TalentNow (Talent Partners) review: New Zealand's locally owned Employer of Record
A New Zealand-owned recruitment firm run by a 40-year veteran of the sector, with a separate New Zealand company, Talent Partners Ltd, set up to act as Employer of Record. We verified both companies on the register and scored the EOR service on the same eight criteria as every provider here: strong on ownership and local hands, light on published detail.
The only New Zealand-owned Employer of Record we cover: strong on ownership and people, light on published detail.
TalentNow is the trading name of Talent Group Ltd, a recruitment and professional-contracting firm that founder Kevin Chappell established after selling his previous company, Executive Taskforce, in 2006. By his account he has been in recruitment since 1982, set up executive leasing (professional contracting) in New Zealand and Australia for Morgan & Banks, and built Executive Taskforce into Auckland's category leader before the sale; the business was liquidated under its new owner in 2009. Alongside TalentNow he established Talent Partners Ltd, which the company describes as New Zealand's only locally owned and operated Employer of Record, aimed mainly at international companies that want to operate here without the administrative infrastructure, and also at local companies that prefer not to carry it. Among the providers we review it is indeed the only one owned in New Zealand. The difficulty is that almost nothing else is published: no fees, no onboarding timeline, no payroll platform, no named compliance processes and no client reviews anywhere. The ownership and the people are real and verifiable; the service is a conversation with Kevin and his team rather than a documented product.
Choose TalentNow if you want a New Zealand-owned employer with a founder you can phone, you are placing one or two professional hires and you are comfortable getting the process and the price in writing yourself. Look elsewhere if you want published pricing, a documented onboarding sequence, a payroll portal with self-service, hires outside New Zealand or a sponsored work visa.
Who actually employs your staff: Talent Partners Ltd, a wholly owned New Zealand company
"TalentNow" is not a company name; it is the registered trading name of Talent Group Ltd (NZBN 9429033845005, company number 1869915), incorporated on 29 September 2006 and owned entirely by Kevin John Chappell, its sole director. The Employer of Record service runs through Talent Partners Ltd (NZBN 9429030965720, company number 3530711), incorporated on 29 August 2011, 100% owned by Talent Group Ltd, which is declared as its ultimate holding company. The company confirms on its site that the EOR operates "through a separate legal entity".
Both companies are New Zealand limited companies with clean annual-return histories through March 2026. The registered office is a residential address in Dairy Flat, north of Auckland, with an address for service in Warkworth, consistent with the "decentralised virtual business structure" the firm describes: there is no office to visit. Talent Partners Ltd has no trading name, website or phone number recorded on the NZBN register, and its industry classification is on-hired staff for non-office work.
| Register field | What the New Zealand Companies Register shows |
|---|---|
| EOR entity | Talent Partners Ltd · NZBN 9429030965720 · company 3530711 · incorporated 29 August 2011 |
| Brand entity | Talent Group Ltd (trading as talentnow!) · NZBN 9429033845005 · company 1869915 · incorporated 29 September 2006 |
| Entity type | New Zealand limited companies, both Registered; annual returns filed 11 March 2026 |
| Ownership | Talent Partners Ltd 100% owned by Talent Group Ltd (declared ultimate holding company); Talent Group Ltd 100% owned by Kevin John Chappell |
| Director | Kevin John Chappell, sole director of both companies |
| Registered office | 32 Langford Place, RD 2, Dairy Flat 0792; address for service 211 Krippner Road, Warkworth 0994 |
| Related companies | Star People Partnership Ltd (2025, 50% Talent Group); Talanthology Ltd (2026, software) |
| Immigration NZ accreditation | Neither NZBN returns a result on the public accredited employer list; no visa service offered |
Register fields read on 24 October 2026 at app.companiesoffice.govt.nz. Ask Talent Partners Ltd to confirm in writing that it signs your employment agreements and which payroll system it runs.
