Employer of Record in Malaysia
Hire full-time employees in Malaysia without setting up a company. Emerhub becomes the legal employer, running compliant contracts, payroll, EPF, SOCSO, and EIS, while you direct the work. From $49.99 per employee, per month.
Hire in Malaysia without opening a company
An employer of record is a licensed Malaysian company that employs your team on your behalf. Emerhub signs the employment contract, runs payroll, registers and pays EPF, SOCSO, and EIS, withholds PCB tax, and meets the rest of what the Employment Act asks of an employer. Your team works for you exactly as they would otherwise. What changes is whose name the authorities see as the employer.
It solves a specific problem. As a foreign company, you can't put someone on a Malaysian payroll without a local entity, and registering a Sdn Bhd runs into weeks of incorporation with SSM, a corporate bank account, and statutory registrations before you can make a single hire. An employer of record removes that step. Emerhub already holds the entity and the registrations, so you can have someone employed and working here in about a week, and open your own Sdn Bhd later if the team grows enough to justify it.
Employer of record vs. a Sdn Bhd vs. contractors
Three ways to put a team on the ground in Malaysia, with different trade-offs in speed, risk, and cost. For most companies hiring their first few employees here, the employer of record is the one that gets people working fastest without taking on compliance exposure.
| Independent contractors | Your own entity | Emerhub EOR | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Setup time | Immediate, but exposed | Weeks to months: SSM, bank, statutory registrations | About a week |
| Compliance risk | High: misclassification triggers back-pay and penalties | Lower, once correctly run | Carried by Emerhub as the legal employer |
| HR & payroll | Handled by you, manually | Needs an in-house or outsourced local function | Fully managed, across EPF, SOCSO, EIS, and LHDN |
| Local presence | None | Full entity and operating structure | None required; you hire under ours |
| Upfront cost | Low, with hidden exposure | High: incorporation, capital, HR setup | A flat monthly fee per employee |
| Best for | Genuinely independent, short projects | Large or permanent teams at scale | Hiring full-time staff now, entity later |
What our Malaysia employer of record service covers
The split is clean: Emerhub takes every legal employment obligation, and you keep everything that makes the role yours. Malaysia's statutory contributions (EPF, SOCSO, EIS, and PCB withholding) add around 15% on top of salary, with no 13th month pay to budget for, and the compliance side is the side we own.
Emerhub handles
- Compliant employment contracts under the Employment Act 1955
- Payroll processing, at or above the RM1,700 minimum wage
- EPF contributions, 12–13% employer and 11% employee
- SOCSO and EIS contributions through PERKESO
- PCB monthly tax withholding and the LHDN filings
- HRD Corp levy where it applies, plus leave and holiday compliance
- Onboarding, offboarding, and statutory reporting by the 15th each month
You keep
- The role, its scope, and who you hire
- Compensation decisions, including any discretionary bonus
- Performance standards and reviews
- Day-to-day supervision and priorities
- Working hours and arrangements
- Team culture and direction
From first call to first payslip
When you already have the person, onboarding runs in about a week. When you need us to find them too, recruitment adds a couple of weeks at the front.
Initial consultationDay one
We map your hiring need: the role, the salary against local benchmarks, the start date, and whether you have a candidate or want us to source one. This is also where we flag anything in the role that Malaysian employment law treats differently than you might expect.
Contracts and onboardingAbout a week
We draft a compliant Employment Act contract, register the employee with EPF, SOCSO, and EIS, and onboard them under Emerhub as the legal employer. Your team member starts work for you while the paperwork sits correctly with us.
Payroll and benefitsEach cycle
We run payroll on schedule, remit the EPF, SOCSO, and EIS contributions, withhold PCB tax, and administer leave and holidays. Your employee is paid accurately and on time, every cycle.
Tax filing and ongoing supportContinuous
We handle the LHDN filings and the statutory remittances by the 15th of each month, keep you current as rules change (the minimum wage, e-invoicing, the new foreign-worker EPF rule), and stay reachable for both you and your employee. If the team grows into its own Sdn Bhd, we set that up and move everyone across.
What an employer of record in Malaysia costs
Our pricing is simple: 10% of the total monthly cost to employ someone, their salary plus the EPF, SOCSO, and EIS contributions, with a floor of $49.99 and a ceiling of $250. Charging a percentage keeps it fair on smaller roles, and the cap keeps it predictable on senior ones, so a higher salary never turns into a runaway fee. Set a salary below to see the fee and the all-in monthly cost.
For estimate purposes only. Figures shift with exchange rates and current statutory rates, so talk to our team for an exact quote.
