Tom Reimann from PeoplePay Global in an interview at Silicon Valley Europe

Global expansion without borders: Tom Reimann from PeoplePay Global in an interview at Silicon Valley Europe

Hiring international employees, managing global payroll, processing payments in various currencies, and always meeting local compliance requirements – for many companies, this is one of the biggest challenges on the path to international expansion. How global payroll and workforce processes can be managed efficiently, legally compliant, and personally today is the topic of this discussion between Silicon Valley Europe and Tom Reimann from PeoplePay Global.

Since January 2026, the experienced international sales expert has been responsible for the global growth strategy of PeoplePay Global as Chief Revenue Officer. With more than 25 years of experience in international sales and business development roles, Tom Reimann brings not only deep expertise from various industries but also an exceptional international perspective. As a multilingual networker and connector, he speaks German, English, French, Italian, and Dutch, connecting people, markets, and companies worldwide.

In the interview, Tom Reimann provides exciting insights into modern models of international employment – from Non Resident Employer (NRE) solutions without a local company headquarters to Employer of Record (EOR) models and fully outsourced global payroll and payment services. It becomes clear why companies today more than ever need flexible, scalable, and compliance-secure solutions to successfully build international teams.

PeoplePay Global consciously takes a different approach than many large, highly automated platform providers: personal consulting, human expertise, and a dedicated contact person are at the forefront. The goal is to make global expansion easier, faster, and above all stress-free – whether a company employs staff in a single country or in over 50 international markets.

Look forward to an up-to-date discussion about global work models, international payroll strategies, intelligent payment solutions, and how companies can shape their global expansion securely and efficiently today.

Tom Reimann: PeoplePay Global differs from many large platform providers primarily through its consistently personal consulting approach. For us, three aspects are particularly important:

1. The "Anti-Platform" principle (Human Intelligence)

The major providers on the market have invested heavily in software in recent years, often hiding behind their own portals. When problems arise – whether a complex tax issue abroad or an error in payroll – customers usually end up in impersonal ticket systems or chatbots. At PeoplePay Global, we deliberately take the opposite approach and rely on Human Intelligence (HI). For us, it’s not the software that takes center stage, but the personal relationship.

2. The "Dedicated Account Manager" as a fixed anchor

Concretely, this means: Every one of our customers – completely regardless of whether they only have a single employee abroad or manage 50 branches – gets a dedicated, UK-based English-speaking account manager assigned to them. There are no anonymous call centers. Our customers have the direct phone number and email address of their personal partner. This manager remains the constant, global interface even when the company expands into five new countries. This saves HR and finance teams an enormous amount of time and mental energy.

3. The "White-Glove" consulting approach

We don’t see ourselves as a mere software provider, but as a White-Glove-Consultancy partner. Global payroll is extremely complex; local labor laws, tax deadlines, or country-specific mandatory benefits like the Mutuelle in France cannot simply be solved error-free by an algorithm.

We take on the entire risk and complexity for our customers. From the submission of monthly data (such as bonuses or vacation) to the final payout in the respective local currency, we manage the entire process manually, transparently, and in compliance with regulations.

In short: The big platforms sell you access to software and leave you to do the work. We at PeoplePay Global act as your internal, outsourced global HR and payroll department, where a real expert always answers the phone.

Tom Reimann: The biggest fear of companies is not business growth itself, but the incomprehensible, constantly changing legal maze abroad and the risk of penalty payments (compliance risk).

1. The "Moving Target" of local legislation

The by far greatest challenge for our customers is that labor and tax laws worldwide are not a rigid system – they are a moving target. What is legal in a country today can already be punishable next month.

An HR team at headquarters cannot possibly keep track of the details of 10, 20, or 30 countries simultaneously. We often see that companies don’t even know which country-specific mandatory benefits exist – such as the mandatory Mutuelle (supplementary health insurance) in France or auto-enrolment for occupational pension schemes in the UK. Overlooking these can result in extremely costly penalties and legal consequences.

