Employer of Record in China: The Best and the Rest

Overview

Hiring in mainland China through an Employer of Record lets your company employ local staff while you decide whether to set up a wholly foreign-owned enterprise (WFOE). The provider’s Chinese company becomes the employee’s legal employer and handles the labour contract, payroll, social insurance, housing fund and individual income tax, while your company directs the day-to-day work.

Choosing a provider in China means looking well beyond the monthly fee. There is no Chinese statute that mentions “Employer of Record”: a provider either employs your hire under a licensed labour-dispatch arrangement or under a labour-outsourcing contract, and the two carry different limits and risks. Which Chinese company signs the contract, whether it holds a dispatch licence, and which regime your hire is placed under are the first questions to settle.

TheEORDirectory’s guide brings together EOR providers serving China in alphabetical order. It begins with a selection of prominent providers, also arranged alphabetically, followed by the full directory. Neither list is a ranking: the right choice depends on your hiring plans, the cities involved, your budget and your support requirements.

Use the directory to explore your options, then compare providers on the same practical questions: who will employ your hire, under which regime, what is included in the quote, how city-specific payroll is handled and what happens when you are ready to move to your own entity.

How to Compare China EOR Providers

Start with the legal employer. Ask for the full Chinese name of the company that will sign the labour contract and its 18-character unified social credit code (统一社会信用代码), and check it on the National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System. Most global providers do not employ in China through their own company: they subcontract to a domestic HR agency, often a FESCO or CIIC regional company, and the contract your hire signs is with that agency. If a provider uses a partner, identify it and establish which organisation handles payroll, employee queries and disputes.

Then ask which regime applies. A licensed dispatch agency can place your hire under labour dispatch, which is lawful but limited to temporary, auxiliary or substitute roles and capped at ten per cent of the host’s workforce. A provider employing the person directly and delivering a service to you is labour outsourcing, which has no licence requirement but can be re-characterised as dispatch if you manage the worker as your own. The provider should explain its position in writing before you sign.

Request an itemised quote for the specific employee and city. Social insurance and housing fund rates and contribution bases differ between Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen and every other city, so a national percentage is a warning sign. Check the service fee, employer contributions, deposits, optional commercial insurance, currency conversion and any setup, termination or transition charges.

Finally, ask who will support the employee in China. A named contact working Chinese hours in Mandarin and English, clear response times and experience with hukou, annual bonus tax treatment and termination are useful points to compare.

How an Employer of Record Works in China

Chinese employment law does not define an Employer of Record. In practice a provider places your hire under one of two frameworks set out in the Labour Contract Law and its implementing rules.

• Labour dispatch (劳务派遣): a licensed dispatch agency with registered capital of at least RMB 2 million signs the labour contract and dispatches the worker to your company. The agency must hold a labour dispatch business licence (劳务派遣经营许可证) issued by the local human resources and social security bureau. Dispatch is limited to temporary, auxiliary or substitute positions and dispatched workers may not exceed ten per cent of the receiving company’s total workforce. Source: Labour Contract Law, Articles 57 to 67; Interim Provisions on Labour Dispatch (2014), Articles 3 and 4.
• Labour outsourcing (劳务外包): the provider employs the worker directly and contracts with you to deliver a service. No licence is required and the ten per cent cap does not apply, but if your company directs the worker day to day the arrangement can be re-characterised as disguised dispatch, with the dispatch rules applied retrospectively. Source: Interim Provisions on Labour Dispatch (2014), Article 27.

Two contractual relationships underpin the hire in either case: the labour contract between the employee and the Chinese employing company, covering salary, working hours, leave, probation and notice, and the dispatch or service agreement between your company and the provider, covering the assignment and each party’s responsibilities. A licence or entity held by another company in the provider’s group should not be assumed to cover the company employing your worker.

A foreign company with no Chinese entity has no local headcount against which the ten per cent cap can be measured, and enforcement differs between cities. That is why the regime question matters more in China than the brand on the platform: ask the provider to state in writing which Chinese company signs, whether it holds a dispatch licence, and under which regime your hire is placed.

Dispatch Limits and the Ten Per Cent Cap

Under the Interim Provisions on Labour Dispatch, a dispatched position must be temporary (lasting no more than six months), auxiliary (supporting rather than core to the host’s main business) or a substitute for an employee on leave or study. The receiving company’s dispatched workers may not exceed ten per cent of its total workforce, calculated on its own directly employed staff plus dispatched staff. Source: Interim Provisions on Labour Dispatch (2014), Articles 3 and 4.

Dispatched workers are entitled to equal pay for equal work with the host’s directly employed staff in comparable positions, and the dispatch agency must sign a fixed-term labour contract of at least two years with the worker and pay at least the local minimum wage between assignments. Source: Labour Contract Law, Articles 58 and 63.

These limits are the host’s obligation as much as the agency’s. A permanent core role, such as a country manager or a salesperson building your China business, sits uneasily inside the temporary, auxiliary or substitute test, which is why several providers in this directory employ under outsourcing contracts instead, and why the ones that do should explain how they manage the disguised-dispatch risk.

