China HR compliance is the connected employment lifecycle that allows a foreign employer to hire, pay, manage and exit employees lawfully. It links the legal employer and labor contract with payroll, individual income tax, social insurance, housing fund, working hours, leave, employee handbooks, personal-information controls and termination. Compliance fails when these records conflict: the contract names one employer, payroll uses another salary, benefits are registered in the wrong city, managers approve overtime informally, or an exit is announced before the legal basis and evidence are reviewed. A workable framework therefore assigns an owner to every stage, keeps the same employee data across systems and preserves documents that can prove each decision. For the core statutory framework, review China labor law.
This guide is designed as the central employer checklist for mainland China. It explains how the controls connect, what can go wrong, which documents should exist and when a foreign employer should escalate an issue for legal, payroll, tax or local operational review.
Employee rights and workplace standards employers must operationalize
China workplace standards are the employer-side controls that protect employees in practice. At minimum, foreign employers should align written contracts and policies with applicable working-hour, overtime, leave, wage-payment, social insurance, workplace-safety, grievance, and termination rules; explain these rules to employees; apply them consistently; and keep evidence of approvals, training, investigations, and corrective action. Employees should have a clear channel to raise grievances or safety concerns without retaliation. City-specific requirements and higher-risk occupational health issues should be reviewed with qualified local counsel or the relevant authorities.
China HR compliance at a glance
The legal rules matter, but the practical compliance test is whether the employer can execute them consistently throughout the employment lifecycle. The table below shows the minimum control expected at each stage.
| Lifecycle stage | Core employer control | Primary evidence | Main failure risk |
|---|---|---|---|
| Workforce planning | Choose the correct legal employer and worker model before recruiting or making an offer. | Structure assessment, entity information, approved hiring route and role description. | An unclear employer, unsuitable contractor arrangement or unsupported offshore-payroll setup. |
| Offer and contracting | Use locally reviewed terms that match the actual role, workplace, salary, hours and employing entity. | Approved offer, signed labor contract, job description and compensation approval. | Late or inconsistent documents, probation disputes and unclear employment terms. |
| Onboarding | Create a complete but proportionate employee file and complete payroll, tax and benefit setup. | Identity and bank records, policy acknowledgments, privacy notice, registrations and system approvals. | Missing data, delayed registration, excessive data collection or a start date before controls are ready. |
| Monthly employment administration | Reconcile attendance, leave, compensation changes, payroll, IIT, social insurance and housing fund. | Approved payroll input, payroll register, payslip, tax and contribution records, bank proof and exception log. | Different systems showing different salary, status, city or working-time information. |
| Daily management | Apply working-hour, leave, performance, discipline, expense, remote-work and conduct rules consistently. | Attendance, approvals, manager records, policy version, acknowledgment, training and investigation files. | Verbal management decisions that cannot be proved or policies that were never properly implemented. |
| Employee changes | Treat salary, role, location, hours, reporting line, leave status and work authorization changes as controlled events. | Change request, employee agreement where needed, effective date, system update and payroll confirmation. | Operational changes taking effect before the contract, payroll, benefits or permit records are updated. |
| Employee data management | Define the purpose, access, transfer, vendor handling, retention and deletion of employee information. | Data inventory, notices, permissions, vendor terms, transfer review, access logs and retention schedule. | Over-collection, uncontrolled headquarters access, insecure sharing or retention without a business or legal need. |
| Exit and dispute readiness | Review the legal route, evidence, protected status, payments, benefits, access and required exit documents before communication. | Approval memo, supporting evidence, calculation file, notice or agreement, final payroll and handover record. | Wrongful termination exposure, payment errors, incomplete offboarding or loss of evidence. |
Why China HR compliance must operate as one system
Foreign employers often divide work among headquarters HR, a China manager, finance, payroll vendors, legal counsel and an EOR or other service provider. That division is workable only when each task has a named owner and the outputs reconcile.
The employment chain normally works like this:
- The hiring model determines who may sign the labor contract and carry employer obligations.
- The offer and contract determine salary components, workplace, duties, working hours, leave and benefits.
- Attendance, leave and approved employee changes become payroll inputs.
- Payroll drives wage payment, individual income tax withholding, statutory contributions, payslips and accounting records.
- The employee handbook and manager records support daily administration, performance management and discipline.
- HR data moves through local systems, vendors and headquarters, creating privacy and security obligations.