2. The trap of bogus self-employment (Global Contractors)

A second major pain point is the issue of freelancers or contractors. Many companies try to take the easy route: They hire someone in the US, Spain, or Australia as a "freelancer," even though the person works like a full-time employee.

Local authorities worldwide are cracking down harder on this. The issue of bogus self-employment (misclassification) is a ticking time bomb for many companies. If this is exposed, companies often have to pay back social security contributions and taxes for years. Our customers come to us because they want to completely eliminate this existential risk.

3. The administrative "overhead" and time zone frustration

Recently, it's simply the administrative effort. If you have employees in five different countries, you usually also juggle five local tax advisors or agencies.

This means: different time zones, language barriers in communication with local authorities, and a massive time commitment at the end of the month for the HR and finance team, just to collect the data, verify complex gross-to-net calculations, and meet deadlines. This ties up valuable resources that would otherwise be needed for the company's strategic growth.

This is exactly where we take the burden off our customers' shoulders. We say: Focus on your core business and your expansion. We navigate the local labor laws and tax codes for you, take on all the risk, and smooth out the complexity in the background.

Tom Reimann: In times of "remote work" and the global battle for the best talent, companies need speed and direct connection to the employee. The NRE model offers exactly that – full control of a local entity, but without its costs, risks, and bureaucracy.

1. The "War for Talent" and Employer Branding

The most important driver is the global shift in recruiting. Top talent – especially in highly competitive sales or tech – now has free choice. And these top talents have clear expectations: they want to be directly employed by the brand they are passionate about. They don’t want to be “hired out” via a third-party intermediary, a so-called EOR middleman.

The NRE model keeps the expanding company the direct, legal employer. The company’s name appears on the employment contract. This significantly strengthens the employee’s identification with the company from day one and is a huge advantage for employer branding and long-term employee retention.

2. Full protection of intellectual property (IP sovereignty)

Another critical factor that is becoming increasingly relevant in practice is the protection of trade secrets, customer lists, and intellectual property (IP). In the classic EOR model, the employee is legally employed by a third party. This often causes headaches for legal departments.

With the NRE model, there is no middleman in the employment contract. All business secrets and IP rights remain under 100% direct legal control of our customer. This gives companies maximum security, especially in key markets like Europe, the USA, Canada, or Australia.

3. Drastic cost savings compared to EOR

Companies are looking more closely than ever at the efficiency of their spending. Setting up a local subsidiary (entity) abroad often takes 3 to 6 months and consumes vast amounts of capital for lawyers, notaries, and local bank accounts. This is completely eliminated with the NRE model – we get the company up and running in just a few weeks.

But even compared to the classic EOR model, NRE wins economically across the board: while there is a slightly higher one-time setup fee for registration with local authorities, the ongoing monthly management fees for the NRE model are typically up to 50% lower than those of EOR providers. So, in the long run, it’s the far more economical solution.

4. Maximum flexibility without administrative effort

In short: The NRE model is becoming increasingly relevant so rapidly because it offers companies the best of both worlds. They retain full operational control and the cost advantages of a local subsidiary, while also enjoying the agility, speed, and convenience of a fully outsourced service. PeoplePay Global handles all registration, monthly payroll, and government reporting in the background. The customer simply provides the data – we take care of the rest.

Tom Reimann: In practice, the NRE model works like a “virtual subsidiary.” It relieves SMEs of their administrative burden while allowing them to operate strategically like a global player.

Let me illustrate this with a very simple, practical example: A German medium-sized mechanical engineering company finds an excellent sales manager in the USA or the UK. The company wants to hire this employee immediately.

Without an NRE, there would be two classic options: either set up a US corporation or UK Ltd – which takes months and costs a fortune. Or hire the employee through an EOR service provider – but then the employee would have the logo of a foreign company on their contract.

With our NRE model, this process is completed in four simple steps:

Registration: We at PeoplePay Global register the German company with the local authorities (e.g., the IRS in the USA or HMRC in the UK) purely as the employer for payroll purposes. The company does not need a local office or a local bank account for this.

