10 Best Employer of Record in the Philippines 2026

The best Employer of Record (EOR) services in the Philippines help you hire skilled professionals fast, stay compliant with local labor and tax laws, and run payroll smoothly, all without the need to set up a local entity.

Whether you’re already managing remote staff here or just starting to explore the idea, handling everything legally and on time can get tricky if you’re not used to how agencies like the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) or Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) work.

Between the paperwork, tax registrations, and the cost of maintaining a local business entity, global hiring can become more complicated than expected.

That’s where EOR services come in. They take over the compliance and HR side of things, letting you focus on the actual work, growing your business and supporting your team.

After spending years comparing global EOR providers and reviewing how they operate in the Philippines, I put together this guide to help you make the right choice.

You’ll find insights on what to expect from EOR services in the country, common compliance challenges, and what to look for in a provider that can match your hiring goals, whether you’re onboarding one employee or scaling a larger remote team.

Why use an EOR in the Philippines

Hiring one person in the Philippines means registering with five agencies. The employee needs an SSS number, a PhilHealth membership, a Pag-IBIG account and a BIR tax registration, and the employer itself must be registered with DOLE. None of that is hard in isolation, but it recurs every month on filing calendars that do not align with each other.

The cost side behaves in a way that catches finance teams out.

SSS runs at 15 percent of the monthly salary credit with the employer carrying 10 of those points, PhilHealth sits at 5 percent split evenly, and Pag-IBIG caps at ₱200 per side. Employer contributions stop climbing above a ₱35,000 salary credit and ₱100,000 basic pay. A flat percentage quote therefore overstates the load on a senior hire and understates it on a junior one.

Termination is the sharper risk. Philippine employment is not at will, and a redundancy requires 30 days written notice to both the employee and DOLE, plus separation pay of one month per year of service. Procedural errors turn a lawful dismissal into an illegal one, and an EOR carries that exposure as the legal employer.

Seventeen regional wage boards also set their own floors on their own schedules. An employer working from a single national figure will be wrong somewhere, which is why Metro Manila moved to ₱755 a day on 25 July 2026 while most other regions did not move at all.

Best Philippines EOR Solutions: Quick Comparison

We compared the ten EOR providers operating in the Philippines on the factors that decide a compliant hire: whether each employs through its own registered Philippine entity, how quickly they onboard, whether payroll runs locally in pesos, and what work permit support they have confirmed for foreign nationals.

Entity ownership carries more weight here than in most markets, since a subcontracted chain puts a third party between you and the employee at the point where Philippine termination rules are least forgiving. Payroll handling matters for a second reason: regional wage orders such as NCR-27 move on their own schedule, so a provider working from a single national wage figure will get Metro Manila wrong.

Top Philippines EOR Solutions in Detail

The ten providers below are evaluated on Philippine execution rather than global footprint. Each card sets out the entity model, how SSS remittance and BIR withholding are handled, onboarding speed, and what the provider actually absorbs around 13th month pay and separation obligations. Strengths and the confirm list come from verified review data and our own research, never from vendor submissions.

Additional EOR Solutions in Philippines

These providers also support Philippine hiring and are worth reviewing alongside the main list, particularly if your requirements lean toward Asia-Pacific depth or a specific pricing tier.

How employment works in the Philippines

Philippine employment runs on Presidential Decree No. 442, the Labor Code, and it is more protective than most markets foreign employers arrive from. There is no at-will employment. Once someone becomes a regular employee they hold security of tenure, and ending the relationship requires either a just cause tied to their conduct or an authorised cause tied to your business.

Five agencies touch every hire. The employee needs an SSS number, PhilHealth membership, a Pag-IBIG account and BIR tax registration. The employer registers with DOLE. Each carries its own filing calendar, and none of them align.

Contracts and probation

Employment contracts must be in writing and state position, compensation, and whether the engagement is probationary, regular, project-based or fixed-term. Probation is capped at six months. Miss that window without a valid termination and the employee becomes regular by operation of law, with full tenure protection, regardless of what the contract says.

The standards an employee must meet to qualify for regular status have to be communicated at the start of probation. Applying criteria you never disclosed is a common and expensive mistake.

Payroll and statutory contributions

Payroll runs twice monthly in most Philippine workplaces. Three mandatory contributions sit on top of salary, and each behaves differently.

SSS runs at 15 percent of the monthly salary credit under Republic Act No. 11199, split 10 points employer and 5 employee. The salary credit is capped at ₱35,000, so the employer share tops out at ₱3,500 plus a ₱30 Employees’ Compensation premium the employer carries alone.

PhilHealth sits at 5 percent of basic pay, split evenly, with a ₱10,000 floor and a ₱100,000 ceiling. Pag-IBIG takes 2 percent from each side on a maximum fund salary of ₱10,000 under HDMF Circular No. 460, capping both shares at ₱200.

