Oyster

As a company founded by immigrants, Chili Piper strongly believes in extending access to opportunity to talented people anywhere in the world. A fully remote and distributed company since day one, they wanted to build a culturally and geographically diverse team, no matter how much work it required. True to their values, Chili Piper did build a global team—but it was a huge administrative and logistical burden to navigate international payroll, taxes, and compliance. If someone needed to change their bank information, or if there was an error in the payroll—everything had to be handled manually.…

Chili Piper eventually chose Oyster as their global employment partner in August 2021 because the two companies are aligned in their mission and vision —specifically the mission of expanding access to work to talented people worldwide, and the vision of a fully remote and distributed future of work. Tyler also appreciates Oyster being a trustworthy partner with a human-centric approach to business, which comes across at every single touchpoint. She explains how a company’s ethos permeates everything it does: “When organizations are human-first, like Oyster, it makes a difference in everything—the way the software is built, the experience of how it feels, the way in which they do business.…

Launched in 2016, Chili Piper is the leading inbound conversion software for high-growth B2B revenue teams. Their automated scheduling tools enable companies to qualify, route, and book prospects quickly and efficiently, ensuring a delightful experience for leads and customers.

As a fast-growing startup, Demodesk needed to scale quickly and build an international team. But they felt constrained because they were limited to finding people in their existing labor markets . If they couldn’t find the right person for a particular role and wanted to look elsewhere, they would need to establish their own legal entities in those countries. This is a costly and time-consuming process. David Dawoud, Head of People at Demodesk, has experienced firsthand some of the challenges of trying to hire globally . “You typically need to establish relationships in numerous countries. You can’t go and talk to Employers of Record for each and every country that interests you, so you’ll need to filter it down.…

Demodesk eventually chose Oyster as their global employment partner in February 2021. Thanks to Oyster, they now have access to the best talent anywhere in the world . No need to set up legal entities or wrangle with EORs. “Oyster makes a difference by giving you simple access to a very smart solution that’s easy to use and enables you to hire anybody wherever you want to hire them from, regardless of whether or not you have a legal entity there. That takes away a lot of challenges. If you don’t find the right person in a specific country you’re in, you can always look outside of that region. " The Demodesk team also appreciates the Oyster platform’s simplicity and ease of use .…

Founded in Munich in 2018, Demodesk is a pioneer in offering the most intuitive customer meeting platform and automated scheduling tool for revenue teams. By providing intelligent assistance and insights during the call, Demodesk empowers remote sales teams to have great customer conversations and drive revenue.

As an ambitious startup building analytics infrastructure and tools aimed at developers and data teams, Embeddable needed to build a top-notch team without geographical limitations in their search for talent. That’s why their hybrid-remote team is currently distributed across nine countries. “Our intention has always been to find the best people regardless of where they’re located,” says Vilte Dewar, Business Operations Manager at Embeddable. However, onboarding global talent outside of their hubs in the U.K. and Germany proved to be challenging. They worked with various EOR providers, but found that the service quality was unsatisfactory .…

After trying various options, Embeddable eventually chose Oyster as their global employment partner in March 2022 because they were impressed by the fast and seamless onboarding of new hires. “We selected Oyster after a thorough process of testing out several different EOR providers. What made Oyster stand out was the excellent onboarding experience for new team members. When we tested out Oyster, we had very positive feedback from our team members saying they had a really smooth experience joining the team.” To ensure a better employee experience and avoid having to manage multiple providers, Embeddable transitioned their team to Oyster and found that the EOR migration process was seamless as well.…

For their day-to-day HR admin, Vilte’s team is able to work efficiently thanks to Oyster’s automated, easy-to-use platform , whether it’s managing invoices, making contract changes, or tracking the onboarding process of a new hire. If they do need to reach out to support, they’re able to count on prompt communication and reliable customer support .

