends on your census and states — not on what we happen to sell.
Co-employment
PEO
A PEO puts your employees onto a large, pooled master plan. You keep day-to-day control of your team; the PEO becomes the employer of record for payroll taxes, benefits administration and workers' compensation. For most employers under 100 lives, it is the fastest way to fix benefits, compliance and HR overhead in one move.
Learn morePay your people
Payroll & Tax
Whether you run 8 employees in one state or 400 across twelve, payroll should be a 20-minute task with no surprise notices. We place and configure payroll platforms — Paychex Flex chief among them — and stay involved through implementation, the first three cycles, and every year-end.
Learn moreHR capacity
HR Services
Most companies hire their first HR generalist somewhere around 60 employees. The compliance obligations start at one. Outsourced HR closes that gap with a named HR professional, real documentation, and a compliance calendar tied to the states you operate in.
Learn moreAttract and keep talent
Employee Benefits
We are an independent benefits brokerage. We market your group to national and regional carriers, model the PEO alternative alongside it, and present the honest trade-off between cost, network and administrative burden — then we run enrollment so you are not fielding plan questions in the hallway.
Learn moreRetirement
401(k) & Retirement
More than a dozen states now require employers to offer a retirement plan or enroll in a state program. We help you choose between a state option, a pooled plan and a standalone 401(k) — including SECURE 2.0 startup tax credits that can offset much of the first three years of cost.
Learn moreLabor cost control
Time & Attendance
Timekeeping that feeds payroll directly, enforces your break and overtime rules by state, and gives managers a schedule they can build in minutes. For hourly workforces this is usually the fastest measurable ROI in the whole stack.
Learn moreTalent
Hiring & Onboarding
Applicant tracking, background screening, offer letters, I-9s and day-one system access, all connected to payroll so a new hire is entered exactly once. Faster time-to-hire, and no more onboarding packets living in a filing cabinet.
Learn moreProtect the business
Business Insurance
Workers' compensation tied to real payroll instead of an annual estimate, plus the employment-related coverages small employers most often discover too late — EPLI, cyber, and fiduciary liability. We market these independently, and we tell you where a PEO's bundled comp beats a standalone policy.
Learn moreThe core question
PEO, or build your own stack?
It is the first decision, it drives everything else, and most brokers answer it based on what pays them better. Here is how we actually think about it.
Go PEO when
- Under ~100 employees and benefits are your weak spot
- You employ in three or more states
- Nobody owns HR compliance today
- Workers' comp has deposits, audits or a high mod
- You want one invoice and one accountable partner
Build your own stack when
- You are over ~150 lives with credible claims data
- Your current medical plan is genuinely well priced
- You already employ competent internal HR
- Self-funding or an ICHRA fits your risk appetite
- You need carrier-specific networks a PEO cannot match
Estimator
What would a PEO cost us?
Move the sliders for a directional read on PEO administrative fees against the spend a PEO typically absorbs. Real numbers come from underwriting your census.
- Annual payroll
- $2,170,000
- Current benefits spend
- $171,120
- PEO administrative fee2–5% of payroll, typical range
- $43,400 – $108,500
- Spend a PEO typically absorbsBenefit savings, vendor consolidation, ~231 hrs of internal admin
- $20,033 – $33,696
Directional net position
-$88,467 – $9,704
At this profile the fee likely exceeds the hard-dollar offsets. That does not make it wrong, but the case has to be made on capability, not price.
Get the real numbersIllustrative only. Actual PEO pricing depends on census, SIC code, state, claims history and benefit plan selection, and is not a quote or an offer of coverage.
How it works
Five steps, and you can stop after any of them.
We do not run a two-call close. Most engagements start 60 to 120 days before a renewal date and end with a decision you could defend to your board.
- 01
Discovery call
30 minutes. Headcount, states, current vendors, renewal date and what is actually broken.
No proposal, no pressure.
- 02
Data and market
We gather census and current spend, then take it to Paychex and competing providers under NDA.
Usually 3–7 business days.
- 03
Apples-to-apples
One comparison document: admin fees, benefit plan designs, comp rates and employee cost impact.