BIR withholding on employee income is deducted at source and remitted monthly. The 13th month payment under Presidential Decree No. 851 is not a bonus. It is one twelfth of basic salary earned during the year, mandatory, and due on or before 24 December.

Employer statutory contributions in the Philippines, 2026

Contribution

Employer rate

Employee rate

Employer monthly cap

SSS (social security)

10% of salary credit

5% of salary credit

₱3,500

SSS Employees’ Compensation

₱10 or ₱30 flat

None

₱30

PhilHealth (health insurance)

2.5% of basic pay

2.5% of basic pay

₱2,500

Pag-IBIG (housing fund)

2% of fund salary

2% of fund salary

₱200

13th month pay

One twelfth of basic salary earned

None

Uncapped

HMO (private health cover)

Not statutory

Not statutory

Quote required

Total employer ceiling

Reached at a ₱35,000 salary credit and ₱100,000 basic pay

₱6,230

Sources: SSS under RA 11199, PhilHealth 2026 rate, HDMF Circular No. 460, PD 851. Verified July 2026. © EmployerRecords

What a Philippine hire actually costs

Here is the thing most cost calculators get wrong. Employer contributions stop rising once salary passes ₱35,000 for SSS and ₱100,000 for PhilHealth, but 13th month pay scales with salary forever. The combined load is therefore regressive, and quoting a flat percentage misleads in both directions.

On a ₱25,000 salary the statutory and 13th month load runs close to 22 percent. At ₱60,000 it falls to roughly 17 percent. At ₱120,000 it drops to about 13.5 percent, because the employer contribution has hit its ceiling of ₱6,230 a month and stopped moving.

None of that includes HMO. Private health cover is not statutory, but it is close to universal in professional hiring here, and a candidate comparing your offer against a local employer will check for it. Get the premium quoted in pesos before you build a budget.

What a Philippine hire really costs per month, 2026

Cost line

Junior

Mid-level

Senior

Monthly basic salary

₱25,000

₱60,000

₱120,000

SSS employer share plus EC

₱2,530

₱3,530

₱3,530

PhilHealth employer share

₱625

₱1,500

₱2,500

Pag-IBIG employer share

₱200

₱200

₱200

13th month accrual

₱2,083

₱5,000

₱10,000

Employer add-on total

₱5,438

₱10,230

₱16,230

Load as a share of salary

21.8%

17.1%

13.5%

Total peso employment cost

₱30,438

₱70,230

₱136,230

HMO cover

Not statutory, but expected in professional hiring. Obtain a peso quote before budgeting.

EOR platform fee

Billed separately in USD, from $199 to $699 per employee per month depending on provider.

Calculated from 2026 statutory rates. SSS employer share caps at a ₱35,000 salary credit and PhilHealth at ₱100,000 basic pay, which is why the percentage load falls as salary rises. Excludes overtime, night differential and HMO. © EmployerRecords

Minimum wage and regional wage orders

There is no national minimum wage. Seventeen Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Boards set their own floors on their own schedules under RA 6727, which means a single national payroll setting is never safe.

Metro Manila moved most recently. Wage Order No. NCR-27, issued 23 June 2026 and published on 9 July, took effect on 25 July 2026 and raised the non-agriculture floor from ₱695 to ₱755 a day. Agriculture, retail and service establishments with 15 or fewer workers, and manufacturers with fewer than 10, moved from ₱658 to ₱718. A second tranche on 20 January 2027 takes those to ₱780 and ₱743. The ₱85 total is the largest single adjustment the NCR board has issued.

Two practical notes. DOLE initially announced 19 July, and a good deal of syndicated coverage still carries that date, but the signed order’s own effectivity annotation sets it at 25 July. And when a floor jumps ₱60, pay bands above it compress. Article 124 obliges employers to correct that distortion, and the obligation falls on the employer of record, not on you.

Working hours and premium pay

The standard day is eight hours with a mandatory rest day each week. Overtime carries a 25 percent premium on an ordinary day and 30 percent on a rest day or special day. Night shift differential of 10 percent applies between 10pm and 6am, which matters if your Manila team covers US hours. Work on a regular holiday pays 200 percent, and on a special non-working day 130 percent.

Holidays for 2026 come from Proclamation No. 1006, signed 3 September 2025. Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha are proclaimed separately once the dates are determined.

Leave and statutory benefits

The statutory floor is low and misleading. Article 95 grants five days of Service Incentive Leave after one year of service, and that is the entire legal minimum. Market practice for professional roles is 10 to 15 days, and an EOR quoting five will lose you candidates.

Beyond that: 105 days of paid maternity leave under RA 11210 with 15 more for solo parents, seven days of paternity leave under RA 8187, seven days of solo parent leave, up to two months of special leave for women following gynaecological surgery under RA 9710, and ten days of VAWC leave.