- Termination draws on the full history: contract terms, policy evidence, performance or misconduct records, leave status, payroll, severance and benefit administration.
A foreign employer therefore needs more than a legal summary. It needs a control framework that connects the rules explained in a broader China labor law guide with recurring HR, payroll, finance, management and data processes.
1. Choose the legal employer and hiring model before the offer
Compliance begins with a basic question: who is the legal employer in mainland China? A company with an eligible China entity may hire directly. A foreign company without a suitable local employing entity should not assume that an overseas contract or offshore salary payment creates a complete China employment structure.
The role must also be classified according to the real arrangement. A contractor model may suit a genuinely independent, deliverable-based service. It becomes higher risk when the person works under company direction, follows employee-like hours and approval processes, performs an ongoing internal role and receives regular salary-like payments. The label in the agreement should not contradict the way the work is actually managed.
For a foreign company that needs employees before establishing its own entity, a China EOR service can provide a local legal employer, payroll and statutory administration. The client still needs clear governance over job duties, day-to-day management, approvals, data access and escalation decisions.
Before approving a hire, document:
- the worker type and the facts supporting that classification;
- the legal employer and contracting party;
- the employing and work locations;
- the expected duration and reporting line;
- the payroll and statutory-benefit route;
- which party owns onboarding, leave, performance, discipline and termination; and
- whether foreign-national work authorization is involved.
2. Connect the labor contract, offer and onboarding file
China’s Labor Contract Law provides the core framework for establishing the employment relationship, written contracts and employer rules. A written labor contract should be concluded when employment begins or within the statutory one-month window. Employers should not use that window as a routine onboarding delay.
The contract should reflect the actual arrangement and align with the offer, payroll setup and employee file. Key fields include the legal employer, employee identity, contract term, duties, workplace, working-hour system, remuneration, rest and leave, social insurance and working conditions. Additional terms may address probation, confidentiality, intellectual property, training, supplementary benefits and restrictive covenants where appropriate.
Minimum onboarding file
A practical onboarding file usually includes the following, subject to role, city and data-minimization review:
- approved offer and signed labor contract;
- employee information form and necessary identity documents;
- job description, reporting line and workplace information;
- bank details and payroll setup approval;
- tax information and applicable employee declarations;
- social insurance and housing fund registration records;
- employee handbook and policy acknowledgments;
- confidentiality, intellectual-property and code-of-conduct documents where relevant;
- employee privacy notice and any additional authorization required for a particular processing activity;
- work permit and residence documentation for foreign employees; and
- a checklist confirming that all systems use the same start date, legal employer, salary, city and employee identifiers.
The file should be complete enough to support administration and audit, but it should not become a repository for personal information that the employer has no defined need to collect.
3. Reconcile payroll, IIT, social insurance and benefits every month
Payroll is the recurring control point where contract terms, attendance, leave, bonuses, allowances, tax, statutory contributions and accounting records meet. Under China’s Individual Income Tax Law, the payer of income acts as the withholding agent, and salary-related withholding and prepayment are generally handled through the applicable monthly process.
China’s Social Insurance Law establishes the statutory social insurance system and employer and employee participation obligations. Housing fund administration is a separate statutory area and should not be described as one of the five social insurance categories. Contribution bases, caps, rates, filing systems and operational procedures must be confirmed for the relevant location and period.
A monthly payroll close should compare:
- the active employee roster against starters, leavers and approved status changes;
- contracted salary against the approved payroll input and compensation-change records;
- attendance, overtime and leave against payroll treatment;
- bonuses, commissions, allowances and reimbursements against approvals and tax treatment;
- payroll results against IIT withholding and statutory contribution records;
- the payroll register against payslips, bank payment proof and accounting entries;
- social insurance and housing fund city data against the employee’s actual and documented arrangement; and
- all exceptions against a named owner, corrective action and completion date.
Companies with a China entity can use China payroll outsourcing for payroll calculation, IIT withholding support, social insurance and housing fund coordination, reporting and payslips. The employer should still retain approval authority, provide accurate inputs and review exceptions.
4. Control working hours, overtime and leave through records
The Labour Law provides the national framework for working hours, rest, leave, overtime and wage payment. Operational treatment may also depend on the applicable working-hour system, local approvals, employee category and city practice.
