Global PEO services — grow teams worldwide with ease

A global professional employer organization (PEO) is a company that helps businesses manage international employment by handling payroll, benefits, compliance, and HR functions for employees in multiple countries. This allows businesses to expand globally without needing to establish legal entities in each country.

The terms PEO, global or international PEO, and EOR are often used interchangeably. But they have distinct meanings that are important for businesses to understand if they’re considering engaging with any of these services — especially for help hiring a global workforce.

• A professional employer organization (PEO) works by establishing a co-employment relationship with its client companies
• “Global PEO” and “international PEO” are two other names for an employer of record (EOR), a service that helps businesses manage global employment by handling HR functions like payroll, benefits, and compliance in multiple countries

No. While a standard PEO has a co-employment relationship with a company's domestic workforce, an international PEO serves as its workforce's sole legal employer. With standard PEOs, the company and the service are jointly responsible for employees. International PEOs assume full liability.

Global PEOs are ideal solutions for any company keen on quick expansion into international markets. That could mean lean startups that want to cut back on onboarding times. It could also mean larger companies that want to make an initial foray into an international talent pool before committing to setting up a legal entity. 

Just keep in mind that at a certain staff size, the cost of international PEO services will outweigh the cost of setting up an entity.

A PEO provider can support your recruitment efforts by expanding access to a broader global talent pool. They streamline the hiring process by managing compliance and can often offer access to high-quality benefits packages, helping you attract and retain global talent across different markets.

Yes. Many global PEO companies can assist with hiring international independent contractors by helping with compliance, contracts, and payments. This further allows businesses to tap into a global talent pool without the need to establish local entities.

EORs typically use one of two pricing structures:

• Fixed monthly fee per employee
• Percentage of payroll plus taxes

Both methods can also come with administrative fees, onboarding charges, and other costs for extra features. 

Keep in mind that you don’t need to use an EOR for your entire workforce. If you want to segment its use, you’ll only be charged for the employees you employ through the EOR.

Since there are plenty of available global PEO solutions, you should think about the unique needs of your business. Key considerations to keep in mind when choosing an EOR include:

• Whether the provider has a global PEO solution in the country where you're hiring
• What the solution’s data protection policies are
• The slate of integrations and automated solutions (such as payroll processing)
• In-country expertise to monitor compliance
• Costs of using an EOR vs. setting up your own entity (based on your headcount and growth plans)

You generally need to buy separate EOR services for separate countries, as each product will have its own local expertise.