Termination and separation pay

Dismissal follows one of two routes and they are not interchangeable.

A just cause under Article 297 covers serious misconduct, fraud, wilful disobedience or gross neglect. It requires the two-notice rule, a first notice specifying the grounds, a genuine opportunity for the employee to respond, then a notice of decision. No separation pay is owed.

An authorised cause under Article 298 covers redundancy, retrenchment, installation of labour-saving devices and closure. It requires 30 days written notice served on both the employee and DOLE, and it carries separation pay. Getting the procedure wrong converts a lawful dismissal into an illegal one, with reinstatement and back wages as the exposure.

Notice and separation pay by termination ground

Ground

Notice required

Separation pay

Statute

Just cause: misconduct, fraud, wilful disobedience, gross neglect

Two-notice rule plus a hearing

None

Article 297

Redundancy

30 days to employee and DOLE

1 month per year of service, or 1 month, whichever is higher

Article 298

Installation of labour-saving devices

30 days to employee and DOLE

1 month per year of service, or 1 month, whichever is higher

Article 298

Retrenchment to prevent losses

30 days to employee and DOLE

½ month per year of service, or 1 month, whichever is higher

Article 298

Closure not caused by serious losses

30 days to employee and DOLE

½ month per year of service, or 1 month, whichever is higher

Article 298

Disease preventing continued employment

30 days to employee and DOLE

½ month per year of service, or 1 month, whichever is higher

Article 299

Closure caused by serious business losses

30 days to employee and DOLE

None

Article 298

Probationary employees

Probation is capped at six months. An employee not validly terminated within that period becomes regular by operation of law and acquires full security of tenure.

Source: Labor Code of the Philippines (PD 442), Articles 297 to 299, and DOLE Department Order No. 147, series of 2015. Separation pay for authorised causes is generally exempt from income tax. Verified July 2026. © EmployerRecords

Hiring foreign nationals

An expatriate hire needs an Alien Employment Permit from DOLE and then a 9(g) Pre-Arranged Employment Visa from the Bureau of Immigration. Department Order No. 248, series of 2025, in force since 10 February 2025, rewrote the rules.

Employers now face a Labour Market Test, a new Economic Needs Test, and a mandatory Understudy Training Program in priority sectors. Previously exempt foreign nationals must hold a DOLE Certificate of Exemption.

Budget two to three months end to end. Note that some published guidance describes DO 248 as a 2026 rule. It is series of 2025 and has been operative for well over a year.

Permanent establishment and contracting risk

Two exposures deserve attention.

The first is permanent establishment. Employing through an EOR generally avoids creating a taxable presence, but the protection is not absolute. If your Manila hire negotiates or concludes contracts on your behalf, tax authorities may treat that as a dependent agent PE regardless of who signs the payslip.

The second is specific to the Philippines and rarely discussed. Article 106 of the Labor Code and DOLE Department Order No. 174, series of 2017, prohibit labour-only contracting, where a contractor supplies workers without substantial capital or control over the work.

An EOR arrangement, in which the client directs the work and the EOR supplies no tools or capital, sits closer to that definition than buyers usually realise. We are not aware of an EOR being reclassified on this basis, and reputable providers structure around it, but it is a live question and the Philippines is a less settled EOR jurisdiction than its popularity suggests. Ask any shortlisted provider how they address DO 174 specifically.

When an EOR is the wrong choice

An EOR stops making sense somewhere between 15 and 25 Philippine employees, depending on salary levels, because the per-employee fee eventually exceeds the running cost of a subsidiary. It is also the wrong instrument if you need a physical office, if the role requires holding a Philippine licence or permit your provider cannot sponsor, or if your hire will negotiate contracts and trigger the PE question anyway.

EOR Vs Own Entity

Most country pages frame this as speed against cost. The Philippines puts a harder gate in front of both.

A foreign-owned company serving the domestic market needs US$200,000 in paid-in equity under the Foreign Investments Act. It drops to US$100,000 with advanced technology status, a startup endorsement, or at least 15 Filipino employees forming a majority of the workforce. RA 11647 cut that from 50 in 2022, and plenty of published guidance still runs the old number. The threshold means capital actually remitted, not the figure on your articles of incorporation.

One exception changes the maths. An export enterprise, exporting 60 percent or more of its output, faces no FIA minimum. If your Manila team builds software for a parent company abroad, the subsidiary may qualify. Whether yours does is a question for Philippine counsel.

Registration runs through SEC, BIR, SSS, PhilHealth, Pag-IBIG, DOLE and the local government unit. Three to six months before anyone is paid. Then it never stops: monthly and quarterly BIR filings, audited accounts, an annual SEC filing, and eventually a dissolution and tax clearance process slower than the setup was.

The EOR side is just arithmetic. Ten hires at $400 is $48,000 a year. At $599 it is $71,880.

Switch somewhere past 15 employees, but run your own numbers.