Remote work opens up endless possibilities for hiring sought-after talent across the globe and many employers are looking to Canada to find it. In fact, according to a 2018 report by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Canada is the most educated country globally, which means the roster of highly skilled and educated individuals across its 13 provinces and territories looking for work is vast.
Ontario is home to 38.45% of Canada’s population, making it a natural choice for employers looking to build out their Canadian-based teams. The talent pool here is both qualified and diverse — an ideal location for a wide range of companies.
Setting out to hire a distributed workforce, whether you’re looking in Canada or elsewhere, can be a daunting task, but not with an Employers of Record (EOR). In over your head? We’ve broken down everything you need to know about hiring top-tier Ontario talent through EORs.
What is an Employer of Record?
Employers of Record (EORs) are third-party organizations responsible for managing the legal responsibilities of hiring new employees. EORs handle key responsibilities for the company including:
- Visas and work permits
- Employment contracts
- Payroll
- Maintaining compliance with local laws
- Termination
- Other HR services
EORs allow companies to compliantly employ and pay hires abroad without having to set up new offices in those other countries. Although the EOR you select is the legal employer in your employees’ country of residence, they will still report to your company as normal.
You will continue to assign all work and tasks, and make any decisions regarding employment as it relates to salary, time-off requests, termination, etc. Put simply, an EOR does not have any involvement in your team’s day to day work.
When you choose an EOR to hire Ontario-based talent you are:
- Saving time on administrative work so you can focus on your company’s core activities like strategy, launching new products, building client and partner relationships and more.
- Mitigating risks by shifting the burden of official documentation, paying taxes, managing payroll and drafting paperwork to a trusted third-party vendor.
- Reducing costs associated with launching into new global markets, setting up office space, equipping and furnishing the space and so on.
How an EOR can Help You Hire Ontario Talent
Your EOR will handle all the logistics involved with hiring an Ontario-based employee, ensuring you are properly onboarding the individual and remaining compliant with things like province-wide vacation policies, working hours and more. Some things to keep in mind when hiring Ontario-based talent that an EOR will handle include:
Contracts & Documentation
An EOR will handle the tedious administration involved in preparing and collecting contracts and documentation – including signed contracts, employment offers, banking information and verifying identification and so on – so you have more time to focus on your business.
Employee Insurance & Benefits
When the world is your competition, it pays to incentivize new and existing hires with attractive benefits like medical, dental, vision and life insurance and retirement savings plans. A comprehensive EOR will have those kinds of benefits built into its service offering.
Vacation & Public Holidays
The standard paid vacation allowance for Ontario-based employees is two weeks each year. Generally, this vacation allowance increases to three weeks after five years and four or more weeks after 10 years of employment.
Ontario also has 9 public holidays that employers are obligated to offer their staffas defined by the Employment Standards Act (ESA). These include:
- New Year’s Day: Sunday, January 1, 2023
- Family Day: Monday, February 20, 2023
- Good Friday: Friday, April 7, 2023
- Victoria Day: Monday, May 22, 2023
- Canada Day: Saturday, July 1, 2023
- Labour Day: Monday, September 4, 2023
- Thanksgiving Day: Monday, October 9, 2023
- Christmas Day: Monday, December 25, 2023
- Boxing Day: Tuesday, December 26, 2023
Taxes
As an employer or payer, you are responsible for deducting the following four amounts:
- Canada Pension Plan contribution
- Employment Insurance premium
- Federal income tax
- Provincial income tax
This can be a tedious process but is necessary to ensure you are paying employees in a compliant manner. Thankfully, an EOR can handle the logistics and ensure payroll is processed properly and per the regulations in whichever country you are operating.
Now that you understand what an EOR is and how it can benefit you, you want in on the magic. Before selecting a vendor, consider these 5 things:
- Experience in the country/province/state you are looking to hire talent from: Ensure you are selecting a vendor that has experience in Ontario, Canada markets as they will understand the nuances of that particular region.
- Scalability & Technology: Ensure you are selecting a vendor that has a leading-edge product with capabilities to scale up in response to your company’s specific hiring needs.
- Services & Benefits: It’s ideal to select a vendor that can provide a broad-range of benefits like employee insurance, training and onboarding, financial advisory services and more. For example, Borderless provides benefits directly through its platform. So while benefit providers differ region to region, Borderless will accommodate your company’s benefit preferences.
- Data & Systems Security: Protecting intellectual property in a remote working environment is critical. Ensure your vendor of choice has a specific agreement outlining the ways in which they plan to keep your sensitive information safe and secure.
- Collaboration: Ensure your vendor’s approach to communication and collaboration with its clients is aligned with your organization’s approach. Love having a point of contact person? Perhaps all you need is access to a Slack channel so you can quickly reach your vendor. Whatever your communication style, ensure your vendor can meet your needs.
Borderless: The Employer of Record your Company Needs
Need an EOR? Look no further than Borderless. We can help you establish a business entity in Ontario, Canada – giving you access to a massive talent pool without all the headache of traditional global expansion.
Book a demo today and see how we can help you quickly and easily hire, onboard, pay and retain the Ontario-based talent your organization needs.
Disclaimer
Borderless does not provide legal services or legal advice to anyone. This includes customers, contractors, employees, partners, and the general public. We are not lawyers or paralegals. Please read our full disclaimer here.
