The way companies hire has changed for good. With digital-first work, global teams, and ongoing talent shortages, more businesses are turning to Employer of Record (EOR) solutions to help them grow cross-border.
The result? A market that’s gaining real momentum — reaching an estimated USD 4.71 billion in 2025 and projected to climb to USD 7.79 billion by 2033.
North America is currently leading the way, accounting for about 38% of global EOR adoption in 2023. Much of that demand comes from companies seeking skilled talent in the U.S. and Canada across various sectors, including technology, finance, and healthcare.
Whether hiring in North America or internationally, EORs help businesses access highly skilled talent by managing the complexity of navigating tax, compliance, and legal frameworks.
Key takeaways:
- A strong demand for highly skilled talent is leading both international and North American companies to partner with EOR service providers.
- RemoFirst’s proprietary data shows that companies are hiring globally to fill specialized roles and access new markets, not merely to reduce hiring costs.
- From navigating state-specific worker classification laws in the U.S. to managing strict employment protections in Europe, EORs help businesses stay compliant while scaling a global workforce efficiently.
Two Sides of the EOR Story in North America
The EOR story in North America is twofold:
- Global companies are seeking North American talent.
- North American companies are hiring international talent.
The United States and Canada are home to world-class professionals in technology, finance, healthcare, and design. Global companies utilize EOR services to hire employees compliantly in those countries — avoiding the need to establish legal entities and navigate not only country-specific, but also state- or province-specific labor laws.
On the flipside, many North American companies rely on EOR providers to access global talent in places such as Latin America, the Asia-Pacific region, and Europe, where specialized skills, cost efficiencies, and near-shore time zones enable them to scale quickly.
From Silicon Valley to Toronto, this two-way dynamic makes North America both a proving ground and a blueprint for global EOR adoption and expanded international talent opportunities.
North American Companies Hiring Globally
Many U.S. and Canadian companies use Professional Employer Organizations (PEOs) to hire in other states or provinces where they don’t have an office. However, PEO services are typically limited to domestic employment and cannot support hiring in new countries where a company lacks a legal entity.
A global Employer of Record enables companies to hire internationally without the need to establish a local legal entity in another country. The EOR manages all HR details, including international payroll, employee benefits administration, tax, and compliance.
By outsourcing these administrative HR and legal tasks, companies can focus on differentiating their products or services and better support their customers. They can scale up or down quickly, with less long-term overhead.
As North American companies compete for skilled workers, they’re increasingly turning to EORs to access talent across multiple markets in other areas, including LATAM, APAC, and Europe.
Hiring in Latin America (LATAM)
Latin America is an increasingly popular hiring choice for North American employers seeking to benefit from easier collaboration, thanks to its similar time zones and the availability of workers with excellent English skills. Hiring costs are also typically lower than in many U.S. and Canadian markets.
Popular nearshoring destinations in LATAM include:
- Colombia: Growing tech talent pool and bilingual professionals, USD 55 million EOR market forecasted for 2025
- Brazil: Large economy, offers scale and diversification, a USD 148 million market projected for the same time period
- Mexico: Though geographically part of North America, Mexico is often grouped with LATAM due to its economic and cultural ties to the area, and is expected to reach a USD 118 million EOR market in 2025.
For North American companies facing domestic talent shortages — especially in roles such as software engineering, customer support, or back-office operations — LATAM offers near-shore geography, cost, and skill advantages.
Hiring in the Asia-Pacific Region (APAC)
Many North American companies turn to APAC to fill roles in technology, engineering, support, or back-office operations.
Frequently targeted countries for hiring include:
- India: Strong English proficiency and a large tech, engineering, and product-development talent pool, with a USD 243 million EOR market growth forecasted for 2025
- Philippines: Large talent pool for customer service, multilingual support, or back-office operations
- Vietnam: Hub for engineering, tech, and operations roles, with lower hiring costs
Hiring in Europe
North American companies often look to European countries for multilingual support, specialized tech talent, strong regulatory environments, and support in EU time zones.
Common country hiring options include:
- Poland: Especially for finding technology and engineering talent at a more affordable cost
- Spain: Often tapped for multilingual support, shared time zones with major EU markets, with a USD 104 million EOR market predicted for 2025
It's important to note that European countries tend to have more stringent data privacy regulations, benefit mandates, labor protections, and termination rules than many other jurisdictions. An EOR can help North American businesses successfully navigate these legal requirements when hiring in this area.
Global Companies Hiring North American Employees
The United States and Canada are hugely popular hiring markets for international companies.
