For companies that hire a lot of freelancers, an Employer of Record (EOR) can be a lifesaver—or at least save some headaches if not literal lives. A partner for handling hiring temporary workers can be a key to avoiding fines and court dates by keeping businesses out of trouble. An employer of record is defined as “a company or organization that is legally responsible for paying employees, including dealing with employee taxes, benefits, insurance, etc.”
As such, an EOR deals with the administrative problems and mountains of paperwork that come with hiring, paying, and insuring workers. Outsourcing parts of business that require extremely-specialized skills and those that deal with risk and compliance can be a very wise business move. These issues have very high stakes and a partner is required when devoting the time and resources toward doing the job right simply isn’t feasible. Keeping your workforce happy and paid on time/with accuracy is also crucial to maintaining a happy workforce. In addition, the laws are always changing and audits, fines, and penalties follow when airtight systems and processes are not in place. An EOR keeps everything running as it should and serves as the employer. As such, it takes on many of the related responsibilities and liabilities while employees work for another company.
Would an EOR Benefit Your Business?
- Does hiring new workers slow you down when you’re trying to accomplish a goal or staff an event?
- Do you have a lot of freelance hiring needs on tight deadlines?
- Does freelance payroll management cause your team headaches?
- Would maintaining current headcount when engaging freelancers save you trouble?
- Do you have compliance concerns?
- Does your staff need refreshers on workers’ comp and necessary insurance for contractors every time you hire freelancers?
If you answered yes to any of the above questions, you might consider whether an EOR would help you. In addition to easing the above concerns, an EOR turns a mountain of hiring paperwork into a molehill and handles certificates of insurance, I-9s, and E-verify forms. They also terminate employees when necessary, administer benefits, and conduct background checks and drug screenings.
Bottom Line
Not every company needs an EOR, but for those who do, it’s a game changer. We find clients benefit greatly from partnering with an EOR when they need help onboarding or don’t have the capacity to handle hiring-related HR issues. Since PayReel specializes in these services, we have systems in place to make everything as efficient and smooth as possible. Sometimes, having an EOR in position can be the difference between staffing and finishing projects on time and tanking a project before it really even gets off the ground. If you think you might benefit, reach out to PayReel and we’ll talk through solutions for your unique situation.