Employers should document:
- which working-hour system applies to each employee;
- whether local approval is required and, if so, its scope and validity period;
- normal schedules, rest days and public-holiday arrangements;
- how overtime is requested, approved, recorded and compensated;
- how business travel, remote work and after-hours communication are handled;
- annual leave accrual, scheduling, carryover and balance records;
- sick leave, medical-period documentation and payroll treatment;
- maternity, paternity, parental, childcare and other locally affected leave; and
- the connection between attendance records, leave approvals and monthly payroll.
A policy alone is not enough. If managers regularly approve overtime or remote work through informal messages but HR and payroll never receive the information, the company’s records will not reflect actual management practice.
5. Make the employee handbook enforceable in practice
The employee handbook is the operational bridge between legal requirements and daily management. It may address attendance, leave, overtime approval, performance, discipline, confidentiality, information security, expenses, remote work, anti-harassment, grievances, workplace conduct and serious violations.
Under Article 4 of the Labor Contract Law, rules and important decisions directly affecting employees’ immediate interests can require employee discussion and consultation, followed by publication or communication. Employers should preserve evidence of the applicable process rather than treating the handbook as a document that headquarters can replace without local review.
A controlled handbook file should contain:
- the approved China-localized version and effective date;
- the internal legal and management approval record;
- employee discussion, consultation or feedback records where required;
- the publication and communication method;
- signed or electronic acknowledgments;
- manager and employee training records;
- historical versions and a change log; and
- a cross-check confirming that payroll, leave, working-hour, discipline, data and termination language matches actual practice.
Managers need separate training. A well-drafted policy can still fail operationally when a manager promises an exception, skips the approval process, applies discipline inconsistently or communicates an exit before HR review.
6. Protect employee data across HR, payroll, vendors and headquarters
Employee files may contain identity details, contact information, salary, bank accounts, tax data, benefit information, performance records, leave and health information, disciplinary records, access logs and immigration documents. China’s Personal Information Protection Law requires personal information processing to have a valid basis, a clear and reasonable purpose, a proportionate scope, transparency and appropriate security.
Consent is not the only possible basis for employee-data processing. The law also recognizes processing necessary for human resources management under lawfully established labor rules and collective contracts, as well as processing needed to perform statutory duties or obligations. The correct basis depends on the activity, and separate or written consent may still be required in specified circumstances.
A practical HR data-control file should include:
- an inventory of employee data, systems, recipients and purposes;
- a defined processing basis for each material activity;
- employee-facing notices describing purposes, methods, categories, retention and rights;
- role-based access for HR, payroll, finance, managers, IT, vendors and headquarters;
- vendor due diligence and data-processing terms;
- review of sensitive personal information and higher-risk use cases;
- assessment of cross-border access or transfer where applicable;
- retention and deletion rules for active and former employees;
- access logs, periodic permission reviews and incident-response procedures; and
- change control when a new HRIS, payroll provider, monitoring tool or headquarters report is introduced.
7. Treat every employee change as a compliance event
Many compliance failures begin after onboarding. A manager changes the employee’s role, salary, workplace or schedule, but the contract, payroll, benefits, work permit and HRIS are updated at different times—or not at all.
Use one employee-change workflow for:
- salary, bonus, allowance or commission changes;
- promotion, demotion, transfer or material duty changes;
- workplace relocation or cross-city remote work;
- working-hour system or schedule changes;
- extended leave, medical status or protected-status events;
- entity, EOR or payroll-provider transitions;
- manager, cost-center or reporting-line changes that affect approvals;
- work permit, residence permit, role or location changes for foreign employees; and
- new access to sensitive systems or employee information.
Each change should identify the effective date, required employee agreement or notice, internal approvers, documents to amend, systems to update, payroll impact, benefit impact, data-access impact and post-change verification owner.
8. Plan termination before communicating it
China is not an at-will employment jurisdiction. An employer-side exit should be reviewed before a manager tells the employee that the decision has been made. The deeper legal routes and evidence requirements belong in HROne’s guide to employee termination in China.
The pre-termination review should cover:
- the proposed legal route and factual evidence;
- contract term, renewal history and any protected status;
- applicable handbook rules and proof of communication;
- performance, warning, investigation or consultation records;
- notice, payment in lieu and union-related steps where relevant;
- severance, final salary, bonus, unused leave and reimbursement treatment;
- social insurance, housing fund and work-authorization offboarding;
- handover, company property and system access;
- termination certificate and document retention; and
- the approved communication plan and responsible participants.
For detailed N, N+1, 2N, salary-base and cap questions, use the separate China severance pay guide rather than estimating the amount from a generic checklist.
