Owned entity or partner network: the question to ask first

The short version

Ask which legal entity will sign your employee's contract, and who owns it. In an owned model that entity belongs to the provider. In a partner model it belongs to a third party you have no contract with.

Coverage maps do not distinguish between the two. Our coverage matrix does.

Why it matters when something goes wrong

Liability follows the employer. In a partner model, the employer is the partner, and your recourse runs through the provider's contract with them rather than directly.

Termination is where the difference shows up. A partner may apply its own risk appetite, its own timeline and its own settlement practice, and the provider is the messenger rather than the decision maker.

Speed, data and cost

Owned entities usually onboard faster because there is one process and one system. Partner chains add handoffs, and each handoff is a place for a start date to slip.

Data access is thinner too. Payslip corrections, contribution queries and inspection responses all take longer when they route through a third party.

Cost is not consistently lower either way. Partner models can be cheaper to buy and more expensive to exit.

What good disclosure looks like

A provider that discloses well will tell you the entity name, whether it is owned, how long it has operated and who carries the employment liability. That answer belongs in the contract, not in a sales call.

Our scoring gives owned entities a coverage uplift of 1.0 in that country, and partner entities a reduction of 0.5. The formula is on the methodology page.