In this article, we provide information about China rep office employment rules:
- How many foreigners can work for the representative office?
- Can the rep office directly hire Chinese employees?
- How many foreigners can work for the Representative Office?
The maximum amount of foreigners to work at a Rep Office may not be more than four. A representative office stipulated by Chinese law may have one chief representative, and no more than three general representative. All representatives, no matter chief or general, are appointed by the foreign parent company after registering the representative office with the Chinese authorities.
- Can the rep office directly hire Chinese employees?
According to the “Interim Regulations on the Administration of Representative Offices of Foreign Enterprises”, a Rep office is not allowed to employ Chinese employees directly. They should hire them through the employee leasing/talent dispatch employment contract provided by a licensed human resource agency in China. In this case, the licensed personnel agency will sign an employment contract with the employees of the representative office, and then all these employees will work for the Rep office. - It should be noted that the Rep Office needs to pay attention to that the representative needs to establish a good contract with the Chinese leasing/dispatching company, and must ensure that the Chinese leasing/dispatching company signs an agreement with the Chinese worker, taking the protection of foreign companies as an example. For instance, if a foreign country wants a company to protect its trade secrets, employees as stipulated in the employment agreement between the Chinese worker and the Chinese dispatch company must not disclose the foreign company’s trade secrets.
