Oyster HR Review – Pros, Cons And Features Explained

Global employment is a long and tricky process.

It takes time and resources to handle the legal complexities of overseas hiring, and many companies might not be equipped to manage them in-house.

Oyster is built to facilitate international employment. It offers global coverage and local expertise to make the onboarding process as smooth as possible.

If you are considering Oyster for your company, I have shared an in-depth review of the platform. The article covers its core services, pricing, and some pros and cons. 

Let’s explore it.

What is Oyster?

Oyster is a SaaS HR platform that provides global employment and payroll outsourcing services. It gives you access to 180+ countries, enabling you to hire and pay international employees remotely.

You can use Oyster for both temporary and permanent hiring. The platform sells separate packages for contractors and permanent employees and offers country-specific onboarding and compliance support.

With Oyster, you don’t have to manage paperwork or salary calculations. It has an in-house team that oversees the onboarding documentation and payroll, and you receive a digital platform to handle the routine work.

If you need assistance with talent sourcing, Oyster can help you with that as well. It hosts a talent network, providing access to the local job marketplaces for recruitment.

Top Services You Can Get from Oyster Are;

• Employer of Record.
• Contractor management.
• Multi-country payroll.
• Local benefits packages.
• Visa sponsorship.
• Talent sourcing.

Oyster Features/Products

Oyster’s core services are onboarding and cross-border payments. However, they are divided into different products and add-ons to provide tailored solutions to companies. 

Below, I have reviewed some of its features to highlight its main services. 

1. Employer Of Record

Employer Of Record (EOR) is a third-party agent (Oyster) that hires and pays people on your behalf. The EOR takes responsibility for compliance and payment procedures and becomes a legal employer of your international workforce.

Oyster offers EOR services in 130+ countries. The package covers employment contract generation, onboarding paperwork, salary disbursement in local currencies, and benefits administration.

You can send payments in 140+ currencies and manage time and attendance via Oyster. 

Compliance management is built into its app. Oyster’s team of experts regularly updates country-specific laws and policies to offer current contracts and salary terms for each new hire. 

Whether it’s hiring costs, salary calculation, or tax management, you’ll receive all the data in readable formats.

A free cost calculator is also available on the Oyster website to get standard EOR rates for any specific country. You can use it to get a gross amount for budget preparation.

You can find the calculator here.

Core Features of Oyster EOR Product;

• Compliant employment contract.
• Onboarding paperwork and tracking.
• International payroll.
• Benefits administration.
• Expenses, allowance, and tax management.
• Compliance guide.

Oyster helps with onboarding and offboarding both.

2. Contractor Management

Contractor Management service involves freelancer onboarding and invoice management.

Most startups and growing companies work with freelancers because they find them cost-effective. Oyster offers a contractor package to help them pay freelancers legally.

The package is comparatively affordable as employer obligation is not required for the contractors. 

You’ll receive all the essential modules to draft legal agreements, onboard overseas freelancers, manage corporate expenses, and send payments in local currencies. You can also hire a contractor on a retainer or pay them on a project basis. 

The platform payment system, however, is severely limited.

Oyster focuses on quality rather than quantity. To ensure a smooth payment transfer, Oyster makes payments through Banks only. This may pose a challenge to startups that rely on borderless accounts for easy payment transfer.

If you prefer the bank route, the Oyster contractor package is ideal for your company.

The unique selling point of Oyster’s contractor product is the 30-day free access. This means you get the opportunity to onboard any freelancer in the first month free of cost. 

Core Features of Oyster Contractor Product;

• Legal agreements.
• Onboarding tracking.
• Payment in 140+ currencies.
• Expenses, time off, and bonus.
• Invoice management.

This service is available in 180+ countries. You can check out the contractor package here.

3. Global Payroll

Payroll is part of the Oyster EOR package. The platform not only facilitates hiring but also helps you process multi-country payments.

Oyster starts the payroll process on the 10th of each month to allow companies to create, approve, and finalize salaries on time. 

You will get the option to either pay your staff yourself or disburse salaries through Oyster. Regardless, you’ll receive downloadable reports for payment processing and documentation. 

Oyster has also recently introduced a global payroll product for direct employees. It is designed for companies that have legal entities in other countries but need a proper system to pay team members.

The product is still in the development stage and covers US, Canada, and Spain at the moment. You can integrate the payroll with your HRIS software to consolidate your employee and contractor payments. 

Core Features of Oyster Payroll Product;

• Multi-country payroll with EOR.
• Global payroll for direct employees.
• Payslip generation.
• Reports.
• Expert guide.

4. Add-ons

Oyster add-ons are optional features you can include in your package to extend the services.

Most of them are designed for EOR packages, but you can buy some with other packages as well.

For instance, Oyster delivers the freelancer conversion service to turn your temporary workforce into a permanent employee. 

Oyster also plans to introduce misclassification insurance for contractors. With this feature, you will receive coverage for any penalty you might incur from contractor misclassification.

