Global Employer of Record onboarding: How does it work?

Global Employer of Record (EoR) solutions have seen a meteoric rise in popularity for international onboarding this year. More organisations than ever are realising the flexibility and efficiency of this employment model, and are reaping the rewards of lower costs, faster timescales and decreased risk.

But how exactly does EoR onboarding work? From the moment you contact a global EoR provider, a series of cogs set in motion to lead your worker down a stress-free pathway to compliant employment. In this week’s article, we break down the key action points in the onboarding process to help you to better plan your global assignments.

1. Basic details of assignment shared with Employer of Record

To get started with your solution, the Employer of Record will need certain primary information on the worker’s assignment. This may include details like:

• Location of assignment
• Nationality
• Salary
• Contract type and start date

From here, they can begin to build your solution proposal.

2. Employment solution outline created

The primary information above should allow the Employer of Record to provide you with a proposal containing a sample payroll calculation and any additional specific details of the employment for that location – for example, any statutory labour or immigration requirements that might apply to the assignment.

At this stage, the proposal may be quite generic and changes can occur once full worker details are received. Be wary of any Employer of Record provider claiming to offer an unchanging, identikit solution across the board – many individual factors of the assignment can alter the employment conditions. The best Employer of Record solutions adapt to the individual needs of the worker and client, and avoid the triggering of compliance red flags.

Once you’re happy with the solution on offer, share your acceptance with the EoR provider and they will move forward to onboarding.

3. Onboarding process begins

To onboard the worker on to the agreed solution, the Employer of Record will need a few more pieces of information. This could include:

• Job description.
• Worker contact details, including residential address, address in country of work (if different), work location, phone number and email address.
• Additional details of assignment.
• Reporting manager details.
• Further remuneration details – including additional benefits, rewards, commissions or expenses.
• Tax and SS numbers for payroll purposes.
• Identification documents e.g. passport.
• Applicable work permits or visas, if a foreign national.
• Educational certificates – these may be required to support immigration applications etc.

Once all documentation is received, the Employer of Record will ensure the specific conditions of the employment fit in line with local labour requirements and advise of any key compliance priority points that arise. They will set about with the remaining onboarding tasks.

4. Contact instigated between Employer of Record and worker

This is a vital step in the global Employer of Record onboarding process. Although the Employer of Record does not want to position themselves between the worker and the end client, they must have the ability to directly communicate with the worker to guarantee smooth transitions and ongoing employment.

In most countries, the legal employer is required by law to impart any work-related information to the worker, including disciplinary or termination notifications. If the worker has not been properly introduced to their Employer of Record, this can cause at best confusion and ill-feeling, and at worst, a punishable breach of labour law. By the same token, a good Employer of Record should include the client in communications with the worker. An ideal Employer of Record relationship looks like open and honest communications between all three parties.

5. Local employment contracts raised

The Employer of Record should liaise with the client to see if any of their standard clauses need to be incorporated into the employment contract – this is possible in some locations and not in others if the country of employment has a standardised contract template in the local language.

The Employer of Record and client should also simultaneously work to ensure their relationship is legally defined in master service agreements, SLAs and/or scopes of work.

Once the terms are confirmed by the client and workers, the employment contract is issued to the worker for signature.

6. Worker registered to the local payroll

The process for this differs from country to country, but generally-speaking this involves the employer submitting the worker’s details to the tax authorities, obtaining any necessary registrations and setting them up on internal payroll and banking software.

7. Worker start-date confirmed

Mutual agreement of the worker’s start date can happen in tandem with some of the previous actions, but should take place once the onboarding process and any right-to-work actions are complete (country dependent).

At Mauve Group, we design our bespoke solutions to the needs and priorities of your organisation and workers. As such, processes may deviate slightly from this outline; our expert global team is on hand to walk you through onboarding as it applies to your circumstances. Get in touch for a free, no-obligation proposal.