Customer: Deel

Deel helps companies onboard and pay remote workers anywhere in the world

The advantages of hiring remote workers are abundant, from a bigger talent pool and lower overhead costs to higher employee retention. But any company that manages such a workforce knows the pain of payroll and compliance. Especially with employees scattered internationally.

Deel simplifies the process. Their platform enables companies to legally hire anyone in the world, set up remote employee contracts in minutes, and pay employees in their preferred currency.

“At my previous company, we had teammates in more than 30 countries. To manage it, we needed five different payroll platforms, several bank accounts in different currencies, and a selection of lawyers to manage employee contracts,” explained Dan Westgarth, COO at Deel. “It’s a massive headache.”

For Deel, the headache included how to authenticate foreign bank accounts. Without this functionality, Deel customers couldn’t be certain their payroll deposits were going to the right place.

“We looked at building this functionality on our own, but that meant asking people to provide documentation to authenticate transactions. This is clunky, slow, and creates a lot of friction,” said Westgarth. “We also considered using local partners, but realized this meant managing a whole other set of issues.”

After considering several options, Deel turned to Plaid.

Faster expansion Founded in San Francisco, Deel initially focused on U.S. companies, but soon recognized the global demand for its service. Deel now serves companies on every continent and manages payroll in more than 100 currencies. Thanks to Plaid, they are able to provide users with a single endpoint to quickly and securely authenticate their bank accounts, regardless of country or currency.

To do so, users simply select their bank from a list, then enter the username and password associated with their account. Plaid connects to more than 15,000 financial institutions worldwide, including in Canada, the UK, and Europe.

“Our geographical distribution means we need global partners,” explained Westgarth. “When it comes to account authentication, Plaid has the greatest international reach. We’re now able to cover many regions with a single integration and single endpoint.”

This was particularly useful in Deel’s recent expansion to Europe. “Our experience prior to Plaid was that it was hard to expand globally,” said Meltem Kuran, Head of Growth at Deel. “By using Plaid, we were able to roll out in Europe much faster than in other places. We really saw the speed of Plaid compared to other regions where we didn’t have the power of Plaid behind us.”


Building consumer trust

Once Deel decided to go with Plaid, the functionality went live in just two weeks. “It was a very quick integration,” said Westgarth. “The changes in configuration between countries were elegantly designed and intuitive to work with for our developers. There wasn’t any confusion or a lot of back and forth.”

This simplicity extends to the user experience, where Deel finds that offering high-quality authentication sets the tone for a positive customer experience. According to Westgarth, their customers find the process seamless, while recognizing and trusting the Plaid name.

“Customer trust is one of the most important factors we strive for at Deel. It’s front and center in everything we do. That’s reflected in our strong authentication flow and a number of product features,” said Westgarth. “Plaid plays an important role in maintaining customer trust and that’s really important to us.”


A catalyst for growth

Though hiring remotely has been a growing trend for several years, the Covid-19 pandemic has given it added urgency. Nonetheless, few companies are prepared to take on the complexity and legalities of managing a remote workforce.

“Hiring remotely is now top of mind for every executive at every company in the world, from the biggest tech companies down to mom-and-pop shops,” explained Westgarth.

Deel expects the need for remote workers to continue to grow. And by offering a payroll solution that customers trust, the company is well positioned to grow with the market.

“Plaid has been a catalyst for growth,” concluded Westgarth. “We knew what other companies had to offer, and Plaid is simply the most elegant solution.”