Recruiting top talent is already difficult. Doing so across borders seems entirely impossible. Understanding a country's complex legal requirements, tax regulations and labor laws is a full-time job in itselfoystersEmploying with Record Services gives you access to an international team of HR specialists who are always by your side.
In this comprehensive review, we discuss what Oyster HR is, what it's good for, where it fell short of our expectations, and what different plans it offers, so you can decide with confidence if it's right for you business.
What is Oyster HR?
oerstedis an Employer of Worldwide (EOR) ANDInternational Payroll ServicesThis allows you to hire and retain an international workforce for your team without having to set up a separate office overseas. The brand uses a "hybrid EOR" approach where your team members are formally hired while you retain control over their activities.
Whether you're a small business with five employees or an ambitious corporation, Oyster gives you access to a talent pool outside of headquarters. In fact, they can help you hire contractors or full-time employees in over 100 different countries.
The Oyster team also handles payroll, benefits administration, compliance, contracts and everything in between, so you get comprehensive HR services no matter where your talent is located.
Say you're a fast-growing startup in San Francisco, and you've found a rock star engineer in Berlin that you want to join. Instead of setting up a subsidiary in Germany, you can hire them through the Oyster platform. Oyster will be your legal employer in Germany and work directly for you.
It's the best of both worlds: local compliance with the global reach and flexibility of a distributed team.
Looking for more traditional HR software? cashFind our most popular all-in-one HR solutions here.
Oyster HR: the good and the bad
As an EOR, Oyster offers great value to companies of all sizes looking to recruit globally. from compliance andperformance managementarrivePTO managementandtime tracking, is a powerful HR solution packed with powerful features. However, it's not for everyone -- after all, there's no one-size-fits-all software.
To kick off our review, let's start with the good stuff.
What is the use of oysters?
Pay rent only:Oyster offers the tools and resources to make the best international hiring decisions for your business - and it's all free.Sign up for OysterBefore you make any commitments, learn all there is to know about hiring and paying workers in different countries. For example, you can use their freesalary converterSee how much you can offer a marketing manager in Belgium or a developer in Mexico.
Oyster offers a free guide in plain language to the requirements, taxes and fees for seating at different locations, so you can check whether these arrangements make sense for your budget before proceeding. Oyster's free resources to help you make data-driven decisions to build your businessremote teamAnd expand your business internationally. Then, when you're ready, you can use Oyster's expert recruitment partners and streamlined recruitment process to source and hire the best talent in the world. The best part; you don't have to pay until you're ready to hire.
Automatic onboarding and onboarding:Oyster gives you the step-by-step guidance you need to reach people around the world with confidence in your compliance. When hiring engineers or project managers in other countries, Oyster can help you develop an employment package, including fair compensation and benefits based on where the new employee lives. The platform ensures that you have all the necessary visas or documents to carry them legally.
With Oyster, you know exactly where you are in the recruiting workflow at any time. New hires can also learn next steps to keep everyone in sync in this asynchronous work environment. Oyster even helps you create personalized agreements and contracts, which are stored in one easy-to-access location for review and electronic signature.
Expenses, PTO and Time Management:Oyster offers comprehensive solutions to help you build a sustainable remote work culture. Workers and contractors around the world can take time off, submit expenses in local currency and record hours directly on the Oyster platform. In addition, Oyster automatically reimburses expenses and charges vacation days to payroll.
Global Payroll Support:Oyster Payroll offers a streamlined solution to seamlessly hire and pay employees anywhere in the world. pay contractors180 countriesand full-time employees in 130 countries. Oyster pays your team in local currency and handles all payroll taxes and legal requirements on your behalf. No more decoding international payslips and tax codes.
Whether you have monthly or on-demand contractors, full-time employees, or a combination of these,oerstedPaying your team is easier than ever. They'll take care of everything for you - paying wages, withholding taxes and making sure your business is fully compliant every step of the way. With a centralized system and multi-currency support, your international payroll is now fully automated.
Global stock alert:Participation-based compensation is a proven method of motivating and motivating a distributed workforce. Oyster makes it easy to optimize your global equity strategy by providing a comprehensive view of the compatibility of certain countries with the type of equity you want to offer, eg: B. Stock Options or Restricted Stock Units.
Gain easy-to-understand insights into risk, cost, tax and compliance factors so you can allocate equity to maximize value for your organization and employees. For example, you may have learned that some countries prefer cash-based incentive plans over direct equity participation due to regulatory requirements. Elsewhere, share transfer taxes can be prohibitively high, suggesting that you should consider a different approach to compensation.
