Employer of Record (EOR) in Hong Kong

Hire in Hong Kong in days, with no entity and no exposure to getting Employment Ordinance compliance wrong. We place you with the right vetted EOR partner, at pricing you will not get going direct, and stay on your side for the life of the relationship.

  • Independent advice
  • Vetted partners
  • Operational in days

What an Employer of Record does for you in Hong Kong

An Employer of Record is a company that legally employs your Hong Kong staff on your behalf. You choose the person and direct their work day to day. The EOR is the legal employer on paper, which is what lets you build a team in Hong Kong without forming your own company.

In practice the EOR partner takes on everything that needs a Hong Kong legal presence and local expertise: a compliant employment contract under the Employment Ordinance (Cap. 57), correct classification under the statutory continuous-contract test (four or more consecutive weeks, 18 or more hours a week) that gates most statutory benefits, monthly payroll with Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF) contributions calculated and remitted to a licensed trustee, statutory benefits and leave, and compliant onboarding and lawful exits with the correct statutory notice, since Hong Kong is not at-will. Hong Kong is a Special Administrative Region of China with its own common-law legal system, currency, and tax regime, distinct from mainland China’s, which is exactly the kind of local detail that trips up an unprepared employer. You get a working team in days. The EOR carries the legal and compliance weight; you carry the commercial relationship. The only question worth spending time on is which partner is genuinely strong in Hong Kong, and that is the question we answer for you.

01

Legal employer, on paper

A compliant Hong Kong employment contract under the Employment Ordinance, with all statutory terms correct from day one.

02

Compliant from day one

Monthly payroll with MPF contributions calculated and remitted to a licensed trustee, plus the IR56E, IR56F, and IR56G filings the Inland Revenue Department requires for every hire, change, and departure.

03

No entity required

Statutory benefits, annual leave, notice and termination handled under the Employment Ordinance, and lawful onboarding and exits. You get a working team in days; the EOR carries the legal weight.

Four steps from scope call to a working Hong Kong hire

From first call to a compliant Hong Kong hire at their desk, usually within days, not weeks.

01 — Scope & quote

We map the role, salary, and start date, and come back with a clear all-in monthly cost. No guesswork, no hidden extras.

02 — Compliant contract

Your employment contract is drafted to Hong Kong standards by the partner, and we sanity-check the terms and pricing before you sign. Compliant from day one.

03 — Onboard in days

A correct Hong Kong contract is issued under the Employment Ordinance, with all statutory terms from day one. Your hire can start in days.

04 — Payroll & compliance run

MPF contributions calculated and remitted, payslips issued, and the statutory IR56 filings made to the Inland Revenue Department on every hire, change, and exit. You direct the work; the compliance just runs.

What EOR in Hong Kong costs

Two parts: the statutory cost of employing someone, and the EOR partner fee. In Hong Kong the statutory employer cost runs almost entirely through one system, MPF, rather than the layered social-security and health-insurance contributions common elsewhere. We make both transparent before you commit, so there are no surprises.

Probation

No statutory maximum length: market practice runs 1 to 3 months, up to 6 for senior roles, but this is convention, not law. Either side may end things without notice in the first month; after that, a minimum 7 days’ notice applies unless the contract sets a longer period.

Notice period

Once probation ends, month-to-month silent contracts require at least 1 month’s notice; other contracts, an agreed period of not less than 7 days. Hong Kong is not an at-will jurisdiction.

Statutory annual leave

Accrues by tenure: 7 days after year 1, rising to a cap of 14 days from year 9 onward. Notably low by regional standards, and worth planning for precisely rather than assuming it is generous.

EOR partner fee

A transparent per-employee monthly fee. We benchmark across our vetted network, typically 15 to 25% below going direct, and renegotiate for you at renewal.

Why run it through Bradford Jacobs

We know which EOR partners are genuinely strong in Hong Kong, by sector and by complexity. We place you with the right one, at pricing you will not get going direct, and stay on your side for the life of the relationship.

Independent, not a single provider

We are independent: we assess what you actually need, place you with the right vetted partner, secure pricing you will not get going direct, and stay on your side to escalate or renegotiate. You get advice, not a product pitch.

  • Independent advice
  • Vetted partners only
  • On your side at renewal

Pricing you can’t get direct

Hong Kong’s statutory employer on-cost sits almost entirely in one place: MPF, at 5% of relevant income, capped at HKD 1,500 a month once relevant income passes HKD 30,000. That sounds simple until a workforce straddles the cap at different points, which is exactly where a quote can drift. We benchmark across our partner network for rates typically 15 to 25% below going direct, and renegotiate on your behalf at renewal. Most companies do not know how much room there is to negotiate. We do.

  • 15-25% below direct
  • Network benchmarking
  • Renegotiated for you

Straight to the top when it matters

When something needs resolving, and in global employment it sometimes does, you come to us. We escalate directly, past the helpdesk, to people who can actually move it.

  • Direct escalation
  • No support queues
  • Named account contact

Two decades across markets

Two decades placing and managing EOR arrangements across global markets, with the Hong Kong-specific knowledge that matters: the Employment Ordinance’s continuous-contract test that decides who qualifies for statutory benefits, the split between MPF retirement contributions and salaries tax, and the difference between Severance Payment and Long Service Payment on exit.

