Quick, hassle-free onboarding

We make it simple to add the employee's details to Remote, with an automated invite emailed to your new starter

Once your employee signs in to the platform, Remote asks them to provide administrative details and upload the necessary supporting documents

Remote performs a right-to-work check to confirm workers hold the appropriate permissions, permits, or work visas required for their location

We prepare the employment agreement and send it to the employee for a formal signature

The employee is enrolled onto payroll and benefits programmes and is set as active in Remote.

Depending on the country where you plan to hire, employee onboarding software helps you bring new hires into your organisation in full compliance with applicable employment laws. For local hires, the process is often straightforward or at least familiar for most businesses. New employees usually sign an employment agreement and upload key documents, all handled by the onboarding software the company uses. Employee onboarding tools commonly remain in use once the employee starts, since most are features within a broader employment software package.

The situation gets more complex when companies try to onboard remote employees in countries where they lack a legal entity. Lack of familiarity with local laws and customs makes rapid, compliant onboarding difficult. In such cases, employers will often use an employer of record, or EOR, to onboard new workers. An EOR enables businesses to employ staff abroad by acting as the local employer of record while handling functions such as payroll, benefits, tax withholding, compliance, and stock options.

New employees do not automatically know what to do when starting a new role. Even in small companies, onboarding is the first chance to address administrative matters, set clear expectations, and communicate company culture. In many countries, onboarding requires meeting a sequence of deadlines for paperwork and registrations, so companies hiring across borders must be vigilant when onboarding new workers.

Few things frustrate a new employee more than problems with payroll and benefits. You want new hires to have a positive experience and an immediate sense of care and belonging.

If you cannot pay their first salary on time or they cannot enrol for insurance because of administrative mistakes, new team members will quickly lose trust and motivation. Efficient onboarding builds a positive experience for employees from the outset, creating a welcoming environment from day one.

Onboarding remote employees can be as straightforward as onboarding office-based staff — or considerably more complex, depending on where you hire and how prepared you are. If remote hires are in the same area as the rest of your team (for example, the same city or state), the process is typically straightforward. You will still need to provide the proper equipment and make them feel welcomed and included, but legal steps such as signing the employment agreement are generally unchanged.

Hiring remote employees in different locations, such as another state or another country, introduces additional challenges. Besides adjusting for time zones, you must handle the paperwork and registrations that accompany a distributed hire. For example, some countries require a medical exam as part of a new offer of employment, even for remote workers.

Often, specific documents must be filed with government agencies by strict deadlines, and employees must be enrolled in social programmes within a set period after employment begins. To onboard staff in a new country where your company has no legal entity, you can hire abroad with confidence using an employer of record, or EOR like Remote.

Begin with the basics when onboarding remote employees. Do you have the legal arrangements required to employ this person?

For contractors, onboarding is usually quick and straightforward. You can use an international contractor management platform like Remote to pay your contractors in their local currencies.

Onboarding full-time remote employees is more complex. The key is to understand the regulations that apply in the country or region where your new employee lives and works. If you have an entity in the country where you plan to hire, you will be responsible for local compliance, payroll, taxes, benefits administration and various paperwork. Because of these barriers, companies onboarding remote employees in other countries typically work with an employer of record.

Remote is designed to remove the cost, risk and complexity from global employment so you can manage compliance with certainty.

Onboarding independent contractors is generally simpler than hiring full-time employees, but be cautious. If you fail to define the working relationship correctly, you could face fines — and potentially lose ownership of intellectual property (IP).

Begin by creating and signing a formal agreement with the chosen contractor. The contract should specify pay rates, deliverables and ownership of any created work. Laws vary by country, so when hiring internationally use an international contractor management tool — not merely a payment service that lacks context or protections.

You may want to convert contractors to employees at a later stage. If so, you have several options. You will need to onboard the contractors into the new roles, complete with new paperwork depending on the country.