National framework, city-level execution
Mainland China has national employment, contract, tax, social insurance and data rules, but many HR controls are executed locally. A multi-city employer should maintain a controlled city matrix instead of copying one location’s settings across the country.
| Area | What may vary locally | Employer control |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum wage and wage administration | Applicable local standard, adjustment date and some wage-payment practices. | Record the employee’s location, effective standard, source and implementation date. |
| Social insurance | Contribution bases, caps, rates, registration and filing procedures. | Maintain city-specific settings and verify them before each effective-period change. |
| Housing fund | Contribution parameters, registration, adjustment cycles and local administration. | Separate housing fund controls from social insurance and document the applicable city rule. |
| Leave | Locally affected maternity, paternity, parental, childcare, sick-leave and related treatment. | Use a location-specific leave matrix connected to the handbook and payroll system. |
| Working-hour administration | Application procedures and authority practice for non-standard systems. | Track approvals, covered employees, effective periods and renewal dates. |
| Foreign employees | Work-permit process, document expectations and local administrative practice. | Align employer, role, location, payroll and permit records and calendar all expiry dates. |
| Government platforms and filings | Portal, form, submission method, responsible authority and operational timing. | Assign local process ownership and keep filing receipts and status evidence. |
| Labor-dispute practice | Local interpretation and evidentiary emphasis can affect case handling. | Escalate material discipline, restructuring and termination decisions for local review. |
The matrix should show the source, rule owner, last verification date, effective date, affected employees, system change, communication requirement and next review date. A policy update is not complete until the related payroll configuration, handbook, employee communication and operating process have also been updated.
Common China HR compliance risk examples
The examples below show how risk usually arises from disconnected decisions rather than from one isolated error.
| Scenario | Hidden mismatch | Likely exposure | Better control |
|---|---|---|---|
| A new hire starts after signing only a headquarters offer. | The local legal employer and labor contract are not ready. | Unclear terms, late-contract exposure and delayed payroll or registration. | Use a pre-start gate that requires the approved hiring model and local contract. |
| A manager promises a recurring allowance by email. | The contract, payroll input, tax treatment and benefits records are not aligned. | Wage disputes, inconsistent tax treatment and recurring manual corrections. | Route compensation changes through a documented approval and effective-date workflow. |
| An employee relocates to another city while working remotely. | HRIS, workplace terms, payroll and statutory administration still show the former city. | Local-rule, registration, leave and documentation inconsistencies. | Require advance location-change notification and a cross-functional impact review. |
| Overtime is approved in chat but not recorded centrally. | Manager evidence does not reach attendance or payroll. | Overtime and wage disputes with incomplete employer records. | Use one approval channel and reconcile exceptions before payroll closes. |
| A global handbook contains at-will language. | The policy conflicts with China termination rules and local implementation requirements. | Weak disciplinary or termination position. | Localize, approve, communicate and version-control the China handbook. |
| Headquarters exports a complete employee database for reporting. | No one has mapped necessity, access, sensitive fields, vendor involvement or cross-border handling. | Excessive collection or sharing, unclear transparency and security exposure. | Use a data inventory, minimum-field design, access control and transfer review. |
| A manager tells an employee they will be terminated before HR review. | The legal route, evidence, protected status and settlement are unresolved. | Wrongful-termination, negotiation and employee-relations risk. | Make HR and legal approval a mandatory pre-communication gate. |
| Payroll is numerically correct but uses outdated city settings. | The calculation engine and current local statutory rules are misaligned. | Contribution, tax, audit and employee-account discrepancies. | Maintain a controlled city-rule calendar and document every configuration change. |
Documentation controls every foreign employer should maintain
Good documentation is not simply a large archive. It is a controlled set of records that shows which rule applied, who approved the decision, what was communicated, when systems changed and whether the final result reconciled.
