Globalization Partners Review: Is It Right for Your Business in 2022?
Charlette has over 10 years of experience in accounting and finance and 2 years of partnering with HR leaders on freelance projects. She uses this extensive experience to answer your questions about payroll.
Robie has more than five years of content writing experience and specializes in writing about payroll and human resources software for small businesses.
This article is part of a larger series on Payroll Services.
Globalization Partners is a worldwide employer of record (EoR) for foreign employees. It onboards employees, handles payroll and compliance, pays in-country taxes at the local level, and more. With services available in 187 countries, Globalization Partners is optimal for businesses with plans to expand operations across various global markets. It has a contractor package (monthly fees start at $49 per worker) if you need to hire and pay global contractors, as well as global recruiting and EoR services that are custom priced. Real-world users also unanimously praise its customer support.
Globalization Partners
What We Like
- Local compliance and tax support
- Payroll processing in 187 countries
- PEO and EoR services available
- Excellent customer support
What's Missing
- Pricing isn’t all transparent
- Requires two-month advance payroll deposit
- No learning management programs
Deciding Factors
- Ease of use: Its end-to-end platform is generally easy to use, although you need basic knowledge on how to pay international employees.
- Pricing:
- G-P Contractor: Starts at $49 per contractor monthly: includes tools for hiring, managing, and paying international contractors
- G-P Recruit: Custom-priced; this solution grants you access to recruiting specialists to help you find qualified candidates in key locations globally
- Global employment platform: Custom-priced; includes full access to its Global Employment Platform to help you manage HR and payroll processes
- Customer support: Globalization Partners has a responsive support team and provides its clients with 24/7 access to in-country and global HR experts
What We Recommend Globalization Partners For
Globalization Partners claims a 98% customer satisfaction rate—and after researching its features and comparing it to similar providers offering EoR services, I agree it’s a strong service for businesses that need a knowledgeable third party to handle their international employees. It offers payroll and hiring services in nearly 190 countries and provides an end-to-end platform with essential tools to support the entire lifecycle of both global employees and contractors. While its pricing is mostly custom, its expansive global reach and services are valuable to companies expanding overseas.
Overall, Globalization Partners is best for:
- Businesses expanding into other countries: Globalization Partners makes it easy to onboard talent in 187 countries without setting up an international branch. It also handles payroll and tax management for global employees. Notably, Globalization Partners ranked in our top recommended international payroll services for its international compliance and digital asset protection.
- ADP TotalSource customers considering hiring support staff overseas: If you already use ADP TotalSource as your domestic professional employer organization (PEO) service provider, you can take advantage of its partnership with Globalization Partners if you need to hire foreign employees or send local employees overseas for special projects. Since the two companies are now working together, adding on a service or switching completely should be fairly simple.
When We Don’t Recommend Globalization Partners
- Businesses needing services for training or career development: Globalization Partners does not offer training or learning and development features. If this functionality is important to you, consider Rippling, as it has a feature-rich platform that also includes learning management and international contractor payment tools.
- Domestic businesses: Globalization Partners is designed to handle out-of-country hires and payroll for you. It may be more than you need (and more expensive) than in-country PEOs. If you need an HRIS system for a company with only US-based employees, check out our best HRIS software buyer’s guide. If you’re more interested in payroll solutions, our top payroll service picks will be useful.
- Businesses hiring contractors only: While Globalization Partners can handle international payroll for contractors, there are less expensive services that do this. Look at Remote—it offers a contractor-only payroll package that’s priced at $29 per contractor monthly (as of this writing).
- Budget-conscious businesses that need global payroll: If you need strong but reasonably priced services, check out Papaya Global. It only charges $20 per employee for global payroll—plus, it is highly ranked among international payroll providers.
Looking for something different? Read our guides on the best PEO services or the best international payroll and HR services to find a service or software that’s right for your small business.
Top Globalization Partners Alternatives
 |  |  |
|---|---|---|
Best for: Businesses looking for reasonably-priced global payroll services | Best for: Companies that hire refugees and contractors | Best for: Large international companies |
Contractor payroll fee from: $25 per worker monthly | Contractor payroll fee from: $29 per worker monthly | Contractor payroll fee from: Custom-priced |
If you’ve narrowed your search down to a few payroll providers but still can’t decide, check out our guide on choosing the best payroll solution for help.
Globalization Partners Pricing
Since Our Last Update:
While most of Globalization Partners’ plans remain custom-priced, the provider has released the starter fees for its G-P Contractor solution, which costs $49 per contractor monthly.
The G-P Contractor module is perfect for companies that employ international contractors for short- and long-term projects. With monthly fees that start at $49 per worker, this solution lets you pay and hire contractors in 187 countries.
For its other modules (G-P Recruit and G-P Employee) and services, you need to contact the provider’s sales team. A representative will discuss your needs and break down pricing for you. Note that Globalization Partners’ pricing depends on a wide variety of factors, from country to employee salary, so be sure you understand it before signing anything.
Globalization Partners Features
Globalization Partners’ dashboard (Source: Globalization Partners)
Globalization Partners acts as an EoR, meaning it takes on the legal responsibilities for managing your international employees. It offers excellent services for payroll, onboarding, and other HR concerns—but take note that you are still in charge of training, mentoring, and performance management. Here are some of its essential features:
Payroll
As an EoR, Globalization Partners takes the payroll headache from you. You can track time and attendance, as well as approve payrolls automatically if nothing changed from the last payroll, or go in and make changes. It ensures that you are following all the needed rules for tax withholdings, PTO, benefits, and more, and calculates the costs of payroll. Then, it sends the payroll for you to approve on the schedule you set (and as conforms to local laws).
