EOR or your own entity?

An EOR is a company that legally employs your people in a country where you have no entity of your own. You direct the work; the EOR runs local payroll, taxes, benefits and employment contracts, and carries the employer's legal obligations.

Usually once you have a larger team in one country, expect to stay there for years, or need to do more than employ people, such as sell locally, sign contracts or hold assets. The calculator compares the options for your team size.

For the EOR, the monthly fee per employee. For an entity, one-off setup plus a year of running costs: accounting and filings, registered office or local director where required, local employment-law advice, mandatory insurance and a compliance owner for payroll, benefits and statutory filings. Entity costs also include internal administration beyond outsourced services. It excludes hired employees’ salaries, employer taxes and any share capital that stays in the company.

They are planning estimates for entity setup and annual operations, including internal administration. Some destinations use comparable-market estimates. Actual costs depend on your company, so get local quotes before you decide.

The original 14 destinations include indicative setup times. The 20 newer planning scenarios do not assume a setup timeline. Opening a bank account, registering as an employer and hiring local advisers can add to it. An EOR can usually employ someone in days.

Many companies do. They hire through an EOR while the team is small, then open an entity once headcount and plans in the country justify it, and transfer employees across.