Global employment/PEO service in 190 countries

10/09/2026

When you hire someone in another country, agreeing the employment contract is only one part of the job.

Salary, benefits, working hours and notice may all be agreed with the candidate. But local employment terms can also be shaped by a Collective Bargaining Agreement.

🔹 That can affect pay, classification, overtime, leave, benefits and termination.
🔹 The difficult part is determining which agreement applies to the specific employment relationship, through which legal mechanism, and which terms it adds or changes.
🔹 And there is no single answer across countries. 🇫🇷 France, 🇪🇸 Spain, 🇮🇹 Italy and 🇸🇪 Sweden each have their own rules for how collective agreements apply, who they cover and what employers need to take into account.

Our latest article looks at how CBAs shape international employment:

Understand how Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBAs) affect employee classification, employment terms, costs and Global EOR hiring.

28/08/2026

Our August Global Employment Tax and Compliance Newsletter is live now.

🇪🇺 European Union: AI Act transparency obligations began applying.
🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia: wage clauses in open-ended Qiwa contracts became directly enforceable.
🇨🇱 Chile: the employer pension contribution rose to 3.5% for August remuneration.
🇧🇪 Belgium: new indefinite contracts now carry just one week’s notice during the first six months.
🇲🇾 Malaysia: the labour-market-test exemption threshold for Employment Pass roles rose to MYR 20,000.
🇧🇬 Bulgaria: the maximum monthly social security base increased.
🇫🇯 Fiji: the mandatory employer provident-fund contribution fell to 8%.
🇰🇷 South Korea: a new short-term childcare leave entitlement took effect.
🇳🇿 New Zealand: the Employment Leave Act became law, setting up a major overhaul of leave and payroll rules.
🇯🇵 Japan: new immigration fee changes were approved for October.
🇦🇷 Argentina: the statutory minimum wage increased again.

And four deeper pieces of analysis:

🔹 Notice Periods Guide: Rules, Costs and Employer Obligations: why the number written in the contract may tell you surprisingly little about the real timing and cost of an international termination.

🔹 VAT in Global EOR: The Cost Missing from Too Many Quotations: why comparing EOR management fees without understanding the taxable base can produce a very misleading cost comparison.

🔹 Collective Bargaining Agreements in Global Employment: how CBA coverage, employee classification and pay grades can change the employment terms and cost of an international hire.

🔹 Cyprus in 2026: A Strategic Hub for Global Expansion: investment, M&A, labour shortages and international hiring are changing the role Cyprus plays in both inbound and outbound expansion.

Read the August edition:

August 2026 Global Employment Tax and Compliance Newsletter covering payroll, employment law, immigration, and workforce compliance.

26/08/2026

The employee lived and worked in France 🇫🇷 for a Swiss company 🇨🇭. His contract chose Swiss law. He was paid in Swiss francs, covered by Swiss social security and subject to Swiss tax arrangements.

That is what happened in Hortis.

When he was dismissed, those details stopped being administrative background.

🔹 They became evidence.

🔹 In July 2026, the Court of Justice of the European Union confirmed that the employee’s habitual place of work carries considerable weight, but it is not necessarily decisive.

🔹 Tax, social security, remuneration and other parts of the employment relationship can also help establish which country has the closer connection.

Our latest article looks at the Hortis judgment:

A 2026 EU court judgment examines how place of work, contract terms, tax and social security can shape which employment law applies.

21/08/2026

🇨🇾 Investment, M&A and international hiring are increasingly intersecting in Cyprus.

A few developments are bringing those areas closer together:

🔹 Foreign investment remains strong. Invest Cyprus reported €8.5 billion in gross FDI inflows in 2024, including €2.6 billion into technology.

🔹 Technology now has a substantial international footprint. More than 800 international technology companies operate in Cyprus, employing over 30,000 people.

🔹 M&A is reshaping established sectors. Banking, insurance, professional services, healthcare and energy have all seen significant transactions since 2025.