Performance Management:To keep global teams happy, healthy and productive, it's important to ensure that every employee has access to health care, time off and other benefits appropriate to their hometown. That's why Oyster's global and local benefits packages are groundbreaking. Choose from custom plans ranging from basic protection to highly competitive plans in 13 countries.
Each prepackaged package includes health insurance, retirement planning, paid vacation and more, tailored to each country's standards. oysters have one tooFree Comparison ToolHelps you understand what different levels of coverage mean in different countries. If you add staff in countries other than those 13, you can offer global benefits through alliances.
Whichever you choose, Oyster integrates benefits administration directly into the hiring process. You choose a plan and Oyster signs you up so you don't have to worry about it. As your distributed business grows, you can switch or combine plans.
Friendly navigation:Oyster's interface is clean, minimal and streamlined, with clearly marked navigation and help articles on every screen, so you'll never get confused or stuck. Oyster's simple and elegant user interface makes managing a distributed workforce simple and efficient. A clean, minimal aesthetic and streamlined workflow reduce hassle so you can focus on what really matters: growing your business.
For you, this means the smooth integration of international employees. Onboard new hires with digital paperwork, set up direct deposit, view statements and invoices, approve leave requests, and track hours worked—all with just a few clicks. For your team, this means an easy-to-understand system for recording hours worked, taking time off, updating payment information, and accessing their documents.
Actual support:Oyster customer support is truly top notch. You get instant access to a team of multilingual experts, ready to help you and your geographically distributed employees. Through the Oyster portal, you can connect with support professionals to ask policy questions, request changes to employee benefits or wages, report concerns or get guidance on complex global recruitment processes.
Unlike other platforms that put you through an automated support maze, Oyster's support team provides personalized, empathetic help. They understand the challenges of building a global team and provide detailed, customized guidance to address your specific needs. Your questions will be answered by real people who have specific knowledge of the labor laws and standards of the country in which you are employed.
They also work with you to prevent problems before they happen and provide you with friendly advice to optimize global recruiting. With the support of a company focused on your success, you'll feel empowered to build the perfect international team.
Bulk Discounts:oerstedDiscounted prices are offered when you purchase five or more seats. The more seats you buy, the bigger the discount. You can negotiate the price per seat directly with Oyster to get a deal that fits your budget. While the entire annual fee is paid upfront, the long-term savings are huge. Unlike standard tiers, your collectible slots have one key advantage: the freedom to trade with new team members at no additional cost.
Discounts for nonprofits:Nonprofits thrive when they reflect the diversity of the people they serve. Oyster recognizes this and enables nonprofits to hire staff whose talents and experience match their purpose, without being held back by geographic or financial constraints.
As a registered not-for-profit or B Corp, you'll receive Oyster's Impact Discount: free for one year on your first international job and a 30% discount for up to 10 employees. To qualify, you must provide your 501(c)(3) certification or other documentation proving your nonprofit status. Discounts apply to rentals in Oyster's most popular destinations, allowing you to attract a diverse, hard-to-find professional pool from around the world.
Refugees Hire Oster:Refugees and displaced people around the world can find it difficult to find jobs that match their skills due to limited opportunities and bureaucratic barriers. Oyster's refugee recruitment program gives you access to vetted and talented candidates from over 35 countries at little or no additional cost.
Oyster works with advocacy groups to put refugees in meaningful work. Once you've identified the roles you need to fill, Oyster will help you find candidates with the right skills. All fees are waived for up to 10 rentals from countries where Oyster operates. For candidates from other locations, you only pay a small fee to the local partner.
Possible Downsides of Oysters
Poor analysis and reporting: althoughoerstedMakes creating basic reports like payroll, invoices, and expenses a breeze, but the reporting capabilities stop there. You won't have access to the insightful charts, customizable filters, and data analytics that other HR tools offer to identify hiring trends, assess team productivity, or analyze retention rates. As reports cannot be viewed or customized directly within the Oyster platform, you must extract and interpret the raw data yourself.
For companies focused on optimizing costs, reducing fill times, and building a global talent pipeline, Oyster's lack of extensive reporting may be disappointing. While there are workarounds—you can always export report data for analysis in Excel or a data visualization tool—they require extra effort.
Partners and Suppliers:Oyster works with third-party vendors to provide payroll and HR services in certain countries where the company does not have an established presence. While this allows Oyster to support more locations, it also means that your experience across those locations may not be consistent. You may have to expect higher costs, less process transparency and longer wait times when working with their partners.
You should go in with realistic expectations. In some countries, an Oyster partner may offer as seamless an experience as working with Oyster directly. In other cases, the extra layer of communication and handoff between companies can lead to frustration.
no mobile app: Oyster does not currently provide a mobile app for managers, employees or administrators. While you can access Oyster through your phone's web browser, a dedicated mobile app provides a better mobile experience.
