Design Pickle: From Employer of Record to Company as a Service

Design Pickle was exploring Portugal as a location for their European tech hub. The location is particularly beneficial for multiple reasons: great tech talent, perfect time zone, perfect command of English and salaries that are on average lower than the US, London and other European cities.

To avoid employee misclassification, Design Pickle was looking for a compliant solution where they could pay and run payroll locally for their newly hired team. This means that new contracts had to be issued in Portugal, in full compliance with local regulations. Also, as is often the case when operating across multiple countries, local cultural and customary differences had to be observed.

Starting off with the incorporation of a local company requires a series of bureaucratic steps: before starting a new venture in Portugal, it is essential to meet the residency requirements and collect all of the necessary paperwork to obtain a local tax and social security number. Once this is done, the company incorporation process will involve further, time and resource-consuming steps: selecting company type and name, bank account set up, payroll registration, annual accounting requirements, ongoing legal and HR support. With little practical knowledge of the market, local regulations and with a brand new team, setting up a legal entity can take considerable time and energy.

BRIDGE IN provided a comprehensive three-phase approach: From Employer of Record to Business Incorporation to Company as a Service (CaaS).

Phase 1 - Employer of Record Services: BRIDGE IN acted as the local employer on behalf of Design Pickle, taking on the responsibilities of payroll, benefits, and taxes with 100% compliance and 0% risks on the client side. Companies that partner with BRIDGE IN using EOR services keep ownership of the workforce while BRIDGE IN takes care of taxes, payrolls and all HR-related tasks under their own local legal entity.

Phase 2 - Business Incorporation: BRIDGE IN's in-house experts took care of all the bureaucracy of setting up a company in Portugal, including collection of all needed paperwork, tax and social security obligations of the subsidiary's owners, company creation and chartered accountant selection, bank account set up, accounting set up, and mandatory insurances and other legal requirements.

Phase 3 - Company as a Service: BRIDGE IN continues to act as the local country manager, handling all payroll and HR-related matters, and managing the local bureaucracy as well as the fulfillment of ongoing government and legal requirements.

The implementation process included: contract negotiation and signature, local team job specs definition, creation of a tailor-made local recruitment strategy, kick-off of the local recruitment process by BRIDGE IN and its recruitment partners, definition of employee benefits, candidates sourcing and screening, candidates interviews with both BRIDGE IN and Design Pickle, candidates final selection and job offer, preparation of employment contracts, employee personal data collection, finalization of employment contract, laptop and other working tools, insurances, meal allowance and other benefits.

Design Pickle achieved remarkable success with their Portugal expansion:

• Started with one employee and grew the team over time to 5 employees during the 12-month EOR period
• Achieved 100% employee retention over the 12-month period
• Successfully completed the full process from EOR to company incorporation within the planned timeline
• The 2-week kick-off phase included contract negotiation, job specs definition, and recruitment strategy creation
• The 3-week recruitment and selection phase successfully identified and hired qualified candidates
• Employee onboarding was completed within 48 hours
• The 12-month EOR duration provided the stability needed for market testing and team building
• Company incorporation was completed within 3 months with all legal and administrative requirements fulfilled
• Ongoing Company as a Service support ensures continued compliance and operational efficiency