Case study
Operations Nation
Operations Nation is a UK based global community and platform for operations leaders working in early-stage and scaling companies. Its members include COOs, Operations Directors, and BizOps professionals.
When the perfect candidate for their first community manager role turned out to live in Hungary, the question was never whether to hire her - it was how. Oyster made it possible.
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Operations Nation
at a glance
Operations Nation is the leading global community for 700+ senior operations leaders: Chief Operating Officers, Operations Directors, Heads of Operations, and anyone else carrying that responsibility at their organisation, at top-performing companies. They provide resources, networking, and training to help folks grow in their careers.
Global hiring doesn't always start with a strategy deck and a three-year expansion roadmap. Sometimes it starts with a brilliant applicant in a different country. When that happened to Operations Nation, and other EORs required huge upfront costs and sneaky pricing, they partnered with Oyster. Operations Nation is now thriving with a compliant, supportive, and transparent solution for their global employment needs.
- Reduced operational stress
- Avoided unnecessary costs
- Freed up founder time to focus on hiring the right talent
The challenge
Operations Nation never set out to build a distributed team. When Becca applied for the community manager role from Hungary, the decision to hire her was straightforward. She was the right person. The challenge was figuring out how to employ her compliantly from the UK - a country Operations Nation had never hired outside of before.
As co-founder, Aušrinė was already wearing a hundred hats. Being the de facto Head of People was one of them. Taking on the full complexity of international employment law, contracts, and payroll without dedicated HR support was not realistic. The team turned to an Employer of Record provider to handle it. Unfortunately, their first choice made things harder, not easier.
The first problem was financial. The previous EOR required three months of the employee's salary to be paid upfront, with no prior warning. For a small company with a sensitive cash flow, that was a serious burden. The second problem was more damaging to trust. Aušrinė had done her own research on what compliant employment in Hungary actually looked like. When the EOR's guidance didn't match what she knew to be accurate, she found herself correcting her own provider.
"I was finding answers that were not really aligned with what the real situation was, which really eroded my trust," Aušrinė explains. "I needed to prompt and correct the EOR team that I was working with." That experience prompted a full re-evaluation and a switch to Oyster.
The solution
The first conversation with Oyster set a different tone immediately. Questions were answered promptly, professionally, and in a way that felt genuinely helpful rather than transactional. For Aušrinė, that early interaction built the trust that the previous provider had failed to establish at all. It was the beginning of a relationship, not just a service transaction.
Oyster took on contracts, compliance, payroll, and all local employment requirements for Becca's hire in Hungary. That coverage removed a significant mental load from Aušrinė as founder. She no longer had to double-check every decision or second-guess whether the guidance she was receiving was accurate. "With Oyster, we were able to handle contracts, compliance, payroll, and any local requirements, which removed a huge mental load for me as a founder," she says.
The platform itself proved easy to use, even for someone without a dedicated HR background. It is well-documented, practical, and keeps all contracts, billing, and documentation accessible in one place. Oyster's salary comparison calculator helped Operations Nation make informed decisions on compensation, raises, and benefits.
One specific compliance challenge that Oyster helped navigate was Becca's frequent travel to the UK to visit her partner. That created real questions about employment compliance and tax implications. The Oyster team provided clear, practical guidance. "Their advice was really, really helpful in helping us navigate that compliance," Aušrinė recalls.
The transition from the previous EOR to Oyster was smooth from start to finish. The Oyster team guided Operations Nation through platform setup, contracts, and compliance questions at every step. Aušrinė describes it plainly: "It was by far the best onboarding that I have experienced."
Becca's onboarding through Oyster was smooth, professional, and well-organised. She received a clear contract, timely payroll, and a platform she could navigate with confidence. The contrast with the previous EOR was stark. "As we switched from another EOR platform, it was like night and day," Aušrinė notes. Becca has complimented Oyster multiple times since making the switch.
For Aušrinė, the most immediate impact was peace of mind. She no longer has to verify compliance guidance or chase down billing documentation. Everything is accessible on the platform. When Becca has questions that Aušrinė cannot answer herself, the Oyster team steps in directly: removing the back-and-forth that had previously added to the administrative burden.
The financial impact has been equally tangible. Eliminating the large upfront salary deposit requirement freed up cash flow that a small company cannot afford to lock away. Monthly platform fees are significantly lower than those charged by the previous provider. There are no hidden charges. "With Oyster, everything is super transparent," Aušrinė says. "It's very common with a lot of platforms to put something here and there that you do not expect, and with Oyster that doesn't happen."
- Upfront salary deposit: Eliminated
- Employee onboarding experience: "Night and day" vs. previous EOR
- Monthly platform cost: Significantly lower than previous provider
- Hidden fees: None. Ever.
Operations Nation currently has several team members working as contractors across different countries. The plan is to bring them on as full-time employees (and Oyster is the intended platform for doing so). "I'm really excited about using Oyster for that in the coming months," Aušrinė says. As the team grows, Oyster will remain the go-to solution for international hiring, removing the need to build an internal people function before the organisation is ready for it.
For Aušrinė, the value of Oyster goes beyond any single hire. As an operations leader who has spent fifteen years evaluating tools and processes, she values solutions that reduce complexity rather than add to it. "If you're small and hiring internationally feels scary, Oyster makes it manageable by removing risk and saving time. It's exactly what you need at this stage." That is the standard Operations Nation will continue to hold its platforms to as it grows. And we're proud to meet (and exceed) those standards for many years to come.
About Oyster
Oyster is a global employment platform designed to enable visionary HR leaders to find, hire, pay, manage, develop and take care of a thriving global workforce.
It lets growing companies give valued international team members the experience they deserve, without the usual headaches and expense. Oyster enables hiring anywhere in the world with reliable, compliant payroll, and great local benefits and perks.
Certified Corporation
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