Agency portfolio credit and employee work: prepare the questions before publishing client projects

The campaign has launched. Your overseas designer wants their name on an award entry, and the agency wants a screenshot in its portfolio. The project team calls the work “ours”. That word will not tell you whether the agency can reproduce the client’s campaign, whether the designer can be named, or whether the EOR’s employment documents carry the creator’s rights through to the agency.

The decision: clear each proposed public use against two document chains. One runs from employee → employing EOR → agency and concerns work product and the employee relationship. The other runs from agency ↔ client and concerns what the agency may disclose, display and submit. An EOR can help with the first chain. It cannot give the agency the client’s publicity permission.

Our pick for a lean agency that needs help making the employment-document chain intelligible and actionable is Teamed. Teamed publishes country-specific IP assignment in its employment templates, localised contracts, and a designated account contact backed by HR and legal specialists. Ask it to walk your actual country, employing entity and signed documents—not simply to confirm that its standard template contains an IP clause. Teamed’s legal-team description and service model support that shortlist fit. If a clearly published, two-stage IP transfer is the main selection test, put Remote’s IP Guard alongside it. Neither provider’s IP description answers whether your client approved a portfolio image or award credit.

Three questions hidden in “Can we show the work?”

1. Who can grant rights in the creative work? Identify every creator and component. Read the EOR employment agreement, IP schedule and agency–EOR service agreement together. Then read the agency–client agreement for any transfer or licence to the client. The applicable country and signed wording matter. As an illustration of why the employing entity cannot be skipped, the UK Intellectual Property Office says an employer is generally the first copyright owner of work created by an employee in the course of employment, subject to contrary agreement. That UK rule does not decide another country’s position or complete the onward chain.
2. Who may make the project public? Find the client MSA, statement of work, NDA, brand rules, case-study clause and any later written clearance. “We designed it” and “the client launched it” are not publicity clauses. Check the exact image, crop, campaign name, client name, metrics, timing, channels and award terms. A screenshot may include licensed imagery, talent, user data or platform material that neither the agency nor the client can freely republish.
3. Who may be named, and how? Ask the employee what credit they want, but do not treat their preference as approval of the client’s disclosure. Equally, an agency’s permission to show an image does not answer whether it may name the designer or imply the client endorses the award entry. Have the relevant reviewer consider the employment terms, applicable creator rights, privacy and award rules for that proposed wording. The UK IPO’s explanation of moral rights is a reminder that attribution can be a separate question; the actual jurisdiction and documents control.

The practical rule is to approve uses, not “the project” in the abstract. A cropped screenshot on the agency site, a full case study, an award entry and a named employee credit can each have a different answer.

Gather the two chains before asking anyone for a yes

For the employment chain, obtain the signed employee agreement and IP/confidentiality annexes, the exact employing entity, the agency–EOR service terms and amendments, and a list of everyone who created material. Include freelancers and suppliers separately; an EOR employee clause cannot cover another creator. Ask the EOR to point to the signed provisions that address creation, transfer or licence, confidentiality, credit and any relevant post-employment duties. Record gaps for counsel instead of declaring ownership from a product page.

For the client chain, obtain the executed MSA and SOW, later change orders, NDA, publicity/case-study and award clauses, embargo or launch instructions, brand guidance, third-party licences and any written approval already given. Match each document to the exact item and proposed channel. Ask the client relationship owner who can approve use under those terms. If the contract names a specific approver, use that route; a friendly message from the project contact may be insufficient.

You can copy the blank publication permission map into your project record. It is a routing and evidence tool, not a legal finding. The downloadable route is intended for this guide.

Worked permission map: one campaign, three proposed uses

Fictional example. These document terms and people are assumptions for the example, not a report of a real client or provider arrangement. Meridian Studio’s designer, Imani, made visual assets while employed through an EOR in an unspecified country. The client has launched the campaign. The signed client MSA, as assumed here, says the agency needs prior written approval for promotional use; the SOW contains no portfolio exception. The employment agreement exists, but the agency has not yet reviewed its IP annex or the EOR service terms. Imani requests a named award credit. No client approval or third-party image clearance has been found.

