In the 1700’s, mining was wet work in England.  Authorities who wanted to improve conditions for their workers hired a man by the name of James Watt to help them solve the problem.  Watt produced an engine that helped pump water out of the mines that became known as the “steam engine.”

Mr. Watt eventually made many improvements, adapting his engine to run hundreds of different kinds of machinery.  The result was a machine that almost single-handedly fueled the entire Industrial Revolution.  Eventually, we had telephones, radios, automobiles, and jet airplanes—all because an employer wanted to improve his business, and hired the right man to make the needed changes.

But that’s not the end of the story.  In spite of the fact that he patented his machine, copycats went to work stealing Watt’s ideas almost immediately.  In order to protect the patent on his inventions, Watt was reduced to handling mountains of paperwork and litigation.  He decided he’d cut a sizeable chunk out of his workload if he could simply reproduce documents without writing them over and over.  His solution was to invent carbon paper from paraffin wax and some carbon black he found in the inside of the chimney of his kerosene lamp.  Only a few generations later, carbon paper has evolved into typewriters, copy machines, the fax, and finally the computer.

The Professional Employer Organization represents a business revolution similar to the two James Watt caused.  In an attempt to make their businesses more efficient, and to provide improved benefits to their workers, owners all over the nation are outsourcing their backbreaking personnel responsibilities to PEOs.

Just like Watt’s steam engine, a PEO can improve your business efficiency.  Just like Watt’s carbon paper, PEOs can decrease your workload.  As the industry standard for business in the next millennium, the PEO, quite literally, changing the way the world does business.