Finding the right candidate is one thing. Hiring them in another country, legally and efficiently, is another entirely.
So, how do you do it?
You don’t want to spend weeks digging through labor laws in Africa, Argentina, or Colombia. You just want to hire your person and get back to running your business.
International hiring has massive upside, lower costs, stronger retention, and access to talent you won’t find at home. But you need a structure that won’t expose you to risk.
We’ve supported companies going through this exact process.
This guide breaks down the 12 Top Employer of Record Companies in 2025, plus a practical alternative if you need more than a basic compliance provider.
Key Takeaways
- Employer of Record services make it easier to employ people in countries where you don’t have a legal presence, so you can focus on building your team instead of decoding foreign tax laws.
- Working with the right EOR partner gives you access to wider talent pools, smoother market entry, and fewer compliance headaches.
- Some providers, like staffing agencies with EOR capabilities, combine talent sourcing and employment management for a full end-to-end solution.
- Choosing the right EOR partner enables fast, compliant, and efficient team expansion across multiple countries
What Are Employer of Record Services?
An Employer of Record allows you to hire people in other countries without creating a legal entity there. They handle payroll, taxes, benefits, and compliance, while you manage the person’s day-to-day work.
Here’s what an EOR typically handles:
- Payroll
- Tax withholding
- Workers compensation
- Employee benefits
- Local compliance
You choose the person you want to hire. The EOR becomes their legal employer. They pay the worker, manage statutory benefits, and make sure the relationship stays compliant with local labor laws.
Your hire still works as part of your team. You manage their tasks, workflow, and performance. The EOR only covers the legal and administrative side.
In short, EOR services give you a simple way to hire globally without opening entities or dealing with country-by-country HR rules.
What Are the Benefits of Using an Employer of Record?
You don’t need to study foreign labor laws or build HR processes for every country you want to hire in.
Here’s what makes EOR services so useful:
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Efficient workforce expansion
An EOR gives you the freedom to scale into new countries without setting up entities or managing layers of local bureaucracy. Three things make this possible:
- Access to global talent
You can hire people in almost any location. That opens up skills, experience, and cultural perspectives you wouldn’t reach with a local talent search.
- Quick and compliant expansion
Setting up a foreign entity can take months. Some companies spend years trying to navigate regulations, taxes, and cultural norms. With an EOR, you can hire and operate legally in days instead of months.
- Lower barriers to entry
Most of the heavy lifting required to operate in a new country goes away. EOR providers already understand local rules and have established entities. You’re simply plugging into their infrastructure.
Payroll. Taxes. Employment laws. Every country does these differently. Getting them wrong is expensive. An EOR keeps you compliant in each location, handles the paperwork, and ensures your team is employed legally in every market.
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Time and cost savings
Traditional HR tasks get offloaded to your EOR: onboarding, payroll, benefits, and even offboarding. That frees up time and cuts the overhead of building internal processes for each country you want to hire in.
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Risk mitigation
Hiring abroad comes with legal risk. Misclassification alone can lead to serious penalties. EOR providers carry these risks for you. They take responsibility for compliance in each country so your team can expand without fear of unexpected fines or legal issues.
What Questions Should You Ask When Selecting the Best Employer of Record Companies?
Choosing among the 12 Top Employer of Record EOR Companies in 2025 comes down to one thing: finding a partner that fits how you hire.
Local expertise, clear pricing, and responsive support should guide your decision.
Here’s what to ask when comparing providers:
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Do they operate in the countries you need?
The provider should have legal entities in the countries you want to hire in and a real understanding of how employment works there. They need the infrastructure to manage payroll, taxes, and benefits without slowdowns or guesswork.
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Are they transparent about pricing?
You should know exactly what you are paying for. No vague fees. No complex pricing tiers that require three calls to understand. If the cost structure isn’t clear, you’re likely to run into hidden charges later.
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Do they include support services?
The best EORs go beyond payroll and compliance. Look for providers that offer:
- Recruitment help
- Localized employment contracts
- Visa and work permit support
- Health insurance and benefits
- Payroll and statutory payments
- Regulatory guidance
- Offboarding support
A provider with real support saves you time and prevents mistakes when hiring in new markets.
