The sentence arrives pre-filled — the type is locked, the countries are yours.
Finish the sentence and we come back with the provider that fits those countries, the landed cost you should expect, and what it takes to get somebody employed there.
An Employer of Record is a company that already has a legal entity in the country you want to hire in, and employs your person inside it on your behalf.
They hold the employment contract, run the payroll, withhold and file the taxes, administer the statutory benefits and carry the compliance risk of getting any of it wrong. You direct the work, set the salary, manage the person and decide when the role ends. Nothing about the day-to-day changes; what changes is whose name is on the contract and whose problem the filings are.
It exists because the alternative is registering a company in that country — a three-to-six-month project with a local director, a registered office, a payroll provider and an accountant, before anybody has been hired. For one to five people in a market you are still testing, that arithmetic does not work. For the sixth or seventh, it starts to.
Every provider advertises one figure per employee per month. It is the only part of the bill they control, and it is the part that matters least. Here is the whole of it, largest first — and four of the five never reach them.
Every provider will tell you they do all six. The difference is what each one looks like when it arrives, and how much of it lands back on your desk.
Before anything else, a legal employer has to exist in the country. Your provider either owns an entity there or borrows one from a partner, and that single fact decides who carries the liability, who answers when a labour authority asks a question, and how quickly anything can be fixed.
Ask to see the registered entity name your employee's contract will carry.
Not your template translated. A contract drafted to the country's own law, with the statutory clauses it requires and the ones it forbids taken out — probation length, notice, non-compete enforceability, overtime treatment, the working-time rules that apply whatever you agreed.
Ask to see a redlined sample for the actual country, not a global master.
One run a month in local currency, on the local calendar, with the employer contributions calculated and paid on top rather than quietly billed later. You should get one invoice you can reconcile, showing gross, contributions and fees as separate lines — not a single number with no working.
Ask to see a real invoice from an existing client, with the figures removed.
The statutory floor makes the hire legal. It rarely makes the offer competitive. What closes a candidate is the gap between the minimum and what everyone else in that market pays — private medical where the public system is why people leave, pension above the mandated rate, the allowances that are technically optional and practically expected.
Ask to see the statutory package and the market package side by side.
Three components sit above the statutory floor. They are what the candidate is comparing.
Identity, right to work, tax registration, social-security enrolment, bank details, equipment, first-day access. A good provider runs this as a tracked sequence you can watch, and tells you which step is waiting on the employee and which is waiting on a government office.
Ask to see the step list for your country, with who is blocked on whom.
Two steps sit with a government office, not with you and not with your provider.
The part nobody evaluates and everybody eventually needs. Notice served correctly, statutory severance calculated and paid, final payroll closed, the authorities told, the leaver's paperwork issued. In several countries a termination that skips a step is simply void, and the employment continues whether or not anyone turned up.
Ask to see their process for a contested exit, and who represents the employer in it.
In several countries the termination is void and the employment simply continues.
We do not employ anyone on your behalf, hold your deposit or run your payroll. We research the people who do, and we are on your side of the table when you pick one.
Reports, insights and tools that help you make better HR purchasing decisions, in your interest.
You get the comparison, the questions to put to each provider, and the reasoning behind the call — written down, so your legal and finance teams can argue with it rather than take it on trust. The work is yours to keep whether or not you use the provider we suggest.
Anonymised data across clients, benchmarked on what providers actually do rather than what they sell.
What a provider does after the contract is signed is the only thing that matters, and it is the one thing their sales deck cannot tell you. We track how they actually perform — onboarding times that hold, invoices that reconcile, terminations handled without a scramble — across the companies we have advised.
Ironclad transition planning as your business evolves and your hiring patterns change.
The right answer at three people is often the wrong answer at thirty, and the right provider in one country is rarely the right one in the next. We plan for the switch — what it costs, what transfers, what breaks — before it is urgent rather than after.
Three steps, and no charge to you.
