.png)
Direct hire is an offshore hiring model that lets you build a dedicated offshore team that works directly with your business - without the traditional BPO or offshore staffing agency model.
With Pear Tree, you hire skilled professionals from the Philippines or South Africa. You choose who joins your team, manage their day-to-day work and know exactly what they earn.
Pear Tree handles offshore recruitment, payroll and local employment compliance through a Contractor of Record (COR) or Employer of Record (EOR) arrangement.
Their salary is passed through at zero markup. Pear Tree charges a separate, transparent monthly service fee.
Direct hire, BPOs and offshore outsourcing can all give businesses access to overseas talent, but the employment structure, cost model and working relationship are different.
In a traditional BPO model, the provider employs the offshore worker and sells their time or capacity to your business at a bundled monthly rate. With direct hire, the professional is dedicated to your business and you manage them as part of your team.
Traditional offshore staffing providers commonly charge one blended monthly rate covering salary, overheads and agency margin. This can make it difficult to see how much of your monthly fee reaches the employee.
Under Pear Tree's direct hire model, the offshore professional's salary and Pear Tree's service fee are separated. Salary is passed through at zero markup.
“Direct hire” can also refer to permanent recruitment, where an agency finds an employee, charges a placement fee and then exits the relationship.
Pear Tree uses direct hire to describe an offshore hiring model where you retain the working relationship with your team member while Pear Tree continues to manage local payroll and compliance.
Direct hire isn't a managed service. Pear Tree doesn't manage your employee's workload or sit between you and your offshore team. You manage their role, priorities and performance just as you would with another member of your team.
The biggest differences between direct hire and traditional offshore staffing come down to salary transparency, agency fees and the relationship you build with your offshore employee.
With direct hire, you know exactly what your offshore team member earns. Their agreed salary is passed through at zero markup, so both sides can see what the employee is paid.
Instead of one bundled staffing rate, salary and service fees are separated. This means you can see the cost of the employee and the cost of Pear Tree's service independently.
Your offshore employee works with your business rather than as part of a shared pool of outsourced staff. Pear Tree says 90% of its placements remain with their client after 12 months.
Pear Tree's direct hire model combines offshore recruitment with ongoing payroll and compliance support.
1. We recruit your offshore employee.
Pear Tree sources and screens candidates in the Philippines and South Africa. For each role, we typically screen 200–400 applicants before presenting a shortlist of three to five candidates.
2. You choose who you hire.
You interview the shortlisted candidates and choose who you want to join your team.
3. Your employee works directly with your business.
You manage their role, workload, performance and day-to-day communication.
4. Pear Tree handles local payroll and compliance.
Your team member is engaged through either a Contractor of Record (COR) or Employer of Record (EOR) structure.
5. You receive transparent monthly costs.
Your invoice separates your team member's wages from Pear Tree's flat monthly service fee.
The cost of hiring an offshore employee through Pear Tree consists of the employee's salary, a one-off recruitment fee and a flat monthly service fee.
Employee salary: Passed through at zero markup.
Contractor of Record (COR): $400 AUD per person, per month.
Employer of Record (EOR): $500 AUD per person, per month.
Because the service fee is fixed rather than calculated as a percentage of salary, Pear Tree's fee doesn't increase when you give your offshore employee a pay rise.
The talent's wages
passed through, zero markup
Pear Tree service fee, per person
$400 COR / $500 EOR
Pear Tree supports two ways of engaging offshore team members: Contractor of Record (COR) and Employer of Record (EOR).
A Contractor of Record arrangement engages the offshore professional as an independent contractor and manages the contracting, payments and associated administration.
An Employer of Record arrangement employs the offshore professional locally through Pear Tree and manages payroll, statutory contributions and local employment requirements.
The appropriate structure depends on the role, working arrangement and local employment requirements in the country where your team member is based.
Pear Tree recruits offshore professionals in the Philippines and South Africa, two established talent markets for Australian and New Zealand businesses.
Available talent spans roles across administration, finance, accounting, customer service, marketing, construction support, estimating and other professional functions.
Pear Tree handles recruitment locally and provides the COR or EOR infrastructure required to engage and pay your chosen team member.
Pear Tree helps Australian and New Zealand businesses hire dedicated offshore employees in the Philippines and South Africa without establishing their own overseas entity.
The direct hire model remains the same: Pear Tree recruits and handles the local employment infrastructure, while the offshore professional works directly with your business.
A Sydney mortgage brokerage came to us in early 2025 with loan processing backed up and brokers doing paperwork on Friday mornings. They needed another full-time administrator, and Sydney salaries meant it was not going to happen.They made three offshore hires in twelve months. The second and third were not sold to them. They asked.
Atelier Wealth, Sydney · mortgage broking
.png)
