Professional Employer Organization (PEO) in Mexico

If you don't have the resources or expertise to pay and manage your remote Mexican hires, consider outsourcing some or all of your human resources (HR) functions to a professional employer organization (PEO). A PEO is a full-service HR outsourcing company that performs various employee admin tasks on your behalf, such as benefits administration and payroll.

Read on to learn more about international PEOs and the benefits of using a PEO provider to manage and pay remote Mexican hires. We'll also provide tips for picking the best global PEO service company in Mexico.

What Is an International Professional Employer Organization (PEO)?

An international or global PEO is a PEO that provides HR services to startups with outsourced staff. Most international PEOs offer a wide range of services, including payroll, tax, risk management, and benefits administration.

Small and midsized startups often use PEOs for supporting strategic and critical HR management. This gives them more time to focus on their business goals and core competencies, such as creating, selling, and improving the services and products that make their brand stand out.

What's the Difference Between International PEO and Global Employment Organizations (GEOs)?

PEOs and global employment organizations (GEOs) can both help you perform HR tasks. However, they're not the same.

Here's a summary of the main differences between PEOs and GEOs:

As you can see, there are many advantages to partnering with GEOs. However, there are also many disadvantages, such as:

• Overreliance on outsourcing: GEOs usually outsource some or all of their services to local companies, increasing delivery costs and decreasing service quality and delivery.
• Hiring account managers instead of HR managers: Many GEOs, especially budget-friendly ones, hire local account managers instead of HR managers. As such, your hires won't get the best experience. Account managers are usually much less knowledgeable about labor laws and HR practices.
• Overreliance on automation: Many GEOs use a centralized system to automate payroll. Accordingly, you'll have a less individualized approach to payroll.

What Are the Benefits of Using a PEO Provider?

GEOs offer many advantages, especially if you don't have the resources or time to register your business in Mexico. But, PEOs also have a lot of advantages, especially if you prioritize quality and flexibility over cost.

Here are the main advantages of hiring PEO providers:

Access to a Wide Range of HR Services

International PEOs offer a full suite of HR services to pick and choose from.

Most PEO companies provide the following:

• Payroll and tax filing: PEOs can help you process payroll and pay state, local, and federal employment taxes. They may also be able to integrate payroll with attendance and time, reducing errors and duplicate data entry.
• Benefits administration: The right PEO should provide access to cost-effective, high-quality health insurance, retirement benefits, dental care, gym memberships, and other perks.
• Risk and safety program training: Besides workers' compensation, PEOs may provide training programs and safety audits to limit claims.
• Employee handbooks: Don't have the time or energy to develop and maintain documents that outline your startup's core values, guidelines, and policies? A PEO can help you with that.
• Compliance: PEOs have compliance experts who can shield your business from penalties and fines. Their areas of expertise may include unemployment insurance, payroll tax law, hiring, workers' compensation, and HR compliance.
• Employee training and onboarding: Some PEOs have HR professionals who provide HR training and onboarding.
• Recruitment and strategic hiring: Lastly, certain PEOs offer end-to-end talent services, including talent sourcing and recruitment.

High-Quality Service

As covered above, PEOs are less likely to rely on outsourcing. They're also more likely to hire Mexican HR managers, which means your hires will get a more streamlined experience.

Reduced Legal Risks

Regulatory violations and employee claims can damage your reputation, drain resources, and remove focus from profit-driving activities.

That's why you should partner with a PEO. Top-notch PEOs are caught up with relevant tax and labor laws, so you can rest assured that you'll always be on the right side of the law.

Reduced Turnover and Improved Engagement

Most PEO services start after workers are hired, but some offer talent sourcing, recruitment, and management. They may also offer benefits for boosting engagement and reducing turnover, such as:

• Gym memberships
• Co-working office spaces
• Payment in any desired currency, including cryptocurrency

Access to State-of-the-Art HR Tools

PEOs often use powerful HR tools that in-house HR departments lack. They also offer benchmarking and data analytics services that offer insight into your workforce. With the right HR expertise, data, and tools, you'll be able to derive clearer answers to mission-critical questions, including:

• How does my turnover compare to competitors'?
• Which departments lack talent? What kind of skills gaps do I have?
• What skill sets best match an available job vacancy?
• How much do I pay certain workers, and how does this compare to the market?
• Are there any bottlenecks in my HR processes? How can I contain them?

Time Savings

Paying and managing remote Mexican hires can be a time sink. This is especially true if you're a small or mid-sized business that distributes HR tasks across multiple departments. An experienced PEO can accelerate the employee management process by accelerating risk management, international payroll, business registration, and getting the right insurance for your startup.

Cost Savings

Finally, PEOs offer a lot for very little. Google reveals that they usually cost around 2% to 11% of your wages, amounting to approximately $500 to $1,500 per employee annually. This isn't a lot, especially if you have a small team.

Using a PEO in Mexico

An international PEO in Mexico can help you source, onboard, pay, and manage Mexican employees according to relevant tax and labor laws.