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How supportive are they?
Support shouldn’t feel like filing a ticket and waiting three days for a reply. Your EOR should be accessible, knowledgeable, and proactive. They should explain changes in local laws and walk you through anything that affects your team.
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Do they have a trusted track record?
Look at reviews, case studies, and testimonials. You want a provider that has already worked with companies like yours and can show results—not just claims.
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Are they cost-effective?
Cost-effective doesn’t mean “cheap.” It means the service actually saves you money compared to opening a foreign entity or handling compliance on your own. A good EOR gives you speed, reduced risk, and simpler operations. That’s where the value comes from.
Alternative to Traditional EOR Services: Staffing and Recruiting Agencies With EOR Capabilities
Traditional EOR companies are built for compliance, payroll, and paperwork; not for helping you actually find the talent you want to hire.
But there’s a growing model that solves both sides of the problem: staffing and recruiting agencies that also provide EOR capabilities.
Instead of only employing the people you already sourced, these firms handle end-to-end hiring: finding great talent and managing international employment compliantly.
How This Model Works
Rather than juggling two or three different vendors for sourcing, onboarding, and payroll, a staffing–plus–EOR partner manages everything under one roof. The workflow usually includes:
- Talent sourcing and screening: Identifying and vetting candidates who match your exact requirements
- Legal compliance: Managing contracts, tax requirements, and country-specific labor regulations
- Payroll and benefits: Handling monthly payments, statutory benefits, and deductions
- Ongoing support: Offering dedicated account management and regular check-ins throughout the employment lifecycle
This eliminates handoffs, delays, and the risk of misalignment between the recruiter and the EOR provider.
When This Approach Makes Sense
This hybrid model is especially valuable for companies that:
- Don’t have the internal infrastructure to hire internationally
- Don’t want to manage separate relationships for sourcing and compliance
- Need vetted talent and compliant employment in the same workflow
- Want to build teams in regions they’re unfamiliar with
For example, a US company hiring engineers in Africa or Latin America gets not only local recruiting expertise but also a compliant employment setup handled automatically.
Read More: Employer of Record in Africa: Costs and How to Hire
The Benefits of This Approach
Choosing a recruitment agency with EOR capabilities delivers several advantages over traditional EOR-only providers:
- One partner, one process: A single point of contact from sourcing to payroll
- Better cultural fit: Recruiters who understand the local market can match talent beyond just skills: work style, culture, and communication
- Long-term retention: These firms stay involved beyond the placement, improving performance and reducing turnover
- Operational clarity: Full visibility into both the hiring funnel and ongoing employment administration
This model bridges the gap between pure recruiting and pure EOR, giving businesses a unified, smooth way to hire, onboard, and manage global employees without unnecessary complexity.
What Are the Top Companies Offering Employer of Record Services?
Below is a breakdown of the 12 Top Employer of Record Companies in 2025, in no particular order.
1. Betternship
Betternship helps global companies hire full-time talent across Africa fast.
Instead of leaving you to source candidates on your own, Betternship handles both sides of the process: finding the right people and employing them compliantly through its EOR infrastructure.
The platform focuses on Africa as a talent market. That means deeper market knowledge, faster hiring, and smoother onboarding.
Companies use Betternship to hire developers, product managers, designers, sales reps, marketers, customer support specialists, ops roles, and virtual assistants.
What makes Betternship different is the combination of sourcing plus EOR. You get vetted talent and a compliant hiring setup in the same workflow. No entity formation. No guesswork with local regulations. No slow processes.
Advantages of using Betternship:
- Strong understanding of African hiring markets
- Fast placements through a large and vetted talent network
- Clear compensation transparency
- Stable retention rates due to cultural and work-style alignment
- Full payroll, compliance, and benefits handled end-to-end
Key features:
- End-to-end hiring: sourcing, screening, compliance, payroll, benefits
- Transparent pricing structure
- Fast hiring turnaround
- Support built for SMEs and growth teams
- Simple onboarding for both contractors and full-time employees
Betternship works best for companies that want a single partner for both talent acquisition and compliant employment across Africa.
