Automation alone cannot solve the complexity of global hiring, according to new research from Everest Group released today by Oyster®. The whitepaper, “Evolving Employer of Record (EOR): From Tactical Enabler to Strategic Workforce Partner,” finds that organizations need integrated human expertise alongside technology to manage compliance, employee experience, and workforce strategy effectively. The research coincides with the company’s launch of People Partner Services, a new advisory offering that gives customers access to Oyster’s senior HR professionals for guidance, strategy, and execution across their entire global workforce—not just employees hired through Oyster’s EOR.
“The global employment industry has spent the past five years selling a myth: that you can automate away the complexity of hiring across borders,” said Tony Jamous, Executive Chairman of Oyster. “The reality is that when labor laws change across multiple jurisdictions, when employees face sensitive HR situations requiring cultural context, when companies need strategic guidance on where to expand—these moments demand judgment, not just algorithms. In my new role as Executive Chairman, I’m focused on advancing this conversation industry-wide and ensuring Oyster continues to set the standard for ethical, human-centered global employment.”
The Automation Reckoning
According to the Everest Group, organizations today face structural workforce challenges that technology alone cannot solve: acute AI-driven skill shortages, tightening regulatory frameworks, and rising geopolitical volatility. In response, the EOR market has evolved—but not all providers have adapted equally. Everest Group identifies three maturity levels in the market: transactional providers focused on basic compliance, operational enablers that drive efficiency and scale, and strategic partners that integrate advisory expertise, analytics, and governance into workforce strategy.
“As the EOR market matures, organizations are increasingly moving beyond transactional use cases toward more strategic workforce models,” said Priyanka Mitra, Vice President at Everest Group. “Everest Group’s research highlights how organizations, particularly small and mid-sized organizations, are leveraging EOR to build resilience, manage regulatory complexity, and access global talent while building enterprise-grade workforce capability.”
The research highlights areas where strategic partners deliver differentiated value:
- Compliance becomes a source of competitive advantage: Strategic partners don’t just monitor labor laws, they proactively manage contract compliance and own employment risk, giving organizations confidence to expand without legal exposure.
- Employee experience drives retention and performance: Localized HR support, mobility guidance, and equitable benefits access ensure distributed teams receive the same quality experience, regardless of geography.
- Strategic advisory informs critical business decisions: Expert consultation on market entry analysis, workforce cost optimization, and organizational design enables companies to make data-informed choices about where to expand and how to structure global teams.
From Research to Practice: People Partner Services Launch and Industry Validation
Putting the research into practice, Oyster is launching People Partner Services, a flexible, project-based advisory service that extends HR expertise beyond EOR operations to customers’ entire global workforces. Available to all Oyster customers, the service addresses situations where companies need specialized guidance: conducting HR investigations, developing global benefits strategies, creating employment policies for multi-country operations, analyzing workforce data for expansion planning, or navigating complex employee relations matters.
“Our customers told us they needed access to HR expertise for challenges beyond day-to-day EOR operations,” said Bianca Burke, Senior Director, Expert Operations at Oyster. “A company might use Oyster for EOR in some countries but have their own legal entities in others. With People Partner Services, organizations can now access our compliance knowledge and strategic consultation across their entire footprint, whether they need help assessing where to expand next, designing global parental leave policies that respect local norms, or managing a sensitive employee case.”
“Building and managing a global workforce is essential to companies of all sizes, and this is a complex challenge,” said Josh Bersin, Global Industry Analyst and CEO of The Josh Bersin Company. “Oyster has pioneered the use of advanced technology coupled with global in-country HR and leadership support to redefine the value of an EOR, helping companies grow and scale, not only meet compliance needs.”
Bersin sat down with Jamous for an in-depth conversation on his podcast, exploring the whitepaper’s findings, the evolution of global employment, and Jamous’ transition from CEO to Executive Chairman, with Hadi Moussa succeeding him as CEO. Announced last month, this founder-led transition was designed to allow Jamous to focus on long-term vision, mission stewardship, and advancing the industry conversation around ethical, human-centered global employment.
“This research exemplifies what I mean by mission stewardship,” Jamous added. “We’re not just building a better EOR platform, we’re helping define what the industry should become. That requires thought leadership, research partnerships like this one with Everest Group, and the willingness to have honest conversations about where technology helps and where human expertise is essential.”
The full whitepaper is available at https://www.oysterhr.com/resources/strategic-eor-whitepaper.
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