| Control | Minimum standard | Evidence of completion |
|---|---|---|
| Employee master data | One authoritative record for legal employer, employee ID, location, contract dates, salary, status and statutory setup. | Approved master roster and controlled change history. |
| Version control | Effective dates, owners and archived versions for contracts, handbooks, templates and city matrices. | Version register and approval log. |
| Approval control | Defined authority for hiring, compensation, payroll, leave exceptions, discipline and exits. | Approval matrix and retrievable transaction records. |
| Monthly reconciliation | Contract, HRIS, attendance, leave, payroll, tax, benefits, bank and accounting outputs agree or have documented exceptions. | Signed close checklist and exception tracker. |
| Policy implementation evidence | Required consultation, communication, acknowledgment and manager training are completed. | Meeting records, notices, acknowledgments and attendance logs. |
| Data access control | Access is role-based, reviewed periodically and removed promptly when duties or employment end. | Access matrix, review record and closure ticket. |
| Vendor governance | Service scope, data roles, inputs, outputs, deadlines and exception ownership are documented. | Contract, process map, service review and issue log. |
| Retention and defensibility | Records are kept for defined legal and business periods and can be retrieved by employee and event. | Retention schedule, archive index and deletion record. |
Who owns China HR compliance?
HR may coordinate the framework, but it cannot own every input or decision. The following allocation gives foreign employers a practical starting point. Actual accountability should be documented in a company-specific responsibility matrix.
| Function | Primary responsibilities | Decisions that require escalation |
|---|---|---|
| Leadership or country management | Approve employment model, risk tolerance, headcount, major policy and restructuring decisions. | Entity or EOR changes, mass workforce actions, material disputes and high-risk exceptions. |
| China HR | Own employee lifecycle, contracts, files, onboarding, leave, policies, changes, performance process and offboarding coordination. | Non-standard terms, protected status, serious discipline, unresolved document gaps and policy conflicts. |
| People managers | Provide accurate work, attendance, leave, performance, conduct and employee-change information. | Any promise or action affecting pay, hours, role, location, discipline or employment status. |
| Payroll | Validate inputs, calculate payroll, prepare reports and payslips, coordinate statutory outputs and maintain the close file. | Unapproved inputs, retroactive changes, negative pay, statutory mismatches and unresolved exceptions. |
| Finance and tax | Fund payroll, approve payment, reconcile accounting, oversee IIT and review tax-sensitive compensation. | Unusual payments, equity or expatriate items, reimbursement concerns and filing discrepancies. |
| Legal or compliance | Review contracts, policies, investigations, data issues, disputes, restructuring and termination risk. | Potential legal breach, government contact, whistleblowing, sensitive investigation or contested exit. |
| IT and information security | Control system access, security, logging, devices, integrations, incident handling and access closure. | Cross-border system changes, monitoring tools, data incidents and excessive privileged access. |
| Headquarters HR or global mobility | Align global programs with China requirements and control cross-border approvals, reporting and expatriate processes. | Global policy conflicts, overseas data access, cross-border compensation and assignment changes. |
| EOR, payroll or HR service provider | Perform the contracted local employment, payroll, benefit, filing or administration tasks and report exceptions. | Out-of-scope requests, missing client approvals, legal uncertainty, late inputs and authority issues. |
China HR compliance audit checklist
A useful audit tests both design and execution. A policy may be legally reviewed but not followed; a payroll report may be accurate but based on incomplete HR inputs. Sample real employee events rather than reviewing templates only.
Before the first hire or a new hiring model
- Confirm the legal employer, entity authority and service-provider roles.
- Assess whether employee, contractor, dispatch, part-time or EOR treatment fits the facts.
- Build the local contract, offer, handbook, privacy and onboarding package.
- Confirm payroll, IIT, social insurance and housing fund processes for the work location.
- Assign owners and escalation routes across HR, finance, payroll, legal, IT and managers.
For every onboarding
- Confirm the contract is signed by the correct parties on time.
- Match legal employer, start date, role, workplace, salary and hours across systems.
- Complete necessary tax, payroll and statutory registrations.
- Issue policies and collect evidence of receipt or acknowledgment.
- Apply data minimization and grant role-appropriate access only.
- Calendar probation, contract, permit and other time-sensitive dates.
Every payroll cycle
- Reconcile starters, leavers, leave, attendance and approved changes.
- Validate bonuses, commissions, allowances, reimbursements and one-off payments.
- Compare payroll, IIT, social insurance, housing fund, bank and accounting outputs.
- Review city-rule changes and confirm system configuration.
- Document, approve and close every exception.
Quarterly or semi-annually
- Sample employee files across cities, functions, managers and hiring models.
- Check contract, probation, renewal and work-authorization deadlines.
- Review overtime, leave balances, remote-work locations and manager practices.
- Test handbook acknowledgments and disciplinary evidence.
- Review HR-data access, vendors, cross-border flows and retention.
- Assess EOR, payroll and other vendor scope, performance and unresolved issues.