Contract: The employee signs an employment contract directly with the German company. We ensure that this contract complies 100 % with the local labor law of the respective country.

Monthly cycle: At the end of the month, the customer only provides us with the variable data – such as bonuses, commissions, or vacation days. We handle the complex gross-to-net calculation, local tax deductions, and create the local payslips.

Payment: The customer transfers the total amount for salary and taxes in a single sum in their home currency (e.g., euros) to us. We handle the 'last mile,' convert the money at top exchange rates, and pay it out punctually to the employee and the local authorities.

Tom Reimann: The EOR model is the perfect complement to our global approach. While our NRE model works excellently in most European countries, the USA, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, we reach legal limits in regions where local authorities simply do not offer this model.

And this is exactly where EOR comes into play: To ensure seamless global expansion for our customers in over 140 countries, we use the EOR model in all other regions.

In addition to geographic coverage, EOR has an unbeatable advantage: speed. While government registrations with NRE always require a few weeks' lead time, an employee is often ready for deployment within a few days via EOR. It is therefore the ideal solution for companies that are either expanding outside our NRE zones or face extreme time pressure and need to be operational immediately.

Tom Reimann: We take the "heavy lifting" off our customers' hands. Through standardized processes and a single payroll in the home currency, we reduce the workload for HR and finance teams to a minimum.

1. The principle of "Single Remittance" (one single transfer)

The biggest source of errors and the biggest time-waster in international payroll is juggling different currencies, local tax authorities, and varying bank processing times. We solve this with our single-remittance model. For the customer, we reduce the entire global complexity to a single action: they receive a single consolidated funds request (Single Funds Request) from us in their preferred home currency – whether euros, US dollars, or GBP. The customer only needs to make this one transfer. We handle the entire "last mile" – i.e., the timely distribution in the respective local currencies to employees, tax authorities, and health insurance providers worldwide.

2. The three-step, streamlined payroll cycle

We have drastically simplified and standardized the monthly process for our customers' HR and finance teams, whether they have employees in one country or 50:

Step 1: The input. The customer provides us with monthly changes – such as commissions, bonuses, or vacation days – via email or phone.

Step 2: The processing. Our team handles all the "heavy lifting": complex gross-to-net calculations in compliance with all local laws and the preparation of reports.

Step 3: Approval & disbursement. We send the customer clear reports for final approval. Once approved, we disburse everything and send locally compliant payslips directly to the employees.

3. No anonymity when problems arise

And the crucial factor that keeps our process error-free: we don’t hide behind software. If a major platform encounters an error or incomplete data, the system blocks, and the customer has to submit a ticket.

With us, a real expert – the dedicated account manager – reviews the data at every step. If we spot any discrepancies, we pick up the phone and clarify it directly with the customer before any error can even occur. That’s "human intelligence" in practice.

Tom Reimann: Those who have been paying salaries worldwide on time and in compliance for decades can also handle international payments to suppliers and service providers with ease.

To understand this area, you need to see where we come from: Through our decades of experience in global payroll, we have, over time, automatically become absolute experts in international payments (Global Payments). Anyone who distributes highly complex, deadline-bound salary payments, including local taxes, to over 140 countries every month without errors has a payment infrastructure that is absolutely bulletproof. We are now leveraging this expertise to revolutionize our customers' entire payment processes (Accounts Payable).

This creates two massive savings potentials for companies – one financial and one operational:

1. Direct FX and cost advantages:

Traditional house banks often charge exorbitant markups on exchange rates and hidden fees for international transfers. Since we have now processed over a million successful transactions via our platform, we have access to institutional large-customer exchange rates. We pass these top-tier rates directly on to our customers – this protects the company budget and ensures that the recipient receives the maximum amount. In addition, our pricing structure is extremely transparent, with rates starting at just £1 per transaction, and there are no fixed monthly fees.

2. Massive efficiency gains in the back office:

Normally, the accounting department has to check each foreign invoice individually, manually enter it in the bank portal, and format it according to the correct local standards. With us, the company simply provides its payment data – whether it's a single invoice or a bulk file with up to 10,000 entries (e.g., for global freelancers or suppliers).