Eight criteria, the same for every provider
- The only New Zealand-owned Employer of Record among the providers we review, with ownership fully visible on the register
- Founder with four decades in New Zealand recruitment, including introducing professional contracting here in the 1980s
- EOR delivered through a separate, long-standing New Zealand company rather than the recruitment entity
- Named people with mobile numbers, not a ticket queue; New Zealand time zone by default
- Recruitment, professional contracting, search and screening available from the same group
- No pricing, setup fee, deposit or minimum term published anywhere
- No onboarding timeline and no payroll platform or employee portal described
- No specific statements on Holidays Act, KiwiSaver, ACC or payday filing; compliance is described generically
- No independent client reviews on Google, Trustpilot, G2 or Capterra; the review profiles under the TalentNow name belong to unrelated software companies overseas
- New Zealand only, no visa sponsorship, no contractor-of-record product
- Small team of four or five named people and a residential registered address; the EOR company has no website or phone of its own
What Talent Partners handles for a New Zealand employee
| Obligation | Status | What we found |
|---|---|---|
| Employment agreement | Handled | Talent Partners Ltd acts as legal employer; the firm lists employment, payroll, benefits, taxes and entitlements |
| Holidays Act 2003 | Unverified | Not named on the site; "entitlements" is the only reference |
| KiwiSaver | Unverified | Not named on the site |
| ACC levies | Unverified | Not named on the site |
| Payday filing to IRD | Unverified | Not named; no payroll software identified |
| Accredited Employer Work Visa | Not offered | No visa service; not on INZ's public accredited employer list |
| Recruitment | Core service | Core business: professional contracting, permanent, fixed-term, search and screening |
What you actually pay for one NZ$90,000 hire
TalentNow publishes no EOR fees. Its site describes "a lower and flexible fee structure" from eliminated overheads, and its search and screening products are sold by the hour or at a fixed fee. The example below shows statutory costs only.
| Line item (monthly) | NZ$ |
|---|---|
| Gross salary | 7,500 |
| KiwiSaver employer contribution (3.5%) | 263 |
| ACC work levy (approx., office class) | 55 |
| Talent Partners service fee | Quote only |
| Statutory employer cost before the fee | 7,818 |
- Employment, payroll and tax administration
- Benefits and entitlements administration
- HR support and New Zealand compliance
- Fee level, setup fee, deposit and minimum term
- Visa sponsorship
- Hires outside New Zealand
Illustrative. Get the fee, what it covers, the payroll cycle and the notice period in writing before signing.
If TalentNow is not the fit
RemotePeople
Lowest published rate, a New Zealand limited company it owns and a documented onboarding timeline.
Read our RemotePeople reviewANZPEO (formerly NZ PEO)
Small, human-led and on Immigration NZ's accredited employer list for sponsored visas.
Read our ANZPEO reviewEmployment Hero
Strongest Holidays Act tooling of the ten and an Auckland office.
Read our Employment Hero reviewCommon questions about TalentNow in New Zealand
Is TalentNow really New Zealand's only locally owned Employer of Record?
Who is behind TalentNow?
What does Talent Partners charge?
Can TalentNow sponsor a work visa?
Not sure TalentNow is the one?
Answer five questions about headcount, timeline and budget, and we'll shortlist the three NZ EORs that fit.
How this review was made
Scored on the same eight criteria as every provider on NZEORHub. Entity status, ownership and directors were read from the New Zealand Companies Register on 24 October 2026; service descriptions from talentnow.co.nz; the founder's career history from his published LinkedIn profile and the company's team page. TalentNow did not pay for this review and did not see it before publication.
Sources: New Zealand Companies Register (companies 1869915 and 3530711) · NZBN register · Immigration New Zealand accredited employer list · talentnow.co.nz (Talent Partners, team, affiliations and contact pages) · Kevin Chappell's LinkedIn profile · Employment Hero's September 2026 NZ EOR guide, read 24 October 2026.