PEO in Louisiana [2025]

As a small business owner in Louisiana, whether you’re based in New Orleans, Baton Rouge, or Shreveport, it can be tough to balance all the various demands of running a company. This is where a professional employer organization (PEO) can help. PEOs offer administrative services to help businesses streamline and automate HR tasks like payroll, benefits administration, compliance management, and workers’ compensation insurance. They also enable businesses to provide their employees with access to better, more affordable benefits.

When selecting a PEO, you need to carefully consider all of your options. Rippling PEO makes it easy to hire and onboard employees in Louisiana and across the US, with automatic state tax registration, remote device management, and more.

Benefits of using a PEO in Louisiana

Working with a Louisiana PEO can help your business reduce its HR workload, gain access to more cost-effective benefits, and receive valuable support and expertise.

Offload administrative HR work

When you partner with a PEO, you and the PEO share employer responsibilities. This type of relationship is known as co-employment, where you become the "worksite employer," retaining all authority to hire and fire employees and manage overall business operations, such as R&D, marketing, sales, and customer support.

The PEO becomes the "administrative employer" for your workers. This means the PEO employs your workers under its federal tax identification number (EIN) and takes over employment-related human resources work such as payroll management, benefits administration, HR compliance, etc.

PEO companies empower your business’s HR team to focus on more strategic work that drives key outcomes by reducing their manual administrative load. The PEO streamlines HR management using a combination of technology, expertise, and established processes.

Better employee benefits, at a lower price

PEOs co-employ millions of individual workers across the US. This allows them to negotiate with third-party benefits providers for lower rates—and then pass those savings on to their clients.

PEOs also use those same economies of scale to provide their client companies with access to more robust, comprehensive benefits plans that are typically harder for small or medium-sized businesses to provide on their own. These benefits often include health insurance, life and disability insurance, worksite benefits, retirement plans, and dependent care—helping small businesses attract and retain top talent.

If you run a business in Louisiana with 50 or more full-time employees, you must provide healthcare benefits per the federal Affordable Care Act (ACA). PEOs can help you access cost-effective healthcare plans that meet the federal mandate—plus other benefits your employees want and need. 

Worry-free compliance with Louisiana laws

A PEO can help you comply with complex federal labor and employment laws and state-level and local Louisiana laws, which can be complex—and frequently changing.

In Louisiana, for example, employers are required to provide leave for specific, various purposes, like jury duty, pregnancy disability, bone marrow donation, and more. Leave laws vary from state to state, so it can be challenging to keep up with them if you employ a remote workforce. A PEO like Rippling tracks your employees’ time and attendance, automatically applies the correct leave policies based on their locations, and flags any unintentional violations so you can correct them.

PEOs also help you maintain compliance with the following:

• Payroll regulations, like employee classification, tax form issuance and filing, payroll tax reporting and depositing, and wage law compliance

• Benefits laws, like the ACA, COBRA, FSA, HSA, and other benefits-related laws

• Labor laws, including providing workers' compensation insurance, Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) laws, and displaying state-mandated labor posters

According to the IRS, around 40% of small businesses face payroll penalties each year. So, taking advantage of a PEO's compliance support can help you and your business avoid costly fines and penalties.

Dedicated support team

If you're a small business or startup, you may not have the resources to handle time-consuming HR matters independently. By partnering with a PEO, you'll gain access to HR expertise and support. Your PEO can assist you with training managers, writing employee handbooks, reviewing safety procedures, and addressing any other HR challenges that come your way.

Offload your administrative HR work

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What to consider when evaluating a PEO service in Louisiana

When selecting a PEO service provider in Louisiana, it's essential to consider specific criteria to find the right fit for your business:

• Your business needs. Think about your business needs and what gaps you have within your team. Some common PEO offerings include:

  • Payroll processing

  • Tax filing and compliance

  • Benefits administration

  • Recruiting and onboarding

  • Safety compliance and risk management

  • Time and attendance tracking

  • Regulatory compliance

  • HR outsourcing

• Your budget. PEOs usually charge either per-employee per-month fees or a percentage of each payroll run. It's important to consider the cost of the PEO as your business grows and your headcount increases. Make sure you can afford the PEO in the long run.

• Experience and reputation. Has the PEO worked with other businesses in Louisiana before? Have you requested referrals or testimonials? Consider checking review sites like G2 and Capterra to see past and current reviews about past clients’ experiences with the PEO.

• Benefits. Review the range, quality, and cost of the benefits plans the PEO can help you access to determine whether they meet your employees' needs.

• Benefits renewal rates. Choose a transparent PEO that publicizes how its rates change so you can predict potential increases. Some PEOs increase renewal rates, resulting in unexpected costs—or the hassle of finding a new PEO after a year.

• Integrations. How will the PEO integrate with the systems, tools, and technology you currently have in place?

• Does the PEO specialize in certain industries? If your business operates in a niche industry, partnering with a PEO with experience in your field can be beneficial.

• Does the PEO specialize in certain legal or compliance issues? If your business needs to comply with federal or state regulations or has legal issues, finding a PEO with specialized experience can be helpful.

• Your exit strategy. You may eventually leave the PEO, whether you want to bring your HR processes in-house or switch to another solution. But exiting a PEO can be difficult, requiring you to remove all its systems and start anew. Ask about the offboarding process before signing a contract.

Get big-company benefits, for less money

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Why Rippling PEO is the right choice for your Louisiana business

Rippling PEO is the first PEO to sync HR, IT, and Finance in one platform. With a faster and more user-friendly system than most PEOs, Rippling handles all your critical compliance tasks—such as setting up state tax accounts and identifying wage violations. Did we mention the 90-second onboarding? 

From access to top-notch benefits for your team to remote device management, Rippling simplifies your work so you can focus on what matters most.

With Rippling, you get:

• All-in-one HR, IT, and Finance platform

• Powerful and customizable reporting on any employee data

• Tools to manage remote teams include tax registration, onboarding, and device management

• Access to superior benefits plans, plus transparent and predictable renewal rates

• Automatic identification of compliance infractions with recommended federal, state, and local solutions

• Automated risk management processes, including ACA and COBRA administration, anti-harassment training, and sending digital labor law posters to your employees

• Access to hundreds of HR resources, guides, and templates

If you ever decide to bring HR in-house, it's simple to transition off Rippling PEO. With Rippling, you can easily switch off the PEO and move to our all-in-one workforce management platform—no interruptions. Your HR, payroll, and employee data will be securely stored in your account, while your integrations with other systems will remain intact. Plus, your employees will maintain their current login credentials and can continue using Rippling like before.

FAQs about PEOs in Louisiana