From UK to US: SurrealDB's Blueprint for Scalable International Expansion

Pain Points

The Challenge

When Selina Purdie, Head of People, stepped into her role at SurrealDB, she inherited a fragmented HR infrastructure (Deel, CharlieHR and an external accounting firm). The company had ambitious international growth plans and Selina had a clear vision for a cohesive global culture - both of which were being hindered by disconnected systems.

Selina approaches HR with a “subscription model" mindset, viewing employees as subscribers to company culture - feeling valued, regardless of their location. With a diverse workforce spread across eight countries - permanent employees and contractors spanning the UK, US, Japan, South Korea, India, Netherlands, Spain, and Portugal - creating a unified global employee experience was a major challenge.

The company’s top priority - scaling operations, especially in the US, came with an abundance of local and legal complexities. Each new hire introduced different employment laws, varied benefit requirements, and the constant risk of compliance missteps. How could Selina and SurrealDB offer fair, competitive benefits in Japan that felt equally compelling as those in the UK or US? 

With the need to scale and grow rapidly, her team was drowning in paperwork and manual tasks. For example, onboarding new starters took at least two weeks of manual labour.

The company was also juggling a bloated tech stack with Deel as the EOR solution and CharlieHR as their finance platform, as well as an external accounting firm. This patchwork system was not just costly and time-consuming, it was actively impacting their global expansion plans.

“We were experiencing a lot of compliant and legal oversights with Deel, for example, in the Netherlands, terminating an employee requires a license, which Deel didn’t properly account for. There were also inconsistencies in healthcare providers which raised a number of concerns around duty of care.”

The Solution

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Both Selina and her CEO knew they needed a more comprehensive strategy to streamline operations and consolidate their tools. After evaluating several vendors, they chose Rippling.

HiBob was initially a strong contender, however Rippling’s all-in-one approach was the deciding factor. This approach closely aligned with SurrealDB’s own philosophy: instead of integrating disparate systems, they wanted everything in one unified platform. This meant that SurrealDB centralised its HRIS and EOR model in one place, replacing the multiple disconnected systems (and costs) they had previously with Deel and CharlieHR.

They scaled their onboarding and offboarding programs with automated workflows and one click provisioning. What once took two weeks - including tasks like email setup, account creation, and access to tools - was now completed in just five minutes. This meant, regardless of the employee's location, everyone had the same seamless experience.

With international expansion and a strong, unified global culture at the forefront of their growth, automation and integrations became critical. Payroll - which once took an entire week across multiple providers and varying legal requirements, is now completed in a single day with just one button click.

Employer of Record (EOR) processes were streamlined, flagging important compliance issues like pensions obligations and legal considerations. The all-in-one global solution empowered Selina to provide fair and compliant benefits internationally.

The adoption of Rippling across the organisation has been overwhelmingly positive. A key factor in this successful transition was its simplicity and flexibility - employees only see the information relevant to them, thanks to customisable permission settings.

Rippling has reinforced the company’s subscription model by improving employee engagement and operational efficiency. For example, their NPS survey gives real time insights into employee sentiment, and because their onboarding is now tracked it allows HR to continuously improve the employee experience.

“Switching HR systems is a big investment of time and effort, but Rippling’s ability to fully automate and customise workflows makes the implementation worth it.”

The Impact

• Time saved:  Reduced onboarding time from 2 weeks to 5 minutes

• Financial savings: of £200 per employee per month with streamlined processes for their EOR services.

• Proactive Risk Management: Rippling’s system flags potential challenges, like handling underperformance, offering clear recommendations and compliance guidance.

• Scaling international growth: with instant compliance support across 8 countries, and automations that give them the ability to hire within days, not months in new markets.

• A true global culture: localised benefits and centralised engagement surveys has increased employee engagement and ensured morale consistency across regions.