Key benefits of North American hiring include:
- Highly skilled, digitally native, and educated workers, with experience in remote work and distributed team models
- English fluency and familiarity with international business norms
- Time-zone overlap (especially with Europe and Latin America) for global collaboration
- Strong innovation ecosystems that attract global professionals, like Silicon Valley, Austin, and Toronto
A partner offering comprehensive EOR solutions can help companies hire U.S. and Canadian employees compliantly, without the need to open a local entity.
What Our Own Data Tells Us About Global Hiring
At RemoFirst, we went right to the source to understand hiring norms in North America. The result: the 2025 State of International Hiring Survey Report.
To create the report, we surveyed 300 HR leaders and learned that the majority of international full-time employees hired in the past year were based in:
- United States (55%)
- India (51%)
- United Kingdom (45%)
It’s essential to note that half of the surveyed HR leaders are based in the U.S., which could lead to an increased likelihood of reporting hiring in the U.S.
However, this data also indicates that U.S. companies are hiring wherever they can find the best candidates; they’re not specifically outsourcing roles to avoid higher domestic hiring costs.
Next year, most HR and People leaders expect to hire primarily in India (88%), followed by the United States (72%), and the United Kingdom (60%). This shows that while the U.S. remains a popular choice, India is clearly gaining ground.
Practical Tips for Hiring in North America Via an EOR
Before hiring in North America (or anywhere), it’s essential to understand the labor laws, compliance requirements, and cultural expectations specific to that region.
Top tips for hiring in North America include:
- Understand employment classification: Worker misclassification is a major misstep, especially in states like California, where misclassification can trigger heavy fines.
- Offer competitive benefits: Employer-sponsored health insurance is a common expectation, especially in the U.S., where there is no government-subsidized health coverage. As a result, health insurance benefits are frequently weighed as heavily as salary when considering an employment offer.
- Localize pay scales: Compensation varies widely by state and province, so it’s necessary to benchmark pay scales locally to remain attractive and competitive, without overspending. For instance, expected pay for workers living in the province of Prince Edward Island in Canada versus New York City in the U.S. will look wildly different.
- Respect cultural norms and workplace values: Transparency, autonomy, clear communication, and career progression are prized by U.S. and Canadian employees.
An EOR can help you navigate each of these aspects of the hiring process in order to attract the best U.S. or Canadian candidates for your business.
The right EOR partner ensures workers are classified correctly (under both local and federal employment laws). They will manage compliance with tax regulations, mandatory deductions, and global payroll, while also helping you create competitive benefit packages, benchmark salaries, and establish onboarding and HR policies that reflect local worker expectations.
Obtaining support from an EOR for these critical tasks enables your internal teams to concentrate on performance, delivery, and customer service, while mitigating recruitment delays and compliance risks.
Practical Tips for North American Companies Hiring Internationally
North American companies can hire globally with confidence when they understand and follow the legal, tax, and compliance requirements in each market, and approach cultural differences thoughtfully.
If any of those pieces are missing, it can lead to legal trouble, reputation issues, and difficulty building a strong team.
Top tips for hiring internationally include:
- Research local employment laws: The importance of understanding regional labor laws cannot be overstated. You must adhere to the rules for statutory benefits, notice periods, time off, holidays, and other relevant regulations, which vary by country and region.
- Adapt to local pay expectations: Competitive salaries vary by country and role, so you must benchmark compensation appropriately in each location where you hire.
- Offer locally relevant benefits: Mandatory as well as commonly expected benefits also differ by country, such as private healthcare in LATAM or extra paid leave in Europe. Failure to provide these benefits could result in legal action or losing a candidate or employee to a competitor.
- Consider time zones and communication styles: Set clear expectations around collaboration and working hours to keep distributed teams connected and productive. Ensure you understand local norms, particularly regarding schedules, availability, and employees’ right to disconnect.
Set yourself up for success by partnering with an EOR to create compliant employment contracts and benefits packages, manage global payroll processing, and simplify international onboarding.
EORs also provide local expertise to help you understand everything from pay expectations to communication styles, and can assist you in navigating compliance frameworks as they evolve.
Build Your Global Team with RemoFirst
Whether you’re a North American company expanding abroad or an international business hiring talent in the U.S. or Canada, RemoFirst makes it easy to build a compliant and connected global team.
With RemoFirst, you can hire full-time employees in 185+ countries or contractors in more than 150 countries, without setting up a local entity.
Our EOR platform handles the heavy lifting — managing onboarding, contracts, payroll management, employee benefits, and tax compliance,so you can focus on finding the right people.
Whether you’re scaling your workforce or testing new markets, schedule a demo to see how RemoFirst gives you the flexibility, compliance, and confidence to grow anywhere in the world.
