An Employer of Record (EOR) manages the legal, HR, tax and local compliance responsibilities of your employees in any country where you don’t have a legal entity.

An EOR is the legal employer, hiring your employees in a country using its local business entity. The EOR assumes the legal risks of an employer on your behalf, while you maintain control over your employees and business operations.

If you partner with an EOR, they assume responsibility for a range of tasks, including:

• Legal employment compliance.

• Payroll, pension and tax remittance.

• Visa, immigration and work permit sponsorship.

• Benefits customization and administration.

• Expense management.

• Money movement and payroll disbursement.

• Local support for employment matters.

• Partnering with customers to understand the local employment rules, including statutory vs. common practices.

• Advice on required notice periods and termination rules.

• Data insights on employment trends in global markets.

For businesses wishing to expand their global footprint, partnering with an established EOR like Atlas provides numerous benefits:

1. Speed-to-Market and Flexibility:

   Creating a new local entity in an unfamiliar country is a long process without guarantee of success. Working with an EOR partner allows you to hire employees in a new country under the EOR’s local business entity. The EOR assumes the legal risk, owns the entire HR process and ensures compliance with local laws.

2. Cost Savings:

   When expanding into a new country, most companies are legally required to establish a local business entity to pay employees. Some countries also require an entity to have a local physical office or real estate lease, which may require a significant amount of capital in a local bank account. This expensive process can be avoided by working with an EOR provider that already has its entities and operations set up in the desired country.

3. Compliance and Risk:

   Once an entity is established, it's often compulsory to handle payroll locally to ensure compliance with social security contributions and taxes. Employees must be paid the correct currency in their local bank accounts in accordance to varying local tax laws. Juggling global payroll becomes quite challenging and complex with each additional country’s local laws factored in. As the legal employer, however, your EOR partner is responsible for ensuring compliance with each of these laws and regulations.

Learn more: ·

• What is an Employer of Record (EOR)?

• EOR Overview

Although your employees will be legally employed by your EOR partner, you retain complete control of your business and employees’ day-to-day work

With an international workforce, it is important to consider local employment law and regulations concerning notice periods and severance payment when terminating an employee. Partnering with an EOR means that all employee terminations are conducted in full adherence with local laws, keeping you informed throughout the process.

If an employee resigns, they will follow all local statutory requirements and the specific terms and conditions laid out in their employment agreement. Atlas follows best practices in offboarding employees, including the signing of a mutual termination agreement, ensuring that the employment ends compliantly

• Employee Leasing

  In an employee leasing arrangement, a company supplies you with workers for a specific business need, often on a short-term basis. The employees from the leasing company work for you but are not employed by you. Once your arrangement with the employee leasing company ends the leased employees do not continue working for you. This is also known as temporary staffing.

• Employer of Record (EOR)

  An EOR is not a temporary agency or staffing company — the customer is responsible for carrying out the search for its employees and business operations in the expansion country, as well as for safety and compliance with labor regulations at the work site. As an EOR, Atlas is responsible for all hiring and terminations, compliance with local employment laws, and ensuring that employees receive all required employment benefits.

• Professional Employment Organization (PEO)

  A PEO undertakes certain HR tasks, such as benefits enrollment and payroll, and splits the risk with your company. A PEO supports your company through a co-employment agreement, which means that both the PEO and the company are employers. This may expose your company to additional compliance risks.

• Employer of Record (EOR)

  An EOR is empowered to employ staff in countries where your company lacks a legal entity. This means that your EOR partner is solely liable for the employees’ local tax and labor law compliance — including all onboarding and general administrative aspects of employment. This allows you to focus on your employees’ day-to-day work and growing your business, while your EOR partner manages all compliance matters.

Learn more about the difference between EORs and PEOs here.

• Indirect Employer of Record

  An indirect EOR works with multiple third parties to provide local entity and payroll services across the countries it operates in. This complicated middle-man approach can result in slower times to market, higher administration costs, more touch points for every expansion country and more time spent managing vendors.

• Direct Employer of Record

  A direct EOR provider like Atlas owns its local entities entirely, avoiding third-party outsourcing. Our team is directly tasked with supporting your employees in their country of residence. This means that Atlas can assist you or your employees directly and immediately with local in-house support and expertise.

