A local finance or admin hire in Australia rarely costs what the salary says. By the time you add super, leave, workers compensation and payroll tax, the real number lands 40 to 45 per cent above base salary. The same role filled in the Philippines through an Employer of Record (EOR) can land at roughly a third of that, all in. This guide breaks down what you actually pay, layer by layer, so you can compare like with like rather than salary against salary.
Published: June 2026
An Employer of Record is a company that legally employs staff on your behalf in a country where you have no entity of your own. The EOR is the legal employer on paper: it runs payroll, withholds and remits statutory contributions, holds the employment contract and carries the local compliance obligations. You direct the work and the output. The worker sits in your team day to day, but the employment relationship and the local liability sit with the EOR.
That structure is what lets an Australian business hire a full-time person in the Philippines without registering a Philippine company, opening local payroll, or learning Philippine labour law. You pay the EOR, the EOR pays the staff member and the government, and you get a clean monthly arrangement.
EOR pricing trips people up because the headline "fee" is only one of three layers. Read it as three separate numbers.
This is the gross monthly salary you agree with the staff member, paid in Philippine pesos. Philippine salaries for skilled back-office roles sit well below Australian equivalents, which is the entire point of the model. A capable finance or administration professional is a fraction of the Australian loaded cost for the same skill set.
In a transparent EOR model, this is a pass-through. You fund it, the EOR pays it, and it is not the EOR's margin.
On top of salary, a Philippine employer must remit mandatory contributions and pay one mandated bonus:
Because the social contributions are capped at relatively low salary credits, the percentage cost falls as salary rises. For a skilled role above the caps, expect the statutory loading plus 13th month pay to add roughly 15 to 25 per cent on top of basic salary, before any optional extras like private health cover (HMO), which most competitive employers add to attract good people. Like the salary, these costs are a pass-through in a transparent model.
This is the EOR's actual revenue. It covers running payroll, remitting and reconciling contributions, maintaining the employment contract, HR administration and keeping the arrangement compliant. It is a flat monthly fee per head, and it is the only layer the provider keeps.
Pricing varies widely by provider and country.
The fee is not where you should be shopping on price alone. A cheaper fee that skips proper Philippine compliance can hand you the exact liability the model is meant to remove, which we cover in our guide on the compliance rules for hiring in the Philippines.
Take a finance and accounts role you would otherwise hire locally.
Local Australian hire. Say a base salary of $85,000. Add 12 per cent super, paid leave, workers compensation and, once you are over the state threshold, payroll tax. At a 40 to 45 per cent loading, the true annual cost lands around $119,000 to $123,000, before recruitment fees, equipment, software seats and the management time to supervise. Run your own numbers with our employee cost calculator to see the loaded figure for your state.
Philippines EOR hire. A skilled equivalent on a Philippine salary that converts to roughly AUD 27,000 per year. Add 15 to 25 per cent for statutory contributions, 13th month pay and HMO, taking the loaded salary to roughly AUD 32,000 to 34,000. Add a managed EOR fee of AUD 600 per head per month, or AUD 7,200 a year. All in, the role costs roughly AUD 39,000 to 41,000 per year.
On these assumptions the offshore route runs at about a third of the local loaded cost. The gap is real, but it is not free money. It comes with trade-offs in timezone, management and the compliance obligations that make the structure legitimate.
Offshore EOR tends to win when the role is skilled, ongoing and output-defined: bookkeeping, accounts payable, analyst work, administration. These roles carry low permanent establishment risk for you and benefit from a stable, embedded team member rather than a churn of contractors.
A local hire still wins when the role needs to be physically present, client-facing in your timezone with local context, or senior enough that proximity to leadership matters more than cost. The decision is rarely only about money. For a structured comparison, see our guide on offshore EOR versus a local hire versus a contractor, and weigh the cost gap against the management overhead of running a remote team.
How much does it cost to hire someone in the Philippines through an EOR?
Budget for three layers: the Philippine salary, statutory on-costs of roughly 15 to 25 per cent (SSS, PhilHealth, Pag-IBIG and 13th month pay, plus optional HMO), and a management fee. Managed fees commonly run AUD 550 to 650 per head per month, with admin-only tiers near AUD 400. For a skilled role, the all-in annual cost often lands around a third of the equivalent loaded Australian hire.
Is the EOR fee all I pay?
No. The fee is only the provider's charge for running the arrangement. You separately fund the salary and the statutory on-costs, which in a transparent model are passed through to you at cost rather than marked up.
Do I have to pay Australian superannuation for an offshore employee?
Generally no. Superannuation guarantee does not apply to a non-Australian resident who is paid to do work outside Australia. The staff member is covered by Philippine statutory contributions instead. Confirm your specific situation with a qualified adviser.
What is 13th month pay?
It is a mandatory Philippine entitlement equal to one twelfth of an employee's annual basic salary, paid by 24 December each year. Treat it as a real, recurring cost, not a discretionary bonus.
Why are global EOR platforms more expensive?
Global platforms price for scale and breadth across many countries. A provider focused on a single market with senior local oversight can often deliver the same compliance for less, while keeping closer eyes on the work.
Can I just use a contractor instead and avoid the fee?
You can, but a long-term, full-time contractor performing core work carries misclassification risk in both Australia and the Philippines, plus weaker IP protection and continuity. The fee buys you a compliant employment relationship. See our comparison of the three models before deciding.
How does foreign exchange affect the cost?
Salaries are paid in pesos, so currency movement changes your Australian dollar cost from month to month. Some providers also apply an FX spread on the conversion. Build a small buffer into your budget.
Scale Suite is a Sydney-based provider of outsourced finance teams and fractional CFO services for Australian SMEs. We deliver weekly bookkeeping, payroll, BAS/IAS lodgement, cashflow reporting, management accounts, and strategic fractional CFO oversight, all as a fully embedded team that works inside your business.CA-qualified, Xero Certified, and registered BAS Agents, we replace fragmented bookkeepers and once-a-year accountants with one responsive finance function at a fraction of the cost of full-time hires. We serve growing businesses across Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, and Perth, with packages starting from $1,500 per month and no lock-in contracts.
We review and check this guide periodically. At the time of writing (June 2026), all information was current. Scale Suite is a registered BAS Agent, not a licensed tax advisor or financial advisor. This content is general information only and does not constitute professional tax, financial, or legal advice. Some details may change over time.
Scale Suite is a Sydney-based provider of outsourced finance and HR services for Australian SMEs. We deliver bookkeeping, financial reporting, payroll processing, fractional CFO support, recruitment, employee onboarding, people and culture support, and fractional HR oversight, all as a fully embedded team that works inside your business.
Employment Hero Gold Partner, CA-qualified, and Xero Certified, we replace fragmented finance and HR processes with one responsive, senior-level function at a fraction of the cost of full-time hires. We serve growing businesses across Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, and Perth, with packages starting from $1,500 per month and no lock-in contracts.
30 minutes with our team.
We'll review your current finance setup, compare the full cost of an internal hire against our embedded team, and show you exactly what your finance function should cost at your stage of growth.
You'll leave with a clear view of what's working, what's missing, and where you'd save.
No lock-in contracts. 30-day money-back guarantee.
Prefer to book directly? Grab a time here.
