An Employer of Record (EOR) is an international employment firm that legally employs workers on behalf of a client company, taking on responsibility for payroll, tax, benefits, contracts and labour-law compliance, allowing the client to hire in countries where it has no legal entity.
An EOR can assist with various tasks, including:
Payroll and tax administration
Employee benefits
Foreign exchange and in-country money movement
Employment contracts
Insurance
Local laws
Immigration or visa/work permit processing
Do you recognise these challenges?
You need to hire talent in a country where you have no legal entity.
Setting up a local entity is too slow or too costly for your timeline.
You’re unsure how to stay compliant with local labor law, tax and payroll.
Managing multiple in-country suppliers is draining time and budget.
You need workers mobilised quickly and legally.
An Employer of Record solves each of these. Scroll down to see how Airswift’s EOR services work.
How can an Employer of Record help my business?
Airswift delivers Employer of Record services across 60 countries, with main hubs located across the USA, the UK, Canada, Australia and Singapore.
For companies that want to stretch their corporate presence beyond their home country, access richer talent pools, and tap into new revenue outlets, global expansion is often the way to go.
However, entering foreign countries can be a tricky process. This is why a growing number of businesses opt to work with an EOR.
EOR services are designed to simplify the international expansion journey and help you navigate various administrative HR tasks when:
Performing work in a country where your company may not be registered
Setting up a new legal entity
Understanding labour laws and tax implications in-country
Is an Employer of Record right for your business?
Our global employment solutions include:
International employment
Ideal for companies that want to hire in-country without setting up a local entity or HR function. Airswift can support Employer of Record (EOR), gross-to-net payroll, expat visas and employee benefits.
For companies that have an entity but no local HR support. Comprehensive solutions like gross-to-net pay calculations, payroll reconciliations, expense and tax management, compliance reporting, tax equalizations, allowance handling, PTO tracking, employee query resolution, and HRIS management.
Our global HR consulting services include entity setup, project management, organizational optimization, payroll and HRIS implementations, outplacement support, and comprehensive learning and development programs for leadership and new hires.
Our global immigration services offer complete support, including business visa assistance, advisory, work permit and authorization, application handling, and sponsorship, ensuring seamless international employee mobility.
What are the key benefits of enlisting an Employer of Record?
1. Quickly enter new markets
By working with an internationally diverse EOR company, you can quickly enter new markets without the need for establishing local entities.
Operating in multiple countries can be overwhelming for growing organisations. Navigating compliance, communicating with foreign employees, tax implications, and frequent immigration changes reduce your ability to focus on long-term talent strategy.
Partnering with a supplier with a detailed understanding of compliance requirements can help you concentrate on your company's growth and achieving your core business goals such as; market research, talent acquisition, customer service, and maintaining profitability.
2. Cost-effective and streamlined HR
Employment and compliance challenges are multiplied when your costs escalate from managing multiple suppliers or recruiting HR specialists.
There is a high cost associated with opening an entity in-country. It often makes more sense to leverage another company’s footprint to ease financial burdens.
Hiring an EOR enables you to work with a single entity while removing the need to maintain an expensive in-house team.
3. Improved productivity and communication
An Employer of Record organisation can provide one contact for all inquiries.
This increases efficiency and ensures issues are dealt with quickly while reducing the need to engage multiple stakeholders, freeing up time to focus on your core business functions.
4. Remain compliant, reduce risk
It is important that a workforce is not only mobilised quickly but legally. The need to stay on top of legislation is imperative to the success of any global company.
A employer of record specialist with in-depth local knowledge ensures your workforce is compliantly managed while reducing the risk of noncompliance and any operational errors.
Wherever in the world, you choose to operate your business entity.
5. Accurate and reliable payroll management
Maintaining in-house finance and international payroll teams can be expensive and difficult for clients without a permanent base in-country.
Paired with changing compliance requirements and limited legal knowledge, managing payroll is often one of the biggest challenges of global expansion.
An EOR company can manage local/national income tax and social security payments on behalf of local and international employees. They can also make sure that this money is deducted from their salaries and paid directly to the tax authorities.
FAQ
How does an Employer of Record help with compliance?
An Employer of Record assumes legal responsibility for employment compliance in every country where it operates.
It manages local labor law, employment contracts, income tax and social-security deductions, and visa and work-permit processing, ensuring your workforce is mobilised legally while reducing the risk of non-compliance and operational errors.
With local specialists across 60 regional offices and 40 years of experience, Airswift keeps your workforce compliant wherever you operate.
How quickly can I enter a new market with an Employer of Record?
Because an EOR already has a legal entity in-country, you can begin hiring without the months-long process of incorporating your own entity.
Airswift can onboard international hires and have them ready to work within 72 hours, letting you enter new markets quickly while we handle payroll, contracts and compliance.
PEO vs EOR: What is the difference?
We get this one a lot.
A PEO (Professional Employer Organisation) co-employs staff under your own legal entity, so you remain the legal employer and must already be registered in-country.
An EOR (Employer of Record) becomes the full legal employer on your behalf, so you can hire in countries where you have no entity.
Use a PEO when you already have a local entity and want to share HR administration; use an EOR when you have no entity and need to hire compliantly without setting one up.
Criteria
PEO
EOR
Employment model
Co-employment (shared with client)
EOR is the legal employer
Local entity required?
Yes
No
Geographic use
Best for domestic HR-support
Best for international hiring
Speed to hire
Depends (entity setup required)
Days (no-entity required)
How does an Employer of Record reduce hiring costs?
Opening a legal entity in a new country is expensive and slow.
An EOR lets you use an existing in-country footprint instead, working with a single provider rather than managing multiple suppliers or building an in-house HR and payroll team.
This consolidates compliance, payroll and benefits administration under one point of contact, lowering cost and freeing you to focus on your core business.
Which countries does Airswift provide Employer of Record?
Airswift provides Employer of Record services globally, supported by 60 regional offices and 40 years of experience across Africa, Asia Pacific, the Caspian, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and North America.
Can an Employer of Record help me hire and manage remote employees?
Absolutely. Some of the remote working challenges an EOR can solve include:
Advising on notice periods and contracts
Assisting with legal documentation and tax filings
I have always found Airswift to be very responsive, helpful and knowledgeable. We have used Airswift specifically to facilitate talent needs in countries where we have not had an entity or where we have had a need for specific workforce assistance that Airswift can provide.
I get to deal with a lot of agencies, and I would say Airswift is at the top.
My experience with Airswift is that they are a first class organisation offering highly skilled and motivated individuals. Their flexibility in every day challenges and business dealings is an extreme asset.
How can Airswift support your global expansion?
We specialise in handling the toughest immigration challenges, logistical hardships, and complex employment laws. It’s what we do. Let us share our experiences and support your growing needs where you need it most.
Few issues are as critical to project delivery as the identification, on-boarding and management of productive workforces. Our highly experienced team behind our talent acquisition services work directly with clients to identify their hiring needs.
Airswift understands that attracting and retaining high performing leadership teams is the key to success. These are critical hires who can influence a business to achieve financial, strategic, and commercial goals. Our executive search firm, Ducatus Partners, is led by a seasoned team of industry specialists focused on sourcing C-suite leaders.
From recruiting and mobilising entire multi discipline teams, to integrating a technology focused approach and supply-chain management, our support teams take on as much of our clients’ workforce organisation burden as possible.
Airswift has experience navigating the challenges of global expansion, managing international HR, tax and payroll challenges, finding niche and specialist talent, and restructuring and transforming organisations.
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