Employ talent anywhere. Without setting up an entity.
We become the legal employer of your offshore team — handling contracts, statutory contributions, labour-law compliance, and full employment liability across 40+ countries. You manage the work; we manage the risk.
Hiring abroad shouldn’t mean six months of legal setup.
Establishing a legal entity in a new country typically costs £40,000+ and takes 4–6 months. Most businesses don’t need an entity — they need people.
An Employer of Record is the legitimate, compliant shortcut: you get the team, we hold the liability, statutory contributions are made, contracts are local, and you can scale up or down without unwinding a legal structure.
£40k+
Typical cost to set up a single foreign legal entity — before any hire.
4–6 mo
Time to incorporate, register for payroll, and open compliant operations.
48 hrs
Time for Scaleshore to issue a fully compliant employment contract.
A complete EOR package, not a starter kit.
No add-on fees for things that should already be standard.
Employment & Contract Management
- Locally compliant employment contracts
- Offer letter preparation
- Employee onboarding documentation
- Employment policy guidance
- Contract amendments and renewals
Payroll Administration
- Monthly payroll processing
- Payslip generation
- Salary payments coordination
- Payroll reporting
- Tax calculations and deductions
Compliance & Statutory Management
- PAYE administration
- UIF and SDL submissions
- Employment compliance monitoring
- Labour law alignment
- Record keeping and audit support
Technical & Support
- Cyber Essentials Plus
- PoPi and GDPR compliant
- Reduced compliance and misclassification risk
- Ongoing account management
- Cross-border employment guidance
EOR vs the alternatives.
A quick side-by-side of the three common paths to international hiring.
Approach
- Time to first hire
- Upfront setup cost
- Employment liability
- Statutory contributions
- Compliance burden
- Scalability
- Best for
Scaleshore EOR
- 5–10 days
- £0
- Carried by Scaleshore
- Handled
- Managed for you
- Up or down in days
- Building permanent offshore teams
Setting up your own entity
- 4–6 months
- £40,000+
- Yours
- Your responsibility
- Local legal & tax counsel needed
- Slow; entity must be wound down
- 100+ employees in one country
Contractors
- 2–4 weeks
- £0
- Misclassification risk
- Not made (risk)
- Ongoing classification audits
- Limited, no real team continuity
- Short-term project work
From signed contract to active hire in 48 hours.
Provide details
Role, location, salary, start date. We confirm in-country requirements.
Compliant contract
We issue a locally compliant employment contract within 48 hours.
Onboarding
Documentation, banking, tax registration, statutory enrolment — all handled.
Ongoing management
Monthly payroll, statutory filings, HR support, and audit-ready records.
Risk managed. Compliance assured.
Governance is embedded into our operating model — not an add-on. Every contract is locally compliant, every payroll filing is on time, and every employee is fully insured.
- Cyber Essentials Plus certified
- Comprehensive indemnity & cyber insurance
- Full employment liability carried
- GDPR & POPIA compliant data handling
- Secure, access-controlled biometric offices
Governance is embedded into our operating model. We don’t bolt compliance on — we build around it.
Scaleshore operating principle
EOR, explained.
What is an Employer of Record?
An EOR is a third party that legally employs people on your behalf in a country where you don’t have a registered entity. The EOR handles contracts, payroll, taxes, and statutory benefits. You manage the day-to-day work, performance, and outputs.
In which countries can Scaleshore employ?
We currently employ across 40+ countries, with established delivery hubs in South Africa, the Philippines, India, Kenya, Egypt, Poland, and Mexico. If you need talent somewhere we’re not yet active, we can typically onboard a new country in 4–6 weeks.
Who carries the employment liability?
Scaleshore. We are the legal employer. We hold the contract, we make statutory contributions, we carry indemnity and cyber insurance, and we manage any labour-law disputes. Your exposure is contractual to Scaleshore, not to the employee’s jurisdiction.
How is this different from hiring a contractor?
A contractor relationship is fundamentally different in tax and labour-law terms. Many businesses that use contractors long-term, full-time, and exclusively are misclassifying their workforce — exposing themselves to back-taxes, penalties, and IR35-type claims. EOR removes that risk by establishing a proper employment relationship.
How quickly can we onboard a new hire?
Once role and salary are confirmed, we issue a compliant contract within 48 hours. Full onboarding — including banking, tax, and statutory enrolment — typically completes within 5 working days.
What does it cost?
EOR pricing is a fixed monthly fee per employee, on top of salary and statutory costs. There’s no setup fee. Most clients see total costs 40–60% lower than equivalent UK or US hires. Use our cost calculator for a transparent breakdown.