Global hiring opens up a world of opportunities, especially with the boom in remote work. However, the process also comes with complex legal, logistical, and compliance challenges — from connecting with international job seekers to complying with complex tax regulations.
Finding the right partners and technology is essential for companies to navigate international hiring successfully.
Here are some key resources that can help you grow your business compliantly across borders.
Key takeaways:
- Global staffing and recruitment agencies can streamline international hiring by leveraging their access to local talent pools in different countries.
- Legal and employment compliance advisors can help businesses navigate country-specific labor laws and prevent costly misclassification or tax issues.
- Official government resources offer valuable, location-specific guidance for companies entering new markets.
1. Employer of Record (EOR) Providers
Expanding your business into a new country can be lucrative, but setting up operations can be daunting.
Hiring an international employee means you must follow their country’s labor laws and regulations. Not long ago, the only way to do so was by setting up a local entity, which could take months and eat up resources that could be better spent growing your business.
That’s where an Employer of Record (EOR) comes in. An EOR removes the need to open a separate entity by legally employing global talent on your behalf. The EOR handles all of the HR and employment logistics, including compliance with local employment laws, while you manage your employees' day-to-day work.
EORs also offer a wealth of free information that you can draw on to help you navigate the process of hiring internationally. For example, if you visit an EOR’s website, such as RemoFirst’s, you’ll typically find helpful resources like:
EOR services typically include:
- Drafting contracts that comply with local laws
- Shipping equipment
- Processing global payroll, taxes, and Social Security contributions
- Administering statutory and supplemental employee benefits
- Managing onboarding and offboarding
However, the services and price points of EOR providers can vary significantly. Here are some of the top options to consider.
RemoFirst
RemoFirst helps companies of all sizes, from startups to Fortune 500 corporations, scale internationally by enabling them to hire talent in 185+ countries.
We ensure our clients’ compliance with local employment laws, such as statutory leave and employee benefits, including the ability to offer your employees localized private health insurance.
RemoFirst can also provide background checks and assist with visas and work permits.
Our EOR services start at only $199 per employee per month. If your company also employs freelancers, we’ve got you covered there, too. Our international contractors management services, which include the ability to onboard and manage freelancers, are free. Want the ability to pay your contractors via our platform? That’s only $25 per person per month.
Remote
Remote's EOR services enable businesses to hire, manage, and pay global employees through its platform. The platform integrates with popular HR and accounting tools like Gusto, Workday, QuickBooks, and Xero.
Notably, however, Remote owns its own entities in the countries where it operates, versus RemoFirst’s partner model, which impacts pricing.
EOR services start at $599 per employee per month on an annual plan, or $699 per employee on the monthly plan. Remote’s contractor management service has two tiers, starting at $29 per contractor per month.
Deel
Deel’s EOR services include global compliance, payroll, and benefits administration. The platform also integrates with more than 20 popular HR tools, such as Dropbox, Slack, and QuickBooks.
EOR pricing starts at $599 per person per month, with international contractor services beginning at $49 per month.
If you’re considering Deel, be mindful of potential hidden costs, which can increase your overall expenses. Reportedly, these may include offboarding charges and currency exchange markups.
Oyster
Oyster is an all-in-one platform that delivers global payroll and EOR services while managing HR compliance to help businesses hire talent quickly and ensure adherence to local labor laws.
Users report that the platform's design is intuitive and easily integrates with tools like QuickBooks.
Still, it’s one of the higher-priced EOR options. Oyster's services start at $699 per employee per month, while contractor services are available for $29 per person per month.
2. Global Staffing & Recruitment Agencies
Skip the job boards and consider working with an international staffing agency instead. Recruitment firms make it much easier to manage the hiring process across borders, whether you need to build out a customer support team or bring on a skilled software developer.
They already have the networks and expertise to connect you with qualified candidates in different markets, which saves your team time and helps you avoid the headaches of sourcing talent on your own.
These firms focus on finding, screening, and placing international candidates for remote roles, and they can add value by:
- Identifying local expertise: Staffing agencies with an international reach have a solid understanding of local job markets, cultural norms, and hiring standards.
- Expanding access to talent: Recruitment firms often draw from a broad network of qualified candidates, including global talent pools that may be difficult to tap into on your own.
- Expediting hiring for hard-to-fill roles: Staffing agencies are particularly useful when faced with a challenging position to fill.
Here are a few notable firms:
- Randstad: Headquartered in Diemen, Netherlands, the company is one of the two largest staffing firms worldwide and operates in 39 global markets.
- Adecco Group: Along with Randstad, Adecco is one of the largest staffing firms in the world, with a recent focus on supporting digital transformation.
- Robert Half International: Robert Half connects employers to a broad array of talent, including C-suite executives, in industries spanning finance, law, and more.
