HR Foundation: HR Setup for International Expansion and New Market Entry
HR Foundation: HR Setup for New Markets
Opening in a new country means building HR there from nothing, with an entity, contracts that follow local law, policies, an onboarding process and payroll all needed before the first person starts. Our HR Foundation service sets all of it up in one engagement, so your company is fully compliant from day one.
With the HR Foundation service, you:
- Get your entity, contracts, policies and payroll ready for the same start date
- Hire your first people on documents written for that country’s law
- Hand your team a setup they can run themselves as you grow
Typically 4-8 weeks 
Local experts in every market
Get started with HR Foundation
Tell us where you’re expanding. Let’s build the right foundation.
What you get with HR Foundation
HR Foundation brings the key parts of your HR setup together, so you can start employing people in a new country with the right foundations in place. Our local experts turn country-specific requirements into a practical setup your team can actually use.
01 - Ready for your first hire
We map out what needs to be in place before your first employee starts, including employment requirements and, where needed, entity registration through our local partner.
02 - Built for local law
Your HR policies are created for the country you’re entering, rather than simply translated from your head office documents.
03 - Clear guidance for your employees
Your employee handbook brings your policies, local requirements and ways of working together in one practical document your team can use.
04 - Contracts you can reuse as you grow
You receive employment contract templates aligned with local law and applicable collective agreements, ready to use for future hires.
05 - A setup your team can run
From onboarding steps and local registrations to practical guides and checklists, your team has a clear process for managing HR day to day.
06 - Payroll ready from the first salary
We set out the local payroll requirements and, where needed, hand the setup over to Parakar Payroll Services so HR and payroll stay connected.
07 - Ready to hire and grow
You leave with a compliant HR setup, built for local law and shaped around how your company works. So you can hire on schedule, pay correctly and grow with confidence.
Who HR Foundation is for and when to start
HR Foundation is built for companies taking on their first employees in a new country, and it’s most useful when the first start date is only a few weeks away. How we help depends on where your HR stands today.
If you’re building HR in the new country from scratch
You may not have an entity or any HR set up there yet, and HR often sits with a founder or operations manager alongside everything else. HR Foundation is usually the right fit when:
- Your entity registration is about to start, or has just been approved
- Your first hire has accepted an offer, or is close to it
- There’s no dedicated HR team, or only a small one
- You’ve already started employing people there on contracts and policies copied from your home country
If you have an experienced HR, but not in the new country
Your HR team knows how your HR policies work in existing markets, but this country’s employment law is new to them. HR Foundation adds that local knowledge when:
- Nobody on your HR team has worked with this country’s rules, and nobody is based there
- The new country is one step in a wider expansion plan, and the local setup has to be ready on time
- The new country needs to follow your group HR standards while still meeting local law
Whichever situation you’re in, timing matters.
Sorting out HR after people have started working is where the risks build up. Mistakes in the first contracts can lead to fines and employment claims, and once people have signed, changing their terms usually needs their agreement. The safest point to set HR up is before your first employee starts, and that’s exactly what HR Foundation is designed for.
Why piecing together HR in a new country costs more
1. How it usually goes
Most companies solve each piece as it comes up. A service provider registers the entity, a local lawyer drafts one contract, someone adapts the head office handbook, and payroll gets sorted the week before the first salary.
2. Where it breaks
Each piece may be fine on its own, but nobody connects them. Contracts don’t match the policies, the onboarding checklist misses a local registration, and nobody owns the full picture.
3. What it costs you
EU rules require core terms in writing within the first week, and each country adds its own requirements on top. Gaps found after people start are harder and costlier to fix.
What's included in HR Foundation
HR Foundation sets up everything you need to employ people in a new country: entity, contracts, policies, handbook, onboarding and payroll, delivered by one team instead of several providers.
Choose the tiers you need, depending on what’s already in place, and we handle the rest.
Tier 1: Entity Setup
For companies without a legal entity in the country yet.
Entity registration via our local partner, coordinated by your HR consultant.
A right-to-work and compliance brief: what must be in place before anyone starts.
Tier 2: HR Setup
The HR documents and processes to employ people with confidence.
Country-specific policies and an employee handbook, written for local law.
Reusable contract templates and an onboarding checklist from offer to first day.
An HR manager toolkit for whoever runs HR locally.
Tier 3: Payroll Setup
For companies that need payroll running in the new country.
A payroll brief on what’s required before the first salary.
A structured handover to Parakar Payroll Services for setup and ongoing management.
HR setup, country by country
Work regulations (arbeidsreglement / règlement de travail) are mandatory from the first employee.
Internal regulations are mandatory after 12 months at 50+ employees, and sector agreements shape contract terms.
Five eligible employees can set up a works council, and working time must be recorded.
Five core terms must be given in writing within five days of the employee starting.
Most terms follow the sector’s collective agreement (CCNL), which must be chosen before drafting contracts.
Employers pay at least 70% of salary for up to two years of sickness and need a company doctor.
Work regulations (regulamin pracy) are required once there are 50 employees.
Workplace accident insurance is compulsory for every employee from day one.