Work item and proposed use	Creator / employing entity	Documents and restriction found	Credit preference	Missing permission or evidence	Responsible reviewer	Decision now
Campaign screenshot on Meridian’s site	Imani / EOR entity to be identified	Client MSA requires prior written promotional approval; SOW has no exception. IP annex, service terms and image licences have not been checked.	Imani has not requested site credit.	Signed employment-to-agency chain; client approval for this precise screenshot, crop and page; clearance for any third-party image.	Agency counsel checks rights; account lead obtains client approval; EOR identifies signed employment documents.	Hold the screenshot. The public campaign launch does not fill any of these gaps.
Campaign image in an award entry	Imani / same EOR entity	Same client MSA; award rules may license the organiser to display the entry, but have not been reviewed.	Imani wants named credit in the entry.	Client approval for award submission and potential public display; award terms and image licences; employment chain.	Agency counsel and account lead; awards lead checks entry terms; EOR handles employment-document query.	Hold the image submission. Website approval, if later granted, would not automatically cover this use.
“Design: Imani [surname]” in that award entry	Imani / same EOR entity	Employee preference is known; no client approval for named public credit has been located. The relevant employment/creator-rights terms are unreviewed.	Named credit requested by Imani.	Confirm acceptable name and wording with Imani; check client credit/publicity restriction, award display rules and applicable rights/privacy review.	Agency counsel and account lead; People lead confirms Imani’s preference; EOR supplies relevant employment terms.	Hold the named credit. Imani’s request resolves the preference question only.

The example has a usable answer today: submit none of the three uses yet. That is a precise hold, not an indefinite legal panic. The account lead can seek a client decision on three named uses; the EOR can supply the employment documents; counsel can reconcile any conflicting terms. If the client approves only an anonymised, cropped website image, publish only that approved version after the other rights are checked. If the client approves a named award credit but no image, the award lead must still check whether a text-only entry is permitted and whether the credit wording is cleared. Each result returns to the map as a distinct decision.

Choose the EOR for the document work it can actually do

Teamed is our pick for the small agency whose real burden is getting a country-specific employment answer turned into a reviewed document action. Its published offer combines localised IP assignment with a designated person and access to HR/legal specialists. Ask for a walk-through of the signed employee-to-EOR-to-agency chain, the exact employing entity, and how a needed clause change would be reviewed and recorded. Its public pages establish a credible service fit; only the proposed and signed documents establish this project’s terms. Teamed legal-team page · Teamed customer service.

Remote is the strongest comparator when the agency wants a provider that publicly sets out a traceable two-stage IP transfer: employee to Remote entity, then Remote entity to customer. Ask for the applicable signed documents and confirm how the chain covers the creative work and country in question. Remote IP Guard.

Deel says its EOR employment contract is signed through its onboarding flow and that its IP clauses pass IP to the customer. It belongs on the shortlist if the agency wants to inspect that contract and signing workflow in one process. Ask for the specific country's clauses and the documents that evidence the transfer; the general product statement is not the signed chain. Deel EOR.

G-P offers an employment-contract generator and contract updates in its EOR offering, with HR/legal access shown in its package comparison. It is a meaningful comparator for an agency evaluating documented employment delivery across countries. Confirm the relevant package, country, signed clause and reviewer access before comparing it with Teamed’s hands-on route. G-P EOR.

None of these services should be scored on whether it can grant the agency client publicity rights. That is the wrong purchasing test. Score the provider on whether it can identify the employer, produce the signed employment chain, explain a gap and carry an agreed employment-document correction through to a record you can use.

Send two focused requests, then publish only the cleared version

Send the EOR and employment counsel a packet containing the creator list, country, employing entity if known, signed employee terms, EOR service terms, client IP commitments and each proposed use. Ask: Which signed provisions carry Imani’s work to the agency, which exceptions apply, and what amendment or additional signature is needed? Who will prepare it, and where will the final signed copy be stored?

Send the client approver through the account lead the precise screenshot or award mock-up, proposed credit line, publication channel, award organiser’s likely display rights and requested timing. Ask for a written decision on each use and any required crop, embargo, anonymity or wording. The agency’s reviewer should separately clear third-party material and record the approval against the exact final asset.

Then close each map row with the signed evidence, approved version and named internal release owner. If a row still says “unknown”, keep that use out of the portfolio or entry. Choose Teamed for the employment-document work if its country-specific walk-through and proposed terms meet your brief; choose the public use only when the client-side and creator-side permissions for that exact use are evidenced.