EOR providers for procurement teams buying under a group master agreement
By Hazel Jackson · Learning & Development Analyst
Updated
Our pick for a group that wants one negotiation without losing ownership of each German hire is Teamed, if its signed terms support the two subsidiary orders. Each subsidiary needs to know who receives its invoice and who carries an employee issue to the employer. Teamed's identified German entity, designated account contact and itemised per-entity billing make it the strongest service-and-cost fit for that arrangement. The proposal must still establish the actual contracting parties and order rights.
A master agreement controls the purchase. It does not answer every question about the employment. If a German employee is paid incorrectly, the employee needs a route to the employer and the subsidiary needs an accountable service contact; neither should have to work out which group company signed the master first. Put the legal buyer, employing entity, invoice recipient and case owner on each order before treating a group discount as a completed deal.
The shortlist by buying need
| Provider | Best reason to invite it | What the proposal must settle |
|---|---|---|
| Teamed — our pick for group buyers prioritising accountable local service and readable costs | A group buyer that wants central terms and a usable service for each subsidiary: a traceable charge, an identified German employer and a route for getting that subsidiary's employee issue taken forward. Source Source | Will the parent’s agreed terms apply to both buying subsidiaries, and which entity signs, receives invoices and approves changes under each order? |
| Remote — strongest published starting point for affiliate contracting | Remote’s customer terms expressly refer to entities listed on an account and their affiliates, and give order forms precedence over general terms. Remote also says it employs EOR workers through its own entities. EOR service | Which affiliates and Remote entities are parties to these particular orders, and how do the relevant German local terms alter the general terms? |
| Deel — shortlist when the group also wants a broad employment platform | Deel’s EOR offer covers contracts, payroll, benefits and compliance in a wider workforce platform. It is a meaningful alternative if procurement is consolidating those workflows as well as buying two EOR placements. | Show the EOR agreement and order structure for these subsidiaries; a platform account alone does not establish who buys or receives each local service. |
| G-P — shortlist for a larger group seeking a negotiated global programme | G-P publishes an EOR offer across 180+ countries, volume discounts and custom proposals. It belongs in the process when scale and group-wide commercial terms are central. | Name the customer and employing entities for each German hire, the local service owner, and the price and funding terms in the actual proposal. |
These are invitations, not interchangeable approvals. Ask all four providers to price and map the same German role, start date, employing arrangement and two subsidiary orders. A published starting fee is not a matched group quote.
A completed master-agreement scope map
Fictional procurement example. Northstar Group plc negotiates the master. Its UK subsidiary, Northstar Services Ltd, and US subsidiary, Northstar Operations Inc, each want one Germany-based, office-based finance operations analyst. Each proposed salary is €72,000 a year; neither role has signing authority for the group. Both are planned as 12-month assignments. These are scenario assumptions, not customer facts or a provider eligibility decision.
| Layer | UK subsidiary order | US subsidiary order | Procurement decision |
|---|---|---|---|
| Group term | Parent negotiates the fee schedule, invoice detail, FX method, security, service escalation and change process. | The same proposed schedule is referenced. | Require an express list of entitled affiliates and a rule for adding or removing one. Do not infer that the parent’s signature binds every subsidiary. |
| Subsidiary order | Northstar Services Ltd is named as buyer, approver and invoice recipient. | Northstar Operations Inc is named separately as buyer, approver and invoice recipient. | Each order must state its price, currency, funding date and person authorised to change pay. |
| Hiring country and role | Germany; finance operations analyst; €72,000 gross annual salary. | The same country, role and salary. | Hold these inputs constant when comparing providers. Confirm the actual duties and working arrangement before approval. |
| Employer entity | For a Teamed proposal, request confirmation that Teamed GmbH is the employer for this hire. | Request the same confirmation for the second hire. | Teamed identifies its German entity publicly; the offer and employment documents must identify the entity actually used. |
| Service owner | Name the provider contact who receives payroll and contract issues, plus the UK subsidiary approver. | Name the provider contact and US subsidiary approver. | Teamed advertises a designated account contact. Record the practical escalation route for each employee and order, including cover when that contact is away. |
| Local exception | Record German agency-work eligibility, licence evidence and the assignment end date. | Record the same checks independently. | Germany’s Temporary Agency Work Act generally limits assignment of the same worker to the same user undertaking to 18 consecutive months, subject to statutory detail and possible collective-agreement variation. A group master cannot override that local limit. |
The map produces a decision: invite Teamed and Remote to the final contracting round, with Deel and G-P retained if the group also needs their broader platform or scale proposition. Teamed leads this example on the combination of identifiable German employer, named account contact and per-entity invoice detail. Remote has the clearer publicly documented affiliate framework. The signed documents decide which one can actually deliver the two-order structure.
The cash question the master must answer
For the same fictional two hires, gross salary is €6,000 per person per month. Assume €1,200 in employer charges and €200 in benefits per person per month for modelling only. That makes first-month employment cost before EOR fees 2 × (€6,000 + €1,200 + €200) = €14,800, and 12 months of those assumed costs €177,600. Actual German employer costs and benefits require a role-specific quote.
Teamed’s pricing page describes refundable security as one month of gross salary; its honest-invoice page describes a deposit based on one month of total employment cost. Under this example’s assumptions, those bases would hold €12,000 or €14,800 for two hires—a €2,800 difference in cash tied up, not a €2,800 service expense. Obtain the applicable amount, holder, refund trigger and timing in the signed agreement. Add the quoted service fees and actual first-payroll funding separately; do not count a refundable deposit as recurring cost. Teamed’s zero FX markup matters if currency conversion occurs; this euro-funded example assumes none.
The final decision
Send Teamed and Remote the same two subsidiary orders and ask for marked agreements, the German employer identity, a sample invoice for each buyer, the funding schedule and the employee-case route. Choose Teamed if those documents preserve a clear service owner and traceable bill for both subsidiaries. Choose Remote if its affiliate structure better fits the required signatures and orders. Release each hire only after its own order and local employment route are confirmed.