For the EOR package, Oyster provides benefits administration. You’ll have the flexibility to pick local plans or offer a combination of global and local benefits to make your salary package attractive. Currently, Oyster delivers global packages in 165 countries.

Other add-on services sold by Oyster include talent sourcing and visa assistance. You can connect with talent partners to find local candidates and receive sponsorship support in 65 countries. 

The visa service is extensive, covering eligibility criteria, application process, and paperwork tracking.

Add-on Services You Can Buy;

• Benefits administration.
• Local and global benefits.
• Equity compensation.
• Visa assistance.
• Talent Network.
• Contractor conversion.

How Does Oyster Work—HRIS Platform

As a SaaS platform, Oyster provides remote HR services to clients. You and your employees receive online portal access to process onboarding, track documents, and essentially perform routine work.

Some of the workflows you can manage via the Oyster platform are time and attendance, leave request approvals, expense management, and payroll. Roles can be assigned to delegate invoice management and approval workflows.

Packages are also purchased through Oyster’s digital platform. Whether you want to hire someone, create contracts, or run payroll, you need an online account to manage your workforce.

The signup process is easy and quick. You can fill out the initial form here to open your free account. Alternatively, you can use your Google account to sign up. 

Once you have a new account, you can navigate the platform and start hiring employees and contractors.

Integrations and Free Tools

Oyster is built for both companies and agencies. It offers tools to help you streamline your workflows.

For Instance, if you provide HR services to your client, you can embed Oyster into your product and offer global employment as a part of your service. You’ll also receive a few free tools for calculation, analysis, and insights—like salary calculator and recruitment templates.

For companies, API and Integration are available. They can connect Oyster with their HRIS and productivity apps to sync employee information.

Top integrations accepted by Oyster;

• Zapier.
• Slack.
• NetSuite.
• QuickBooks.
• BambooHR.
• Greenhouse.

You can check out all the integrations here.

Why Should You Choose Oyster

Oyster is convenient for businesses that want a diversified workforce.

Hiring people from other countries is extremely time-consuming. You have to look for in-country employment policies to draft contracts and find local representatives to handle benefits administration and compliance. Not to mention taking care of paperwork and onboarding, which may literally take months.

It makes the recruitment process long and overwhelming, taking away a chunk of your time and resources.

While large organizations typically have established practices for international recruitment, growing companies might still need outside assistance to access the global market.

With Oyster, you can cut unnecessary work and onboard new employees within two weeks. The platform offers one place to hire overseas talent and provides a proper system for attendance and payments.

Oyster also delivers its own technology for day-to-day administration. You don’t have to build anything from scratch. With API and integration, you can manage the platform with your company’s system.

Oyster Pros and Cons

Oyster provides the best way to manage global teams.

But if you are exploring your options, I have shared some pros and cons to summarize its features. It may give you some pointers for comparison and help you make a well-informed decision.

Pros

• You can access the digital platform for free.
• You can hire people from anywhere and disburse salaries in local currencies.
• The in-house team makes sure you get everything done compliantly.
• You can get help with visa sponsorship.

Cons

• Oyster supports over 140 currencies for salaries, but its billing currencies are only USD, GBP, and EUR. The platform plans to add the Canadian dollar soon. 
• If you rely on borderless accounts for contractor payments, like PayPal, Oyster might not be the best solution for you.
• Oyster works with third parties to offer local compliance support globally, which may affect its service quality in some countries.
• You can buy global payroll separately for direct employees, but this product is still in the early stages.

If you need quick details, I recommend contacting the customer service. 

You can also check out its library for product details.

Oyster Prices

Oyster sells three core packages and one beta product.

Some of its features, such as benefits administration and visa sponsorships, are not part of the package, and you might have to pay extra to get those services—as explained in the add-on section.

You can create an account on Oyster for free and explore the platform and its HR tools without an extra fee. Oyster follows a “Pay As You Go” model, charging you only for the services rendered.

There is no setup or cancellation charge. You might, however, be asked for a security deposit. It’s refundable.

One more thing. Prices are transparent on Oyster. Everything, including the commission fee, will be included in the billing invoice. You’ll receive a breakdown of your invoice cost before confirming the payment.

Here’s the summary of its subscription packages;

• Contractor: It’s a monthly subscription, costing $29 per user. 
• Employer Of Record: The monthly subscription starts at $599. If you go for the annual subscription, the monthly price may be reduced to $499.
• Scale Plan: It’s a discount package for companies with more than 5 overseas employees. 
• Global Payroll: It costs $50 per month.

Discounts and benefits are available for nonprofit organizations. Contact the sales team to know more.

Conclusion

Oyster might be a startup organization, but it has grown rapidly in the last five years. Today, it offers EOR and contractor management services worldwide.

Based on its core services and prices, Oyster is an excellent choice for startups and growing companies. The platform has built a good reputation in the HR industry, and many are using it to manage onboarding and compliance.

If you want to know more about Oyster before making your purchase decision, you can explore the case studies. You can also request a demo to compare its products with other service providers. Good luck!