EMPLOYER OF RECORD FOR COUNTRIES OUTSIDE AUSTRALIA
Engage and Pay Workers in Australia & New Zealand Without Setting Up an Entity
You’ve found the talent. You’ve got the project. What you don’t have is a legal entity in Australia or New Zealand to pay your people – and setting one up is months of legal work, tax registrations, corporate governance and ongoing compliance you didn’t plan for.
That’s what an Employer of Record is for. Accelerate engages, pays and manages your workers in Australia and New Zealand on your behalf – fully compliantly, without you needing an entity of your own. You get people working on the ground here in weeks.
What is an Employer of Record (EOR)?
An Employer of Record is a local business that legally employs workers on your behalf. The EOR becomes the official employer for payroll, tax and compliance purposes – while your workers do their jobs for you or your end client, exactly as they would if you’d hired them directly.
For you, that means someone else carries the legal and administrative weight of employing people in a market you may not know well. For your workers, nothing changes day to day: they’re paid correctly and on time, with every local entitlement met.
You may also come across the term Agent of Record (AOR), used for engaging independent contractors under a company structure rather than employees. Both models exist to solve the same problem – getting people paid and compliant in a country where you have no local presence. If you’re not sure which one fits your situation, we’ll help you work it out.
Your Options for Engaging Workers in Australia & New Zealand
| Set up your own entity | Employer of Record & Agent of Record | |
|---|---|---|
| Who employs the worker | You | Accelerate, on your behalf |
| Local entity required | Yes | No |
| Time to get people working | Months | Days |
| Payroll, PAYG, superannuation, WorkCover, PI/PL, Payroll Tax | Your responsibility | Managed by Accelerate |
| Visa sponsorship available | Your responsibility | Managed by Accelerate |
| Best suited to | Long-term, committed market presence with local HR experience | Projects, market testing and ongoing employment without an entity |
Engage Workers in Australia & New Zealand Without a Local Entity
Australia and New Zealand have some of the more intricate employment and payroll frameworks in the region. There are multiple engagement types, payroll tax that varies by state, superannuation, PAYG withholding and worker classification rules that regularly catch out businesses used to simpler systems and no local knowledge overseas.
Rather than navigate all of that yourself, you deal with Accelerate. We become the Employer of Record for your workers in ANZ and take care of:
Compliant onboarding
Payroll, PAYG and superannuation
Payroll tax and statutory obligations
Ongoing worker management
Employer-sponsored migration
You keep the working relationship with your people. We handle everything that makes employing them here legal, compliant and hassle-free.
How It Works
Getting started is straightforward:
1
Tell us who you need engaged
Whether it’s a single specialist or a full project team heading to Australia or New Zealand, we start with your people and your timeline.
2
We engage them as Employer of Record
Accelerate becomes the legal employer, handling contracts, onboarding and compliance from day one. We work with you to design processes that support your way of working.
3
We manage payroll, tax and compliance
PAYG, superannuation, payroll tax and local obligations are all managed – and if your workers need visas, our in-house migration team handles that too.
4
You focus on the work
Your people get on with the job. We keep everything behind them compliant and running smoothly.
Not sure whether you need an EOR or an AOR?
Tell us about your workers and your timeline. We’ll tell you which model fits and what it takes to get them working.
Why Local ANZ Knowledge Matters
Employment legislation in Australia and New Zealand changes constantly. Payroll tax percents and thresholds differ between states. Superannuation rates, PAYG rules, casual and contractor classifications, industry awards.
We stay across all of it, with specialists who live and work in these markets. When you engage workers through Accelerate, you’re not getting a platform with a light local footprint. You’re getting a partner with a flag firmly on the ground in ANZ.
Industries and Use Cases
Businesses come to us from every sector, but a few patterns come up again and again:
Project mobilisation
An overseas company runs or wins a project in Australia and needs to bring existing talent here for the duration. We engage and pay that talent locally, arrange their migration and manage the engagement through to the end of the project when they head home.
White-collar and professional services
Tech, financial services and similar businesses engaging skilled professionals in ANZ, often via global workforce platforms, where compliant local employment isn’t optional.
Expanding into the market
Businesses testing Australia or New Zealand who want people working here before committing to the cost and complexity of establishing their own entity.
Whatever the scenario, the value is the same: your people are engaged and paid compliantly, quickly, without you building local infrastructure from scratch.
Migration Support for Relocating Talent
If you’re bringing workers into Australia or New Zealand, migration is often part of the picture – and it’s something we handle in-house.
Our migration work is led by Virginia Bennett (MARN 2217993), so visa and sponsorship advice comes from a qualified, accountable expert rather than a generalist. From employer-sponsored visas to the practicalities of getting your people on the ground and working, we manage migration and engagement together, so nothing falls between the two.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is an Employer of Record?
An Employer of Record legally engages and pays workers on your behalf, taking on payroll, tax and compliance obligations while those workers continue doing their jobs for you. It’s the model Accelerate uses across our client base – including Australian businesses that have their own entity but prefer to outsource the workforce management. It’s also what allows overseas businesses with no Australian or New Zealand entity to engage workers here compliantly.
Do I need an entity in Australia to hire workers here?
No. Engaging workers through an Employer of Record, like Accelerate, lets you have people working and being paid compliantly in Australia or New Zealand without setting up your own local entity.
What's the difference between an Employer of Record and an Agent of Record?
An Employer of Record engages employees; an Agent of Record is typically used to engage independent contractors with their own company structure. Both handle local payment and compliance on your behalf. We can advise which model suits your situation.
Which countries does Accelerate cover?
We specialise in Australia and New Zealand. Our focus on these two markets is deliberate – it’s what allows us to stay genuinely current on local compliance rather than spreading thin across dozens of countries.
Who is the legal employer of the workers?
Accelerate is the legal Employer of Record, which is what allows us to take on payroll, tax and compliance obligations locally. You retain the day-to-day working relationship with your people.
Can you help with visas and migration?
Yes. Our in-house migration team, led by a Registered Migration Agent, manages employer-sponsored visas and migration for talent relocating to Australia and New Zealand.
Ready to engage workers in Australia or New Zealand?
Whether you’re a business bringing talent here or a global platform looking for an ANZ delivery partner, we’ll show you exactly how it works and what it takes to get your people compliant and paid.
Prefer to talk?
+61 2 9407 8700
info@accelerateworkforce.com.au