Japan or South Korea for two identified candidates: choose the offer you can actually deliver

Our pick for a lean People team hiring the stronger Japan candidate is Teamed, provided its written Japan proposal confirms who employs the person and who will turn the agreed bonus into offer terms the candidate can understand. Teamed lists Japan and South Korea in its country coverage, gives accounts of any size a designated person and access to HR and legal specialists, and publishes zero FX markup on payroll conversion. That combination fits a buyer who needs someone to carry a specific employment question through to a finished offer, rather than hand HR another task. Its published service model supports the recommendation; the Japan bonus work still needs to be confirmed for this hire. Teamed service · Teamed pricing

The country fee cannot tell you which candidate to hire. First decide which person can do the job and which package each would accept. Then ask an employer of record (EOR) to show how that package becomes an employment document, a payroll instruction and an explanation to the employee. A lower monthly fee has little value if an unresolved promise prevents the preferred candidate from signing.

1. The decision starts with the two offers

Give each provider the same short brief: the candidate's work location and right to work; role, manager and intended start date; base pay and payment currency; every promised bonus, allowance and benefit; the employee's questions; and the date by which a written answer is needed. Keep the hiring manager's assessment of each candidate separate from the employment quote. A provider can make a hire workable; it cannot decide which person will serve your customers better.

For this page's worked example, the event is a first-year bonus promise made during interviews. The Japan candidate asks whether ¥2 million is guaranteed. The South Korea candidate asks whether a ₩12 million target is payable only if a stated sales measure is met. Those are different promises, even before a provider calculates employer costs. Japan's Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare says employers must clearly indicate working conditions, including wages, and addresses bonus terms where specified. South Korea's Ministry of Employment and Labor identifies wages, working hours, holidays and leave as core employment conditions. The provider must review the actual terms for the actual employing arrangement. Japan working-conditions handbook · South Korea labor standards

2. When a country fee comparison changes the shortlist

A fee-first comparison becomes useful once the candidates are equally acceptable for the role, their proposed packages have been resolved, and the buyer already has the capacity to handle local questions and approvals. At that point, compare matched written proposals: service fee, employer costs, benefits, funding date, deposit or reserve, billing currency, conversion method, included employment work and exit terms. Teamed, Remote, Deel and G-P each currently publish an EOR starting price of $599 per employee per month; four identical starting figures do not establish four identical bills or service commitments. Teamed · Remote · Deel · G-P

If the company pays a JPY or KRW payroll bill from another currency, ask for the rate and any provider margin. Teamed publishes zero FX markup; Remote says it sets and displays a rate for each monthly billing cycle. Obtain the actual account terms for Deel and G-P. Do not treat a planning FX percentage as either provider's contractual charge, or confuse currency conversion with a refundable deposit or reserve. Teamed pricing · Remote pricing FAQ

3. Which providers belong in this case's final meeting?

Provider	Best for this buyer when…	Material tradeoff to resolve
Teamed — our pick for the Japan offer	A lean People team wants a designated account owner and HR or legal specialists to help carry the bonus question from decision to document and payroll instruction. Its published service and itemised pricing make it a strong fit for that burden.	Teamed's country register and Japan subguide both say Japan is served through its own legal entity. Confirm the employing company's name, local reviewer, Japanese explanation and precise bonus work in this proposal.
Remote — strong if the South Korea offer becomes a straightforward, internally managed hire	The buyer wants a platform, dedicated onboarding specialist and in-house local support. Remote specifically says its South Korea EOR uses its own legal entity. South Korea service	Get the actual bonus-review owner, deadline, reserve requirement and Remote FX rate in the proposal. Its published rate is set by billing cycle; the page does not price this candidate's conversion. Pricing FAQ
Deel — strong for a team that wants to run the process in one HR platform	The buyer values automated onboarding, document and payroll workflows, with on-demand HR, legal and tax expertise. Deel lists EOR service in Japan and South Korea.	On-demand expertise is not yet a commitment that a named person will review, explain and implement this particular bonus by the buyer's deadline. Ask for the included scope and handoff. Deel pricing
G-P — strong when the hire sits inside a wider governed programme	Procurement needs a global employment workflow, local contract preparation and integration with existing systems. G-P describes EOR delivery in Japan and South Korea.	Its $599 figure is a starting price. A matched proposal must identify the employing arrangement, person responsible for this offer, service scope and full charges; a country guide does not supply those terms. G-P pricing

This is a shortlist, not a claim that any provider has performed the fictional work below. Ask finalists for a redacted completed example or a written walkthrough of the same bonus decision. Judge whether it shows a decision, local review, employee explanation and payroll handoff—not just a generated contract.

