What should I ask an EOR before hiring in Europe?

We are expanding and thinking of using an eor for our first hires in europe and we are super confused after doing a lot of research. we thought doing research will help us narrow down and get to a decision but it just got even more complicated.

Every other provider is saying same thing that they can help in payroll, compliance, and onboarding but we are getting confused and are not able to unerstand what actually matters before signing a contract.

So the companies that have already gone through the similar process what ques did you ask those providers upfront.

A few things that we are trying to understand are

• does owned entities vs partner network make any positive difference?
• importance of local benefits and in-country HR support, like how imp are they?
• how transparent are actual costs which goes beyond monthly fee
• what will happen if we decide that we now want to open our own entity and transition employees?
• how long will the onboarding process take in diffrnt euro countries
• and last which countries have some biggest surprises when it comes to compliance, what should we be careful of?

If there is anyone who has been through europian expansion please help us in understaning these few questions and if there is anything we need take care of please let me know