A direct EOR like Atlas has on-the-ground entities in more than 160 countries. We can guide your international team through a single flexible human management experience (HXM) platform without third parties.

A direct EOR model is the most streamlined and compliant way to expand globally, resulting in:

• Faster times to market and fewer costs by eliminating the use of multiple vendors and in-country partners.

• Scalable payroll management, enabling quick, compliant onboarding and payroll administration.

• One global partner for all your questions, including insights on local tax and employment regulations and operational flexibility that allows businesses to quickly react to market conditions.

As the leading provider of direct EOR services, Atlas has been named as a leader by numerous independent research firms — including NelsonHall and Everest Group — for the unique benefits offered by our direct model.

Learn more about Direct vs. Indirect EOR here.

Any business can expand internationally by setting up legal entities in their chosen regions. However, international expansion is an extremely complex and resource heavy endeavor that requires heavy upfront costs and effort.

It’s also a challenge for fast-growing businesses to remain legally compliant when hiring internationally as local regulations on employment and taxation laws change constantly.

If you plan to hire employees outside of your operating country, it is important to consider:

• The duration and scale of your project.

• How quickly you want to go-to-market.

• The employment and taxation laws in the country (or countries) you are exploring.

• The visa and immigration requirements for employees.

• The cultural and language nuances of the region.

For many businesses, the challenges of international expansion can often appear to outweigh the prospects of going global. However, the effort can provide numerous benefits:

• In-depth local knowledge in key markets.

• Access to international talent pools.

• The flexibility and competitive edge of working across time zones.

Partnering with a direct EOR such as Atlas allows you to reap the benefits of being an international company, regardless of your company’s size, while avoiding many of the complexities. Atlas simplifies the process of international expansion, cutting through the red tape so that you can quickly onboard and legally pay employees while, most importantly, complying with local labor laws.

Atlas maintains the required commercial business licenses to conduct business in every jurisdiction where we have an entity. There are no specific licenses required for an EOR to do business in each jurisdiction.

At times, Atlas carries additional outsourcing or staffing licenses. While we do not provide temporary staffing or outsourcing, out of an abundance of caution, we will obtain these licenses to ensure compliance. We continually monitor the requirements for outsourcing and staffing licenses and often seek outside counsel to verify the implications for business.

Atlas is the world’s largest direct Employer of Record (EOR), owning all our entities in more than 160 countries. Founded in 2015, Atlas is the pioneer of the direct EOR model, empowering companies to expand and hire internationally.

Atlas is more than just a provider of direct EOR services. Atlas is the first company in the industry to offer global benefits and payroll administration through a centralized HXM technology platform.

Atlas is supported by experts and empowers businesses to expand across borders, onboard talent, manage compliance and pay their global workforce. We manage the legal, HR, tax and local compliance responsibilities of employees on behalf of our customers in countries where they don't have operations.

Atlas brings localized experience and expertise to deliver end-to-end EOR solutions and empowered user experiences that provide self-service capabilities and real-time insights.

Learn more about Atlas.

Atlas has established local entities in more than 160 countries, from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe. This means that wherever your global expansion leads, you’ll never have to deal with third parties.

Atlas brings its localized experience and expertise from each operating region to its enterprise-grade technology platform that supports customers and their remote teams across the globe.

Check out our full list of operating countries here

Atlas partners with businesses of all sizes, from startups and SMEs to large enterprise customers across a variety of industries.

Some of the industries Atlas works with include:

• Private equity and venture capital. · Government.

• Technology.

• Life sciences and pharma.

• Non-profits and NGOs.

• Financial services.

• Energy, oil, and gas.

Atlas is the largest direct EOR provider in the industry. We provide you with a single partner acting on your behalf in all countries in your global footprint.

We are built for global workforce management. Once you find the required talent, we manage the employee lifecycle, from onboarding your team to processing payroll and benefits, with localized experience and expertise in a technology platform that supports thousands of companies and remote teams.

Our people are directly tasked with supporting your employees so when there’s a challenge, you can speak immediately with our local in-house support in real-time.

Atlas has set up legal entities in more than 160 countries to support thousands of companies and remote teams.

Check out our full list of operating countries here.

