EOR Solution for a US Themed Entertainment Design Firm in China

Client

A US-based firm specialising in themed entertainment design, including theme park and resort design, exhibitions, zoos, aquariums, and large-scale building renovation projects. The company is a mid-to-large enterprise ranked among the top vendors in its sector globally, with an established track record on major international projects in Asia.

Challenge

When the firm signed a significant US/China project contract, it needed to deploy a team of 5–10 architects and designers to work on-site across different Chinese cities, with residency periods of 6–12 months per project cycle. This created three competing requirements:

Speed: The project schedule required employees to be onboarded and compliant in China within weeks, not months. Establishing a WFOE in China takes 2–4 months under normal conditions, far too slow to meet the contract start date.
Cost and proportionality: Setting up a full legal entity for a project team that was project-based and might not recur regularly could not be justified by the revenue profile. The overhead of establishing, maintaining, and eventually de-registering a WFOE would outweigh the commercial benefit.
Compliance: Chinese labour law requires that all staff working in China under an employment arrangement be enrolled in the local social insurance system, have a compliant Chinese employment contract, and have IIT withheld and remitted correctly. These obligations apply regardless of whether the employer has a Chinese entity, making an EOR the legally correct mechanism for project-based deployment.

Solution

Acadia Advisory provided a full Employer of Record (EOR) service for the firm's China project teams:

Employment contracts: Acadia, as the legal employer on record, issued bilingual (Chinese/English) employment contracts for each team member in compliance with PRC Labour Contract Law, covering probation terms, remuneration, social insurance enrolment, termination conditions, and intellectual property provisions relevant to the design work.
Social insurance and housing fund: Each employee was enrolled in the local five-insurance-one-fund (五险一金) scheme in their city of residence, with monthly contributions calculated and remitted by Acadia to the relevant local authorities.
Payroll and IIT: Monthly payroll was processed in RMB, with IIT withheld and remitted using the cumulative withholding method under China's current Individual Income Tax Law. Year-end IIT reconciliation was handled by Acadia.
Onboarding coordination: Acadia managed the full onboarding process, from employment contract execution to social insurance registration and payslip delivery, within the two-week target timeline.
Ongoing HR advisory: As the legal employer, Acadia handled any HR queries, disciplinary matters, or employment law questions that arose during the project engagement, providing the US client with a single point of contact for all China employment issues.

Outcome

The first project team of five employees was fully onboarded, contracted, and enrolled in social insurance within two weeks of engagement, meeting the project start date.
The client's China project launched on time and on schedule, with no employment compliance gaps.
Employees experienced a seamless transition: statutory contributions to pension and medical insurance continued without interruption from their prior positions.
The client determined that ongoing China project work is better served by the EOR model and has continued to use Acadia's EOR service for subsequent project deployments rather than establishing its own entity.

Deploy Your China Team with Acadia EOR

If you need employees working in China quickly and compliantly, for a project, a market test, or while your WFOE registration is in progress, Acadia's EOR service provides a fully managed legal employment solution. We cover employment contracts, social insurance, IIT, and HR administration across all major Chinese cities. Learn more about our China EOR services, or request a consultation.