How Agratas Corp UK built its China procurement team without a local entity

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The Challenge

‍Six hires in China. No entity. A team to build from scratch.

Agratas Corp UK needed to set up a procurement team in China, targeting six employees. With no local entity in place, they had no way to hire directly in the country, process payroll, or take on the statutory obligations that come with employment in China.

China added further difficulty. Statutory contributions vary by city, employment contract requirements are specific, and getting the offer structure wrong at the start can affect both candidate decisions and compliance standing. Agratas needed someone who understood the local rules well enough to help put together terms that would hold up and attract the right people.

The Solution

‍EOR support, with local market knowledge applied from the first hire.

Gloroots acted as the legal employer in China for all six hires through its EOR model, covering compliant employment contracts, full payroll processing, and reimbursement handling for each team member.

Where Gloroots added particular value was before the contracts were even signed. Using in-country knowledge of Chinese statutory requirements, payroll norms, and employment laws, Gloroots helped Agratas structure offer packages and work through employment terms with candidates. This meant the company could move quickly and put together offers that were both competitive and compliant in a market they had not hired in before.

The Results

‍Six-person procurement team. Built and running.

✶  Full 6-person procurement team hired and onboarded in China

✶  Employment terms structured with local statutory knowledge at the offer stage

✶  Payroll and reimbursements were processed accurately across all six employees

✶  Statutory compliance (social insurance, housing fund, IIT) handled end-to-end

✶  Roles, including Project Manager, were placed in complete documentation order

In Their Own Words

What do you like best about Gloroots?

The local knowledge they brought to the hiring process. Setting up employment in China without an entity is one thing; knowing how to structure a competitive offer package in that market is another. Gloroots helped us do both, and we were able to build the team we needed without delays or compliance gaps.

What do you dislike about Gloroots?

No major issues. Payroll and reimbursements were processed accurately, compliance was handled correctly, and the team was onboarded without complications across all six hires.

What problems is Gloroots solving, and how is that benefiting you?

We had to quickly build a procurement team in China. But the problem was that we did not have a local entity there. And don’t know about Chinese employment laws either. Gloroots covered both the legal employer role and the advisory side. This meant hiring confidently with structured, fair, and compliant employment terms from the first offer.

For which purposes do you use Gloroots?

We use Gloroots to hire and employ our team in China through their EOR model. This covers employment contracts, ongoing payroll and reimbursement processing, statutory compliance, and guidance on structuring employment terms at the offer stage.