PEO Pricing Transparency Index: Planned Dataset
What the index will measure
An annual publication, released on a fixed date, that answers the question the market does not want answered: what does each tracked PEO actually quote?
| Year | Measure | Source requirement |
|---|---|---|
| Index year | Published rate / quoted administrative fee per model | A rate sheet, published fee schedule or unbundled quote on file per provider |
| Every year | Year-over-year change in each provider's quoting | The prior year's record, re-verified on the same cadence |
| Every year | Contract terms that change the effective cost | Service agreement terms on file: term, notice, exit fees |
The gate this page is waiting on
This page is served noindex until the pricing record exists. Specifically, the following must be true before the index publishes:
- Every provider on the index has at least one pricing source on file — a
quoted rate, a published fee schedule or a rate sheet — with a URL and a verification date.
- The methodology that turns those records into index figures is published and
versioned before the numbers are.
- A named reviewer has signed off on the index edition.
None of that is true today, which is why this page is a draft that says so.
Methodology we will publish with v1
Before any figure publishes, the method that produces it publishes first. Version 1 will commit to all seven of the below, in writing:
- Unbundled admin fee per employee. Each provider’s administrative fee stated alone, per employee per month, separate from insurance and payroll — never a bundle average and never a blended number.
- Term, auto-renewal and notice. Contract term, auto-renewal behavior and cancellation notice, taken from the client service agreement on file for each provider.
- Benefits carrier lineup at constant design. Carrier lineups compared at one fixed plan design and contribution level, so the carriers differ between providers while the plan design does not move underneath them.
- Comp program basis. Whether workers’ compensation is pay-as-you-go or estimated-payroll, which carrier writes the policy, and how class codes are assigned.
- Collection method. First-party quotes obtained through our own qualify flow, as an ordinary buyer would receive them, each stamped with the date it was received.
- Refusal policy. A provider that declines to quote is listed as declined, with the date of the refusal. A refusal is a finding, not a missing row.
- Versioned changelog. Every edition carries a version number and a date, and corrections are published as new versions rather than silently overwritten.
No pricing data exists on file yet, so none of these rules has been exercised. When quotes clear the gate above, this methodology governs how the index reads them.
The dataset's working form
The index will be published as a table and a downloadable CSV under CC BY 4.0, alongside the state regulatory dataset already released. When the record clears the gate, this page publishes itself — the build does not need to version a promise.
What stands instead, today
Until a quote is on file, the working tools are the cost calculator (which prices the quote you received rather than one we invented) and the seven questions that force an unbundled quote out of a sales team.
Related
Get matched with up to three PEOs
Answer six questions about your headcount, states and timeline. We shortlist providers that can actually serve you, and you choose which ones may contact you.
No obligation. You pick which providers get your details. We never sell your information to a data broker.