EOR Case Study: Moving a 12-Person Team in Bulgaria From Day Rates to Employer of Record
Same team. A very different cost.
A Sydney-headquartered business services group, working with family businesses in 19 countries, had run its 12-person technology team in Bulgaria through a local vendor for years. The vendor billed a day rate, and the day rate kept going up. The company moved the whole team to Perpetum on a pure Employer of Record model. Team running costs fell by about 30%, and the switch took less than six weeks from first contact.
At a glance
| Detail | This engagement |
|---|---|
| Client | Business advisory and services group, headquartered in Sydney, Australia, operating in 19 countries |
| Team location | Bulgaria |
| Roles | 12 people – application support, software development, analysis, system administration, cloud administration |
| Before | Local vendor billing a day rate per person |
| After | Employer of Record – actual salaries plus a flat monthly fee per employee |
| Pricing | Custom quote with a volume discount |
| Cost change | About 30% lower team running costs than the day-rate model |
| First contact to team employed by Perpetum | Under 6 weeks |
The problem
The client already had the team it wanted. It had built it in Bulgaria over several years, through a vendor working on the region’s standard rate-card model.
A day rate puts salary, employer costs and the vendor’s margin into one number. That is simple while the number holds. It stops being simple when it moves.
After a series of company, structural and cost changes, the vendor kept raising the day rate. The people and the work stayed the same. The cost of keeping them was heading toward a level where the Bulgaria team no longer made sense against the market.
The client did not need a new team, or a vendor to manage one. It needed to keep the team it had, at a cost it could see.
The solution
The client asked us a direct question: could it move the same people to Perpetum on a pure EOR model?
Under EOR, the cost has two visible parts. Each person’s salary, as it actually is. And one flat monthly fee per employee for employing them. Nothing sits between the two.
We built a custom quote for all 12 people, with a volume discount. Then we aligned the contract with the client’s procurement and compliance team, including requirements specific to the company. A self-serve EOR platform works from its own standard terms. This transition needed terms built around the client’s.
Each team member then moved onto a new employment contract with Perpetum’s own Bulgarian entity, South Gate Tech EOOD, registered since 2018. Payroll, taxes, contributions and compliance moved to us. Day-to-day work stayed with the client, as before. The paperwork was complete within a month.
The outcome
Less than six weeks from first contact to all 12 team members employed through Perpetum – quote, contract alignment and onboarding included.
Team running costs came in about 30% below the day-rate model. The client now sees each salary and one flat fee, instead of a single rate that could change without explanation.
The team the client spent years building stayed together. What looked like a complex transition ran on a personal relationship, with one Perpetum team handling every step from quote to onboarding.
When EOR beats a day rate
A day-rate vendor makes sense when you need them to find and run a team for you. Once you know your people and manage their work yourself, part of every day rate pays for a service you no longer use. EOR keeps the employment and drops the rest. If your team is in Bulgaria and the rate keeps rising, run your numbers in the hiring cost calculator or talk to us about moving it. For a new hire rather than an existing team, see how Turnkey EOR works for a single role.
FAQ
What is the difference between a day-rate vendor and an Employer of Record? A day-rate vendor bills one rate per person per day, with salary, employer costs and its margin combined. An Employer of Record employs your people on your behalf and bills their actual salary plus a separate flat fee, so you see each part.
Can an existing team move from a staffing vendor to an EOR? Yes. In this case, the client’s 12-person team in Bulgaria moved from a day-rate vendor to Perpetum, with each person signing a new employment contract with Perpetum’s Bulgarian entity. The client kept managing the work.
How long does switching a team to EOR take? In this case, less than six weeks from first contact to the team being employed through Perpetum. The paperwork took about a month.
Is EOR cheaper than a day-rate model? It depends on the rate you pay today. For this client, team running costs fell by about 30% compared with the vendor’s day rate.
