Managed offshore team vs outsourcing vs recruitment agency
Four different things get called “offshore”. They solve different problems, and picking the wrong one is the most common reason an offshore arrangement disappoints.
The four models in one table
| Recruitment agency | Outsourcing firm | Hiring or EOR platform | Managed team (Lydon) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| What you get | Candidates | A delivered scope of work | Software and compliance to employ someone abroad | A dedicated team in a supervised office |
| Who employs the person | You | The firm | You, through the platform | Lydon |
| Who directs daily work | You | The firm | You | You |
| Where the person works | Wherever you decide | The firm’s office | Wherever the person lives | A supervised office run by Lydon |
| Who handles replacement | You, often with a fee again | The firm | You | Lydon, as part of the arrangement |
| Best for | Filling a role you will manage yourself | Delivering a defined project | Hiring a specific remote person | Adding capacity you direct without running the operation |
The descriptions are generalisations. Individual providers vary, so check what each one actually does before you sign.
Recruitment agency
A recruiter finds and presents candidates. After you hire, you are the employer: you carry the visa, the insurance, the gratuity, the desk and the management. If the hire fails, the fee is often a second recruitment cost. A recruiter is the right choice when you want to build a permanent, local team and you are happy to manage the people yourself.
Outsourcing firm
An outsourcing firm takes responsibility for a scope of work and delivers it on its own terms, using its own people and processes. That is useful when you want a result, such as a finished project or a processed batch, and do not want to manage the people who deliver it. The trade-off is that you work through the firm, not with the person doing the work, and the work is organised around the firm’s way of doing things.
Hiring or employer-of-record platform
These platforms let you employ someone in another country without setting up a local company, handling contracts and payroll compliance in software. They suit a business that has found a specific person and wants a compliant way to employ them. They generally do not provide a workplace, daily attendance records or supervision, so the management of the person stays with you.
Managed offshore team
A managed team sits between the other three. You direct the work, as you would with your own staff. Lydon employs the people, runs the supervised office with CCTV, access control and backup power, records biometric attendance daily, provides a named escalation contact and carries the replacement process. We screen candidates and send them to you, and we then build and manage the team around them. It is not recruitment, because we do not send CVs and disappear, and it is not outsourcing, because the team works inside your workflow.
How to choose
- If you want a result and not a team, choose an outsourcing firm.
- If you want a permanent local employee and will manage them, choose a recruiter.
- If you have already found a specific remote person, choose a hiring platform.
- If you have ongoing screen-based work you want to direct, and you want someone else to run the employment and the office, choose a managed team.
Whatever you choose, ask the same four questions: who employs the person, who directs the work, where the work is done and who is responsible when someone leaves.
Questions, answered
Is Lydon a recruitment agency?
No. We screen candidates and send them to you, but we build and manage the team rather than filling a vacancy and moving on.
Is Lydon an outsourcing company?
No. You direct the work inside your own workflow and systems. Lydon manages the employment and the operations.
Can I use a managed team and a local recruiter together?
Yes. Many businesses keep client-facing and on-site roles local and give screen-based work to a managed team.
Start with one seat
Tell us the role. We send screened candidates together with the complete monthly cost. If it works, add a second. If it doesn’t, you’ve lost 30 days’ notice and nothing else.