As a nonprofit focused on relieving poverty, GiveDirectly has uplifted families and communities by distributing $900M+ in cash transfers to over 1.7 million people across 15 countries. Whether it’s a refugee in Kenya, a single mother in Malawi, or a hurricane-impacted family in Florida, these cash grants empower people to improve their lives and break the cycle of poverty. Carrying out this transformative work is GiveDirectly’s globally distributed team of 800+ team members across 30 countries on 6 continents. While their field operations staff need to be based in the countries they serve, other teams—like research, data, engineering, and growth—are fully remote and location-agnostic.…

GiveDirectly eventually chose Oyster as their global employment partner in March 2022 because it came highly recommended by fellow HR professionals and because of the strong mission alignment between the two companies. “Oyster’s mission really resonated with us because our values are aligned. We both want to create a fair and equal ground for global talent to access good jobs,” says Saidi. With Oyster, GiveDirectly is able to seamlessly onboard talent without the admin or legal hassles of cross-border hiring. After a team member is hired, Saidi’s team can count on streamlined HR admin, payroll, and benefits thanks to Oyster managing every aspect of the team member’s employment.…

With Oyster, GiveDirectly is able to seamlessly onboard talent without the admin or legal hassles of cross-border hiring. After a team member is hired, Saidi’s team can count on streamlined HR admin, payroll, and benefits thanks to Oyster managing every aspect of the team member’s employment.

As a nonprofit that promotes global equity by advancing financial access and inclusion regardless of identity, geography, or income, the Interledger Foundation is proud to have a globally distributed team. But employing and managing people across borders wasn’t easy. The HR Manager at the Interledger Foundation, recalls the challenges of having their global team fragmented across multiple PEO and EOR providers , each operating in a different region. “We had a very patchwork, stitched-together onboarding process. As a global company, we have team members all over the world, and they all were on different systems.…

They set out on a mission to investigate every EOR provider out there. Interledger's HR manager met with every vendor, compiled a spreadsheet, narrowed down her search to her top three, and then did a second round of interviews. It was only after this exhaustive process that they finally chose Oyster as Interledger’s global employment partner in December 2022. They made the decision based on Oyster’s extensive country coverage and ability to offer benefits worldwide . “I ended up going with Oyster because Oyster could hire in the most locations and offer benefits pretty much worldwide.…

A certified B Corp, Jitasa provides accounting and bookkeeping services to nonprofits, boosting their financial and organizational effectiveness so they can focus on creating positive change in the world. Having grown exponentially in the last few years, Jitasa’s global team is currently distributed across the United States, Thailand, Bosnia, Costa Rica, and the Philippines. However, building a global team was a challenging process. David Cassel, Jitasa’s Managing Director for Costa Rica and the Philippines, recalls the bureaucratic hassles of setting up entities , having experienced it firsthand. “Opening an entity is a huge hassle. It takes months and months, and requires stacks of paperwork.…

After researching their options, Jitasa chose Oyster as their EOR partner in the Philippines in December 2022. It was clear to them from the demo that Oyster would provide the hassle-free global employment experience they needed. “When we were doing our research to launch in the Philippines, Oyster was one of the first platforms that we demoed, and we were so thoroughly impressed that we didn’t go any further. We had experience with our other global locations and had worked with other EORs, and we knew that this experience was just so phenomenal that we ran with it.” The first test of the new partnership was converting about 20 contractors to full-time employees in order to be fully compliant with local laws.…

With Oyster, Jitasa scaled their team quickly and seamlessly thanks to fast onboarding and streamlined HR .

As a managed hosting platform that serves businesses in 128 countries worldwide, Kinsta has been proudly remote-first for over 10 years, with a globally distributed team spanning 46 countries on six continents. “As a global company, it’s very important for us to be able to hire people wherever we find suitable talent,” says Ana Sekulic, HR Generalist at Kinsta. However, building and managing a global team has been complicated, especially in countries where Kinsta didn’t have their own legal entities. They worked with a few different EOR providers in the past, but the service quality was often unsatisfactory . This meant having to worry about compliance issues when it came to navigating local legislation.…

After evaluating other providers, Kinsta eventually chose Oyster as their global employment partner in November 2021. With Oyster, they found a reliable and trustworthy partner and could count on a high quality of service . “Why did we choose Oyster? We tried several EORs and we were just not happy. Compared to them, we found Oyster to be the best solution and very different from other EORs in terms of communication, logistics, automations, and internal processes. With Oyster, we managed to improve, if not solve, all the issues we were having with EORs before.” In her day-to-day work, Ana finds the Oyster platform intuitive and user-friendly .…

Another transition Kinsta navigated successfully with Oyster’s help was converting contractors to full-time employees . Having the status and benefits of full-time employment has increased their job satisfaction at Kinsta while also reducing risk for the company.

