Interledger
The Interledger Foundation is a nonprofit advocate for the web, promoting innovation, creativity, and inclusion by advancing open payment standards and technologies.
With Oyster, Interledger was able to switch from multiple PEO and EOR providers to a single global employment platform.
Interledger
at a glance
Founded in 2015, the Interledger Foundation is a nonprofit advocate for the web, promoting innovation, creativity, and inclusion by advancing open payment standards and technologies that seamlessly connect today’s global society.
Interledger partnered with Oyster in order to transition their global team from a patchwork of PEO and EOR providers to a single global employment platform. Thanks to Oyster, they’ve smoothly migrated from multiple systems and fragmented workflows to a centralized platform that allows them to hire worldwide and onboard talent faster and cheaper than before.
- Relying on multiple PEO and EOR providers made it difficult to for Interledger to manager their global team.
- After considering a number of options, Interledger decided to partner with Oyster.
- With Oyster, Interledger has been able to beat their hiring deadlines and make robust employment offers.
The challenge
As a nonprofit that promotes global equity by advancing financial access and inclusion regardless of identity, geography, or income, the Interledger Foundation is proud to have a globally distributed team. But employing and managing people across borders wasn’t easy.
Amber Marie, HR Manager at the Interledger Foundation, recalls the challenges of having their global team fragmented across multiple PEO and EOR providers, each operating in a different region.
“We had a very patchwork, stitched-together onboarding process. As a global company, we have team members all over the world, and they all were on different systems. We had three different PEOs and EORs because we couldn’t find one that would work worldwide.”
For Interledger, having their international team split up across a confusing array of systems meant a lot of time-consuming admin work keeping up with all their different requirements. It was also hard to manage their workforce since people were onboarded through different systems.
“It was a challenge having so many people on so many different platforms. When we were onboarding, it was difficult to figure out which platform someone should be on, or if the platform was accepting someone in that region at that time. Then it was difficult to track everyone’s PTO—since they all had different platforms with different standards and criteria they needed to meet.”
Navigating multiple legacy providers also meant that onboarding global talent was a slow process, often taking three or four weeks. What’s more, it was difficult to ensure a consistent employee experience across countries or provide a central source of truth for their team members.
“We were having difficulty getting people onboarded as quickly as we’d like with some of the PEOs and EORs that we were utilizing. And I really wanted to get our team up and running as quickly as possible. I really wanted everyone to have one source of truth in one place where they could find the proper information about their benefits or their PTO or their contracts.”
So, one of Amber’s first big projects as HR Manager was to find a global employment solution that would allow them to hire anywhere, onboard talent quickly, and manage their team from a single platform.
The solution
Amber set out on a mission to investigate every EOR provider out there. She met with every vendor, compiled a spreadsheet, narrowed down her search to her top three, and then did a second round of interviews. It was only after this exhaustive process that Amber finally chose Oyster as Interledger’s global employment partner in December 2022. She made the decision based on Oyster’s extensive country coverage and ability to offer benefits worldwide.
“I ended up going with Oyster because Oyster could hire in the most locations and offer benefits pretty much worldwide. They’re also able to pay and onboard people in more remote locations, like South Africa, Jamaica, the Netherlands, Germany, and the U.K., just to name a few of the places where we have employees.”
Migrating systems can be nerve-racking, especially when it involves people’s jobs and paychecks—not to mention legal compliance in every jurisdiction. That’s why Amber appreciates the top-notch service and support she received throughout the process. “Oyster was there for me every step of the way,” she says. With guidance from a dedicated Customer Success Manager, the migration process was totally seamless for both Interledger and their global team members.
“Our representative, Amanda, read through all our contracts and found out everything we needed to do to switch from our old EORs and PEOs to Oyster. She even put out a bullet point, step-by-step list of what I needed to do. She made it so easy. She helped me look like a rock star, and she did all the work.”