Who is the legal employer in this country — you, or somebody else?
“We'll confirm the entity after signature.”
Why that answer ends it. Every answer that is not a company name is the same answer. Owned entities carry the liability where you can see it; partner networks put a firm you never signed with between you and your employee, on terms you never read.
Quote me the cost of ending this role at twenty-four months.
“That depends entirely on the circumstances.”
Why that answer ends it. A named role, a named tenure, a number. Providers who work in their own entities can produce it in a day because they have done it before. The ones who cannot are not protecting you from complexity.
Which statutory costs are inside the fee, and which are billed on top?
“Everything is included,” with no schedule attached.
Why that answer ends it. Employer social contributions, the thirteenth month, mandatory insurance, the severance reserve. We want the schedule, not the assurance — the schedule is what turns the advertised line into the number you will actually pay.
Can our hire hold equity here, and who does the filing?
“That's one for your lawyers.”
Why that answer ends it. Two different questions and providers routinely answer only the first. Administration is the part that breaks: grant paperwork, local tax treatment, the annual filing nobody budgeted a person for.
What does it cost to move this person onto our own entity in year two?
A transfer fee that appears nowhere in the draft contract.
Why that answer ends it. The question that reveals the business model. A bridge charges you to cross once. A destination charges you to leave, and prices it after you are committed.
Providers pay us a referral fee when you sign. You read that here, not in the small print. What keeps it straight: the answer moves — the provider that wins France loses Nigeria, and nobody can buy a recommendation that never stays the same.
What is an Employer of Record?
A company that legally employs someone in a country where you have no entity, on your behalf. They hold the contract, run payroll, file the taxes and carry the compliance. You direct the work and pay them a fee per employee per month.
Do we still manage the person?
Entirely. You set the salary, assign the work, run the reviews and decide when the role ends. The provider is the legal employer, not the manager — nothing about the day-to-day reporting line changes.
Is an EOR legal?
Yes, in the great majority of countries, and specifically regulated in several. A handful cap how long one person may be employed this way before the arrangement has to convert. The real risk is not the model — it is using it for work that is genuinely independent.
EOR or PEO?
A PEO co-employs alongside your own local entity, so you still need one. An EOR is the employer outright and you need nothing. If you have no entity in the country, a PEO is not available to you.
How much does it cost?
A published fee per employee per month, plus employer contributions, benefits above the statutory floor and — in most markets — a reserve held up front. The landed figure is always well above the advertised one, and it moves by country. We price it for your countries as part of the match.
How fast can somebody start?
Days rather than months where the provider owns its entity in that country and no work permit is involved. Partner networks and visa sponsorship both add time, and only one of those is negotiable.
When should we open our own entity instead?
When a country's headcount grows enough that the per-seat fee overtakes registration, local payroll and an accountant — or the moment you need to invoice locally or grant real equity. We model the crossover for your numbers rather than quoting a rule of thumb.
Can our hire hold equity?
Usually as virtual options rather than real shares, because the employment sits with the provider. The question that matters is who does the filing — several providers permit equity in principle and will not administer it in practice.
Can we convert an existing contractor?
Yes, and it is one of the most common reasons to start. Do it before somebody else decides the relationship was employment all along — the conversion is cheap, the reclassification is not.
Is this temporary or permanent?
Either. Some companies use an EOR to test a market for a year; others employ through one indefinitely because the country will never justify an entity. Both are legitimate — they just want different contract terms.
Who do we call when something goes wrong?
Ask before you sign, and ask specifically: who answers a payroll error, a labour inspection, a resignation on a Friday. A named contact in the right timezone is worth more than a lower fee.
What if we want to switch providers later?
Plan it at signature, not at renewal. Continuity of service, accrued leave, notice and the deposit all have to transfer. We handle the switch as its own piece of work, and it is the reason we ask about exit terms up front.
Tell us the countries and the headcount. You get the match free; the research stays published either way.