Driving innovation in a traditional industry, Laminar Projects combines deep knowledge of the construction sector with digital solutions to streamline the delivery of complex construction projects worldwide. Whether it’s high-tech facilities, commercial developments, civil infrastructure, or power projects, the Laminar team keeps construction management on track and within budget. Since they serve clients worldwide and need talent with highly specialized skill sets , Laminar has grown to 300people working from 16 countries on four continents. “Building a global team is essential to stay competitive in a fast-growing industry,” says Lídia Pereira, People Operations Director at Laminar Projects.…

After considering other options, Laminar Projects eventually switched to Oyster as their EOR partner in October 2023. For the People team, Oyster was the clear choice because of the fast and reliable support and the ability to hire confidently with trustworthy guidance on local compliance . “We chose Oyster because of the incredibly fast response in terms of support, which we were not used to. Oyster is amazing in terms of compliance knowledge and guidance. Every time we have questions about local requirements, they respond immediately in a way that leaves no doubts or further questions.” When it was time to transition Laminar’s global employees to Oyster, Lídia recalls that the EOR migration process was smooth and seamless .…

Lídia estimates that the People Ops team previously spent 20-30% of their time on HR admin, which is time and effort saved thanks to Oyster. More importantly, by switching to Oyster, they’ve reduced compliance risks and can hire confidently with peace of mind.

As a company that tracks brand perception in 100+ countries and serves some of the biggest brands worldwide, Berlin-based Latana wanted to build a globally diverse team. They decided to transition to a remote-hybrid workplace in order to bring in talented professionals from around the world. But hiring internationally presented a host of challenges. After all, every country has its own labor laws and employment regulations. For Liz Brisker, Senior People Ops Generalist, understanding labor laws in Germany was one thing, but navigating employment laws in other countries and setting up legal entities was a daunting task. The time, effort, and expense would have been hard to justify.…

After considering several options, Latana eventually chose Oyster as their global employment partner in February 2022. From the very first conversation, Liz felt that the Oyster team understood their problems and pain points, and seemed like a reliable and trustworthy partner . “When I first talked to Oyster, I felt perfectly understood with all the pain points we had, the problems we were facing, and even the edge cases. Oyster felt trustworthy, secure, and stable. We’re working with part of people’s lives, so it’s very important for our partner to be trustworthy and stable.” Oyster now supports Latana throughout their hiring cycle. In fact, the collaboration begins at the recruitment stage.…

Latana tried using an Employer of Record (EOR) to solve the problem, but the service didn’t meet their expectations. “The communication was very rough and it was hard to get edge cases cleared out,” says Liz. Having worked with several EORs in the past, she says the lack of a centralized automated platform meant putting up with slow and inefficient manual processes . It often required “going back and forth with someone in a different time zone, which might take a few days,” Liz explains.

As a small startup with a global vision, Lava.AI knew early on that they needed the ability to scale their operations quickly—both within the U.S. and internationally. Following a successful Series A raise in 2024, they decided it was time to double down on their ambitious growth strategy. For Mala Wai, Head of HR and Operations at Lava.AI, it was important to find a solution that would make things easier for her lean team. Lava.AI initially used TriNet for their U.S. team, but then switched to a low-cost, self-service payroll provider.…

In 2024, after completing a successful Series A funding round, Lava.AI re-engaged with TriNet—this time with a clear mandate: scale confidently and globally. “The Series A was a turning point,” Mala explains. “It gave us the resources to grow, and we needed a partner who could support that growth operationally.” Lava.AI chose TriNet because it’s a full-service HR solution that includes payroll, compliance, access to benefits, and strategic HR guidance for their U.S. workforce. They also appreciate TriNet’s vetted network of partners that allows them to integrate with other business tools and access discounts from companies like Ramp and WeWork. It was through TriNet’s partner network that Lava.AI found and engaged Oyster in August 2024.…

To scale quickly and reach its ambitious growth targets, Lava.AI partnered with TriNet and Oyster to ensure seamless HR operations and onboard top global talent. The result: scalable infrastructure, reliable compliance, and more time to focus on strategic initiatives like company culture and employee experience.

When the Lokalise decided to raise capital after being bootstrapped for their first three years, they were ready to accelerate the next phase of their growth—by going fully-remote and recruiting the best tech talent globally. Since their translation management software enables companies to expand into new markets and connect with customers worldwide, it was only natural that Lokalise, too, wanted to access global talent markets and build a world-class team. With top-tier customers signing up for their product, they needed to scale a top-notch global team to keep pace. James Corfield, Director of Talent Acquisition at Lokalise, explains that they didn’t want to be geographically constrained in their search for talent .…

After reaching out to a few different providers, Lokalise eventually chose Oyster as a global employment partner in August 2020. They decided on Oyster based on their shared mission and values : just as Lokalise enables companies to connect to customers anywhere, Oyster enables companies to connect to talent anywhere. “We chose Oyster because of our shared mission and values. We’re both remote-only organizations with distributed teams all over the world. We’re both B2B SaaS companies that help our customers grow by operating in new countries and markets.…

“I’m really looking forward to seeing what Oyster does in the future, in particular how they might offer improved or enhanced benefits to employees, how they might leverage data to provide insights into labor market trends, and how they’ll continue removing barriers to entry into new countries.”

Following a plan to centralize product development and business operations in Cyprus in 2022, Muse Group grew quickly through key acquisitions to establish itself as an industry leader in music technology, housing popular brands like Ultimate Guitar, MuseScore, and Audacity. Today, Muse Group’s digital products for musicians reach over 400 million users worldwide. Since Muse Group operates in a global market and builds truly unique products, they often need highly specialized international expertise , explains Kate Rakhmanina, People Partner at Muse Group. “Before Oyster, we could only hire through our own entities, offering relocation if necessary.…

After researching other options, Muse Group chose Oyster as their global employment partner in December 2022 because it offered a modern software platform as well as expert guidance and support to navigate the complexities of cross-border hiring. “We were looking for a reliable partner with strong global coverage, a user-friendly platform, and proactive customer support. Oyster stood out for its transparency, speed, and ability to simplify global employment in a way that gave us peace of mind.” In their day-to-day work, the People team can work more efficiently thanks to an easy-to-use platform that offers contextual guidance when onboarding a new hire. “The Oyster platform is very intuitive.…

Hiring in a new country involves a lot of unknowns, from payroll regulations to statutory benefits, but the Muse Group team can rely on Oyster for local knowledge and expertise to cut through complexity and ensure compliance.

Operations Nation never set out to build a distributed team. When Becca applied for the community manager role from Hungary, the decision to hire her was straightforward. She was the right person. The challenge was figuring out how to employ her compliantly from the UK - a country Operations Nation had never hired outside of before. As co-founder, Aušrinė was already wearing a hundred hats. Being the de facto Head of People was one of them. Taking on the full complexity of international employment law, contracts, and payroll without dedicated HR support was not realistic. The team turned to an Employer of Record provider to handle it. Unfortunately, their first choice made things harder, not easier. The first problem was financial.…

The first conversation with Oyster set a different tone immediately. Questions were answered promptly, professionally, and in a way that felt genuinely helpful rather than transactional. For Aušrinė, that early interaction built the trust that the previous provider had failed to establish at all. It was the beginning of a relationship, not just a service transaction. Oyster took on contracts, compliance, payroll, and all local employment requirements for Becca's hire in Hungary. That coverage removed a significant mental load from Aušrinė as founder. She no longer had to double-check every decision or second-guess whether the guidance she was receiving was accurate.…

Operations Nation is the leading global community for 700+ senior operations leaders: Chief Operating Officers, Operations Directors, Heads of Operations, and anyone else carrying that responsibility at their organisation, at top-performing companies. They provide resources, networking, and training to help folks grow in their careers. Global hiring doesn't always start with a strategy deck and a three-year expansion roadmap. Sometimes it starts with a brilliant applicant in a different country. When that happened to Operations Nation, and other EORs required huge upfront costs and sneaky pricing, they partnered with Oyster. Operations Nation is now thriving with a compliant, supportive, and transparent solution for their global employment needs.

