The HR platform you can rely on for confident global expansion

As your company expands into a midsized organisation, your payroll solution must also evolve. Whether you manage payroll domestically, globally, or both, your payroll software must be equipped to support and sustain that growth.

Payroll software for midsize companies should offer:

• Multi-location support. As medium-sized businesses expand, they frequently employ staff across multiple locations, both locally and abroad. To manage this, your payroll partner should effortlessly process payments in different currencies, ensure compliance with local labour laws, and make payments through authorised banks.

• Advanced capabilities. Beyond basic payroll administration, the software should offer robust features like benefits administration, tax compliance, and the management of equity incentives including stock options. These capabilities are vital to meet the varied and complex needs of an expanding midsize organisation.

• Scalability. When your business grows across borders, payroll requirements increase in complexity. Your payroll solution must scale with you, accommodating more employees and integrating additional HR services.

Managing payroll internally for a global workforce presents major challenges. To lawfully pay employees abroad you usually have three choices:

• Set up an entity in each country where your employees reside

• Partner with an employer of record (EOR) provider, like Remote

• Engage workers as contractors

Forming entities is costly and slow, and you will still have to run payroll internally or outsource to a specialist. Conversely, hiring workers as contractors may introduce compliance risks if not handled correctly.

For midsized firms, an EOR is frequently the most efficient and practical way to manage global payroll. It lets you hire legally across countries without creating local entities and ensures compliance with local employment laws. It also enables central management of global payroll and taxes, benefits administration, and the handling of other legal and HR obligations.

Midsize firms commonly discover that outsourcing HR services is more cost-effective and efficient than running every HR function internally. The resources needed to manage payroll, benefits, tax withholding, payroll deductions, equity incentives, and compliance can be substantial, even for mid-market businesses.

Even large enterprises often outsource HR to access specialist expertise and technology. Typical reasons to outsource include:

• Cost efficiency. Organisations seek advanced HR services without making large investments in an internal HR function.

• Ability to focus on core operations. Companies want HR tasks managed by experts who keep up with compliance requirements and best practice.

• Scalability. Outsourcing offers flexibility to scale HR services with company growth, without continually recruiting and training extra HR staff.

• Global expertise. For growth-focused firms, global HR challenges are magnified. Outsourcing gives reassurance and helps ensure compliance with local labour laws, efficient payroll processing, and correct benefits administration across jurisdictions.

For mid-sized businesses, payroll service fees vary widely depending on where your employees are based, your total payroll spend, and the benefits you offer. Compared with SMBs, mid-sized companies frequently handle larger and more complex payrolls, particularly with remote teams in multiple countries.

That said, you should aim to budget anywhere from a few hundred to several thousand dollars per month for payroll services, depending on the scale and scope of what is needed. This cost is influenced by the size of your workforce, the complexity of your payroll and HR needs, and whether you operate domestically or globally.

For further details on costs for small business payroll across multiple countries, see Remote’s pricing page.

When evaluating an EOR provider, ask potential partners the following questions:

• Do they own entities in every country, or do they rely on third-party providers in some markets?

• How do they manage compliance within complex regulatory environments?

• What protections do they offer for IP and invention rights?

• How do they secure your employees' sensitive personal information?

• Can they manage complex compensation structures, including equity and bonus plans?

• Can they support rapid growth and help you enter new markets swiftly?

• Are there hidden fees that vary between countries?

• Do they provide dedicated market-specific support and expertise?