As a distributed enterprise, mobility and flexibility are key. They expect to be able to approve time off requests, view reports, submit expenses, and perform other tasks from anywhere. Oyster's mobile website works in an emergency, but lacks the convenience and functionality of a native mobile app. Sending payday notifications, reminders, or approvals through the app would be more useful. As more interactions and workflows move to mobile devices, Oyster is falling behind competitors that already offer managers, employees and administrators a premium mobile experience.
72-hour support turnaround time:Oyster takes a different approach to customer support than many of its competitors. Instead of promising live chat response times or 24/7 phone support, they prioritize quality over speed. Their support staff offers helpful and reliable assistance with any questions you may have through the online ticketing portal. However, it may take up to 72 hours to receive a response.
For some, the three-day wait for support was frustrating. However, Oyster's slower ticket-based support model has some advantages. Your attorney has ample time to thoroughly research the issue and provide thoughtful, thoughtful answers and solutions. The constant communication associated with phone calls or live chat is eliminated, enabling Oyster staff to be more productive and handle more tickets.
Their 72-hour commitment, while forgiving, ensures that when you do get help, your issue will be fully resolved by an expert who has had time to properly handle it. Their support is slower, but aims to resolve most issues eventually with first responders. This one has different values.
Oyster HR plans and pricing
As for prices and plans,oystersThey're pretty straightforward, and which one is right for you just depends on the type and number of employees you're looking to hire. All projects are GDPR and SOC2 Type II compliant, so no matter where you hire, you don't have to worry about compliance.
- Contractors start at $29 per contractor per month
- Employees start at $499 per employee per month
- Scale Program Offers Customized, Discounted Pricing for Bulk Hiring
Benefits are an additional cost that depends on the employee's country, level of benefits, and other factors. You can offer benefits to every employee, whether you choose to pay individual employees a salary or take advantage of tiered pricing with a tiered plan.
You must also pay an advance payment for each employee equal to the total cost of employing that employee for one month, including monthly Oyster fees, workers' compensation and administrative costs.
Your deposit is fully refundable and will be returned to you at the end of your team member's contract. While this may seem frustrating or unnecessary, it is a common practice among EOR providers and is not specific to Oyster's use.
Now that we've covered pricing in full swing, let's take a deeper look at what each plan includes.
contractor
Oyster's contractor plan starts at $29 per contractor per month, paid monthly. It provides an all-in-one solution for businesses that rely on global talent, simplifying the onboarding and payment process for global contractors.
With it, you can hire contractors in over 180 countries and pay them in 120 different currencies. Instead of dealing with cumbersome bank transfers, Oyster automates cross-border payments so you can always pay your contractors accurately and on time. Plus, they handle currency conversion and fee management for you.
Create contracts for new freelance designers, engineers or other roles in minutes using one of Oyster's templates and automated document generation processes. The contractor can then sign the electronic document instantly. Once their work is complete, they can submit an invoice documenting hours worked and Oyster will transfer payment directly into their account, ensuring they are paid correctly according to local tax laws.
employee
Oyster's full-time employee program gives you local knowledge and legal protection in over 130 countries, so you can quickly submit job offers and easily onboard new full-time team members. Rather than interpreting foreign labor laws themselves, Oyster's experts help draft copyright-compliant contracts and nondisclosure agreements, and guide workers through the mandatory onboarding process.
They then coordinate payroll in local currency while allowing for scheduling of expenses, paid time off, benefits and perks. They closely monitor government regulations to ensure your business remains compliant as it scales.
Oyster's team of technical and on-site experts gives you the freedom to identify and recruit full-time, cross-border talent to meet your business needs. You can start hiring full-time international staff for an annual fee of $499 per employee per month or $599 per employee per month.
scale
For rapid team growth, there's the Oyster's Scale plan - with individual pricing for hiring 5 or more people, so you can go on your hiring spree without worrying about overspending.
It includes all the same features as the employee plan. But you get discounts, greater flexibility and personalized support ahead of everyone else.
The more seats you buy in advance, the more money you save. Plus, an annual commitment means locking in savings for the coming year and avoiding unexpected price increases. Prepaid positions also give you the flexibility to switch in new team members as needed, so you're covered even if an employee is absent.
final thoughts
oerstedis one of our favorite international payroll providers, outperforming many other competitors in its ability to recruit, train, pay and support a globally dispersed workforce. While there are some downsides to this service, the pros outweigh the cons.
Oyster is a great choice if you want to hire contractors or employees anywhere in the world.