An employer of record (EOR) becomes the legal employer of a person you have already chosen. It runs their contract, payroll, statutory contributions and filings in the country where they live. Platforms like Deel, Remote and Oyster do this well, and for some companies it is all they need.
What an EOR does not do is everything else: find the person, give them somewhere to work, set them up, and run the human side of employing them. After the person is on payroll, who handles everything else?
What an EOR covers
- The employment contract, under local law
- Monthly payroll, with tax and statutory deductions
- Statutory registrations and filings
- Statutory benefits enrolment, with optional extra benefits on some plans
- Final settlement, processed when someone leaves
That is real value. Indian employment compliance is detailed, it changed substantially in November 2025, and getting payroll wrong carries penalties.
What an EOR leaves with you
We list 42 touchpoints in employing someone, from sourcing to exit, across 5 phases. When we mapped a typical EOR’s published scope against them, it covered about 10. That is our count, made by ticking off what the EOR says it does against our list, and you can repeat it with any provider.
Here is what sits outside those 10, phase by phase.
Find. Writing the job description, sourcing, screening, technical assessment, the English and communication check, the shortlist, interview coordination and background verification. With an EOR you do this yourself or pay a recruiter.
Set up. A workspace. Equipment, and replacing it when it breaks. Software licences and security access. The first week. With an EOR, the person usually works from wherever they already work, often home, and you buy and ship the laptop.
Run. Leave approval and cover, local supervision, employee relations, and the monthly view of how things are going. The EOR keeps the statutory records. The day-to-day sits with you.
Grow. Performance reviews, salary benchmarking, learning, promotions. These are the things that decide whether a good person stays.
Exit. The exit conversation, knowledge transfer, getting the equipment back, and finding the replacement.
When an EOR alone is the right choice
- You already found the person. A former colleague or a strong referral: you do not need sourcing.
- Their setup already works. They have a reliable place to work and their own equipment, and you are comfortable with that.
- You have HR and ops capacity to run onboarding, reviews and the day-to-day yourself.
If all three are true, an EOR is the fastest, simplest route. Use one.
When it leaves a gap
If you have not found the person yet, they have no professional place to work, and nobody on your team has time to be their HR department, an EOR solves the compliance part and leaves the operational part with you. That operational part is the bigger one.
That gap is what a satellite office fills. We are the employer, as an EOR is, and we also:
- find and vet the person
- give them a desk in a premium SoTalented Satellite Office
- set up the laptop and access
- run the 42 touchpoints around them
All of it comes on one invoice, with $0 until you hire. You interview, approve and manage the work.
The full list is on what’s included, and the side-by-side is on /compare. Ask us the same question we suggest asking any EOR: after the person is on payroll, who handles everything else? Talk to us.
Sources
- Labour codes in force from November 2025: Littler via Mondaq