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A company can avoid hiring people as contractors by hiring through a temporary employment agency or a partner business that hires the workers as employees.
A local business partner is a company that has existing business contacts or partners in-country and is willing to put another company’s employees on their payroll. This type of arrangement is also known as leased or assigned employment.
We’re not aware of many startups or smaller companies that have this kind of arrangement. It’s much more likely to be feasible for a larger, multi-national company or an organization with large customer or partner companies in multiple countries.
If there’s no local business partner, companies can also employ remote workers through temp agencies like Adecco, Manpower, or Kelly. This is likely less common now due to the proliferation of freelance platforms like Upworthy, however.
Earlier we covered the pros and cons of working with a PEO. Many PEOs also support hiring international employees, and you may also see a similar option with GEOs.
A global employment organization (or GEO) is a form of professional employer organization that is an employer of record (EOR) that employs people in foreign countries on behalf of a company that is not incorporated in that country. A GEO processes payroll, withhold taxes and contributions, and ensures compliance with local country employment laws.
There’s ultimately no difference between a PEO, GEO, or EOR—it’s all semantics; they provide the same services. That said, many remote companies that we spoke with found working with PEOs or GEOs for international hiring to be challenging. The key issues are: