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One person will be your entire American presence. They set the tone, carry the brand and shape what the next five hires look like.
Strong Start covers finding them, employing them and supporting them for a full year, held together by one team who work only on the US market.
We become the legal US employer, so you can hire before you incorporate.
Of support, agreed and priced up front
Recruitment, employment, benefits and advisory
Working with international companies in the US
The candidate reads well. The salary is agreed. The offer goes out. What tends to get skipped is everything that decides whether the hire lasts.
US employees expect to be managed, rewarded and communicated with differently. Benefits are read as a signal of how serious you are. Direct feedback lands differently. Autonomy is assumed rather than earned.
None of that shows up in an interview. It shows up in month seven, when the person you hired has quietly stopped believing you are committed to the market.
Figures shown reflect what Foothold America observes across first US hires made without pre-hire guidance. They are our own client experience rather than published research.
Attrition among first US hires made without a clear understanding of US employees and how they work.
Lost across recruitment fees, employment and training costs, and the revenue that never arrived.
The budget review shapes the offer. The offer shapes the candidate you attract. The cultural briefing shapes how that person is managed once they start. Buy them separately and the order falls apart.
A working session on what this hire will really cost. Salary benchmarks for the role and the state, employer taxes, benefits loading and the line items that catch international employers out.
US candidates weigh an offer on its benefits as heavily as its salary. We walk you through what you are putting on the table and how an American candidate will read it.
Our US recruitment team sources, screens and shortlists against the role you have now defined clearly. You interview people who understand what they are joining.
We become the legal US employer. Payroll, employer taxes, state filings, onboarding and HR compliance in any state, with no entity for you to register or wind down later.
Medical, dental, vision, life and disability cover for the employee, live from day one. Competitive at the point of offer, because in the US that is when it counts.
A structured session for the people who will manage this hire. Where US working culture differs from yours, and what your new employee will expect that you may not think to offer.
Access to an adviser across the whole year. For the awkward conversation, the performance wobble and the call you have never had to make before.
Twice-yearly reviews of how the hire has settled and what your next US move should be. Retention costs a fraction of replacement.
Global payroll platforms charge a monthly fee per employee and leave the judgement to you. That works once you know who you are hiring and why. For a first US hire, the judgement is the hard part. Seven places where the two approaches part company.
Budget and benefits reviews happen before you commit, so the offer you make is the right one first time.
Nothing happens until a contract exists. The offer is your problem alone.
Our US team sources, screens and shortlists the candidate as well as employing them.
You find the candidate yourself, or pay a separate agency fee on top.
If the placement does not work out, we recruit again within the guarantee period.
You start the search again, and pay for it again.
A named US expansion adviser and a dedicated HR manager who know your business and your hire.
Support hours, a help centre and whoever picks up the ticket.
Medical, dental, vision, life and disability cover, chosen so the offer stands up against US employers.
A benefits menu you are left to interpret, priced as an add-on.
Cultural Intelligence briefing and year-long advisory, because most first hires fail on management, not on paperwork.
Compliance is covered. How to actually manage an American employee is not.
We work only on the US. State rules, benefits markets and the traps that catch international employers.
The same product across 80 countries, with the US as one row in the list.
less than buying the same twelve months service by service.
And that comparison already assumes low EOR and benefits costs, standard recruitment fees, and none of the advisory work that most providers do not sell at all.
Extras that normally sit outside a package. Here they are part of it, because a first hire needs every one of them.
Nothing is added later. Your only other costs are the employee’s salary, statutory taxes and fees, and dependent benefits if you choose to offer them. If the package is not right for you, EOR and ETA are available on their own and we will say so.
“Tell me about the role, the market and the budget. I will tell you straight whether this is the right package for you.”
Director of US Expansion · UK based · 25 years across North American, European and Asian markets
No. We act as the Employer of Record, so your employee is legally employed by Foothold America. You can set up an entity later if headcount justifies it.
You continue on EOR at a guaranteed second-year price, or move the employee onto your own US entity. We advise on which makes sense based on your hiring plans.
The recruitment performance guarantee applies. We recruit a replacement within the guarantee period without a further recruitment fee.
Yes. EOR and ETA are available as stand-alone services. The package price applies when the services are taken together as one roadmap.
The package covers employee-only medical, dental, vision, life and disability cover. Dependent cover is available at additional cost if you choose to offer it.
The pre-hire budget review can be booked within days. Once a candidate accepts an offer, we can have them employed and paid in as little as one week.
Because most of the value sits outside payroll. Recruitment, advisory and guidance do not divide neatly into twelve equal payments, so we price the year instead.
Every US hire after this one is easier, cheaper and faster if this one works. Let’s make sure it does.
Trusted by international companies since 2015 · Teams in the US, UK and Europe
