Employ
RecruitSilversea: Rebuilding a China team after switching EOR
Silversea spent two years with a local Chinese EOR before switching to Remote People. The result: smoother payroll, a responsive account team and the recruitment and office support its Shanghai hires actually needed.
Sectors Shipping · Containers · Global Logistics
Challenge Fix a broken China EOR setup — payroll, recruitment, account management — and rebuild the Shanghai team.
Location
Spain
Industry
Shipping
Company size
30+
Founding Year
2016
With Remote People since
2021
- Silversea’s first attempt at EOR didn’t scale
- Why provider choice matters when hiring in China
- Beyond payroll: Remote People’s recruiting support in China
- From 2 to 5 employees with more to come
- Silversea’s favorite features
- How Silversea chose Remote People over their previous provider
- Frequently Asked questions
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Let Remote People handle payroll, compliance, and HR admin worldwide so you can focus on building your team.
Silversea’s first attempt at EOR didn’t scale
Silversea, a leading provider of shipping containers worldwide, needed a presence in Asia. From their head office in Spain, they hired their first employee in Shanghai in 2019 using a local Employer of Record (not Remote People), where they stayed for just over 2 years.
Hiring employees with Remote People was a night-and-day experience. Suddenly, the payroll was smooth, the account manager was responsive, and the additional services (like recruitment and office space) gave our team members the flexibility they needed to be successful.
Ana Mont’ Alverne Global People Manager at Silversea.
Why provider choice matters when hiring in China
Silversea was planning a major expansion for their China office (and elsewhere) and needed a partner with a proven global hiring record to help them achieve their goals. They decided to hire a Global People Manager at HQ who saw the need to change the EOR provider to support this mission.
Above everything else, Silversea values the satisfaction of their team: With employee experience in mind, Silversea began searching for a better alternative who could accurately and efficiently provide the quality of service they were looking for, and with a human touch. That’s when they discovered Remote People.
Beyond payroll: Remote People’s recruiting support in China
Remote People is an EOR – but since its beginning has provided a full-suite of professional HR services, including executive-search recruitment. For hiring their third employee in China, they relied on Remote People’s professional China-based recruitment team to get the job done.
Silversea’s HR lead had more than 7 years recruitment experience before her role at Silversea, so knew exactly how the process should go:
The speed and quality of Remote People’s recruitment team was impressive. We identified and onboarded our new team member much sooner than expected, and the process was smooth. Remote People really took care of everything. After this experience, I knew we could trust Remote People with all aspects of our hiring project.
Ana Mont’ Alverne Global People Manager at Silversea.
After recruiting their employee, he joined Remote People’s downtown Shanghai office where he received a warm welcome and a desk next to his colleagues.
From 2 to 5 employees with more to come
After the second employee was onboarded, Silversea decided they could begin to scale their operations with Remote People as a trusted partner.
Over the next 6 months, they hired 3 more team members in the Shanghai office, with several more hires planned through the next year in China alone.
Silversea will also seek to hire outside of China & Spain – and for them, Remote People is a clear choice of partner in any location they seek to hire without a subsidiary. They know they can count on Remote People to make employment compliant, the payroll smooth, and their employees feel like home.
Silversea’s favorite features
Silversea has many positive things to say about Remote People’s service.
For the Remote People platform, Silversea is pleased with its transparency and how easy it is to provide expense reimbursements and commissions to their employees:
“Remote People provided all relevant information about Chinese labor law – and the platform itself is super friendly to use” says Ana Mont’Alverne.
And if there are any payroll queries, the platform will show an itemized list for each deduction, allowing for an unparalleled level of transparency.