🔹 The labour market is tight. Unemployment fell to 4.0% in Q1 2026, while employers reported 13,905 vacancies.

🔹 Specialist skills are in short supply. IT, construction and technical occupations are among the areas where labour shortages and skills mismatches remain visible.

But there is another important dimension.

International companies are establishing operations in Cyprus, relocating specialists, hiring senior people and building local teams.

At the same time, Cyprus-based businesses may need to employ people in other countries, whether to enter new markets or support operations they already have there.

Those workforce needs do not always justify, or wait for, a new local entity.
That is where Acumen International supports companies on both sides: employing people in Cyprus as the legal employer, managing local employment and payroll obligations, supporting immigration and work permit sponsorship where applicable, and enabling Cyprus-based companies to employ people across 190+ countries.

Our latest article looks at the investment, M&A, labour-market and international hiring developments shaping Cyprus in 2026: https://expressglobalemployment.com/blog/cyprus-a-strategic-hub-for-global-expansion/

Explore Cyprus business growth in 2026, from foreign investment and tax reform to labour shortages, M&A and international hiring.

18/08/2026

Many employment rights we now treat as standard are surprisingly recent.

A few milestones tell the story:

🇳🇿 1894 — Minimum wage
New Zealand introduces the world’s first minimum-wage system.

⏰ 1919 — Working time
The eight-hour day becomes an international labour standard.

🌴 1934 — Paid annual leave
Only 12 countries worldwide had general statutory provisions for paid annual leave.

🇸🇪 1974 — Parental leave
Sweden becomes the first country to introduce paid parental leave available to both parents.

🇫🇷 2017 — Right to disconnect
France becomes the first European country to legislate the right to disconnect.

⚖️ 2023 — Pay transparency
The EU adopts the Pay Transparency Directive, taking the long-established principle of equal pay further into transparency and enforcement.

And the evolution continues. Technology changes. Work changes. People and capital move across borders. Social expectations change with them.

👉 We traced this evolution in the carousel below.

🔗 Link to the full article:

Explore the history of modern employment rights: minimum wage, paid leave, parental rights, equal pay, the right to disconnect.

13/08/2026

🇬🇧 The UK is about to redraw the boundary of right-to-work compliance.
From 1 October 2026, UK right-to-work rules will extend beyond the traditional employer–employee relationship.

They will reach a much broader part of the workforce: individual contractors, agency labour, casual and temporary workers, zero-hours arrangements and some platform-based work.

For international employers, this is particularly relevant because modern workforces rarely follow one employment model.

A company may have its own UK employees alongside EOR employees, contractors, agency staff and other external talent — all contributing to the same business, but sitting within very different legal arrangements.

The reform widens right-to-work checks without changing employment status. Contractors and other non-employees may now need checks too.

What changes is the immigration compliance perimeter around them.

🔹 More working arrangements can fall within the Right to Work Scheme
🔹 The rules apply beyond licensed sponsors
🔹 Existing employment-status rules remain separate
🔹 Contractual chains and intermediary arrangements become more relevant to compliance
🔹 Some of the detailed mechanics still await final Home Office guidance and statutory codes

The 1 October change is law. Not every operational detail around how it will work across more complex workforce structures has been finalised yet.

For companies employing talent in the UK through several different models, the workforce map used for immigration compliance may soon look very different from the employee list used today.

🇬🇧 Planning UK hires or reviewing your workforce structure ahead of 1 October?

👉 Speak to our team about your UK employment needs.

11/08/2026

How employment ends is shaped by decisions made when it begins.

Notice periods are agreed at the start of the relationship, remain largely out of view while it continues, and become decisive when either party wants it to end.
By then, most of the variables are already fixed: the contract, the employee’s tenure and category, any collective agreement, the legal employer and the circumstances of the exit.

A clause stating one month or three months is therefore only the starting point.