3. Legal and Employment Compliance Advisors
Employment laws, worker classifications, and contract requirements vary widely from one country to the next, which can make global hiring feel overwhelming. That’s why it’s a good idea to partner with legal consultants or law firms that focus on international labor law and can help your business avoid costly mistakes as you grow across borders.
Compliance advisors do more than just keep you out of trouble. They act as trusted guides, helping you make sense of complex rules and giving you confidence that your hiring practices are structured correctly.
With the right partner, you can focus more on building your team and less on worrying about whether you’re meeting every local requirement.
Compliance advisors can help you:
- Draft compliant contracts: They ensure your employment contracts meet local legal standards, which helps prevent future disputes.
- Navigate local regulations: They guide you through the complexities of each country's labor regulations, from working hours to termination policies.
- Avoid costly mistakes: Their expertise is crucial for preventing common and expensive issues like worker misclassification or tax-related problems.
Here are a few options for consultants who can help you navigate legal hurdles:
- Fragomen supports immigration and global mobility for businesses of all sizes, from local businesses to international corporations.
- Baker McKenzie specializes in employment law and international business services, including advising on mergers and acquisitions and taxes.
- Littler Mendelson focuses exclusively on the employer side of global employment law for businesses of all sizes.
4. Global Payroll & HR Platforms
Once you’ve brought international employees on board, the next challenge is managing their day-to-day needs in a way that’s both efficient and compliant. That’s where specialized tools come in.
Global HR software makes life a lot easier by pulling everything you need into one place. Instead of juggling multiple systems, you can oversee payroll, tax withholding, benefits administration, time off requests, and reporting from a single platform.
The biggest advantage is simplicity. With the right solution, you reduce manual work, cut down on errors, and get a clearer view of your entire global workforce. It also helps ensure you’re staying on top of each country’s compliance requirements, which can save your business from costly mistakes.
By using these solutions, companies can:
- Automate processes: The software handles complex, multi-country payroll and tax calculations automatically, reducing the chance of manual errors.
- Ensure compliance: These platforms are built with international regulations in mind, helping you stay compliant with local labor laws and tax requirements.
- Centralize data: All employee information, from personal details to payroll history, is stored in one place, making it easier to manage and report on your global workforce.
These services can help to ensure employees are paid accurately and on time:
- ADP Global Payroll eliminates the need for manual data transfers and powers full-scale workforce management (and even integrates with RemoFirst).
- Workday is an AI-powered, cloud-based service that offers financial management, HR management, and analytics.
- Payoneer enables cross-border payments and transfers in multiple currencies.
5. International Consulting & Expansion Partners
Hiring global business consultants can be a smart move if your company is looking to expand internationally but isn’t quite sure where to start. These consultants bring a wealth of experience and can help with everything from making global expansion a clear priority within your strategy to fine-tuning your branding so it resonates in new markets.
What makes consultants so valuable is their ability to see the bigger picture while also helping you navigate the details. Expanding into another country comes with financial, legal, and operational challenges that can be overwhelming if you’re trying to manage them alone.
A trusted consulting partner can point out risks you may not have considered, highlight opportunities you might otherwise miss, and give you a roadmap to follow so you can expand with confidence.
Some leading international consulting firms include:
- Global Class helps companies unlock global expansion potential by improving executive alignment, identifying risks, and accelerating growth strategies.
- TMF Group is a global provider of administrative services, including consulting on governance, accounting, taxes, and payroll.
- Healy Consultants offers clients services such as company incorporation, multi-currency corporate bank account opening, and human resource management.
6. Government & Trade Resources
Official government services are often one of the most reliable places to turn when you’re trying to understand how to hire compliantly in a new country.
Many governments publish detailed guidance for international employers that explains everything from labor market conditions to available incentives for foreign businesses. These resources can also walk you through the nuts and bolts of legal requirements, making them a useful starting point before you invest in outside consultants or tools.
The best part is that this information usually comes straight from the source, so you can feel confident that it’s accurate and up-to-date.
Government resources often include:
- Employment guides: These detail local labor laws, employment classifications, and what to include in a compliant contract.
- Tax information: Government portals often provide clear instructions on tax obligations for both employers and employees.
- Business registration tools: You can find resources to help with business registration, often a key first step in setting up a local presence.
Here are a few examples of portals and economic development agency resources that can be found on government sites:
- The Netherlands’ Business.gov.nl
- The U.K.’s Gov.uk
- Canada’s Canada.ca
Grow Your International Team With RemoFirst
RemoFirst helps businesses of all sizes employ global talent in over 185 countries. Our platform simplifies the entire process so you can hire and pay the best full-time and freelance employees, no matter where they live.
We take on all the back-end responsibilities of workforce management, handling a wide range of duties including:
- Compliantly managing global payroll and taxes
- Supporting benefits administration, such as healthcare
- Seamlessly onboarding and offboarding employees
- Offering assistance with visa and work permit applications
Ready to see how RemoFirst can help expand your global team? Schedule a demo today.