Daily working time must be recorded, and companies with 50 or more employees need an equality plan.
Main terms must be in writing by day one, and right-to-work checks done before the start.
None of these are unusual, and none appear in a contract copied from another country. They’re the kind of requirements HR Foundation builds in from the start, along with the rules that are specific to your sector.
Why companies choose Parakar for HR setup in a new country
By partnering with us, you’ll work with one partner that can register, employ, set up HR and run payroll in the same country.Here are a few reasons why growing companies choose us:
- Local HR consultants:
people who work with the labour law of each country every day, across the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, France, Ireland, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Spain and the UK. - Licensed to employ:
Parakar holds local employment licences and registrations, including being the first licensed Employer of Record in Belgium and holding Section 1 registration in Italy, an AÜG licence in Germany and an employment agency licence in Ireland. - A fallback if the entity isn’t ready:
if registration takes longer than planned, your first hire can start through our Employer of Record service and move to your own entity later. - Payroll in the same team:
the people who set up your HR hand over to Parakar Payroll Services, so nothing gets lost between the setup and the first payslip. - Built around your own standards:
we start from the policies and ways of working you already have, so the new country runs the same way as the rest of your business while meeting local law. You get local knowledge without hiring someone in the country first, and the same approach can be repeated in each new country you enter.
What our clients say
Our 3-phase approach
The full engagement typically takes 4 to 8 weeks. Some of the work runs in parallel, and where you land in that range depends mainly on the country and on whether entity registration is included, since registration timelines are set by local authorities rather than by us.
Phase 1: HR readiness for your new market
We start with your plans for the country, including when you want the first person to start, how many people you expect to hire in the first year, and what you already have in place. Your consultant reviews your current setup, flags the risks and gaps, and confirms the right hiring model, whether that's your own entity from day one or an Employer of Record while the entity is registered.
Phase 2: HR setup for international expansion
Your consultant drafts the policies, handbook, contract templates, onboarding process and HR manager toolkit for the country, and reviews them with you. If you already have head office documents, we adapt what works rather than starting from a blank page, so your company culture carries across while the documents meet local law.
Phase 3: Handover and training for your team
You get the finished documents and toolkit, a walkthrough for the person who will look after HR locally, and targeted training on the local rules that matter most for your team. At the end, your team can hire and onboard in the new country without needing to rely on external support for every step.
Free guides to setting up HR in your next country
Expanding into Germany?
Our free Germany guide covers employment law, payroll, onboarding, compliance and HR policies, so you know what needs to be in place before your first hire.
Expanding into Ireland?
Our Ireland guide sets out the essentials to get right, so your first hires in Ireland get off to a smooth start.
Expanding into the Netherlands?
Our Netherlands guide brings together the key HR, payroll and compliance requirements you need to know before employing people there.
Expanding into Poland?
From employment law to onboarding and payroll, our Poland guide helps your expansion into Poland start on the right foot.
Expanding into Spain?
Spain comes with its own legal and HR requirements. Our Spain guide walks you through the points to settle before your first employee starts.
Expanding into the UK?
Our UK guide gives you a clear overview of the key steps and local employer obligations when you expand into the UK.
Keep your HR strong as you grow with additional support
HR Foundation gets your new country set up. But building the right HR setup for expansion goes beyond initial preparation. To further support your growth, this service can be complemented with additional ones that help you scale and operate effectively across countries. They will keep your HR and business running as you grow, and you can add them at any point:
- Payroll & HR Full Service: ongoing payroll and day-to-day HR management across multiple countries
- Operational HR Support: hands-on help with daily HR tasks and employee cases once your team is in place
- Immigration support: work permits and sponsorship for hires from outside the EU
- HR Policy Development: additional policies or a full handbook as your team grows
Together, they give you one partner from the first hire in a country to a fully staffed team.
HR Foundation FAQs
Your team takes over with the finished documents and toolkit. If you’d like ongoing help, you can move to interim support for day-to-day HR or Parakar Payroll Services where we would keep running payroll for you.
HR Foundation is available in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, France, Ireland, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Spain and the UK. If you’re expanding into more than one of them, the same consultant team coordinates the setup across countries.
An international HR team knows how your company works, but each new country brings its own labour law, collective agreements and registrations. HR Foundation adds that local knowledge for the countries where you don’t have it yet. Your team keeps ownership of the group standards, and our local consultants make sure the contracts, policies and onboarding in the new country meet local law. Once the setup is handed over, your team runs it.
With an Employer of Record, Parakar is the legal employer and handles contracts, payroll and compliance for you. With HR Foundation, your own entity is the employer and we build the HR setup it needs. Companies often start with an Employer of Record and use HR Foundation when they move to their own entity.
No. If your entity isn’t ready, your first hire can be employed through Parakar’s Employer of Record service and moved to your own entity once it’s registered. Many companies use this to keep a start date while registration finishes.
HR Foundation service typically takes 4 to 8 weeks from the scoping call to handover. The HR documents themselves are usually the faster part. Entity registration takes the longest, because its timeline depends on local authorities, so we start it first.