Overwhelmed By Employee Benefits Management? Here’s How a PEO Can Help

For employers scaling into and across the US, the employee benefits landscape can feel broken. They’re immediately faced with fragmented state laws, rising costs, admin overload, and employee expectations they can’t realistically meet on their own.

Standard PEOs (professional employer organizations) offer a solution. But not all PEO service models are designed equally. In many cases, they’re not solving problems fast enough, or with enough transparency, flexibility, or global context.

Deel PEO is built differently. We combine licensed in-house professionals, embedded compliance workflows, and exclusive access to international benefit plans, making us uniquely equipped to support global and distributed teams.

Typically, PEOs simplify the benefits equation by consolidating fragmented tasks—like enrollment, deductions, carrier communications, and COBRA administration—into one service. They handle the behind-the-scenes admin so you’re not chasing paperwork, calculating premiums, or managing eligibility rules on your own.

Deel PEO simplifies it further by turning those services into real-time, guided workflows backed by experts.

“Without a PEO, employee benefits management can be incredibly taxing,” explains Kerry Ashby, Head of PEO Operations at Deel. “You’re selecting plans, running open enrollment, tracking deductions, paying invoices, and reconciling everything yourself. But with Deel, we handle all of that for you—it’s automated, it’s accurate, and it just works.”

This article offers expert insights into how using a PEO like Deel can transform the benefits experience for your team.

Better access to competitive domestic benefits

Today’s employees expect comprehensive benefits packages. Health insurance, dental and vision insurance, and retirement savings plans have become the baseline needed to attract and retain US talent. But for a growing number of employers, delivering those benefits at the right price and with the right support on their own is unrealistic.

Individually, small or mid-sized companies don’t get the best rates on benefits and health insurance—or access to premium plans. Deel PEO changes that by quoting employers under a large-group master plan, unlocking competitive pricing and plan availability typically reserved for large enterprises.

With Deel, employers gain access to:

• 60+ domestic health plan options from major carriers
• Dental, vision, short- and long-term disability at competitive group rates
• Regional carveouts that support locally preferred carriers in specific states

This flexibility is critical for multi-state employers who want to balance regional preferences with centralized benefits administration.

With Deel, employers typically offer three to six plans from the 60-plan menu, based on their workforce composition and budget. Deel helps guide this selection to ensure employees have a clear set of options without being overwhelmed. As Rachel Collens explained, the decision isn’t just about how many plans to offer but how you structure contributions.

“Some employers start by asking, ‘How much can I spend per employee per month—including dependents?’ That helps narrow down which plan they should sponsor fully and how to build up or down from there,” says Rachel Collens, Associate Director, Expansion Operations at Deel.

Employers might choose to fully fund a mid-tier plan for individual coverage while offering higher-cost buy-up plans and lower-cost buy-down options to suit different needs. Others take a percentage-based approach, covering, for example, 90% of premiums for employees and 50% for dependents. Deel supports both strategies and helps employers model out the financial and experiential impact before enrollment begins.

And Deel doesn’t just offer variety. It simplifies administration, too. When employees elect new benefits carriers and plans, either during open enrollment or throughout the calendar year, those changes flow into the Deel platform, and deductions are automatically updated.

You can also retain region-specific plans when needed. For example, if your New Hampshire team prefers a local HMO not in Deel’s national menu, Deel can implement a benefits carveout—handling pre-tax deductions, payroll sync, and W-2 reporting—without requiring the rest of the team to switch providers.

This structure empowers small businesses to offer the kind of rich, localized, and cost-effective benefits

Exclusive international plans for globally mobile teams

Most PEOs weren’t built for global teams. Deel is.

Our Aetna International master plan is the only one of its kind in the PEO space—and it’s exclusive to Deel. It was developed with Aetna’s international division to reflect the needs of globally distributed employees. This is not an add-on or short-term travel policy. It’s a full-featured US master health plan that extends care abroad with the same level of coverage as within the US for W-2 employees.

"It works just like any US master plan,” explains Rachel. “You get quoted, you choose the coverage level, and it’s embedded into payroll. But it also gives employees access to care abroad—whether they’re traveling, going home for a few months, or working temporarily overseas. That’s what makes it so powerful."

Employees can receive outpatient procedures, routine care, and even hospital services in their home country or while traveling for work without switching coverage or navigating a separate insurance process. The same insurance card works abroad, offering a seamless experience with no disruption to care.

The plan is ideal for US-based employees who travel frequently, visa holders who return home for extended periods, or globally mobile staff who work in multiple regions throughout the year.

It’s also fully integrated into Deel’s payroll and benefits workflows, so employers can manage international and domestic coverage with the same tools and systems.

