The Overseas Development Institute hired and paid globally with Employer of Record and Global Payroll

Chris Williams, People Services Director at ODI, elaborated on the independent think tank's experience of working with Mauve Group.

A global reach requires a global partner

Independent thinktank, the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) aims to inspire individuals to act on injustice and inequality. ODI aimed to expand globally in order to reach its international ambitions. As an SME with a small HR department, establishing legal entities in new regions posed a challenge.

Instead, ODI needed to find a solution that would allow them to hire in new territories compliantly, without having to set up wholly owned entities.

About the Overseas Development Institute

Founded in 1960, the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) is a UK-based independent, global affairs think tank, which aims to inspire individuals to act on injustice and inequality. Through collaborative research and influencing, ODI generates ideas that matter to people and the planet.

The Overseas Development Institute currently has fellows operating in 53 countries, primarily based in Ministries of Finance around the world, and work with around 3000 self-employed contractors. ODI is beginning to build a global team to increase its vital work, inspiring people to act on equity.

Problems faced

As an SME with a small HR department, ODI’s bandwidth for global mobility is fairly limited. However, ODI wanted to expand into new territories including the US and Canada. Having opened their first office in Brussels, ODI was aware of the time and costs associated with entity set-up and knew that establishing entities in multiple locations was not a suitable option.

In order to meet their global ambitions, ODI needed to find a solution that would allow them to swiftly and compliantly hire individuals in international locations, without having to undertake legal entity set-up in-country.

Partnering for success: finding the right solutions

Finding the solutions: Mauve Group’s Employer of Record solution allowed ODI to seamlessly hire individuals in new locations, in line with all local laws. Our Global Payroll solution allowed ODI to compliantly payroll multiple employees in the US and Canada.

Global hiring, simplified: ODI now has the freedom to deploy staff overseas, hire internationally, and ensure compliance when doing so, using Mauve Group’s dynamic solutions.

“What Mauve does for us is they give us the flexibility to relocate and redeploy staff, but also hire staff in locations where we don’t have an entity set up. Mauve takes care of the international pay, compliance and employment legislation responsibilities in those locations, helping to expand the inhouse capacity of our busy HR team.” - Chris Williams – People Services Director, Overseas Development Institute

Key takeaways

Global hiring was simplified for ODI, and workers were engaged on ODI’s behalf in the US and Canada.

Compliance was upheld in all regions, ensuring local employment laws and tax regulations were adhered to.

Processes were simplified and methods of overseas operation were imparted to ODI, who used these to develop an internal Global Mobility Framework for future expansion.

“We value the way Mauve makes things simple and easy as possible for us. This might be in relation to being provided the employment legislation background, or the tax and compliance – this full picture of the employment scenario takes the worry away from us. Mauve’s processes align very well with our own, and so beyond tweaking a few financial elements our end, we found the transition very simple to manage. I have also developed a Global Mobility Framework for use within ODI that draws on many things we’ve learnt from Mauve – Mauve is informing ODI’s processes just as we are informing theirs.” - Chris Williams – People Services Director, Overseas Development Institute

Client quote

“Mauve currently supports us with Employer of Record services in the US and Canada – and eventually we are going to have lots of employees based around the world in places where we do not have an entity, so we need the help of a specialist organisation like Mauve to facilitate this. As part of our future plans, we have a “decolonisation” agenda we will implement over the coming years.
"This means that we want to move away from being UK-centric, and devolve some decision-making powers out to regional centres. Ideally, we would like to set up in certain key location and have EoRs like Mauve employ on our behalf in locations where we will not have a legal entity. In our partners, we look for people with whom we can see ourselves having a positive working relationship – they must have a sense of humour!
"One of my favourite things about Mauve is our relationship with their team. They are very friendly, efficient and effective, and I always feel as though I am talking to a friend. I actually see Mauve as an extension of our HR department – this makes working with them an enjoyable experience. When entering a partnership with an EoR, we’re joining a co-employment agreement whereby we both have responsibility for that staff member. As a result, it’s vital for the employee experience that they feel confident with the employing organisation. It was important to us that we found an organisation with a proven track record of providing this service – thus far, the feedback we’ve received about Mauve from our workers has been excellent.
"The way Mauve is organised is very similar to the pattern we want to adopt going forward – it’s a symbiotic relationship, and for this reason they are a valuable partner to ODI.”
- Chris Williams – People Services Director, Overseas Development Institute