Our system performs automated compliance and AML screening. The customer then receives just a single consolidated Single Funds Request. They pay once in their own currency, and we handle the precise distribution in over 130 currencies worldwide. This saves the finance department days and weeks of manual work.

Tom Reimann: Those who ignore payroll and compliance risk having the hard-earned market success abroad stifled at the root by legal penalties or the loss of top talent.

1. The risk of the "boomerang effect"

It's completely understandable that founders and CEOs first think about the product, sales, and revenue – that's the engine of the company. But payroll and compliance are the landing gear. If the landing gear isn't in place, the plane crashes on landing in the new market.

We often see a dangerous boomerang effect: Foreign sales take off brilliantly, but six months later, an on-site audit reveals that contracts are flawed, taxes were incorrectly paid, or the issue of bogus self-employment is looming. The result is massive penalty payments, retroactive social security contributions, and, in the worst case, reputational damage that ruins the entire market entry. Those who cut corners here or postpone the issue end up paying the price.

2. Talent acquisition and employee satisfaction from day one

A second, purely strategic reason is the human factor. When you expand abroad, you depend on the absolute loyalty and motivation of your first local employees – these are your pioneers. If these employees have to wait for their salary at the end of the month because international banks are blocking the money, or if the payslip is incorrect, this immediately destroys trust in the new employer. Professional, punctual and locally compliant payroll processing is tangible appreciation. It is the foundation for employee retention. With our NRE model, for example, companies show professional presence from day one under their own brand.

3. Agility as a competitive advantage (Time-to-Market)

Lastly, it's all about pure competitiveness. If payroll and payments are strategically considered from the outset as a flexible infrastructure, the company becomes extremely agile.

If the CEO decides: 'We now need to build a team in France, the USA and Australia immediately', the HR and finance department must not become a bottleneck because they spend months searching for local solutions. With a partner like PeoplePay Global, the structure is already in place in the background. The company can fully focus on sales and market development, while we secure the expansion administratively in record time and with zero risk. Payroll is thus not a tedious back-office issue, but a strategic growth accelerator.

In short: you don’t build a house without first laying the foundation. Payroll, payments and compliance are the foundation on which successful global growth can even stand stably.

Tom Reimann: Geography has lost its power over the workplace. Thanks to the post-Covid era, the global labor market has become borderless – and we provide the legal foundation so that companies can use this change without risk for themselves.

1. The fundamental change: The end of geographical borders

Looking back on my last 25 years in international sales, the global labor market has never changed so rapidly and fundamentally as in recent years. We are experiencing a real revolution. The post-Covid era in particular has acted as a catalyst: physical borders now play almost no role in the minds of companies and employees. In the past, it was natural to look for talent where your own office was located. Today, it has become completely secondary where someone works. The focus has shifted completely: away from geography, towards pure qualifications. Companies are now looking for the very best minds worldwide – and skilled workers now expect this flexibility as a matter of course.

2. The new reality: Global, but legally secure

The problem with this trend, however, is that while technology and work culture in 2026 are completely borderless, the laws of individual countries are not at all. Each country guards its tax and labor legislation like the apple of its eye.

And this is exactly where the biggest gap in the market currently lies: Many companies want and need to enable this global, flexible way of working to stay competitive – but they simply don’t know how to do it in a legally secure way. They want to operate globally, but understandably don’t want to have one foot in prison or caught in a tax trap.

3. PeoplePay Global as an enabler of this new world of work

This is precisely the interface where we come in. Decades of experience have shown us that administrative hurdles should never be the stumbling block for business success or employees’ personal freedom. We are, in a sense, the enabler of this new world. With our models – whether direct employment via the NRE model or safeguarding through EOR – we remove all complexity from the equation. We bridge the gap: We enable real, borderless, and global work, while ensuring at the same time that everything is 100 % compliant with local laws. This allows companies to tap into the full potential of the global talent pool while we keep their backs covered in the background.