How Does a Professional Employer Organization (PEO) in Mexico Work?

When you sign a contract with a PEO in Mexico, you and the PEO will share employer responsibilities.

The PEO is typically responsible for the following:

• Processing payroll
• Withholding and paying payroll taxes
• Administering employee benefits
• Providing human resources guidance
• Maintaining workers' compensation coverage
• Creating and executing compliant employee contracts

Depending on your preferences and budget, you can outsource all or some of the tasks above.

This leaves you responsible for:

• Making business decisions, such as when to release new products
• Managing regular business operations, such as providing services and products to customers
• Deciding which employees to hire or terminate

What Do You Pay For When Working With a PEO?

Many factors affect PEO pricing, including:

Annual and One-Time Setup Costs

Every PEO has an initial setup fee when you sign a contract with them. These one-time setup fees cover all of the services needed to get your business up and running with a PEO, including:

• Onboarding workers
• Gathering necessary information and documents
• Establishing direct deposit and payroll
• Setting up withholdings for benefits, payroll, and more

Initial setup fees vary depending on your chosen PEO, but you can usually expect to pay $50 to $200 per employee.

Some companies and services may require additional annual or setup costs. For instance, companies that use PEOs to manage profit-sharing plans will owe a setup fee for the plan, along with an annual service fee.

Administrative Fees

PEOs' administrative costs are a set rate that accounts for all of the work required to manage your company account, such as:

• Handling payroll tax deposits and payroll
• Paying and managing workers' compensation premiums
• Addressing your HR questions and problems

Additional Fees and Pass-Through Costs

If your PEO offers additional services, you will have to pay for them. These typically include:

• Background checks
• Flu shots
• Training programs
• Drug and alcohol testing
• Ad placement and recruitment
• Translation services
• Drug-free safety plans

Prices vary greatly depending on the service and the company. Ask your PEO to provide clear pricing for these services in advance.

How To Choose the Best PEO Service Company

If you're interested in working with a PEO, here are some tips for choosing the best PEO service for your Mexican hires.

1. Assess Your HR Needs

First, you must assess how much HR assistance you need.

Chances are, if you only need to pay a few freelancers for part-time work, you won't need to partner with a PEO. This is because labor laws in Mexico only apply to employees, not freelancers. As such, the risks of running amok local laws and regulations are low, especially if you do your research.

On the other hand, if you're hiring a full-time remote development team from Mexico, you should work with a PEO. A PEO will accelerate the payroll and benefits administration process and make sure you're complying with relevant Mexican laws.

2. Use the Right Keywords To Find the Best PEO

Next, you need to use the right keywords to locate your ideal PEO. Here are some keyword suggestions:

• Mexico PEO
• Mexican PEO
• International professional employer organization payroll Mexico
• PEO help in Mexico
• PEO services in Mexico
• PEO remote hiring help in Mexico

3. Ask the Right Questions

After you've created a list of PEOs, email them about your needs. You should also ask the following questions to learn more about their services:

• Who started your company and who are your investors? The international PEO should be able to explain its origins. It should also be able to explain who its investors are. If the company relies on too much private equity financing or venture capital, consider picking another one. PEOs that rely heavily on private equity financing and venture capital usually prioritize making money over providing quality services.
• Has your company won any awards for PEO services? The ideal PEO should have at least one business award, citation, or accolade.
• Do you outsource work to sub-contracted partners? If so, how do you choose your partners in Mexico, and how long have you worked with them? Make sure your PEO has a reliable vetting mechanism for choosing third-party partners. It should also assume responsibility for its partners' decisions.
• What services do you provide? Ensure that your PEO provides the services you want.
• Do you have a dedicated team for answering questions? What time zone(s) are they located in? Your PEO should have a dedicated team for answering questions in your time zone.
• Do you have Mexican team members who can assist my hires in Mexico? The right PEO should have Mexican teams who speak Spanish and can help your hires with any questions or concerns.
• How do you follow Mexican data security requirements? The PEO must use secure encryption services to safeguard employee data. It should also follow Mexican data security requirements, such as the Federal Law on the Protection of Personal Data Held by Private Parties (Ley Federal de Protección de Datos Personales en Posesión de los Particulares).
• What are your rates? The PEO should list out all of the services they offer and the rates they charge. Ask them if there are any hidden fees for:

• Additional markup on foreign exchange
• A minimum time period you have to pay, even if an HR professional leaves
• Value-added tax (VAT) charges

Revelo: Recruitment and PEO Services Included

PEOs are a cost-effective way to manage and pay remote employees in Mexico. Unfortunately, sourcing employees is often the most challenging part, especially in competitive industries like Web3 development and data engineering.

Luckily, we at Revelo are here to help. Latin America's leading tech talent solution, we provide recruitment and PEO services. To get started, just tell us about your job requirements and we'll send you a list of pre-vetted talent. We can also help you handle payroll, benefits, compliance, and more.

Fill in this form to start working with us.