Oyster’s fast and reliable support continues to be a highlight for Amber. “It’s been a really delightful experience,” she says. Equally important is having a dedicated Customer Success Manager because having “one point of contact that you always work with” ensures consistency and continuity.
“I really love that we get that dedicated service and support, and our own special person that works with us and makes sure that we’re successful with every single hire. She knows what we like, what we put in our contracts, and what we don’t. We don’t have to reinvent the wheel with someone new every time.”
As for the Oyster platform, Amber really appreciates the self-serve global HR tools, such as the cost calculator and benefits advisor, that allow her to look up the cost of hiring in a particular country and learn what a locally compliant and competitive package might look like. Whether it’s pension contributions or customary PTO, “it really helps you be aware of what’s coming,” she says.
“With the cost calculator, you can get a really good idea of each country’s stipulations and taxes. Then you can offer a really robust compensation package for the country you’re working with, because an excellent package in Singapore wouldn’t necessarily be a robust package in the U.K., and vice versa. You can also look at all the health benefits in advance, so you can decide what package you want to offer your employees.”
The Interledger Foundation signed on with Oyster in January 2023, and by May they had onboarded seven people, with several more on the way. “We have people in the U.K., Jamaica, the Netherlands, Germany, India, and Singapore,” says Amber, “and we’re looking to add more countries in the next few weeks.” In fact, the ability to hire faster and more cheaply than they could before has enabled Interledger to grow even faster than planned.
“We’ve already exceeded what we thought would be our hires for the entire year, and it’s only May. But it’s so seamless and they do such a great job. And Oyster actually cost us less for the administrative fees each month than the two other EORs we were using before, so we’re able to hire faster and hire more and save money.”
Interledger has also benefited from the ability to make locally compliant and competitive offers thanks to the country-specific knowledge and insights built into the Oyster platform.
“Since we began our work with Oyster, I’ve seen a huge impact. We can hire more quickly. We can make more robust offers because we’re able to check out the cost calculator and the benefits in advance. We’re able to stay compliant. We’re able to avoid pitfalls because there are people to help you every step of the way.”
Amber even has an “Oyster brag story” about the speed of hiring and the high level of service she’s received from the Oyster team.
“Last Tuesday we decided to hire someone in Singapore. And they were onboarded and all the contracts were signed by Friday. Oyster made me look like a superstar for getting someone onboarded so fast. In the past, it’s been very painful, usually taking three to four weeks. I truly felt like they dropped everything to make sure we could get that person in time. Not only did we meet the tight time frame, we beat it by a week. So that’s Oyster in a nutshell.”
In terms of Amber’s day-to-day work, Oyster has made it possible for her to handle the full range of HR tasks from a single platform instead of switching between multiple systems.
“I log in to Oyster every single day. I’m able to do all our expenses, internationally, through Oyster. It’s really easy for our employees and really easy for me. I’m able to use Oyster for benefits administration, for time off, for sick days—really the complete human resource experience can be handled through the Oyster application.”
Having everyone on one platform has also created a seamless employee experience for Interledger’s global team. Whether it’s requesting time off, taking a sick day, or getting reimbursed for expenses, “Oyster has done a really great job in facilitating that and making things really smooth,” says Amber.
Looking ahead, the Interledger Foundation is excited to scale their global team by expanding into new countries with Oyster. “They really have opened up the world of hiring for us,” says Amber.
Having experienced the benefits, Amber is happy to recommend Oyster to other companies. For anyone who’s unsure, she suggests putting together a list of their most pressing questions—whether it’s country coverage, local benefits, expenses, or employee management. “Ask all the questions,” she advises, “and their answers will probably make you feel comfortable with your decision.”
Or you can take her word for it, she laughs.
“I have a huge spreadsheet that shows that I did all the work for you. I have interviewed every PEO and EOR company that you have heard of. And I can promise you that Oyster is the best of the best—you won’t be disappointed if you go with them.”
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