As a policy research institute that tackles global water challenges—from sustainable water use, management, and conservation to strategies for climate adaptation—it was clear that the Pacific Institute needed to expand beyond its U.S. headquarters. With research projects and advocacy efforts around the world, they needed to build a global team to keep pace. Pete Stanga, Chief Operating Officer at the Pacific Institute, explains that as a lean nonprofit, they simply didn’t have the infrastructure or administrative capacity to take on the challenges of hiring internationally. It would also require too much time and effort to figure out employment laws and regulations in other countries.…

The Pacific Institute eventually chose Oyster as their global employment partner in March 2022. Over the course of several conversations, Pete and his colleagues appreciated the Oyster team’s country-specific knowledge and expertise . “We’re really impressed with the expertise they provide. Each country we work in, they have a dedicated team member with a lot of knowledge and expertise in the field of labor laws and employment practices within those countries, and we’re able to get all the information we need from them. ” Since the Pacific Institute’s work is directly focused on improving human lives by solving water-related challenges, Oyster’s human-centric and mission-driven approach was also a deciding factor.…

Pete finds the onboarding process is very simple and streamlined . All he has to do is fill out the initial hire form, specifying the terms of the engagement, and then Oyster takes care of the administrative and logistical details.

Backed by therapists and researchers, London-based startup Paired are the makers of a relationship app that deepens communication and closeness between couples through daily quizzes, conversation starters, and expert advice. The app quickly gained users around the world, so after raising their seed round in 2021, Paired knew they needed to grow beyond the U.K. “Our product has a global audience, and we wanted our team to reflect the same diversity. That’s why we wanted to hire talent globally rather than just in the U.K.,” says Magda Tulacz, Head of Finance at Paired. They also didn’t want to be limited in their search for talent .…

After considering various options, Paired chose Oyster as their global employment partner in November 2020. Since Paired was hiring internationally for the first time, they selected Oyster as a reliable and trustworthy guide when it comes to local knowledge and compliance . “Before working with Oyster, we had never hired anyone outside of the U.K. We chose Oyster because of their focus on compliance, transparency, and ease of use. We wanted a trusted partner who could simplify global hiring.” With Oyster, Paired is able to seamlessly onboard talent regardless of location, without any legal or operational bottlenecks. “Oyster takes the complexity out of international hiring and streamlines payroll and benefits.…

Beyond processing payroll, Oyster also streamlines payroll management and offers robust reporting capabilities with automated workflows and a centralized dashboard, which makes work easier for Paired’s payroll and finance teams.

As a company built on innovation, the Berlin-based e-commerce platform Spryker had global ambitions. But just as they were gearing up to expand into global markets, including the U.S., U.K., and the Middle East, the COVID-19 pandemic hit—prompting them to go remote-first and open their doors to the best talent anywhere in the world. Stefanie Zander, Senior People Operations Manager, explains why they needed to access the global talent pool —so they could build the world-class team they needed to achieve their ambitious goals. “As a small and unknown company, we needed really good talent, especially engineers. And to get good engineers, we needed to hire globally.…

After trying other vendors, Spryker eventually landed on Oyster as a global employment partner and Bob as their HRIS, a combo solution that works well for their distributed HR needs—from global hiring and local compliance with Oyster to HR automation and people analytics with Bob. So how does Oyster fit into Spryker’s HR tech stack? For their small but mighty People & Culture team, it’s a relief to be able to count on Oyster to create locally compliant contracts . This means they can focus on getting their new hires set up, without having to do research on probation periods, PTO, or parental leave. “Onboarding is definitely one thing that’s really well managed by Oyster.…

That period of rapid global expansion was relatively smooth and frictionless because Spryker could depend on Oyster to help them stay compliant with local processes across dozens of countries . It also saved them time and effort that they’d otherwise have to spend doing research.

As a London-based community engagement agency serving clients around the world, Standing on Giants helps leading brands build and manage thriving global communities. Whether it’s engaging an employee base across 85 countries for Heineken, a one-million-strong community of Airbnb hosts across eight languages, or Arabic-language gamers for Lenovo in the Middle East, Standing on Giants helps companies generate business value by building and engaging brand-owned communities. Building a community for a large corporate client typically requires coverage of multiple languages, countries, and regions. In other words, Standing on Giants often hires for language-based community management roles that require a very specific skill set .…

After considering various options, Standing on Giants eventually chose Oyster as their global employment partner in October 2021 because they were impressed by the Oyster team’s knowledge and expertise . It’s not just hiring talent globally that Oyster enables for Standing on Giants, but ensuring compliance with labor laws and tax regulations in each country. Emily’s team also relies on Oyster’s local knowledge and expertise to help them build fair compensation packages and offer competitive benefits around the world to attract and retain top talent. “Oyster not only helps us hire employees, but they provide really helpful HR advice, too.…

By partnering with Oyster, Standing on Giants is now able to recruit more easily and scale faster than they could when they were limited to the local talent pool. They’ve now built a globally distributed team spanning 10 countries on five continents.

