How to Access Benefits for Your Small Business

The Benefits Decision No One Explains Well to Small Businesses

For small businesses, especially those just crossing the 50-employee threshold, benefits decisions come with a level of complexity that rarely gets explained well. What are you required to offer? What can you realistically afford? And between the open market, brokers, and HR providers, which path gives you the best combination of coverage, cost, and sanity?

Most small business owners figure this out the hard way. This session gives you a clearer path.

What You Will Learn:

• What benefits obligations apply to your business at different employee thresholds, and which compliance requirements kick in when you hit 50 that many owners do not see coming
• How the three main access routes — the open market, a broker, and a full-service HR provider — compare in terms of cost, administrative burden, and what you give up or gain with each
• Why PEO customers in a 2026 Forrester study saw a 12% reduction in employee benefit costs compared to prior independently sourced plans, and what that means for how small businesses should be thinking about their options
• How to evaluate your current benefits structure against what your employees need, what competitors are offering, and what your budget can support
• What a realistic, affordable benefits package looks like for a business your size, and how to build one without becoming a benefits expert or adding HR headcount

Why This Matters Now

Benefits are one of the top factors driving both talent attraction and retention, and small businesses are competing for the same candidates as organizations with far deeper pockets. The right benefits solution makes it easier to attract talent, optimize cost, and reduce HR workload, but getting there requires understanding which structure actually fits your size, your growth trajectory, and the level of support you want from a partner.

The 50-employee mark is a particularly critical inflection point. New compliance obligations arrive, employee expectations shift, and the informal approach that got you here stops being enough. Getting ahead of that transition is significantly easier than reacting to it.

Who Should Attend

• Small business owners and operators approaching or recently crossing the 50-employee threshold
• HR leaders and office managers responsible for benefits decisions at organizations without a dedicated benefits team
• CEOs and COOs at growing businesses who are not sure whether their current benefits approach is competitive or compliant
• Business leaders working with a broker who want to understand whether a PEO or HR platform might serve them better
• Anyone who has been putting off a benefits strategy review because the options feel too complicated to evaluate

Presented by: Michelle Coussens

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