Changing providers does not change the analysis. If a new agency dispatches the same person to the same role, the role is still measured against the same test. Ask the provider how it positions your specific hire and what it will do if a labour bureau or a court takes a different view.

The Hiring Process

Before agreeing a start date, confirm the employee’s identity and hukou, the role, salary, workplace city and expected duration. The provider should explain the contractual structure and which Chinese company will register the employee for social insurance and the housing fund.

A written labour contract must be signed within one month of the employee starting work; an employer that fails to do so owes double salary for each month without a contract. Probation is limited by contract length: one month for contracts of three months to a year, two months for one to three years, and six months for contracts of three years or more or with no fixed term, and probation pay may not be below eighty per cent of the contracted wage or the local minimum wage. Source: Labour Contract Law, Articles 10, 19, 20 and 82.

The employing company registers the employee with the local social insurance bureau and housing fund centre within thirty days of the start date, issues a contract in Chinese (with a bilingual version common for international hires) and sets up monthly payroll with individual income tax withheld under the cumulative method. Once employment begins, the provider processes payroll and statutory payments while you manage the employee’s work.

Foreign nationals deserve separate attention. A foreigner needs a Foreigner’s Work Permit and a Z visa, and the permit is tied to the employing company in a specific city. Whether an EOR can sponsor one depends on that company’s registration, category and quota, and dispatch arrangements are not generally accepted for work-permit purposes. Treat visa support as a case-by-case question rather than a standard step every provider can complete.

What an EOR Costs in China

The monthly service fee is only one part of the budget. The total includes gross salary, employer social insurance, the employer housing provident fund contribution, the EOR fee and any agreed commercial insurance or additional charges. Rates and contribution bases are set city by city and adjusted each July, so a quote should name the city it applies to.

In Shanghai in 2026 the employer shares are 16% for pension, 10% for medical insurance including maternity, 0.5% for unemployment insurance and between 0.16% and 1.52% for work-injury insurance depending on industry risk, plus a housing provident fund contribution of 5% to 7%. Contributions are calculated on a base floored at 60% and capped at 300% of the local average wage, so the effective rate falls for a highly paid hire; the Shanghai cap sits in the high RMB 30,000s a month. Other cities differ, with Beijing and Shenzhen each applying their own medical and housing fund rates. Source: Shanghai Municipal Human Resources and Social Security Bureau, 2026 contribution notice.

Use a candidate-specific calculation rather than applying one percentage to every salary. The city, the salary against the local floor and cap, the housing fund rate the employer elects and the annual bonus tax treatment all affect the result.

For illustration, assume a Shanghai employee on a gross salary of RMB 30,000 a month (RMB 360,000 a year), budgeted employer social insurance and housing fund of RMB 121,000, and an EOR fee of US$300 a month (about RMB 2,140):

This is a budgeting example, not a provider quote or an exact payroll calculation. A thirteenth-month payment is customary though not mandatory, supplementary commercial medical insurance is common for professional hires, and statutory severance of one month’s salary per year of service accrues from the first day. Treat a refundable deposit separately from annual operating costs, while allowing for the cash required upfront.

Planning for Longer Term Employment

Discuss the end of the arrangement before signing. If the role is a permanent, core one, agree when you will review the employment structure and what support the provider offers for a transition to your own entity. Dispatch is designed for temporary, auxiliary and substitute roles, and an outsourcing arrangement carries a disguised-dispatch risk that grows the more closely you manage the worker.

The usual destination is a wholly foreign-owned enterprise. Several providers in this directory incorporate the WFOE and transfer EOR staff to it; ask whether the transfer preserves continuous service, because seniority drives severance (one month’s salary per year of service) and the right to an open-ended contract after two consecutive fixed-term contracts or ten years’ service. Source: Labour Contract Law, Articles 14 and 47.

There is no universal headcount at which a WFOE becomes cheaper. Compare the EOR’s recurring fees and transition costs with incorporation, registered capital, accounting, tax filing, payroll and HR administration, and with how long you expect to operate in China. Salary and statutory employment costs remain part of either model.

Changing the label on the contract or switching providers should not be treated as a substitute for reviewing the legal structure. If the provider itself offers incorporation, as some in this directory do, the same team can usually move your staff across without a break in service.

Questions to Ask Before Signing

• Which Chinese company will sign the labour contract, and what is its unified social credit code?
• Is that your own company or a local partner such as a FESCO, and who handles employee support?
• Does the employing company hold a labour dispatch licence, and is my hire placed under dispatch or outsourcing?
• How do you position this role against the temporary, auxiliary or substitute test and the ten per cent cap?
• What is the complete monthly cost for this city, including social insurance, housing fund, deposits and FX charges?
• Can you sponsor a work permit for a foreign national in this city, and through which company?
• What support and charges apply if we move the employee to our own WFOE, and will continuous service be preserved?

Clear answers make it easier to compare the providers in the directory and choose an arrangement that fits both your immediate hire and your longer-term plans in China.