  • EOR specialists
  • Employment Ordinance & MPF
  • Risk removed

Built for conversion to your own entity

Most companies use EOR for 12 to 24 months, then move to their own Hong Kong private company limited by shares. We plan that crossover and manage the transition when the economics justify it.

  • EOR to entity path
  • Transition managed
  • Crossover planning

Why an EOR is the fastest compliant way into Hong Kong

Two things slow foreign employers down in Hong Kong: setting up MPF, payroll, and a Business Registration Certificate correctly before you can legally pay anyone, and the risk of misjudging the continuous-contract test that decides which statutory benefits apply. An EOR removes both.

Working time, leave & contracts

Hong Kong has no statutory maximum working hours and no statutory overtime premium for the general workforce, but it does mandate at least one rest day in seven, and it gates most statutory benefits through the Employment Ordinance’s continuous-contract test (four or more consecutive weeks, 18 or more hours a week) rather than whether a contract is fixed-term or indefinite. Get that test wrong and an employee who should qualify for paid leave, sick pay, or severance simply does not get it. An EOR carries all of it correctly from day one, so a wrong assumption never becomes a liability.

Operational in days, not weeks

Registering a Hong Kong company itself is fast, about an hour electronically or around four working days by hard copy, but you still cannot legally employ anyone until that registration, your Business Registration Certificate, and your own MPF trustee arrangement are all in place, which takes longer in practice than the headline registration speed suggests. An EOR removes that wait entirely: a compliant Hong Kong contract is issued and your hire starts in days. You prove the market first, then incorporate later only if the headcount justifies it. This is the real value of EOR in Hong Kong: speed past the setup mechanics, with the compliance carried by an expert.

What’s inside a Hong Kong EOR arrangement

One transparent monthly fee per employee covers all of this. No hidden extras.

Compliant employment contract

A compliant Hong Kong employment contract under the Employment Ordinance, issued and maintained for you.

Payroll, MPF & salaries tax

Monthly payroll run, with MPF contributions calculated, deducted, and remitted to a licensed trustee each month. Hong Kong has no monthly salaries-tax withholding, so we handle the employer-side IR56E, IR56F, and IR56G filings the Inland Revenue Department requires on every hire, change, and departure instead.

Statutory benefits

All statutory benefits administered:

  • Annual leave: 7 days after year 1, rising to a cap of 14 days from year 9
  • 15 statutory public holidays for 2026
  • Maternity leave: 14 weeks, paid at 4/5 of average daily wages
  • Paternity leave: 5 days, paid at 4/5 of average daily wages
  • Sick leave: 2 paid days per completed month for the first 12 months, 4 days a month after, capped at 120 days
  • Employee-side MPF: 5% of relevant income, capped at HKD 1,500/month, exempt below HKD 7,100/month, deducted from salary, not billed to you

Compliance & support

Ongoing HR compliance and a single point of contact, for the life of the engagement.

Your questions answered

Straight answers on how Employer of Record works in Hong Kong.

Is my hire employed by Bradford Jacobs or by me?

Legally, your hire is employed by the Hong Kong EOR partner we place you with, which is what keeps you compliant without an entity. Day to day they work for you: you set the work, the goals, the relationship. You get the team; the partner carries the legal employer obligations.

Usually within days once the role and salary are agreed, with a compliant Hong Kong contract from day one. Company registration itself is fast in Hong Kong, about an hour electronically or around four working days by hard copy, but you would still need to register for MPF, set up payroll, and secure your Business Registration Certificate before you could legally employ anyone directly. An EOR skips all of that.

Predictable, and lighter than most markets: 5% MPF from the employer, capped at HKD 1,500 a month once relevant income passes HKD 30,000. There is no separate social-security or health-insurance charge on top of that; MPF is the only mandatory contribution. Add the transparent EOR partner fee and you have your all-in cost.

Yes, when done properly. The EOR is a real Hong Kong legal employer meeting all Employment Ordinance, MPF, and Inland Revenue Department obligations. The risk is using an under-resourced partner, which is exactly why we place you with vetted partners and stay on your side.

The compliant contract, monthly payroll (MPF contributions and the IR56 filings the Inland Revenue Department requires), statutory benefits and leave administration, and ongoing HR compliance. We give you one all-in monthly figure up front, with no hidden extras. Note that Hong Kong has no monthly income-tax withholding at all; your employee files and pays their own annual salaries-tax return directly with the IRD.

Yes, and most companies do once the headcount and permanence justify it. We manage the transition from EOR to your own Hong Kong private company limited by shares, and can support the incorporation itself. Most use EOR for 12 to 24 months first.

Ready to hire in Hong Kong?

Tell us the role and we will come back with a compliant, all-in monthly cost and the right partner, usually within a day. No entity, no lock-in, no pitch, just the fastest compliant way to get your person working in Hong Kong.

Tax and labour data verified July 2026 (Inland Revenue Department, MPFA, Labour Department). Figures change; we confirm the current position when we scope your hire.