The UK has a talent problem.

That is not just a throwaway line. ManpowerGroup’s 2026 UK Talent Shortage Survey says that 73% of UK businesses are still struggling to find skilled talent. At the same time, the labour market has cooled, vacancies have fallen, and employers are being more cautious about hiring. So the issue is not simply that there are too many open jobs. It is that many businesses cannot find the right people, with the right skills, in the right place, at the right time.

That is the real pressure point.

For businesses trading internationally, this raises an obvious question: if the talent is not readily available at home, how do you access it elsewhere without making the structure too complicated or risky?

In the past, the answer was often presented as a simple choice. You either hired someone directly, or you outsourced the work. In reality, the options are now much broader. A business can employ staff directly, use contractors, appoint recruitment partners, outsource a function, work with a managed service provider, build an offshore team, or use an Employer of Record model.

The danger is that these terms are often thrown around as if they all mean the same thing. They do not.

Each model does a different job. Each carries different responsibilities. Each gives the business a different mix of control, flexibility, cost, risk and speed.

That is why we need to talk about the workforce ecosystem as a whole.

Direct employment still matters
Direct employment remains the cleanest route where a business wants long-term control and integration.

If the role is central to the organisation, if the person needs to be part of the team culture, and if the company already has the legal and payroll structure in place, direct employment often makes sense.

But that becomes harder when the person is in a country where the company does not yet have an entity, local payroll registration, HR support or employment-law knowledge.

Setting all of that up may still be the right decision. But it takes time. It comes with cost. And it should be done properly.

Recruitment solves one problem, not all of them
Recruitment is often confused with the wider employment solution.

A recruitment partner helps a business find the right person. That is valuable. But once the person has been found, the business still needs to decide how that individual should be engaged.

Are they being employed directly? Are they a contractor? Are they part of an outsourced service? Should they sit under an Employer of Record structure for a period? Is there a compliance issue if they are working across borders?

Finding the person is one part of the answer. Engaging them correctly is another.

Contractors can be useful — but they are not a shortcut
Contractors and freelancers can be a good fit where a business needs specialist skills, short-term capacity or project-based support.

The attraction is flexibility. The risk is misclassification.

If someone is called a contractor but, in practice, works like an employee, the label alone will not protect the business. That risk becomes even more important when the arrangement crosses borders.

What works in one country may not work in another. The question is not just “what does the contract say?” It is “how does the relationship actually operate?”

Outsourcing is about delivery, not just people
Outsourcing is different again.

In a proper outsourcing arrangement, the business is usually buying a service or an outcome, not simply hiring a person. That could be customer support, finance processes, IT delivery, back-office operations, HR support, marketing, compliance administration or a broader managed service.

The provider should be responsible for managing its own people, delivering the service, and meeting agreed standards.

Outsourcing can work well where the business wants capacity without building the function internally. It can also bring expertise, management, systems and scale.

But it should not be sold as a magic answer or just as a cheap labour play. Done well, outsourcing gives a business capability and resilience. Done badly, it becomes a messy handover of responsibility with unclear accountability.

So where does EOR fit?
Employer of Record, or EOR, sits in a specific part of this ecosystem.

In simple terms, an EOR enables a company to engage someone in another country through a local employment structure, without immediately setting up its own entity there.

The EOR is the legal employer for employment administration, payroll and local compliance purposes. The client company directs the day-to-day work.

This can be useful where a business wants to test a new market, hire one or two people, move quickly, or avoid creating a local entity before the commercial case is proven.

But EOR is not outsourcing.

With outsourcing, the client is normally buying a service. With EOR, the individual is usually working under the client’s direction. The distinction matters.

EOR is also not a way to avoid employment obligations. In fact, the point of a good EOR structure is to handle those obligations properly.

Nor does EOR remove the need for good management. The client still has to lead the person, communicate clearly, manage performance, build trust and set expectations. The EOR may deal with the employment mechanics, but the working relationship still has to be managed by the business.

Why South Africa belongs in this conversation
This is where South Africa has a real opportunity.

For UK and international businesses dealing with skills shortages, South Africa should not be seen only through the narrow lens of traditional outsourcing.

The opportunity is broader.

South Africa has strong English-language capability, a time zone that works well with the UK and Europe, a deep and diverse talent pool, and growing experience in global business services, customer support, finance, technology, HR, compliance and professional services.

That does not mean every role or every function should automatically be moved to South Africa. That would be too simplistic.

But it does mean South Africa should be part of the serious conversation about where businesses can find talent, build capacity and create international delivery models that actually work.

The Chamber has a role to play here. We can help frame that conversation properly. We can bring credible members into view. And we can avoid reducing the discussion to lazy claims about cheap labour or generic outsourcing.

The real question for business
The real question is not: “Should we use EOR, outsourcing or direct employment?”

The better question is: “What are we trying to build, and which model gives us the right balance of speed, control, compliance and capability?”

A few simple distinctions help:

• If the business wants a permanent team under its own structure, direct employment may be the right answer.
• If it needs to find people, recruitment may be the starting point.
• If it needs short-term specialist skills, a contractor may be appropriate.
• If it wants a whole service or function delivered, outsourcing or a managed service may be better.
• If it wants to employ someone in another country before setting up an entity, EOR may be a practical bridge.

These models can also sit alongside each other. A business might start with EOR, later establish its own entity, outsource a separate function, and use recruitment partners as it grows.

This is not a straight-line decision. It is a set of tools. The key is to choose deliberately.

The Chamber opportunity
For the Chamber, this subject matters because it brings together several member categories: HR, payroll, employment law, recruitment, outsourcing, managed services, technology, infrastructure, training and professional services.

It also links directly to the wider UK-South Africa relationship.

If South Africa is to win more international work, we need to show more than enthusiasm. We need to show capability, structure, compliance, management and delivery.

That is the purpose of this campaign.

It is not about promoting one provider or one model. It is about opening the conversation, showcasing the Chamber ecosystem, and helping businesses understand what is possible when the right partners are around the table.

Over the coming months, we will be inviting Chamber members working in these areas to contribute practical insight, examples and perspectives.

If your organisation works in EOR, payroll, HR, recruitment, outsourcing, managed services, infrastructure, technology or related professional services, and you would like to contribute to the discussion, please contact the Chamber.