The global pandemic taught everyone that remote work is possible for far more jobs than previously believed. In fact, not only is it possible, but employees are often more productive, and many prefer working that way.
You know that your employees can do their jobs without showing up at the office. You also know the domestic talent pool is shrinking. Now seems to be the perfect time to consider hiring internationally, opening an ocean of untapped potential.
If your company is struggling to find great people in your area to fill positions, broaden your horizons. Here’s how your business can harness the power of international hiring.
Use an Employer of Record
One of the most intimidating challenges you face in hiring globally is complying with foreign labor regulations and norms. The laws, rules, and workplace cultures of every country are different. Run afoul somewhere, and your business will be ushered out the door and maybe forbidden to return.
As complicated as compliance issues appear to be, there’s an easy solution to the problem. Contract with an employer of record in the country where you wish to hire and let them do the heavy lifting for you. Because the EOR has an established business presence in the country, it can hire employees there on your company’s behalf. More importantly, it assumes any risks associated with compliance failures. If something is lost in translation, that’s on the EOR, not you.
Working with an EOR doesn’t mean you relinquish control of hiring employees and directing the work they do. Think of the EOR as the proverbial middleman. They provide the legal standing to hire the worker and handle your payroll, benefits, and other human resources functions. You assign your foreign employee their duties and manage their performance.
Working with an EOR can be a no-muss, no-fuss partnership that saves your business time, money, and risk. That leaves little excuse to not start hiring the right employees wherever on the planet you find them.
Develop a Location Strategy
Deciding to hire employees to work remotely from their home countries is a first step. But you’re going to need a strategy for where, when, and whom you want to hire. Otherwise, you might spread your business too thin.
Figure out what priorities will drive decision-making, such as location versus individual talent. Do you want to only hire workers who live in a certain country? Or are you willing to hire the best talent regardless of where they live?
Dipping your toes into the global talent pool by focusing on one or two countries may be the place to start. That way, you can concentrate on recruitment and onboarding designed for one set of compliance rules and one culture. Again, your EOR can help you make entry far easier than doing it on your own.
Look at unemployment rates, educational attainment, skills, and other statistics by country. Find out what average wages are for employees working in similar positions to those you need to fill. Determine which countries have the most overlap with your hiring needs and the salary scales to make it worthwhile.
Much of this information is online, so it’s easy to find. If you want to begin with the European Union, for example, country-by-country intelligence has already been gathered. Once your research puts a target or two in your sights, find the EOR partner who can help you take the next step.
Explore Potential for New Markets
You will probably notice some changes in your company culture shortly after you make that first global remote hire. You know how important company culture is to the engagement, contentment, and productivity of employees. Your international hires will naturally add some new dimensions.
If what they bring to the culture you have built is a good fit, you might find another benefit. Those employees are giving you an inside look at where they’re from and what’s important to people there. If your business is meaningful to your employees, what your business sells could be meaningful to their market.
Use your best international hires to help you explore the possibility of expanding not just your workforce, but also your company. Employees who invest themselves in what you do can provide valuable insight about their own countries. If what you’re offering sells well on Main Street, ask your international employees if it will sell on the High Street as well.
When companies look to expand into global markets, they do the research, establish a foreign office, and start looking for employees. There’s no reason the process can’t happen in reverse order. The value of establishing relationships with overseas employees before you think about international expansion could be enormous.
Your priority just now may be to find remote talent to fill open positions in your company. But don’t close yourself off to the possibility of leveraging global employees for global expansion down the road.
There’s Power in the People You Hire
International hiring is the next frontier for most businesses. It’s a solution to finding enough of the right people to work for you when they’re in short supply. Technology and the optimal HR partner put the world within reach.
Start with one global hire and take things from there. That could be just hiring more international employees or stretching into a lucrative new market. Either way, you gain the power to weigh your business on a global scale.