For the service itself, Silversea identified two areas where Remote People really stood out: Dedicated account managers: Account managers at Remote People serve as the main point of contact for clients. Account managers are there to help the employee with any inquiries they have and make the process smooth for both them and for the client. Silversea appreciates the fact that the account managers are local and therefore understand the hiring culture, but also the fact that they work for a global company and can bring that international perspective. This dynamic means Silversea feels comfortable asking questions surrounding work culture in China (for example, when they want to send gifts or surprises to employees). Account managers also form deep relationships with the client employees in-country, which leads to…
Employee care: Silversea is a company that cares deeply about their employees. They needed a partner that shares this perspective, and they found that with Remote People. That’s why Remote People invests so heavily in its global hubs, including office space and meeting rooms where client-employees can arrange meetings. Silversea will often receive photos from their employees in China of office events, gifts provided at holidays, or the amazing views from the 33F Shanghai office with a complete overview of downtown. As Silversea said, “Employees who send photos like this are happy employees!”
How Silversea chose Remote People over their previous provider
Silversea feels like they made the right choice to switch providers. If someone is considering partnering with Remote People, Silversea would offer the following advice:
We would warmly recommend Remote People to any company needing a global hiring partner. Quick responses to our queries, stellar recruitment support, and an overall excellent level of service are the Remote People touchstones. If you need a fast, compliant, international hire, give Remote People a try!
Ana Mont’ Alverne Global People Manager at Silversea.
Frequently Asked questions
The best Employer of Record (EOR) providers offer the following:
- A modern, intuitive platform to manage employee leave, expenses, and payroll.
Add-on services like international recruitment, visa assistance, and international office space, optional for companies that need an extra edge. - Truly global coverage. That means if you want to hire in Spain, Canada, China, and Vietnam this week, you can. And you should have the added benefit of paying all employee salaries through one invoice.
- Genuine local knowledge. A good EOR will have people based in the country you’re expanding to, and their legal team will be well-versed and well-experienced in the law.
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Real Essentials needed Quality Inspectors in China, India and Egypt — three countries where they had zero local contacts. Remote People sourced, vetted, hired and onboarded the full team through one engagement.
CHINTEC: Solar EPC hires in three countries, on schedule
CHINTEC ensured European solar projects stayed on schedule through coordinated execution and delivery management.
Volac: 3 KAM hires in Europe — and a stalled Germany role, unblocked
Volac successfully filled three Key Account Manager roles across Europe, including a previously stalled search in Germany.
MyTreasur-e: A customer-facing team on three continents — no entities
MyTreasur-e built a global customer-facing team across three continents without needing local legal entities.
ingenium Trading: An engineering bench in 5 countries, no quality drop
Ingenium Trading scaled its engineering team across five countries while maintaining high quality standards.
ORBCOMM: First China hire, no local entity
ORBCOMM successfully made its first hire in China without an existing local presence.
Hiring non-EU talent in France: 42 days, not 200
France is facing real talent shortages in its most strategically important sectors.
Confrérie des Domaines: French wine into Greater China, no entity
Wine export company Confrérie des Domaines used Employer Of Record (EOR) services to successfully break into the China market without an entity establishment.
HomeToGo: Scaling APAC hiring through Covid, entity-free
HomeToGo used Remote People to scale its global workforce, navigate the pandemic with agility, and expand across Asia-Pacific and Europe without the burden of setting up local entities.
Firecell: A developer in India, hired in days not months
When immigration delays threatened a key hire in India, Firecell used Remote People to onboard the developer within days, staying compliant while keeping its product roadmap on track.
IVC: Into the Australian market without a local entity
With a footprint in 80+ countries, IVC used Remote People to enter Australia faster, reduce risk and cost, and support its long-term global growth strategy.
Baron Philippe de Rothschild: From China to Thailand on EOR
Baron Philippe de Rothschild scaled in China and expanded across Asia by relying on Remote People for compliant hiring, reliable payroll, and local expertise.
PVcase: Solar engineers across the US, Europe & Middle East
PVcase scaled its global team across the US, Europe, and the Middle East using Remote People’s EOR services, enabling fast international hiring without setting up local entities.