Before any material employee action
- Require a controlled workflow for salary, role, location, hours and entity changes.
- Review performance or discipline evidence before issuing a warning or decision.
- Check leave, medical, maternity, work-injury and other protected-status concerns.
- Complete legal, payroll and severance review before termination communication.
- Preserve the final approval, employee communication and implementation evidence.
Annually and when rules change
- Refresh the city compliance matrix and payroll configuration calendar.
- Review the employee handbook, local leave schedules and working-hour approvals.
- Update contract, offer, policy, privacy and exit templates.
- Reconfirm the responsibility matrix and service-provider scope.
- Train managers on the highest-risk recurring issues identified by the audit.
How to run a practical China HR compliance audit
- Define scope. Identify entities, EOR arrangements, cities, employee groups, foreign employees, systems, vendors and the review period.
- Build a verified roster. Reconcile HR, payroll, finance, tax and statutory records to establish the active population and key employee data.
- Test lifecycle samples. Review recent hires, salary changes, leave cases, overtime, performance actions, remote-work moves and exits.
- Trace each sample across systems. Compare the contract, HR file, manager approval, payroll result, tax and benefit records, policy evidence and employee communication.
- Classify findings. Separate immediate legal or payment issues from documentation gaps, process weaknesses, system problems and governance improvements.
- Assign remediation. Give each finding an accountable owner, action, due date, employee-impact assessment and evidence required for closure.
- Retest. Confirm that corrections reached every affected employee, document, system, filing and provider—not only the policy file.
How HROne supports China HR compliance
HROne can support foreign employers that need a structured review of contracts, payroll, statutory administration, employee files, lifecycle controls and service ownership in China. Companies with a China entity may use managed payroll and HR support; companies without a suitable local entity may use an EOR employment structure.
A China HR compliance audit should produce an actionable control map, prioritized findings and named owners—not another generic legal summary. Speak with HROne about a China HR compliance audit, managed HR and payroll support, or China EOR support based on your entity status and workforce plan.
FAQ: China HR compliance for foreign employers
What is HR compliance in China?
HR compliance in China is the connected system used to hire, pay, manage and exit employees lawfully. It covers the legal employer, labor contracts, payroll, individual income tax, social insurance, housing fund, working hours, leave, employee policies, personal information, documentation and termination.
What employment laws apply to foreign companies in China?
Foreign companies employing staff in mainland China generally need to follow the same core employment framework as other local employers. This includes rules governing the legal employer, written labor contracts, wages, working hours, leave, social insurance, housing fund, employee personal information and termination. The applicable requirements come from national laws such as the Labor Law, Labor Contract Law, Social Insurance Law and Personal Information Protection Law, together with city-level rules and administrative practice. A foreign company without a suitable mainland employing entity must also choose an appropriate local hiring structure before employment begins.
Who is responsible for China HR compliance?
The legal employer is ultimately responsible for employer obligations, but execution is shared across HR, managers, payroll, finance, tax, legal, IT, headquarters and service providers. Each task and exception should have a named owner, approval path and evidence of completion.
Does a foreign company need a China entity to hire employees?
A foreign company should not assume it can directly employ China-based staff through an overseas contract and offshore payroll alone. It may hire through an eligible China entity or use a suitable local structure such as an Employer of Record, depending on the facts and business needs.
How often should a China HR compliance audit be performed?
Core controls should operate during every onboarding, payroll cycle, employee change and exit. A broader sample-based review is commonly scheduled quarterly, semi-annually or annually according to headcount, cities, risk and change volume, with additional review after major legal or operational changes.
Why do China HR rules vary by city?
National laws provide the foundation, but minimum wages, social insurance and housing fund parameters, local leave, working-hour approvals, filing platforms and administrative practice can vary. Employers should maintain a city-specific control matrix with sources, effective dates and system owners.
What documents should a China employer keep?
The employer should maintain consistent, retrievable records for the hiring model, offer, labor contract, employee master data, payroll, IIT, social insurance, housing fund, attendance, leave, policies, acknowledgments, performance, employee changes, data processing and termination. The required retention and supporting documents depend on the record and case.
Does using an EOR remove all HR compliance responsibility?
No. An EOR can serve as the local legal employer and handle contracted employment, payroll and statutory administration. The client still needs to provide accurate information, manage day-to-day work responsibly, approve decisions, follow agreed policies, protect employee data and coordinate sensitive actions with the EOR.
