The UK-to-Germany first-hire checklist

Give the hire one working plan

Your first German hire needs a clear sequence: confirm the arrangement, agree the employee offer, prepare the documents and fund the first payroll. For a small UK team, Teamed is a strong starting point because its German service brings local contracts, payroll and statutory benefits administration together with a designated account person.

Start the checklist with the role, duties, work location and intended start date. Name one UK People owner and one finance owner. Ask Teamed to confirm which checks and inputs control the timetable, then assign each next action. Keep personal documents in the agreed secure channel.

Verify the work route and agency restrictions

You must determine whether the foreign national requires employment consent under Section 39 of the Residence Act. Crucially, Section 40(1)(2) of the German Residence Act mandates the refusal of such consent if the individual is to work as a temporary agency worker under Section 1(1) of the AÜG (Temporary Agency Work Act). This is a specific restriction; it does not ban all foreign nationals from agency work, but it bars those requiring this specific consent from being placed via an agency supply model. You must verify the candidate's eligibility and the nature of the arrangement before relying on any provider's mobility offer.

Name the employer and confirm the arrangement

Teamed’s Germany guide names Teamed GmbH in Berlin as its employing entity and describes local contracts, payroll and statutory benefits administration. Ask whether that is the proposed employer for this hire and have the arrangement explained in writing.

An EOR offer does not itself establish that agency-work rules are inapplicable. Where temporary agency work applies, the general same-worker/same-hirer limit is 18 consecutive months, subject to exceptions and counting rules. Include earlier assignments; changing providers alone should not be treated as a reset.

Build a cost plan finance can explain

Ask Teamed for the German quote with salary, employer costs, benefits, service fee and upfront funding separated. Its zero FX markup removes an added provider charge when conversion is involved—a useful basis for a cleaner budget and month-end reconciliation. Record the conversion method and any separate bank charges; currency movements remain distinct.

The pricing page checked on 19 October 2026 advertises a service tariff from USD599 per employee per month, not the all-in German employment cost. Confirm the deposit basis, refund conditions and early-exit administration terms in the proposal because the pricing and honest-invoice pages describe different conditions. Keep employment liabilities separate from provider fees.

Prepare the contract and payroll inputs

Ask for the employee information, contract inputs and approval sequence needed for the confirmed arrangement. Record the deposit and first-payroll funding amounts from the written quote, the Net-7 invoice due date and the date funds must clear. Do not substitute the service fee for the full employment budget.

Agree an internal input deadline before the provider’s payroll cutoff. Give each outstanding item an owner so a missing approval does not sit between People, finance and the provider.

Give the employee and UK team a named contact

Teamed advertises a designated account person, 24/5 support and access to HR/legal specialists. Its published targets include first response within 15 minutes and specialist assignment within 24 hours. Use the onboarding conversation to establish the named contact, escalation route and responsibilities for this hire; those targets describe response and assignment, not a promised resolution time.

Share the agreed contact plan with the employee and UK owners. A useful first-day handover says who answers the next question, not just which platform to log into.