Built-in compliance for US and state laws

When it comes to benefits compliance in the US, many companies new to the country—or a state—are flying blind.

Federal laws like the ACA, COBRA, and FMLA come with strict eligibility rules, documentation deadlines, and reporting obligations. On top of that, state-specific requirements—like how New York handles paid leave, or the sick leave ordinances specific to Chicago, Illinois—can catch even experienced HR teams off guard.

Deel PEO automates compliance across all of it. Every time you onboard, terminate, or update an employee’s record, the platform cross-checks the rules tied to their location, status, and eligibility—and prompts you in-app with the right steps, forms, and timing. All the while, you have access to experts for additional clarity at every step.

For example:

• When you hire in a new state, Deel triggers registration workflows for state unemployment insurance, tax IDs, and onboarding notices
• When an employee’s hours change, Deel alerts you if that impacts benefits eligibility or ACA classification
• When someone leaves the company, Deel automatically initiates COBRA notification

“There’s paperwork that needs to be sent out when someone goes on leave, when they come back, or when they terminate—and we make sure that it’s sent on time,” explains Kerry. “If they don’t qualify for FMLA but you still want to grant them leave, we’ll walk you through what options are available.”

Deel also handles ACA filings and 1095 forms for eligible employers, prompting you to supply only the inputs required, and taking care of the technical reporting. Whether you join mid-year or scale into eligibility thresholds later, Deel adjusts your reporting obligations accordingly.

And because all of this is managed within Deel’s native platform, you’re not chasing emails, reentering data, or relying on external vendors to stay in sync. Deel turns complex regulatory compliance into a seamless part of your day-to-day HR operations so your team can grow faster without tripping regulatory wires.

In-house expertise that delivers real support

Unlike most PEOs, Deel doesn’t outsource core operations to third-party brokers or call center vendors. We built everything in-house—from payroll and HR to benefits and compliance. That means faster responses, deeper context, and no handoffs.

Benefits open enrollment support

Our benefits team has led hundreds of open enrollment cycles and knows how to guide both employers and employees through plan selection, contribution decisions, and education.

• We host your open enrollment meetings and walk employees through their options
• We answer employee questions—from “How do HSAs work?” to “What happens if I move from Arizona to Florida?”
• We help employers make smart plan configurations, tailored to workforce size, locations, and budget
• We make enrollment easy, with online self-service tools and built-in deadlines and reminders

“Our certified HR experts are deeply involved in helping clients set up the right mix of plans," explains Rachel. "Usually a mid-tier option the company covers most of, plus a buy-up, a buy-down, and a high-deductible HSA. Then through the Deel dashboard, you can easily track enrollment progress in real time and see exactly where your team stands”.

Renewal support that goes beyond the basics

Benefits renewals aren’t just about re-signing a contract. They’re an opportunity to reevaluate what you offer your workforce, optimize contributions, and stay competitive in your hiring markets.

Deel handles:

• Plan analysis and recommendations based on current usage and market benchmarks
• Contribution strategy support, including multiple contribution classes if needed
• Employee communications and education on any plan changes

Our goal is to help you keep costs predictable without sacrificing the quality of coverage your team expects.

Ongoing support for employers and employees

Every Deel PEO client is assigned a dedicated HR Business Partner (HRBP) and Payroll Manager. These are licensed professionals who act as extensions of your internal team, not generalists.

Your team helps you:

• Draft and update employee handbooks
• Create compliant policies by state
• Benchmark salaries and define job levels
• Handle complex performance or termination cases
• Navigate state-specific onboarding and exit requirements

Our in-house payroll, tax, and workers’ compensation coverage experts are embedded in our PEO operations, too, not offloaded to external processors. That internal alignment means:

• Quicker turnaround on questions
• Consistent payroll tax compliance across states
• Smooth integration with Deel’s benefits and HR data

When clients reach out, they don’t get redirected or delayed. Instead, they get someone who knows their account, understands their setup, and can act immediately.

How Deel PEO compares to standard PEOs

One platform to support every team, everywhere

Deel brings your global workforce into one system, whether you’re hiring through a PEO service in the US or using EOR, contractors, or entities abroad. That means you don’t need multiple providers, disconnected platforms, or siloed HR support as you scale.

With Deel, you can run payroll, manage human resources tasks, and stay compliant across borders—all from a single platform. From onboarding and benefits to terminations and tax filings, everything flows through the same system.

Deel PEO is part of a broader global infrastructure built for modern companies: those expanding into new markets, hiring across time zones, and expecting better support from their partners.

Want to see how it works? Book a personalized demo to explore the platform and get your questions answered by an expert.