You can learn more about our process on How It Works – Hire Remote Talents
2. Deel
Deel is one of the most recognizable global hiring platforms, known for its clean interface and broad coverage. It supports hiring in more than 150 countries and manages contracts, tax documents, payroll, and localized compliance. Deel’s biggest strengths are its automation, 24/7 support, and transparent pricing.
3. Papaya Global
Papaya Global offers a full workforce management stack, including payroll, benefits, compliance, and analytics. The platform is built for companies that need a single system to expand globally and manage operations at scale. Papaya is known for strong integrations and a data-driven approach.
4. Remote
Remote simplifies global hiring with a platform built specifically for distributed teams. The company offers EOR, payroll, benefits, contractor management, and IP protection. Remote stands out for its focus on security, compliance, and ease of use.
5. Rippling
Rippling isn’t just an EOR platform. It’s an all-in-one system for HR, IT, payroll, and finance. Its global EOR offering plugs directly into the broader Rippling ecosystem, making it attractive for companies that want everything in one place. The platform is fast, integrated, and built for automation.
6. RemoFirst
RemoFirst helps companies hire internationally with compliant payroll, benefits, and HR support. It offers features like automated tax calculations, bulk payments, and time off tracking. The platform is simple enough for small teams yet capable of supporting larger expansion plans.
7. Oyster HR
Oyster supports hiring in over 180 countries through a single automated dashboard. It’s built for distributed teams and includes tools for payroll, benefits, compliance, and country-specific onboarding flows. Oyster is often chosen by companies scaling remote teams quickly.
8. Globalization Partners
One of the earliest players in the EOR space, Globalization Partners supports hiring in more than 180 countries. The company focuses on risk reduction, full compliance, and smooth expansion for large organizations. Its breadth of coverage is one of the widest in the industry.
9. Velocity Global
Velocity Global provides EOR, global payroll, and contractor compliance services. It operates in 185 countries and tailors solutions for companies with complex expansion plans. The platform is built for flexibility and enterprise-level support.
10. Safeguard Global
Safeguard Global offers workforce management and EOR services in over 170 countries. It handles payroll, HR operations, and compliance for fast-growing teams. The platform is geared toward companies that want to scale without building internal HR infrastructure for every country.
11. Justworks
Justworks is popular among startups and SMEs for handling HR, payroll, benefits, and compliance. While not a pure EOR company, Justworks supports distributed teams and is often used by early stage companies that want a simple, predictable HR setup.
12. Multiplier
Multiplier operates in more than 150 countries and was ranked among the top HR products by G2. It offers EOR, payroll, benefits, taxation, and contractor management through a user-friendly interface. Multiplier is known for fast onboarding and clear country-specific guidance.
Read More: Best EOR Service Provider in Africa: Hire Seamlessly Across the Continent
Conclusion
The 12 Top Employer of Record (EOR) Companies in 2025 highlighted in this guide cover a range of options: from global platforms like Deel and Remote to regional specialists like Betternship.
For companies expanding into Africa, Betternship offers both talent sourcing and EOR services, helping you build teams quickly, compliantly, and cost-effectively.
Start building your global team today.
Contact Betternship to see how fast you can hire the right people in the right countries.
Get started: [Hire African Talent Now with Betternship]
Frequently Asked Questions
- What exactly does an Employer of Record do?
An EOR legally employs your international hires, handling payroll, taxes, benefits, and compliance. Your employees work under your direction while the EOR takes care of local employment obligations.
- How is an EOR different from a recruitment agency?
A recruitment agency finds candidates. A traditional EOR handles compliance and payroll. Some agencies, like Betternship, combine both, so you get talent sourcing and EOR services in one.
- Is using an EOR cost-effective?
Yes. While there’s a service fee, EORs save you from building local HR infrastructure, navigating foreign labor laws, and risking compliance mistakes. Many companies find it cheaper than opening subsidiaries.
- How quickly can I onboard someone internationally using an EOR?
Onboarding can often happen in days or weeks, rather than months. Some EORs, like Betternship, provide pre-vetted candidates ready to start immediately.
Get started: [Hire African Talent Now with Betternship]
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