🔹 Statutory rules may override the contract.
🔹 A dismissal process may precede the notice period.
🔹 Leave or sickness may change the final date.
🔹 Working notice, garden leave and payment in lieu carry different legal and financial consequences.
🔹 Notice pay, severance and final entitlements require separate calculations.

Notice affects the cost of employment, the ability to replace or restructure a role, the timing of a market exit and, in some cases, the choice of hiring country.

In our new Notice Periods Guide Tony Davies, Director of Global Partnerships at Acumen International, explores how early hiring decisions dictate end-of-employment cost, risk, and flexibility, especially within a Global EOR arrangement.

Read the full guide:

Compare notice periods across countries, including statutory rules, tenure, garden leave, payment in lieu, severance and Global EOR considerations.

05/08/2026

Two EOR quotations can show the same salary, employer costs and management fee, and still produce very different invoices.

The reason may be VAT or GST.

Does the tax apply only to the EOR fee, or to the full employment-cost recharge, including salary, employer contributions and benefits?

⚠️ A smaller VAT figure is not automatically a saving.

It may reflect a different contractual arrangement, or a treatment the provider needs to justify. If the taxable base has been understated, the liability does not disappear with the original invoice.

Our new article examines:

🔹 what can form the taxable base;
🔹 why "pass-through" does not automatically mean "outside VAT";
🔹 how reverse charge and tax recovery affect the client;
🔹 what to ask an EOR provider before signing.

🔗 Read the article:

Understand VAT and GST on Employer of Record (EOR) services, including taxable employment costs, pass-through charges, reverse charge and tax recovery.

30/07/2026

📣 The July edition of our Global Employment Tax and Compliance Newsletter is now live.

This month’s country developments include:

🇪🇺 European Union: New guidance clarifies when AI used in recruitment, promotion, termination, task allocation or performance monitoring may be classified as high-risk.

🇸🇰 Slovakia: Foreign employees who lose their jobs now have three or six months to secure another position, depending on how long they have held their residence permit.

🇰🇷 South Korea: Employment-information reporting for foreign nationals has moved fully online, with paper filings no longer accepted.

🇦🇪 United Arab Emirates: Enforcement has begun for the AED 6,000 minimum salary required for Emirati employees to count towards Emiratisation targets.

Our latest articles go beyond the regulatory headlines:

🔹 How to Choose a Global Employer of Record: Six Criteria Beyond Technology, Coverage and Price

🔹 Cross-Border M&A Immigration Due Diligence

🔹 OECD Employment Outlook 2026: Non-Competes, Flexible Work, Compliance

🔹 Global EOR for VC & PE Funds: Portfolio Company Expansion Guide

🔹 Case Study: China EOR for Specialist Talent: Solving Tax, Visa and Compliance Complexity

Read the July 2026 edition:

Global Employment Tax and Compliance Newsletter — July 2026: country changes, M&A immigration, OECD Employment Outlook.

23/07/2026

In cross-border M&A, the workforce may transfer on paper while some employees lose the immigration basis that allows them to work.

A change in ownership, employing entity, corporate relationship, role, salary or work location can affect existing permits.

The exposure is often greatest in asset purchases and carve-outs, where employees must leave the seller before the buyer has the sponsorship or local employment infrastructure in place.

The practical questions are immediate:
🔹 Which employees depend on employer-sponsored status?
🔹 Will the current sponsoring entity survive the transaction?
🔹 Can existing permits transfer to the buyer?
🔹 Which employees need new applications before closing?
🔹 What happens if approvals are not ready in time?

Our latest article examines immigration risk across acquisitions, mergers and carve-outs — from due diligence and transaction structure to post-closing filings and workforce continuity.

Read the article to identify the immigration questions that need resolving before the deal closes:

Cross-border M&A immigration due diligence: assess work permits, sponsor changes and employee continuity, and plan compliant employment.