Specialty trade contractors know their skills are the source of their income. But their employers focus on hours. And that applies to the administrative staff as well as field crews for general contractors, residential remodelers, plumbing, HVAC and electrical contractors. For field personnel, their hours are the source of revenue. For the administrative staff, the hours look like expenses.

Company owners want to maximize revenue and minimize expenses. That translates directly into profitability. Software now solves for these competing agendas by improving worker efficiency in both the field and in the office. But software comes with its own challenges that take owners farther away from their core business (unless their business is IT support).

A Professional Employer Organization (PEO) can supply, configure, and maintain all the necessary software, as well as bring considerable efficiency to payroll processing and every aspect of HR. This enables maximizing revenue and minimizing administrative drag for the greatest possible profitability. Here’s how that works.

More Profit with the Same People

The newest generation of scheduling software has smart features to power maximum utilization of employee time. This includes automated shift-building and weighted scheduling that factors in required skill sets or experience levels. The rules-based setup can even prevent unauthorized overtime to reduce unnecessary labor costs.   

But a PEO’s greatest value-add comes in the back office. By off-loading HR chores like payroll and tax filing, benefits administration, regulatory compliance tasks, and paid leave management, an in-house administrative team can focus on more customer-facing activities and crew support. And the less a field crew has to hassle with administrative chores, the more time they have to drive revenue.

Because a PEO surrounds the enabling software with enterprise-class HR services, specialty trades people receive the same attention as larger firms. This level of employee care helps recruitment, retention, and overall company culture. According to the Gallup State of the Global Workplace: 2024 Report, companies with greater employee engagement saw 23% higher productivity as well as higher profitability.

Fueling Efficiency in The Field

As an adjunct to the scheduling software described above, the time-tracking used by PEOs brings an additional layer of efficiency. The better versions of such software enable employees to clock in and out from anywhere on their mobile devices. The software may even use geofencing to identify the employee’s location, and use biometrics to prevent buddy punching.

In addition to the convenience such time tracking offers, the mobile connection enables field personnel to easily interact with the home office for HR tasks like requesting time off, checking pay stubs and tax documents, and even accessing company benefits. The resulting time-savings can be applied to increased customer service and the revenue that comes with it.

Best of all, this direct connection between time-tracking and the payroll system eliminates the regular scramble to roll up timesheets for each pay run. Payroll accuracy improves, eliminating the time sink payroll discrepancies can cause. This is the kind of bottom line impact that doesn’t show up on a balance sheet, but definitely affects profitability.

Tighter Integration for Wider Margins

The enabling software isn’t a bonus in a PEO partnership. It is the essential connection between your company and theirs. This tight integration between your HR requirements and PEO services reduces the costs for both organizations. The connection also enables your company to tap additional cost savings.

Because PEOs serve multiple clients, they represent a larger risk pool which can mean lower insurance rates for coverage like workers’ compensation and liability. This can be especially valuable for companies in high-risk industries. To help keep those rates low, better PEOs offer risk management and loss control services, with the resulting savings going straight to income realized.  

How VensureHR Helps Maximize Efficiency

Not only is VensureHR the largest privately-held PEO in the nation, but it is part of America’s leading PEO technology company. This emphasis on technology – informed by the real-world experience of managing literally millions of employees nationwide – has resulted in the most intuitive and practical software available. And because the focus of VensureHR’s business is small and mid-sized companies, they are geared to working with specialty trade firms which tend to be smaller and more local or regional.

Engaging a PEO like VensureHR can unlock a range of efficiencies which both you and your people will appreciate, while enjoying the greater profitability that comes with it. Find out everything a PEO can do for you. Schedule a no-cost business evaluation from VensureHR today.