Small business
You fulfil a variety of roles within your business. Hang 'payroll processor' back on the peg. Remote's user-friendly platform equips small businesses with 1–200 employees to process international payroll, lodge taxes and ensure compliance no matter where their team members live.
Small businesses need to grow rapidly yet sensibly. Establishing expensive legal entities can halt that momentum. Remote's global employment platform opens access to international talent without the risks of expanding overseas unaided. Maintain sharp focus while Remote onboards, pays and manages your team with confidence in global compliance.
Avoid the steep and costly learning curve of navigating HR, benefits, tax, and payroll compliance in multiple countries. Remote powers international hiring with all the tools needed to hire quickly, while avoiding the costs and risks of going global alone.
Avoid the expense and hassle of creating and running your own legal entities merely to hire overseas. Remote removes administrative mistakes and ensures global compliance so you can concentrate HR efforts on finding and keeping excellent talent wherever they are based.
Easily onboard, manage, and pay employees and contractors with just a few clicks on our self-serve platform. Remote integrates with top HR software systems like BambooHR, Greenhouse, and HiBob, so you can keep your existing HR stack. Enjoy full visibility of all your employee data on one intuitive platform.
Remote is designed to simplify HR for administrators and employees. Employee data is always accessible, and Remote's specialist global support team is available to provide tailored, localised advice to administrators, employees and independent contractors.
When you use Remote to pay and hire a distributed team, you gain a dependable partner and a robust platform. That delivers assurance and compliance throughout every stage of your HR processes.
Encourage ownership and morale among your staff by providing stock options or equity awards to international employees. Our global equity specialists keep you compliant throughout, handling tax filings and withholding.
Spend less time fielding employee and contractor queries thanks to guided onboarding, an intuitive platform (including leave and expense management), and continuous support.
Leverage Remote's 100% owned-entity model to gain a global footprint without the burden, risk and cost. Stay compliant during every step of the employment lifecycle.
Access country-specific benefits packages at heavily negotiated rates so you can provide equitable, top-tier benefits to your employees at a fraction of the usual cost.
Keep your talent no matter where they go with Remote's in-built relocation expertise. Remote ensures the correct right-to-work permissions are in place to keep employment agreements globally compliant during cross-border moves.
Stay ahead of investor scrutiny, avoid misclassification penalties, and retain top talent with Remote's in-built guidance on converting contractors to employees.
Protect your startup's IP and invention rights with Remote's rock-solid security provisions. We monitor changes in IP law and update agreements and protections constantly to keep your business protected.
Remote's customer support specialists are available worldwide to provide assistance at every stage of the employment process.
Join the customers who rely on Remote to transform their organisations.
“Remote has become a leading, trusted partner in this sector. Their specialist assistance with local payroll, tax compliance and HR operations has rationalised our internal procedures and created fresh opportunities for international growth and success.”
“Had we been required to manage and co-ordinate everything in-house, it would cost us well over $500,000 more each year. Remote not only removes that financial burden but also lifts the operational load from our shoulders, enabling us to concentrate on growing the business with confidence and efficiency.”
“Each month, twice a month and on an hourly basis we run payroll in a variety of currencies across the globe, and our finance manager has a consolidated view within a single platform. Remote makes that possible.”
“We collaborate with over 460 contractors worldwide. Managing compliance, administration and payroll internally would have meant taking on five to six full-time staff. Remote has unquestionably saved us both time and money.”
“Remote has become a leading, trusted partner in this sector. Their specialist assistance with local payroll, tax compliance and HR operations has rationalised our internal procedures and created fresh opportunities for international growth and success.”
“Had we been required to manage and co-ordinate everything in-house, it would cost us well over $500,000 more each year. Remote not only removes that financial burden but also lifts the operational load from our shoulders, enabling us to concentrate on growing the business with confidence and efficiency.”
“Each month, twice a month and on an hourly basis we run payroll in a variety of currencies across the globe, and our finance manager has a consolidated view within a single platform. Remote makes that possible.”
“We collaborate with over 460 contractors worldwide. Managing compliance, administration and payroll internally would have meant taking on five to six full-time staff. Remote has unquestionably saved us both time and money.”
“Remote has become a leading, trusted partner in this sector. Their specialist assistance with local payroll, tax compliance and HR operations has rationalised our internal procedures and created fresh opportunities for international growth and success.”
“Had we been required to manage and co-ordinate everything in-house, it would cost us well over $500,000 more each year. Remote not only removes that financial burden but also lifts the operational load from our shoulders, enabling us to concentrate on growing the business with confidence and efficiency.”
“Each month, twice a month and on an hourly basis we run payroll in a variety of currencies across the globe, and our finance manager has a consolidated view within a single platform. Remote makes that possible.”
