We build Legendary teams in South Africa. We are a one-stop-shop for global businesses looking for cost-effective, diverse, well-educated, and native English speaking staff.
We are the best in-country provider of recruitment and Employer of Record services in South Africa.
We are an SA based, SA focused business that provide the local employment infrastructure and compliance that enables businesses in the UK & Europe, the USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand to hire and employ Legendary South African staff. Our staff conduct local or global business without their employer having to setup in South Africa.
With the local expertise and a network to match, we can save you the time, effort and pain of candidate sourcing and hiring in South Africa.
Our team are not just focused on Employer of Record, but highly skilled The Legends Agency as well.
We know hiring abroad is not as simple as find a person and ride off into the sunset together.
Recruitment, onboarding, payroll, HR support, IT sourcing and support, office space, Medical Aid & full benefits programme, legal support and a dedicated on the ground agent - it's all part of the Legendary service.
You weren't expecting that were you?
We are often asked - how hard is it to become Legendary?
Not so hard. Promise. Check out our "Hire in South Africa" guide to make this daunting mission feel a little less...well...daunting.
We took on the task of picking the brain of some Legendary UK entrepreneurs, business owners, and company managers, all of whom have remote staff with our Employer of Record service in South Africa.
So, what are you waiting for? Get ready to build your team of Legends today.
Adhering to compliance and mitigating risks are essential in any employment relationship. South Africa's employment sector is regulated by numerous labor laws and regulations, which must be followed to avoid legal complications and penalties. Utilising an EOR in South Africa offers access to professionals with expertise in local compliance requirements, ensuring that employment practices align with legal standards.
Our Legends oversee employment contracts and payroll, ensuring compliance and safeguarding the interests of both employers and employees. Beyond the formal compliance, we have a highly skilled in house HR manager dedicated to every client and are here to help HR teams and management navigate both the formalities and idiosyncrasies of hiring in South Africa.
Handling payroll and managing tax compliance in a foreign country can be challenging and painful. By using an Employer of Record, these processes are simplified fully. Our team will take full care of payroll processing and tax remittance, all while ensuring adherence to local tax laws.
You confirm the compensation and we manage salary processing, tax deductions, and contributions to statutory benefits. Lifting the administrative load from employers and minimizing the risk of errors or penalties related to these significant responsibilities.
We even take a single monthly payment in your local currency. Your role in payroll can be as simple as confirming amounts and then sitting back and concentrating on what is important.
For anyone with experience of setting up a business bank account in their own country... try setting one up in another jurisdiction.
Bank accounts are the tip of the iceberg, so until your business has reached scale in South Africa, it makes no financial or administrative sense to not use an Employer of Record. At the price point on offer, we think the inflection point comes at 100-150 in country staff, so until then, concentrate on core business activities and strategic goals.
Let your Employer of Record navigate complex labor laws, ensure employment compliance, manage payroll, and handle tax obligations, you can reallocate internal resources to more valuable areas.
And we didnt even mention setting up a local bank account. And yes we do have one
We actually are Legends.
Our team has over 100 years of combined experience with recruiting South Africans into UK businesses. We have the medals and the battle scars that tell you that we bring the best service you will find in South Africa.
Every business is different. Obviously.
We provide a comprehensive range of recruitment and employer of record services (and a load more support services if you want them). Each service provision is tailored to the needs of each of our clients. You can engage us for the full suite of services or just select what you need - we're flexible.
We are not resellers. Resellers use us. We are the best in-country South African partner.
We have a global client base (local South African, British, Australian, New Zealanders, Canadian and American) but we are solely focused on the South African market. We know our niche and know it well. We are not the jacks of all; we are the masters LEGENDS of one.
Why are South African Employer of Record services so beneficial to companies across the UK & Europe, Canada, the USA, Australia, New Zealand.
An Employer of Record is the legal employer of a worker in a certain country. As such, the Employer of Record takes care of all compliance aspects of employment, including payroll, taxes, statutory benefits, employment contracts and more.
Any business can use an Employer of Record service. Our most common use cases are; you are a Global PEO looking for a local South African Employer of Record partner; you are a business based in an expensive jurisdiction trying to save money on staff that are non-workplace-essential (eg. call centre, digital marketing, virtual assistant, IT support, SDRs) and/or you are a business looking to test the South African market before committing to it fully.
Using an Employer of Records allows companies to legally and efficiently engage with overseas workers either in a new country or state, without having to set up a local entity or risk violating local employment laws. It is a turnkey and cost effective solution to enter a market or to utilise the workforce of a more cost-effective market without having the hassle of a full-blown legal and organisational presence.
Either you can find your own staff, or our recruitment services team can do it for you. It is totally up to you, and it can be flexible from role to role.
Because enemployment rates are so high in South Africa, there are plenty of staff available in the vast majority of fields. Our clients that hire directly often feedback that the issue is not finding the staff, it is finding the quality of staff and finding the right skills and cultural fit.
We think the art of South African recruitment is in understanding the educational system and the myriad cultural elements and matching it to the management team and expectations of the specific international client. The vast majority of our clients start by using us for recruitment and then feel more comfortable hiring for 'repeat roles' (eg call centre agents) via their existing staff's referral network and use us for specialist hires and new functions.
We are a South African business (The Legends Agency (pty) Ltd (T/as The Legends Agency)). We also have a business in the UK (Smarter Hiring Limited (T/as The Legends Agency)).
Naturally, it is the South African business that is the employer of record in South Africa, and the vast majority of our staff are based in South Africa (well, it wouldn't be right if they weren't). The UK business manages the digital, FX and billing infrastructure.
Our CEO Anthony is a South African living in South Africa (Melkbosstrand, just north of Cape Town) and has been working on recruitment and employer of record services in South Africa for (whisper it) 25 years. Our other director, Alex, is from the UK. Alex started as a client of Anthony's and has had a large operation in South Africa since 2019.
We have found that having a foot either side of the equator really stands us apart in both the infrastructure we can put in place and the service we can provide.
Today. Seriously.
If you come to us with a South African member of staff ready to go, we will turn everything (employment contract, references, compliance documents, payroll setup etc) around immediately they can start today. We are ready to go.
The usual turnaround time for setting everything up on the employer of record side (very speedy) and time to placement on recruitment (very variable) is 2-4 weeks.