Globalization Partners can pay employees in up to 150 currencies. (Source: Globalization Partners)
Once you approve payroll, employees are paid in their local currencies by direct deposit or check, and Globalization Partners sends you a single bill for the entire payroll. Globalization Partners pays contractors as well as employees.
Benefits
The online “Globalpedia” not only lets you know the required and voluntary benefits expected in a country—from maternity leave to stock options—but also recommends how much you should add to salaries to cover these benefits. As a global EoR, Globalization Partners can secure enterprise-level benefits packages for employees at competitive prices. It ensures the benefits meet the country’s requirements and offers you a choice of packages. It then manages the programs, both in payroll and execution.
You select the country, then Globalization Partners leads you through the pre-selected benefits you can offer. (Source: Globalization Partners)
Because benefits vary by nation, Globalization Partners does not list what services it offers. Contact its team with specific questions about the country you are interested in. It does endeavor to provide packages that make you attractive to job candidates in that area. Your rep will help you determine what’s commonly offered so that you remain competitive.
Hiring & Onboarding
It’s easy to expand to other countries with Globalization Partners. While it offers access to recruiting specialists who can manage your in-country hiring needs, you have the option to find your new employees. If you choose to handle hiring yourself, Globalization Partners will ensure you have a country-specific hiring package to offer candidates to make you a good choice. It also provides country-specific offer templates so you can get started on the right foot. It even has a team of lawyers specializing in international law to draw up employee contracts.
Globalization Partners has a six-step process when adding new team members to its platform. (Source: Globalization Partners)
Once hired, Globalization Partners handles onboarding, paperwork, compliance issues, and more. Once the new hire signs the contract, it leads them through the onboarding, including getting their information and having them select benefits from the ones you’ve chosen to offer. One bonus feature is that its local HR representative will call your new hire, so they have a personal connection to the person they can contact with questions. You only have to worry about work assignments and supervision.
Compliance-focused HR
Globalization Partners focuses on international tax, law, and finance expertise in areas of HR as well as payroll. This is important not only to keep you on the right side of international laws but also to give your employee the best experience.
You can learn about the laws and regulations of countries through Globalization Partners’ in-app country reports. (Source: Globalization Partners)
Globalization Partners has experts in every location so that you can get experience from people on the ground. They can help with hiring, managing, and even terminating an employee. Another advantage when working with this provider is that you and your employees have access to services regardless of the time zone or language. However, it only offers these services for employees hired outside of your country (this is expected for an EoR).
PEO Software
The PEO software is where you manage your employees. You can find their personal information, such as contact information, salary, benefits, time off, and the like. You will also see and approve payroll on this system as well as use it for country research.
Manage employees in any country through Globalization Partner’s PEO software. (Source: Globalization Partners).
Real-world users say the software is easy to use and modern. Globalization Partners provides training and help articles. It also has a wide range of payroll and HR reports.
Partnered with ADP TotalSource
This image from ADP/Globalization Partners brochure illustrates their roles.
(Source: ADP)
Globalization Partners has had a strong working relationship with ADP. In 2020, it won ADP’s Rising Star Award. In February 2021, it announced its partnership with ADP TotalSource, a popular PEO service, allowing US businesses using ADP easier access to a global EoR. ADP TotalSource users can take advantage of this partnership not only for hiring in other countries but also if their American employees need to work outside of the US on a permanent or semi-permanent basis. See the ADP/Globalization Partners factsheet for details.
Globalization Partners Ease of Use
- Setup help
- Dedicated team of local experts
- Training articles
- Easy-to-use website
- 24/7 year-round customer support
- In-country specialists
Globalization Partners does its best to make hiring, onboarding, and maintaining international employees easy. As an EoR, it handles many of the tax and legal issues for you, which is a huge plus. The website itself is straightforward, clean, and easy to navigate. You’ll find country profiles as well as employee information on the site, so you can do research if you are looking to expand into a new country or check on laws in your existing areas.
Globalization Partners sets you up and onboards in as little as a couple of days. It offers training articles and an in-app help section. You also get a dedicated team of local experts to help if you have questions.
What Users Think About Globalization Partners
| PROS | CONS |
|---|---|
| Helpful, timely support | Some difficulty contacting the team |
| Easy to set up | Could use more reports |
| Knowledgeable customer reps | Expensive |
I found fewer than 100 Globalization Partners reviews on trusted third-party review sites, but of those, the provider received glowing praise and very few complaints. The biggest concern was not being able to quickly reach the support team, but these comprised only a handful of complaints, and even then, the overall service was deemed excellent.
A few users also commented that it’s expensive—but they did not specify what providers they are comparing it to. However, reviewers said that they were satisfied with the pricing explanations given and that Globalization Partners even adapted its fees to their company’s budget.
The Globalization Partners reviews came mostly from midsize companies (50–1,000 employees), although two small businesses gave the service 5 and 4 stars. I was impressed that the company took the time to respond to each review with a personal note rather than offer a generic response.
At the time of publication, Globalization Partners earned the following scores on popular user review sites:
- G2: 4.7 out of 5 based on 60 reviews
- Trustpilot: 4.5 out of 5 based on nearly 20 reviews
Bottom Line
While an expensive international payroll and HR service, according to real-world users, Globalization Partners nonetheless is worth the cost. Acting as an employer of record, it can help you manage employees from hiring to termination and keep you compliant with local laws in about 190 countries—all while offering easy-to-use software. Further, it has excellent user reviews and boasts a 98% customer satisfaction rate.
Sign up for a Globalization Partners demo today.
