Our verdict:
Horizons is a leading Global Professional Employer Organization (global PEO) and Employer of Record (EOR), able to hire and pay employees in any country in the world, at any time. Horizons stands apart from competitors through genuine local expertise in its countries of operation.
Pros
- Hire and pay in 185+ countries
- 360° global workforce solution, including visa support and recruitment
Cons
- Payroll-only solution not currently available
185+
$299+ per employee
ACH or SWIFT/Wire Transfer
Horizons is a leading Global Professional Employer Organization (global PEO) and Employer of Record (EOR) — they enable client companies to hire and pay employees in any country in the world, at any time. As there is no need to set up a local legal entity, Horizons estimates that it saves companies around 85 percent of the cost of hiring overseas.
To find out all about the Horizons global hiring platform, check out our 2023 review covering their key features, pros and cons, pricing, and their unique offerings in the international EOR marketplace.
Overview
Horizons (also known as ‘New Horizons Global Partners’ or ‘New Horizons’) is an international hiring SaaS that offers a 360° employment platform: From recruitment and visas, to hiring and onboarding, and through any HR issues that arise, Horizons takes care of it all.
Key elements of the Horizons platform include:
- Global Employer of Record solutions in 185+ countries — Horizons hires international employees under compliant local labor contracts and takes care of employment compliance. The employees remain under the direct supervision and control of the client company
- Payroll processing in multiple currencies, wherever the employee is based
- Recruitment support — for those companies that need help acquiring top talent in overseas markets
- A market-leading SaaS platform and app, making it easy to pay invoices, reimburse employee expenses, and have an overview of employee payment
- Contractor payment, in any country, in complete compliance with local regulations
- Global mobility and immigration support, to ensure that employees are hired or transferred on the correct work visas.
Below we look at the Horizons global hiring solution in depth, drawing out its key features, pros and cons, and the unique aspects of their solution which make Horizons a leader in this space.
Key features
1. Employer of Record
Horizons enable global employee hire through an international Employer of Record solution. This means that Horizons becomes the legal employer of a client company’s workforce in whichever country they seek to hire in.
As the legal employer, Horizons becomes responsible for:
- Hiring employees on compliant labor contracts
- Payroll processing including payroll tax and income tax withholding, social contributions, employee benefits, and all other aspects of HR compliance. The client company still remains the direct supervisor of employees and deals with them on a day-to-day basis just as they would with an employee they hired directly
- Administering employee benefits, including health insurance and pension contributions
- Ongoing HR compliance, where issues arise throughout the course of employment, or where it is time for the employment to end.
2. Payroll
The Horizons all-in-one, cloud-based, payroll software simplifies payments to employees anywhere in the world. Horizons ensure that all necessary social contributions are deducted, and that all necessary taxes are remitted to the relevant authorities.
The platform provides the flexibility to easily manage expense reimbursements and one-off payments wherever an employee is located. All employee data is held in compliance with data protection rules, including the GDPR.
3. HR
Horizons works in tandem with client companies to take care of any HR compliance issues that arise throughout the course of employment, including disciplinary and performance issues. In addition, the Horizons SaaS platform means client companies can easily handle:
- Leave management, directly on the platform or app
- Employee benefits, including health insurance. Horizons offers comprehensive global health insurance packages providing a high level of coverage to international employees in 180+ countries.
4. Compliance
Horizons handles all aspects of employment compliance, with local labor law experts ensuring that hiring and HR is consistent with applicable rules and regulations.
Draft employment contracts are vetted by in-house legal talent, and any issues of compliance that arise throughout employment become the responsibility of Horizons.
The Horizons platform incorporates enterprise-level security features, and enforces cyber-security good practices, including 2-factor authentication and strict access privileges.
5. The Horizons platform
Horizons takes care of all HR and payroll matters through the Horizons cloud platform. Key elements include:
- Employee onboarding — approve employee hire at the click of a button
- Employee data management — client businesses can maintain an overview of employee data at all times
- Simple payroll — pay employees in every location each month, with just one click.
All information is easily accessible from the intuitive client dashboard.
Pricing
EOR pricing begins at $299 per employee, per month, depending on the country of hire. This makes it one of the most cost-effective global EORs on the market.
User reviews
We assessed reviews and scores on Trustpilot and G2. The average scores (as of the time of writing) were:
- Trustpilot = 3.9/5 (5 reviews)
- G2 = 4.8/5 (19 reviews).
It should be observed that the reviews were largely positive, with the small number of reviews meaning that lower ratings significantly brought down the average.
Pros and cons
Horizons pros
Benefits of the Horizons suite of global employment solutions include:
- International coverage — Horizons can hire and pay employees in 185+ countries. Few other EORs provide the same level of coverage
- The Horizons SaaS platform — making it easy for client companies to manage employee payments internationally, to review employee information and to process HR and payroll reports
- In-house talent acquisition — most EORs outsource all recruiting to third parties
- Visa support — global mobility, relocation and concierge services can streamline work permit and immigration processes
- Easy contractor payment, alongside employee payment
- Local expertise, with employment law and HR specialists on hand to help with any issues specific to your country of hire.
Horizons cons
Horizons does not currently offer a payroll-only (outsourced payroll) solution for companies that wish to retain their overseas subsidiary. However, Horizons has confirmed that a payroll-only solution is in development and will be released shortly.
Unique Selling Point (USP)
The Horizons USP is genuine local expertise. Most other global PEOs/international EORs provide a one-size-fits-all solution across countries, and do not have in-house legal and local market experts.
Horizons can advise on any matters of local employment law and tap into its local recruitment networks to provide you companies with the best available talent. This is one of the key reasons why Horizons is considered a top 10 EOR provider.
RemotePad Score for Horizons
4.7/5 Our expert score for Horizons
Our team came to this score by considering the following components in the following weightings:
| Employer of Record features | 25% |
| Payroll features | 10% |
| HR features | 10% |
| Compliance features | 10% |
| Platform features | 10% |
| Pricing | 20% |
| User reviews | 15% |
For each component, Horizons received the following score:
| Employer of Record features | 23/25 |
| Payroll features | 9/10 |
| HR features | 10/10 |
| Compliance features | 9/10 |
| Platform features | 10/10 |
| Pricing | 20/20 |
| User reviews | 13/15 |
Top competitors (alternatives)
Top provider for:
IP Protection and compliance
Monthly fee
$599per employee
Top provider for:
HR support
Monthly fee
$770per employee
Horizons — our take
There are three features of Horizons that make it stand out amongst competitors in the field:
- End-to-end employment solutions — few global employment companies are equipped to help you with the full employee lifecycle from recruitment through hiring, onboarding and any other HR issues that arise.
- Genuine expertise, including in-house specialists actually based in the region of hire. No other global PEO has substantial expertise actually based in locations like Shanghai, Berlin, Mumbai or Toronto.
- Cost-effectiveness, with a monthly per-employee fee that beats any competitors that we are aware of.
While Horizons may not be the biggest global PEO/EOR in terms of headcount and marketing budget, it offers an HR tech solution that beats its competitors on nearly every metric.
Businesses of all sizes, and from any industry, can benefit from the support of Horizons when hiring overseas.
FAQ
Horizons is an international remote/hybrid company with regional headquarters in the United States, Germany and China, as well as offices in dozens of other countries.
Both. Horizons is an Employer of Record, which means that it takes care of labor compliance, including employment tax and income tax withholding all over the world. It is also a global Professional Employer Organization (global PEO), which means it takes care of a range of other employment and HR matters, alongside its EOR services.