Trade-offs stated out loud.
- 04
Implementation
We sit on the implementation calls, run employee meetings and verify the first payrolls.
30–45 days typical.
- 05
Ongoing advocacy
Escalations, compliance updates, and a real market check every renewal.
For as long as you're a client.
Why SMB
A broker who is still there in month fourteen.
Anyone can hand you a quote. The value shows up when a claim is denied, a state sends a notice, or the renewal lands at plus twenty-four.
We are independent
We are not a captive sales office. We hold appointments with Paychex and with competing PEOs, payroll platforms and carriers, so the recommendation follows your census — not a quota.
One advisor, not a queue
You get a named advisor who knows your renewal history, your states and your CFO's actual question. Escalations go through us, not a general support line.
Broker pricing, disclosed
Our compensation is built into carrier and provider pricing. You pay no fee to us, and we will put our compensation in writing whenever you ask.
We stay after the sale
Implementation oversight, first-three-payroll checks, renewal negotiation and an annual market test. The commission is not the finish line.
Industries
We know what breaks in your industry.
Tip credits, certified payroll, experience mods, grant allocations, credentialing — the specifics are the job.
Professional services
Agencies, consultancies and firms where benefits are the retention lever and headcount moves in bursts.
Healthcare & dental
Practices and clinics juggling credentialing, shift coverage and high-cost medical renewals.
Construction & trades
Certified payroll, multi-state crews, high experience mods and prevailing-wage reporting.
Restaurants & hospitality
Tip credits, FICA tip-credit reporting, heavy turnover and predictive-scheduling rules.
Manufacturing & logistics
Shift differentials, safety programs, job costing and real workers' comp exposure.
Nonprofits
Grant-based allocations, lean back offices and boards that require real fiduciary governance.
Technology & startups
Remote hires in a new state every quarter, equity-heavy comp and investor-grade compliance.
Retail & franchise
Multi-location rollups, multiple EIN structures and consistent onboarding across units.
Clients
What it sounds like afterward.
We were three weeks from a 31% medical renewal with 22 employees and no good options. SMB ran the PEO route beside a level-funded quote and we ended up with better plans for less than last year. They ran every enrollment meeting themselves.
Operations Director
Specialty dental group, 22 employees
We hired in six new states in one year and our payroll was a mess of notices. They handled the registrations, cleaned up the open notices during implementation, and sat on every call. I have not thought about payroll since.
Controller
SaaS company, 78 employees
What sold me was that they told me not to move mid-contract. They built the plan, waited seven months, then executed it. That is not how any other broker approached us.
Founder
Commercial landscaping, 45 employees
Client comments are representative examples shared with permission; identifying details are withheld. Individual results vary.
FAQ
Straight answers.
Still unclear on something? Call (555) 018-4400 and ask. No form required.
No. SMB Benefits is an independent brokerage and referral partner. We hold partner appointments with Paychex and with other national providers. When we place your business with Paychex you become a Paychex client with SMB Benefits as your broker of record — their platform, plus an independent advocate.
Nothing additional. We are compensated through standard broker commissions and partner referral arrangements built into the pricing you would pay anyway. We disclose our compensation in writing on request.
Payroll is a software and tax-filing service under your own EINs. A PEO is a co-employment relationship in which the PEO becomes the employer of record for administrative purposes, which unlocks pooled large-group benefits and their workers' comp program. A PEO costs more per employee and delivers substantially more.
If your renewal is more than 60 days out, yes. Many of our clients came to us mid-contract and we built a plan for the next renewal rather than forcing an immediate switch. We will also tell you when staying put is the right call.
Payroll-only conversions run 2–3 weeks. PEO and full benefits transitions typically run 30–45 days, driven mostly by carrier underwriting and your effective date.
Yes. We support employers in 42 states, and multi-state complexity is one of the most common reasons companies call us in the first place.
Bring us your renewal. We will bring you options.
A 30-minute discovery call, a census, and you get a normalized comparison across Paychex and competing providers. No fee, no obligation, no pressure to switch mid-contract.