“We collaborate with over 460 contractors worldwide. Managing compliance, administration and payroll internally would have meant taking on five to six full-time staff. Remote has unquestionably saved us both time and money.”
Small business payroll software allows businesses without the resources of large corporations to operate payroll for team members in multiple locations. Although many firms may operate solely locally, the rise of remote work enables organisations of every size to engage team members across different locations, including overseas. Whether a small business must manage payroll for a handful of people or for an entire team spread across international borders, payroll software must be adaptable to the company’s requirements.
Payroll software for a small business may cover only essentials, such as paying team members on time and for the correct amounts. For international teams, it also ensures payments are made in the proper currencies and, where relevant, via approved banks. More comprehensive payroll platforms such as Remote offer extra services, including benefits administration and globally compliant employee stock option plans.
In most situations, small businesses are unable to process payroll in-house for global teams. To pay team members in other countries legally, small businesses have three options: establish an entity in every country where employees are based, use an employer of record, or engage workers as contractors.
Although some companies opt to hire all workers as contractors, this can lead to complex compliance issues. Misclassifying international contractors is a significant risk that could cost a small business thousands of dollars, not to mention lengthy disputes in far-flung courts. Hiring international contractors can be advantageous, but only when they are genuinely contractors and when managed through an international contractor management platform.
Small businesses may decide to set up one or two entities in countries where they have a substantial number of employees and an established business presence. However, few choose to open entities in every market where they hire, as this can be expensive and take months to complete.
An employer of record is often the quickest and simplest method for small businesses to run payroll for global teams. An EOR enables a small business to employ staff legally overseas. A global employment platform such as Remote manages payroll and taxes globally, administers benefits to satisfy local employment obligations, and handles all issues of compliance.
Small businesses outsource HR because it is generally more cost-effective than attempting to bring every HR function in-house. The resources needed to run payroll, manage benefits, withhold taxes, make required payroll deductions, administer employee stock option plans and keep up with changing regulations are often beyond a small business's capacity. Even many large enterprises outsource HR tasks to specialist providers.
For small businesses recruiting internationally, HR challenges multiply. Remote’s guide to international payroll processing outlines a number of challenges faced by small businesses and offers practical advice on how to address them.
Outsourcing payroll reduces costs for small businesses while helping to deliver a better experience for employees. Even large organisations frequently encounter problems with payroll and benefits when using in-house systems.
In a small business, every employee is vital to success, so mismanagement of payroll can rapidly damage the employee–employer relationship.
Outsourcing payroll saves small businesses time on administrative tasks and reduces or removes payroll errors. Employees expect timely, accurate and dependable pay as a basic condition of employment.
For a small business with constrained resources, achieving 100% error-free payroll using in-house tools is challenging. With an outsourced payroll provider, however, even the smallest operations can benefit from world-class payroll reliability.
Startups face different expectations and challenges compared with small businesses. Their growth phases can be abrupt and unpredictable, with rapid pivots and changes. While small businesses also grow, more established firms usually encounter less turbulent change.
Both startups and small businesses require payroll services that offer reliability and flexibility. Small businesses often lack the investor backing startups have, so their costs must usually be covered by sales rather than investor capital. Consequently, small businesses should be vigilant against payroll vendors with hidden fees or other unforeseen charges.
It's essential for small businesses to ask the right questions about payroll when starting any new relationship with a payroll services provider.
Small business payroll costs vary depending on employees' locations, total company payroll and which benefits the business offers. Generally, small businesses need not pay high prices for basic payroll services, particularly for local teams.
Small businesses with remote teams across several countries do pay more for payroll, but those costs often include benefits administration, foreign tax withholding and compliance with local employment rules.
When choosing between hiring the right candidate for a role and spending longer to find someone locally, bringing on an employee in another country can result in substantial savings over time. For further details on costs for small business payroll across multiple countries, see Remote’s pricing page.
Employers of record (EORs) were once services mainly for large, well-funded enterprises, but that is no longer true. The growth of remote work has reduced EOR costs broadly, enabling small businesses to access international talent without hefty fees or large salary mark-ups.
Any small business looking to use an EOR to onboard international talent should ask the following questions of any prospective EOR provider:
Does the EOR operate as an owned-entity in every country, or does it delegate services to third parties in some jurisdictions?
What protections does the EOR offer for intellectual property and invention rights?
How securely does the EOR manage sensitive personal data belonging to your employees?
If you provide an employee stock purchase plan, can the EOR administer it for you, including handling tax withholding?
Will you require separate platforms for contractors and employees?
Are there hidden fees that vary between countries?
Does the EOR offer special discounts for startups or social purpose organisations?
