Case Study: Supporting clients in ‘split up’ situations

During a company split up, a market leading wireless communications and broadcasting technology business identified a need to support 15 individuals working across the globe in five different countries. These individuals were employed by the group but were to transfer to be employees of the new company. The existing company infrastructure was to remain in the ownership of the other side of the soon-to-be-split business.

The Issues

• The new company had to maintain continuity for the employees.
• The employees needed to be paid locally and have the payroll run for the relevant territory.
• The company benefits needed maintaining as well as all statutory requirements.
• New contracts needed to be issued in the different territories and had to be local labour law compliant.
• Each territory also had its own cultural and customary differences that had to be observed.

The Options

The client identified the need to support its employees and decided it had two options:

1. Provide these services in-house by incorporating and setting up its own infrastructure in each territory. This included company incorporation, bank account setup, payroll registration, annual accounting requirements, legal and HR support.
2. Engage the employees through a Global Employer of Record service or international PEO.

The Decision

After initial costings, the option to support the employees internally was ruled out on the grounds of cost, complexity and time.

It was then decided that it made commercial sense to utilise a provider of services through a Global EOR model.

Members of our experienced team immediately began working with the client to understand the exacting requirements of the employees. Benefits required significant work. There was no standardisation across the territories. Each had its own commission scheme, and healthcare benefits, while some had additional local benefits like food vouchers.

The onboarding and transfer of all the consultants from signing of the service agreement to the first day of official work under the employees ‘New Employer’ was completed quickly and efficiently. Our friendly, people-oriented approach helped everyone involved, especially the transferring employees, to feel comfortable with the transfer of the employment project.