The calculator estimates statutory employer costs on 2026 Malaysian rates (EPF, SOCSO, EIS) at roughly RM4.7 to the dollar; we confirm exact figures on a quote. Salary and statutory costs are billed alongside the fee and passed through transparently, with no setup fee and no entity to register. It's the most affordable EOR pricing in the market.
Ready to hire in Malaysia?
Send us the role and the target salary, and we'll come back with the exact monthly cost and how soon we can have someone working for you.
Why companies pick Emerhub as their Malaysian EOR
In-house, in-country
We employ, pay, and support your team with our own Kuala Lumpur staff, not a chain of third-party subcontractors. When something needs sorting with KWSP, PERKESO, or LHDN, it's our people doing it.
Backed by Emerhub since 2011
Emerhub has run market entry and HR across Asia for over a decade, and our Malaysia desk brings that same playbook to hiring and compliance here.
Onboard in about a week
Where a new Sdn Bhd takes weeks to months, your first hire under our EOR can be working in about a week, with EPF, SOCSO, and EIS registered behind them.
All in one place
Recruitment, employer of record, payroll, and corporate services sit with one provider, so finding the person, hiring them, and paying them is a single relationship rather than four.
A clear path to your own Sdn Bhd
When the team grows enough to justify a local company, we register the Sdn Bhd and transfer your employees across, so the EOR is a bridge, not a dead end.
Predictable, competitive cost
A flat per-employee fee, 10% of the cost to employ and capped at $250, that stays well below the global platforms, with the statutory costs passed through transparently.
Malaysia EOR FAQs
The questions companies ask before hiring through an employer of record in Malaysia.
How much does an employer of record cost in Malaysia?
The fee is 10% of the total monthly cost to employ someone, their salary plus the EPF, SOCSO, and EIS contributions, starting at $49.99 per employee and capped at $250 no matter how senior the hire. For a mid-range Malaysian salary the fee lands around $100 to $150 per employee, and the cap keeps it predictable as salaries rise. The salary and statutory costs are billed alongside it and passed through transparently. There is no setup fee and no capital to put down, which is what makes an EOR far cheaper than registering a Sdn Bhd for a small team.
How long does it take to onboard employees in Malaysia?
When you already have your candidate, onboarding through our EOR takes about a week: contract, EPF, SOCSO, and EIS registration, and start. When you also want us to find the person, recruitment adds roughly two weeks at the front. Either way it is far faster than the weeks to months a Sdn Bhd needs before it can legally employ anyone.
Is an EOR cheaper than setting up a Sdn Bhd?
For a small team, almost always. An employer of record means no incorporation with SSM, no corporate bank account, no local HR or payroll function to build, and no ongoing entity compliance, just a per-employee monthly fee. A Sdn Bhd becomes the better economic choice once the team is large enough that the fixed costs of running a company are spread thin, and at that point we can register it and move your people into it.
What does your Malaysia EOR service cover?
Everything on the legal employment side: a compliant contract under the Employment Act 1955, payroll at or above the RM1,700 minimum wage, EPF at 12 to 13% employer and 11% employee, SOCSO and EIS through PERKESO, PCB tax withholding to LHDN, the HRD Corp levy where it applies, and leave and holiday compliance, plus onboarding, offboarding, and the monthly statutory reporting. You keep the role, the pay decisions, the performance management, and the day-to-day direction.
How is an EOR different from a BPO in Malaysia?
With a BPO, you buy an outcome and the provider's own employees deliver it, on their terms. With an employer of record, you choose the individuals, direct their work, and manage their performance; the EOR is only the legal employer, handling contracts, payroll, and compliance. EOR is the right model when you want your own team in Malaysia rather than a vendor's output.
Do I have to commit to a long contract?
No. The engagement runs month to month per employee. If a hire ends or a project finishes, we handle the offboarding and the EOR fee stops; if the team grows into its own Sdn Bhd, we set up the company and transition everyone across without you paying for parallel infrastructure.
What is the minimum wage in Malaysia?
The national minimum wage is RM1,700 per month. All EOR contracts we draft sit at or above that floor, and we keep clients current as the wage order updates so payroll never falls out of compliance.
How do contractor and EOR arrangements differ in Malaysia?
Contractors are paid for outputs and carry their own taxes; employees are paid for time, with the employer covering taxes, EPF, SOCSO, EIS, and statutory benefits. The line is policed by LHDN and the Industrial Relations Department, and calling someone a contractor doesn't hold up when the working pattern looks like employment. EOR puts the relationship on the right side of that line from day one.
Talk to our Kuala Lumpur team
A free, no-obligation call: thirty minutes with our Kuala Lumpur team to scope the role, model the cost on real numbers, and map a realistic start date for your first hire.
Kampung Datuk Keramat
50400 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia