Employer of Record (EOR): What is It & How It Can Help Your Business?  

Today, many companies give preference to skills over a geographical location to build a thriving and diverse workforce. But hiring employees overseas brings many challenges as employers have to comply with target country-specific employment laws, mitigating legal risks, ensuring seamless onboarding and among others.  

So, how do businesses across industries navigate all these barriers to international hiring?  

That’s when an EOR comes in. If your ideal candidate lives across borders, then an EOR can help you employ that candidate in a hassle-free and fully compliant manner.  

To determine whether an EOR is a right solution for your business, we’ve got you covered with this post. Learn everything you need to know about an EOR – what it stands for, its benefits and how it works.  

What is an Employer of Record (EOR)? 

An Employer of Record (EOR) is a third-party firm that empowers your company to legally employ workers in countries where your company lacks a local entity. 

When you partner with an EOR to employ workers on your behalf, they are solely responsible for all formal employment tasks and liabilities such as complying with local & global taxes, labor laws compliance, HR processes and among others.  

Does your Business Need an Employer of Record Service?  

When you want to hire a full-time worker in a country where you don’t own a legal entity, there are two options at your disposal. You can either set up a legal entity or use an EOR service.  

Establishing local entities along with taking care of payroll, employee benefits and complying with all local employment laws demand a considerable amount of time and cost thousands of dollars. As a result, this traditional process delays hiring and your journey to global expansion.  

On the other hand, an EOR brings you a more cost-effective and faster way by employing full-time workers internationally without setting up a local entity in a target country.  

Benefits of using an Employer of Record  

Here are some of the key benefits of using an EOR while hiring workers overseas: 

• > Removes the need to set up local incorporation – save substantial resources for your business 
• > Accelerate time to market – faster than traditional local entity establishment 
• > Empower you to hire remote workers anywhere in the world 
• > Brings you a stress-free way to build remote teams 
• > Eradicates risks when dealing with unfamiliar labor and tax laws
• > Ensure compliance for both the employer and employees, in every country where you want to employ someone 

How Does an Employer of Record Work? 

Your EOR service provider takes care of the legal employment of your employees overseas via a service agreement. The EOR hires, manages and pays workers overseas on your behalf.

On paper, the EOR is the legal employer for meeting the compliance. But you retain complete control of managing and executing the day-to-day operations of your employees and business.  

Therefore, you decide the key decisions such as who to hire, duties and assignments of your employees and compensation. In the other words, you work with your employees overseas (under EOR) the exact same way you work with other employees.   

What an Employer of Record Can Do for Your Business? 

If you do decide to work with an EOR, you can count on your service provider to take care of all the formal employment tasks and liabilities on your behalf. 

It includes: 

• > End-to-end payroll processing: tax deductions, salary processing, time & attendance, maintaining payment records and among others  
• > Employment benefits and its administration: dental care, medical insurance, vision care, retirement plans including 401(K) plans 
• > Risk management: eradicating risks and liabilities by taking care of tax filings, local & global compliance and beyond  
• > Employment contracts: creating, maintaining and terminating 
• > Employee onboarding: a hassle-free onboarding of new hires or relocating existing staff
• > HR support: providing actionable advice on terminations and legal proceedings  
• > Immigration assistance: visa and immigration requests, though visa approval cannot be guaranteed 
• > Others: worker’s compensation administration, background checks, drug screenings, cultural training, complete support to both employer and employee 

Employer of Record vs. Staffing Agency 

A staffing agency helps companies find the ideal candidate for the roles they want to fill in from contract-to-hire to full-time positions. From one staffing agency to another, the services can span from advertising the job, attracting and hiring remote talent to run background checks.  

On the other hand, an EOR service doesn’t include talent sourcing and vetting. In the other words, you work with an EOR when the ideal candidate has been found.  

We at InfoStride provide both staffing and EOR services to take end-to-end responsibility from remote talent search to onboarding it compliantly.  

How InfoStride Can Help Your Business through its EOR services? 

At InfoStride, we strive to help businesses of any size looking forward to expanding globally through our EOR services that include everything from global payroll, local tax & compliance to employee benefits. By taking time-consuming and key functions on your shoulders, we empower you to invest your valuable time and resources in your global expansion strategy for business growth.  

With key teams in legal and compliance, we make sure that your company is fully compliant every step of the way while hiring workers overseas.  

We take time to understand your business and its global expansion goals to provide your EOR services tailored to your requirements. Our goal is to comprehend and navigate the unique challenges you face while hiring employees internationally while providing end-to-end support to you and your employee overseas.  

If you have any doubts regarding EOR as a solution to employ workers overseas for your business or want to learn more about our EOR services, connect with our experts today. Get expert advice in a free consultation session. 

Conclusion  

Partnering with an EOR is a cost-effective way to deal with evolving local employment rules and norms of countries where you want to employ someone. By taking care of all the risks and liabilities for any local or global labor laws, the EOR helps you employ ideal talent overseas with a fast turnaround time.