Last updated: 22 September 2026
Most roles an employer of record is asked about are routine. Office, professional and remote roles are the everyday work of the model. A smaller set of roles is harder to answer quickly. Licensed professions, manual and site based work, driving roles and anything needing security clearance usually need a closer look first. Defence and export control work is different again, and this page treats it on its own.
One point runs through all of it. The answer depends on the country as well as the role. The same job can be routine in one market and restricted in the next.
Which roles are usually straightforward?
Across the EOR model, most desk based work is standard. That usually includes:
- Software, data and engineering roles.
- Sales, marketing and customer support.
- Finance, HR and operations roles.
- Design, product and project management.
- Most fully remote roles with no site or client premises attached.
These roles sit inside a normal employment contract. The duties are office based. The risks are low and well understood. A provider rarely needs more than the job description and the country of hire.
Which roles typically need a closer look?
The categories below are not refusals. They are the ones where a provider often cannot answer on the spot. The answer turns on local rules, and those rules differ by country. Expect a review rather than a quick yes.
Licensed and regulated professions
Medicine, nursing, law and regulated financial advice are the common examples. In many countries the licence sits with the person, and the employer has to be registered too. Some regulators only allow a licensed firm to employ that person at all. An EOR is not usually that kind of firm. So this normally has to be checked against the local regulator before anyone gives an answer.
Physical, manual and site based work
Warehouse, construction and factory roles are the usual cases. Two things change here. Health and safety duties often sit with the legal employer, and also with whoever controls the site. Those are frequently not the same party, and the split has to be agreed. Employer's liability cover also has to match the actual work. A policy written for office staff often will not. This is often workable, but it is rarely instant.
Driving and delivery roles
These come up a lot, and they are their own case. Vehicle insurance, driver licensing and working time limits all attach to the role. Who owns or leases the vehicle matters. So does whether the person drives their own car. Rules on delivery and gig work are also moving in several markets. It is often possible, but the detail decides it.
Roles that need security clearance
Clearance rules often attach to the legal employer, not just to the person. A national scheme may require that employer to be a cleared entity, or to be locally owned. Where an EOR is the legal employer, the clearance question follows it. This one can rarely be answered in general terms.
Defence, military, government contract and export control work
This category does not get a general answer. Nothing above should be read as a soft yes for it.
Work that touches defence, the military, government contracts or controlled technology carries rules of its own. Export control regimes such as ITAR and EAR turn on how a technology is classified and on who is allowed to access it. Nationality, location and the identity of the legal employer can each change the answer. Simulator, training and support roles are not automatically outside those rules.
The penalties for getting this wrong are severe. Teamed's guide to defence payroll compliance risks sets out what is at stake when a role is classified wrongly.
So the rule here is plain. Do not assume, and do not plan around a general answer. Every defence or export control adjacent role has to be checked case by case, against the specific country and the specific work, before anyone commits to hiring. Talk to Teamed first and we will get it reviewed. If the answer turns out to be no, you want to know that before an offer goes out.
Why the country matters as much as the role
Two countries can treat the same job very differently. One may let any employer hire a nurse. The next may require that employer to hold a health sector registration. Safety duties, driving rules and clearance schemes are all national. Some countries also limit what work a foreign owned employer may take on.
So a yes in one market is not a yes everywhere. A role that is routine in one country can need review in its neighbour. What gets checked is the pairing of role and country, not the job title on its own.
How Teamed helps with this
Teamed does not publish a fixed list of roles it will and will not employ. A list like that would be wrong somewhere, and wrong in the worst direction: a buyer plans around a yes that does not hold.
What Teamed does instead is check the actual case. Send the job description, the country of hire and anything unusual about the duties. Flag it early if the work touches defence, government contracts, a regulated profession, driving or a site. Teamed reviews the role against local rules in that country, and comes back with a clear answer before you make an offer.
If you are not sure whether your role sits in one of these categories, ask. That is a much cheaper question than a withdrawn offer.