What is Remote?
Remote is a payroll/HR service that aims to alleviate the headaches encountered when employing workers and contractors outside the US when your business doesn’t have a registered base in the country in question. By maintaining their own legal entities in each of the jurisdictions they cover (currently ranging from Armenia to Uruguay), Remote act as the Employer of Record for your international employees, handling remuneration in the relevant local currency and making sure that your company complies with all local laws and tax regimes. If your business is only paying foreign contractors, you will find that Remote can easily handle this for you in over 170 countries.
In a world where remote working is becoming commonplace, more and more companies are realising the benefits of being able to draw on a pool of global talent. For a small or medium business looking to dip its toes into this arena, the complexities of international law and administration can be overwhelming, if not completely off-putting. Remote offers a simple solution to this problem by providing your company with a robust and user-friendly system for hiring and maintaining a global workforce.
Using the Remote platform, it is quite simple to onboard new employees from different nations (the website provides a long list of countries already supported, with many more arriving soon). Remote ensures that your hires are fully compliant with all local laws and regulations, and enables you to make automated wage payments in the relevant currency. It is straightforward to give bonuses and pay rises when required and your company also has access to advanced features such as adding stock options to an employee’s remuneration package. In addition, Remote allows you to offer a comprehensive benefits package to your workers, with services based in their own locality. Contractor management is handled in a similar way, and the system allows you to keep a track of relevant documents, approve expenses and deal with requests for time off. You also have an option to turn a contractor into a permanent full or part-time employee on your payroll.
Remote offers integration with popular HR and payroll tools such as Greenhouse and BambooHR, with the prospect of further partners coming soon. Activating integration is as simple as enabling an option in the Remote menu and is free to use (although the service you are integrating with may charge). A powerful API is also provided that enables you to implement your own integrations and to incorporate the Remote service into your own company system if you have one, so that you can administer your global HR and payroll without leaving your management platform. The integration is white label and can be seamlessly blended with your own branding. This flexibility also allows you to build your own apps and features, such as developing a bespoke benefits management package for your business or creating alerts on Slack when a new employee joins the company so that existing employees can welcome their new teammate.
Remote
What popular features do you get with Remote?
- Local expertise to hire staff
- Easy employee onboarding
- Localized benefits packages
- Pay employees in local currency
- Long list of supported countries
- Country by country compliance expertise
- Intellectual property protection tools
- Discounts for start-ups
- Third party integration API
- Low cost international contractor management
- Payroll management and automated payments
Customer Support is available at Remote
Remote offers assistance via online chat 24 hours, Monday to Friday. Their team are fully versed in the employment laws and tax regimes of the countries that they service and proactively ensure that your company is compliant with them.
What kind of business is Remote ideal for?
The kind of service offered by Remote is useful to all businesses that employ (or wish to recruit) workers in international locations, or plan to use contractors in other countries. This could be a small company wishing to attract international talent, or a larger business looking to simplify their global payroll accounting.
Pros and Cons
- Local expertise in employment and tax law, as well as benefits packages based in your employees’ home countries.
- Easy onboarding of employees and the ability to pay your workers and contractors in their local currency.
- Remote secures your intellectual property and inventions through a robust three-stage process backed by an indemnity guarantee.
- In-country experts can help your business find the right talent for your needs. Remote integrates easily with a number of popular HR tools.
- Customer support is only available over the internet, and not at all over the weekend, which may not be appropriate for all businesses.
- Although Remote are up front about the cost of their Employer of Record and Contractor plans, you must request an individual quote for other services.
People like you also researched
Here are some products we think might be a good fit based on what people like you viewed.
OnPay
- Unlimited payroll runs
- Automated payroll tax filing
- Financial and health benefits
- Employee self-service portal
Gusto
- Management of international contractor payments
- Online hiring and onboarding tools
- Automated payroll runs
- An easy-to-use integrated platform
Zenefits
- Dynamic paystubs with helpful information
- Automatic salary update feature
- Multiple labor codes for analysis
- Automatic new hire state filing
How much does Remote cost?
*based on information provided by the vendor. Actual cost may vary.
Employer of Record packages start at $299 per employee per month (when paid annually). A pay monthly option comes in at $349 per employee but doesn’t lock your company into a long contract. This covers all aspects of payroll and benefits, as well as tax administration and legal compliance in the relevant jurisdiction. Local experts are on hand to answer any questions you might have.
Contractor management is $29 per contractor per month and allows you to pay invoices in local currency without any exchange fees, and to automatically generate 1099s when needed.
The cost of enhanced plans is only available by requesting a tailored quote for your business.
Remote offers discounts on their service plans for start-ups and non-profits.
Final thoughts...
The rules and regulations of employing workers in foreign countries can be difficult to follow, and the costs of not complying with them can be eye-watering (for example a fine of up to £18 million for failing to adhere to UK GDPR law). Remote offers businesses of any size the opportunity to reap the benefits of recruiting international talent without enduring the headaches of trying to ensure compliance. If your company would like to explore the advantages of hiring from a global workforce, or are suffering under a mountain of paperwork trying to administer staff in other countries, Remote could offer you the perfect solution.
To find out more, and to request a demonstration, visit their website.