Atlas is the industry leader in EOR solutions and technology. Several independent research firms have awarded Atlas recognition in the industry:

• Named as a “Leader” in Everest Group’s first “Employer of Record (EOR) Solutions PEAK Matrix® Assessment 2022,” the report showcases Atlas’ proprietary technology, direct EOR model and growing geographic and market reach.

  “Atlas’ investments in enhancing its global delivery, service coverage, and platform solution have strengthened its position within the Employer of Record solutions space. Its focus on setting up its own entities to streamline the process and making its platform solution more flexible and feature-rich by providing services such as visa and mobility, has helped it to position as a Leader on Everest Group’s PEAK Matrix® Assessment.” — Priyanka Mitra, Practice Director, Everest Group.

  View the report here.

• Named as a “Leader” in NelsonHall’s Global Employer of Record Services Vendor Evaluation and Assessment Tool (NEAT) Assessment, with specific focus on Atlas’ technology and direct EOR model among the critical differentiators.

  “Atlas provides direct technology-enabled global employer of record and HCM services supported by the company’s recently launched technology stack, Atlas HXM. The company’s humanitarian focus promotes diversity and equality for its clients, worksite employees, and internal employees.

  Atlas’ flexible approach to EOR services, broad industry experience and inclusive culture validates its positioning as a Leader in this year’s NelsonHall NEAT analysis." — Jeanine Crane-Thompson, Principal HR Research Analyst, Nelson Hall.

  View the report here.

Check out more industry recognition we have received here.

Atlas’ industry-first innovative HXM platform streamlines our customers’ global people operations experience. Our robust platform spans every conceivable aspect of your HXM strategy, connecting core HR services, payment management, flexible talent management, benefits administration, and people and country analytics to help deliver exceptional employee experiences for your remote workforce.

Behind our powerful platform are real HR and legal experts that power our ever-deepening pool of knowledge. They will help you devise, deliver and advise on your global HR strategy to whatever degree you need.

With Atlas, you can:

• Stay compliant with localization frameworks for country and regional regulations.

• Make faster, more informed decisions based on data-driven country insights.

• Ensure compliance with varied and numerous global employment laws.

When you hire employees with Atlas, we assume the responsibility (and liability) as the legal employer to ensure compliance with local employment regulations and to let you focus on organizational and business growth.

Streamline the global payroll process with a single solution to pay your employees in more than 160 countries.

Your one-stop solution for seamless immigration and global visa support, handling the end-to-end immigration process for your talent and their dependents.

Simplify cross-border acquisitions and mergers by ensuring compliance with all employment admin challenges, from onboarding to tax liabilities, payroll and benefits

With HR infrastructure built to support global government providers, Atlas can move quickly to help you hire local talent and ensure your business is operations ready as soon as you win a government contract.

Our consulting teams are global HR and compliance specialists with comprehensive knowledge, giving you the necessary support to confidently take your business across borders.

The Atlas platform is a central hub of knowledge for the EOR and HXM industries, giving you access to all the up-to-moment information on global hiring and compliance practices.

The Atlas Project Hub fast tracks your company’s growth by streamlining complicated employee onboarding processes, providing full visibility into project and task management as you hire talent and expand into new countries.

Get your international teams to work faster with efficient onboarding and dedicated customer support.

Seamlessly handle payments for global talent hired through our EOR services with one fully automated platform. Process salaries, wages, benefits and expenses.

Atlas levels the playing field by allowing all companies to access premium life, medical and travel insurance packages like those offered by top international employers.

Empower employees to manage their own expenses and reimbursements easily through our single-platform solution.

Our easy-to-use self-service features allow employees to complete all the necessary onboarding steps in their native languages.

Get all the latest insights on salary ranges, local laws and onboarding speeds across all regions to help you to make data-backed decisions.

Support and retain global talent with courses and learning opportunities delivered directly from the Atlas platform.

We deliver next-level intelligence and reporting by combining the best continuous machine learning and human expertise into our industry-leading technology.

Atlas’ mobile app allows you to manage the most important aspects of your employees’ experience while on the move.

Atlas works with you to ensure that your employees have the appropriate work authorization, visas and other documentation to start working wherever your business expands.

Atlas allows you to seamlessly integrate other tools and services that are vital to your business into our platform, creating an entire HXM ecosystem that works for you and your employees.

As Atlas already has entities set up in more than 160 countries, it takes only a matter of weeks for customers to set up in a new country.

Atlas can help you onboard a new employee in as little as three business days. Learn more about onboarding new hires here.

As a standard practice, Atlas offers standard full-time employment contracts to all EOR employees (indefinite, as subject to employment laws or collective bargaining agreements). This is because defined-term contracts are subject to local, country-dependent complexities. For more details on this, please contact us and our regional employment lawyers can assist.

Atlas can sponsor the work permits of foreign nationals in most of our operational countries. Our team of Immigration and Global Mobility experts can help the process, assisting with right-to-work checks, work and/or residence permit applications, dependent passes, relocation services and much more.

All Atlas worksite employees receive a dedicated HR Employee Relationship Consultant, who will guide them through their onboarding process and can be contacted for questions throughout their lifecycle at Atlas.

Atlas manages all aspects of payroll compliance, including locally required payroll registrations, withholdings and payroll-related filings and submissions. Payroll compliance is of utmost importance, and our global team of certified payroll professionals meet all local requirements to ensure our employees are paid timely and compliantly.

Atlas ensures that employees are paid within the local time frame and pay date requirements. Since every country and region may have different pay day requirements, Atlas ensures that all local conditions are upheld. In some cases, depending on local holidays, Atlas may release payroll one to two days earlier to ensure all employees receive payroll on time.

Most employees are paid in the local currency of their country of work. The local currency will be specified in each employee’s employment agreement.

An EOR partner will usually provide coverage such as general liability, third-party liability and workers compensation coverage to comply as the legal employer. However, Atlas recommends that you consult your insurance partner for feedback on any other coverage needed for your business operations.

Atlas has no interest in the customer's IP. All IP created by the employee for you will be under your protection.

All Atlas customers have access to our proprietary data and country Insights pages. Here, you can access useful information about employment best practices and policies, as well as legislative updates in more than 160 countries.

Atlas allows you to seamlessly integrate other tools and services vital to your business into our platform, creating an entire HXM ecosystem that best works for you and your employees. Find out more about our Integrated Solutions here.

Yes, the Atlas team speaks more than 70 languages.

From contract to onboard, Atlas can get your business to market within days at savings of up to 87% vs. the time and costs required for independently setting up local entities.

Every business has different needs. Get in touch with one of our pricing experts today to find out exactly how our solutions can help your business thrive.

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For businesses that want to expand into new regions, setting up legal entities can be costly and time-consuming.

Working with a direct EOR means that you can bypass the time and costs of setting up your own entities. With Atlas, the entire process is completed within a few weeks for a fraction of the cost.

Many companies save money regarding the complexities around local labor and tax law compliance by partnering with Atlas. By accidentally failing to comply, companies are open to penalties. Working with Atlas means that we assume the employment risk, which means you avoid the compliance headaches and worry around maintaining a foreign legal entity.

EOR, or an Employer of Record, is an organisation that manages the legal, HR, tax and local compliance responsibilities of your employees in any country where you do not have a legal entity.

WSE stands for Work Site Employee and is the term used for talent hired by a company through an EOR such as Atlas.

TUPE — the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) — are regulations that protect employees that automatically transfer from one employer to another with their terms of employment and continuity of service intact. In countries where TUPE applies, the transferring employer and new employer may have legal duties to formally inform and consult with the affected employees before and during the transfer of their employment about any related impacts to their terms and conditions of employment arising out of the proposed transfer of their employment.

TUPE applicability and requirements vary greatly from country to country. Atlas is equipped to support and guide customers on the best way to transfer or otherwise induct employees with Atlas, either through a formal TUPE process where required or through more cost-effective or efficient ways of recognising seniority rights, benefits, etc.

A Mutual Termination Agreement — or MTA — is a written contract between an employer and an employee, usually entered into at the conclusion of an employment relationship whereby the employee waives their right to make a claim before a court or employment tribunal on matters relating to their employment or the termination thereof. In exchange, the employee may receive a benefit to which he would otherwise not be entitled without the agreement, usually in the form of compensation and/or release from a requirement to work a specified notice period.

MTAs are completely voluntary but ultimately end an employment relationship cleanly and expediently in a mutually satisfactory way for both the employee and employer.

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