As a leading utility service provider in the UK, Utility Warehouse needed to build a world-class software engineering team. But engineering talent is in such high demand that they needed the ability to hire anywhere —and to do so quickly and without unnecessary risk . Robbie McMillan, People Business Partner at Utility Warehouse, says they avoided the hassle of establishing entities by using a third-party payroll entity for their international hires. But they struggled to support an international workforce because they “didn’t have the resources in the Finance and HR teams to support those international hires,” he explains.…

After looking into various options, Utility Warehouse chose Oyster as their global employment partner in December 2021 because of its user-friendly platform that simplifies the process of bringing on new talent. “Oyster’s platform came across as really user-friendly. I was pleasantly surprised at how easy the platform was from the admin side to get somebody set up. From a HR perspective, that’s what you’re looking for—something to take the weight off your shoulders, to take that burden away from you. That’s exactly what the Oyster platform does for me.” For Robbie, Oyster seemed like a trustworthy partner they can count on, and not just a company with a slick sales pitch.…

Utility Warehouse partnered with Oyster to acquire the engineering talent they needed to scale quickly while also offering a strong employee proposition. Thanks to Oyster, they now have about 30 people working remotely from four countries across the EMEA region.

As a global leader in remote geotechnical monitoring, Worldsensing’s technology ensures the structural health of assets across mining, construction, rail, and civil infrastructure. Whether it’s a freeway in Taiwan, a dam in the Czech Republic, a diamond mine in Angola, or a metro tunnel in Melbourne, Worldsensing helps to prevent damage or accidents that could put lives at risk. With demand for their products soaring, Worldsensing decided to expand their technical sales team worldwide to achieve their ambitious growth targets. Specifically, they needed to hire in key geotech markets to grow their commercial presence in those regions.…

Worldsensing eventually selected Oyster as their global employment partner in July 2021 because they were impressed by the user-friendly platform and the excellent customer support from the Oyster team. “We chose Oyster because of how easy it was to implement and the excellent support we received in hiring across several countries. Oyster has allowed us to expand our workforce into the critical locations we needed to drive business growth.” In addition to the platform’s ease of use, Giuseppe particularly appreciates the self-serve global employment tools . For instance, he often uses the employment cost calculator to get an estimate of what it would cost to hire someone in a particular country. “The Oyster platform is really user-friendly.…

Worldsensing teamed up with Oyster to scale their technical sales team across eight countries on five continents to support their expansion into new global markets. With Oyster’s support, Worldsensing strengthened its presence in key geotech markets and achieved 20-25% year-on-year growth.

As a web design and development agency, Zabal Media delivers innovative, user-centric web design solutions to clients around the world. With a globally distributed team spanning seven countries on five continents, Zabal Media is proud to serve customers 24/7, including global brands like Slack, Discord, Webflow, and Mural. However, building and managing a team of global contractors wasn’t easy for Wilian Iralzabal, founder of Zabal Media. It meant worrying about compliance and misclassification risks since countries and jurisdictions have varying criteria for distinguishing between employees and contractors. These legal anxieties slowed down hiring and made it difficult to scale .…

After considering various options, Wilian eventually chose Oyster as Zabal Media’s contractor management solution in February 2023 because he was impressed by the intuitive and user-friendly platform and the Oyster team’s focus on continuous improvement and innovation . “When picking the right solution, you have to think about who to trust with the most critical parts of your business—like compliance, hiring, and payroll—that make your business viable. I looked at all of the competitors in the space, and I chose Oyster because the platform is well designed—they really listen and are constantly evolving.” Using Oyster has enabled Wilian to automate contracts and onboarding .…

It was clear to Wilian that he needed an automated solution that would free up his time and energy to focus on more important things.