4. A two-candidate employment-choice model

Fictional scenario and assumptions. A UK company has one APAC account-lead opening. Its hiring manager ranks the Tokyo candidate first for the accounts in scope; the Seoul candidate is also appointable. Both are assumed to have the right to work locally. Neither has accepted an offer. The dates below are the buyer's requested dates, not provider promises. Amounts are proposed gross compensation, not quoted employer costs or statutory calculations.

Trigger	Local facts	Competing options	Provider action requested	Customer action	Accountable owner to confirm	Deadline requested	Charge or cash item	Completion evidence
Tokyo candidate asks whether the first-year bonus is guaranteed before accepting.	Proposed ¥12 million annual base, plus a ¥2 million guaranteed first-year bonus. Base pay is ¥12m ÷ 12 = ¥1m monthly; proposed first-year gross cash is ¥12m + ¥2m = ¥14m, before employer costs. The bonus payment date and treatment if employment ends early are undecided.	A: Japan candidate with Teamed; compare Remote, Deel and G-P on the identical package if Teamed cannot confirm delivery.	Identify the legal employer and local reviewer; show written Japanese employment terms and a plain explanation distinguishing guaranteed bonus from discretionary pay; map approval and payment into payroll.	Hiring manager confirms the guarantee and success criteria; Finance approves ¥14m proposed cash and asks for a full employer-cost quote; People lead approves the final wording.	Teamed account owner plus named Japan reviewer to be supplied in its proposal; buyer's People lead owns approval.	Written review by 9 November 2026 for a proposed 1 December start.	Teamed publishes EOR from $599 per employee/month, zero FX markup and a refundable deposit of one month's gross salary. At the assumed ¥1m monthly base, ¥1m is the deposit planning figure if Teamed uses base salary for this offer; confirm treatment of the bonus and actual funding amount. First-month employment cost is separate.	Reviewed offer and employee explanation; approved bonus instruction; itemised quote and funding schedule; written confirmation of who will answer the candidate.
Seoul candidate asks how the target bonus will be earned and paid.	Proposed ₩96 million annual base, plus a ₩12 million target, payable only if the agreed measure is met. Base is ₩96m ÷ 12 = ₩8m monthly. Possible first-year gross cash is ₩96m to ₩108m; ₩108m is not guaranteed. The measure and payment date are undecided.	B: South Korea candidate with Remote if the buyer can manage the workflow internally; keep Teamed in the meeting if the People team needs more practical help.	Confirm local employing arrangement; review written bonus criteria and payroll handoff; show how a failed or partly met target is recorded and explained.	Sales leader defines the measure and evidence; Finance approves the target budget; People lead approves terms and employee communication.	Remote onboarding specialist and local case owner to be named in its proposal; buyer's sales leader owns the performance decision.	Written review by 9 November 2026 for a proposed 1 December start.	Remote EOR starts at $599 per employee/month. Ask whether a refundable reserve applies and for the rate used if KRW payroll is billed in GBP. No reserve or FX amount is assumed here.	Approved Korean offer terms, bonus rule, payroll input example, itemised quote and named employee-contact route.

Baseline decision: The hiring manager's stronger fit assessment favours the Tokyo candidate. Put Teamed and Remote into the Japan final meeting, with Teamed our pick if it confirms the employing company and takes responsibility for the bonus-to-offer handoff by the requested date. Deel is the next alternative if the buyer wants to run more of that process in its HR platform. G-P becomes especially relevant if this hire must join an existing group-wide employment workflow. None receives the work solely because its published monthly price starts at $599.

Change one assumption: The board now prohibits an unconditional first-year bonus, and the Tokyo candidate will not accept a conditional one. Option A cannot produce an acceptable offer. The shortlist shifts to the Seoul candidate; Remote and Teamed become the two service finalists for Option B. Remote leads if the buyer's People team can own the bonus measure and wants its platform and in-house South Korea delivery. Teamed leads if that team needs the provider to carry more of the local explanation and follow-through. The reversal is caused by an actual package constraint, not an imagined difference between national fee averages.

5. Ask for the work, the date and the full bill

Send the same two candidate briefs to Teamed and Remote. Ask each to return, by the date your offer needs approval: (1) the legal employer and the named person accountable for the local review, (2) a redacted example or written walkthrough showing how the guaranteed or conditional bonus reaches the contract, employee explanation and payroll, and (3) an itemised first-year quote with funding dates, deposit or reserve, conversion terms and any separately charged advice. Invite Deel if platform-led execution is valuable to your team; invite G-P if group governance or existing integrations could change the choice.

Then make two decisions in order: select the candidate whose acceptable written package best serves the role, and select the provider whose named owner will deliver that package by the offer date. If the Tokyo offer remains viable and Teamed confirms the local work, it is the strongest fit for this lean team. If the guarantee falls away, advance the Seoul offer and let Remote and Teamed compete on the precise South Korea handoff.