Tom Reimann: Automation is great for standard processes, but fatal when dealing with complex issues. In the global HR sector, where it’s about people and livelihoods, real trust and personal accessibility remain the ultimate competitive advantage.

1. The illusion of perfect automation

In a business world increasingly shaped by AI and algorithms, many tech companies believe that every process in the world can be poured into an app or a self-service portal. And as long as everything goes according to plan, it works wonderfully. The problem is that global payroll and international compliance almost never follow a rigid pattern. This is about people, their livelihoods, timely salaries, sudden changes in legislation, or complex tax special cases. If an error occurs in the system, no chatbot or standardized FAQ document will help you. In moments of uncertainty, customers want and need to speak to a real expert – immediately, without waiting on hold or dealing with an anonymous ticket system.

2. Trust cannot be digitalized

The human factor is not a romantic relic from the past for us, but a hard strategic necessity. Trust simply cannot be digitalized. When a mid-sized CFO entrusts us with the responsibility for payroll for their teams in the US, Australia, or France, that’s an enormous vote of confidence. We repay this trust by remaining tangible. Our customers know exactly who their personal account manager is. They know the voice, they know that this person is based in the UK, speaks their language, and will move heaven and earth to solve a problem before the deadline if necessary. This creates an emotional security that no software platform in the world can ever provide.

3. The perfect symbiosis: Digital in the background, human up front

Don’t get me wrong: we’re not shutting ourselves off from technology. In the background, we use state-of-the-art, highly secure systems – for example, for our automated AML screenings in the payments area or for error-free gross-to-net calculations.

But we use technology to make our back-office processes more efficient, not to hide from the customer. Technology is the tool, but human intelligence (HI) is and remains our product. The more digital and anonymous the business world becomes, the more personal, top-class support becomes the ultimate luxury good and differentiator. And that’s exactly the “white-glove” service we live at PeoplePay Global every single day.

Tom Reimann: “White-glove service” isn’t a marketing slogan in the luxury segment; it’s the standard. I transfer that absolute customer focus and attention to detail 1:1 to the B2B world of PeoplePay Global.

1. The luxury industry mindset: anticipation instead of reaction

At first glance, the luxury-lifestyle industry and global payroll management seem like two completely different worlds. But at their core, both industries are about exactly the same thing: exceptional customer relationships and absolute trust.

In the luxury world where I was active with TomConnects Global, you learn one thing from day one: excellent service doesn’t wait until the customer has a problem. Excellent service anticipates the customer’s needs before they even express them. You don’t hide behind processes; you deliver tailored, seamless experiences. That’s exactly the mindset I bring to my role as CRO at PeoplePay Global today.

2. What “white-glove” really means in the B2B space

Many B2B companies today use the term “white-glove service” as a nice marketing buzzword. For me, it’s a way of life. When we at PeoplePay Global say we offer a personal, human-led service, we mean it exactly as you would expect from a five-star-plus environment.

Our mid-market customers face enormous pressure as they expand internationally. They don’t want standard software that ultimately leaves them doing most of the work themselves and getting stuck in an anonymous support queue when errors occur. They want the reassurance that their global payroll and payment processes are in the hands of absolute experts who handle every last local detail – discreetly, with the highest professionalism and absolute reliability.

3. The CRO role: quality as a revenue driver

As Chief Revenue Officer, I naturally focus on our company’s growth. But my experience has shown me that the most sustainable and strongest growth doesn’t come from aggressive sales tactics, but from uncompromising service quality and customer loyalty. By putting the customer and their individual challenges – whether it’s the NRE model in the U.S. or complex bulk payments worldwide – at the center, we create genuine partnerships on equal footing. My time in the luxury segment has taught me that quality and the human factor always win in the end. And that’s exactly the foundation on which we scale PeoplePay Global successfully.

Tom Reimann: PeoplePay Global supports companies of all industries and sizes. However, three groups currently benefit most from international payroll solutions:

1. The basic principle: Expansion knows no industry boundaries