What is an EOR, and which companies is it right for?

EOR stands for Employer of Record — a company that acts as the legal employer of your staff, while you continue to direct their day-to-day work. The advantage is speed: a foreign company can build a team in Thailand without incorporating a local entity, opening a corporate bank account, or running payroll and social security itself. The consideration is scale. EOR suits small to mid-sized teams still testing the market. Once the team grows past a certain point, or the business requires specific licences, setting up your own entity becomes more economical long term. One point often overlooked: visa and work permit. If your staff are foreign nationals, the EOR you use must itself be qualified to file for a work permit — which depends on that company’s registered capital and Thai-to-foreign employee ratio.