Oyster Expert Review, Pricing, Alternatives - 2023

What makes Oyster special is its ability to serve as a platform in over 180 countries globally whereas many payroll and benefits platforms are limited to a handful of countries, making it ideal for global organizations and remote teams.

Oyster is a human resources solution specifically designed with the remote workforce in mind. It enables leaders and HR teams to onboard contractors and employees, in almost any country on earth, manage payroll, and offer local health insurance, paid time off, and other perks, all on one platform.

Using the platform, you’ll be given guidance on the hiring process as well as relevant compliance information anywhere employees live. You can also benefit from Oyster’s EOR offering, which includes employee liability insurance, direction on employee privacy compliance, and intellectual property protection.

We like that Oyster’s pricing is transparent, which is remarkable in an industry that often saves sticker shock for demos/sales calls. Although custom pricing is available, pricing for contractor and employee services is fixed and published on their website which makes their service easy to compare to competitors. Oyster’s chatbot is also remarkably helpful when browsing their website, which can connect you to a sales representative when you are ready.

If you would prefer your business to remain the employer of record for all hires, this platform is likely not a great fit for you. Additionally, if the majority of your employees are located in one country, you won’t experience the full benefit of Oyster so you can do without it.

Quora, Wagestream, Impala, and Grover are some of the companies on Oyster’s long list of customers.

• Compliant global hiring: Oyster takes responsibility for ensuring local compliance with new hires in each location they serve.
• Onboarding: The onboarding process is automated and you can have the Oyster team assist you in it.
• Automated, multi-currency payroll: Oyster can be configured to pay your employees in their local currency, on a certain delivery schedule.
• Benefits administration: Oyster sources local benefit plans for employees in each of your locations.
• Time off management: Employees can request time off on their own through the portal, reducing the admin work your HR team otherwise needs to do.
• Employee document management: The platform offers storage for onboarding documents, employee counseling, and the ability to access and store pay information.
• Automated expense reimbursement: Employees can submit requests for reimbursement through the platform and approvals happen remotely.‍
• Contractor conversion: You can convert contractors to employees using the platform quite easily, without having to reenter information a second time.

Oyster integrates with many of the tools your business already uses, including Xerox, QuickBooks Online, Bamboo HR, Bob, and Greenhouse, and will soon integrate with Oracle, Netsuite, and Expensify. If a product you depend on isn’t listed, you can reach out to the Oyster team using their handy chat feature and a sales representative will assist you.

Oyster pricing starts at $29 per month for each contractor, and between $499-$699 per month for each employee (price per employee depends on the selected country). If your business is looking to scale quickly, custom pricing is also available.

Businesses whose employees either reside in or often move to different countries, as well as businesses looking to hire globally would get the most from Oyster.

Oyster continues to add countries to its service offering as well as additional Integrations with business management programs.

Oyster’s team will assist you in implementation, which will include the migration of employee, benefit, payroll, and administrative information into the Oyster system.

Oyster has a support chat function on the main page for any sales-related questions. They offer onboarding support, and will work with you to ensure you get on successfully, especially when hiring new employees.

Founded in 2019, Oyster is an HR software vendor that helps companies expand their workforce beyond local borders, particularly from emerging markets. As an organization, Oyster practices what they preach; their staff is made up of a remote workforce with 25% of corporate employees in emerging business markets and a goal to increase that number to 30% by the end of 2024. The company has a robust annual impact report and plan stemming from its mission to support emerging business regions and their employees. Among their goals is to add 15 employees per week to the global roster and to continuously support its clients in hiring within emerging business markets.