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6 Best practices for hiring contractors for your business

Posted on April 11, 2022April 11, 2022 by shanthamurthy

The Great Resignation and then the Great Reshuffle has led to the “gig economy” – employees are now questioning how and when they work, and for how long. An estimated 162 million people in the EU and US (20% to 30% of the working population) are already involved in the flexible economy as flexible workforce — freelancers, contractors and independent workers – 44% of whom do so as their main source of income, according to McKinsey. With the increase in flexible working options, and organizations hiring across geographies, the labor market and economy is undergoing tremendous changes.

As more people in the workforce are making the shift and looking for short-term contracts, it might be relatively easy to find contractors. However, deciding when they are needed, effectively communicating their roles, and evaluating their work to provide timely feedback remain a challenge. It is not uncommon for contract workers to experience clumsy onboarding, poor communication, and unexpected changes to their job descriptions.

Here are the best practices when hiring contractors.

1. Decide if and when you need contractors

The first step towards hiring contractors is for companies to decide whether they need their services at all. It is not uncommon for big organizations to have a need for an extra workforce during busy seasons. This can be the period around the end of a financial year or when a company is expanding and they need time to fill open (full-time) positions. Also, if companies are struggling with a skills gap, they might need to hire contractors immediately until they are able to upskill existing employees or hire new ones.

Many organizations that get into an exponential growth phase need specific talent quickly, but recruiting at this pace becomes a challenge. In such a scenario, a temporary staffing model can be helpful. For companies in the tech space, the requirement for contractors arises when they unveil a new service or product. This is when companies struggle to reach full velocity with in-house employees. Briefly, there are some situations where it is appropriate to use an independent contractor, for example: for short-term projects, projects that require specialized experience, and for temporary assignments for less than a year.

2. Source the right contractors

Finding potential contract workers who will fit a company’s requirement is not a hit-and-miss approach. It will require a well-thought out sourcing strategy. Often, hiring managers have a lenient attitude towards hiring contracts. If they are not full-time employees, the thought process might be something along the lines of questioning the need to be extra cautious, given that it’s relatively easier to let go of contractors who don’t fit the bill. However, this isn’t true. Companies stand to lose.

A lot goes into finding and onboarding an individual, even a contractor, so it’s important to get it right. When interviewing contractors, it’s critical to focus on skills that they possess in the context of the tasks they will be performing. Asking candidates why they think they are a fit for the project is one way to do this. When using a vendor to hire contract workers, take the time and make the effort to build a long-term partnership as it will serve the company well in the long run. If a vendor sees long-term potential in the partnership, they are more likely to go the extra mile and present you with the best matching candidates.

3. Make onboarding easier

One of the biggest challenges contractors face is clumsy onboarding. They are not full-time employees but are equally important as long as they are associated with the company’s projects. This is why companies must make the onboarding process as easy and seamless for contractors as they would for full-time employees. It’s important that companies are ready to answer a contractor’s queries and show them around, virtually, in many cases. Let them know what level of security access they have as contractors, and openly discuss their roles and the kind of autonomy they will enjoy, to enhance clarity. Introduce them to the company policies that apply to them and any administrative requirements they must adhere to.

Introduce contractors to their team, set up introductory meetings, and provide them with necessary equipment and tools for the job. In short, companies must do all things to onboard contractors that they would do for a new employee. Unlike full-time employees, contractors will not be motivated by the perks, but by the way they feel at the workplace. Companies should focus on making a real connection with each contractor.

4. Keep an eye for talent

What truly makes a business successful is the versatility of talent in the organization. With some effort, anyone can clone services or products, but not the talent that a company employs. Human talent is the single most valuable competitive advantage a company can have today. This is the reason why procuring a smart workforce can create an unmatched game-changing environment for companies.

While hiring contractors as temporary employees, companies also need to keep a close eye on their skills set. If, during the course of the project, companies identify potential in contractors, the smartest thing to do is to hire them. Even if the company has not fully figured out where the contractor will be accommodated as a full time employee, hiring skilled talent will give the company a head start.

5. Don’t hire without cybersecurity tools

Over the last decade, cybersecurity has become a major concern for businesses. Experts warn companies to use the right tools when hiring to avoid security breaches. A common assumption among organizations is that only tech companies require cybersecurity, but this is a grave misconception. Any company using a software tool with connectivity to the internet is susceptible to cyber-attacks.

This is why companies need to take precautions when hiring remote workers in the form of identity verification. It is not uncommon for criminals to fake identities and take advantage of the remote workforce to gain access to your business. According to data security firm Varonis, the average cost of a data breach attack is $3.86 million. They further warn against the rise of attacks against remote workers with the aim to get access to cloud infrastructure. Companies should make cybersecurity a priority when hiring contractors, so as to avoid being an easy target for cybercriminals.

6. Assess and review performance

Assessing talent is as important as identifying it. Once a company has hired contractors, the next step would be to assess them in detail. Having the right assessment tools becomes critical here, otherwise there’s a risk of getting this wrong.

Companies can start by being clear about the goals and expectations. And then have an honest and open conversation with contractors, and share feedback about performance just as companies would do with full-time employees. As contractors need to make quick adjustments in performance due to compressed timelines, it will be productive if companies provide them with detailed feedback. If companies have a large temporary workforce, it becomes important to set up processes to support and coach contractors so they have a positive experience. How companies make contractors feel will directly translate into a brand’s reputation in the marketplace.

Talent500 is helping some of the biggest brands hire contractors quickly. We connect you with the right talent from over 50 countries. Set up a consultation now.

Building a highly skilled digital-ready workforce: Top reasons and the way ahead

Posted on April 6, 2022April 6, 2022 by shanthamurthy

With the rise of unique and progressive working models, practices like ‘WFX’ are now in effect and have become a mainstay in leading companies. Top enterprises like Amazon, Facebook, Salesforce, IBM, Capgemini, and others are paving the way forward, setting new standards across industries. It would seem that the corporate ecosystem, as a whole, is undergoing fundamental and disruptive changes. At its core are technologies like AI and machine learning, key enablers aiding and optimizing processes for seamless function. In fact, The World Economic Forum pointed out that in 10 years, 9 out of 10 jobs will require some amount of digital skill.

Considering the digital transformation (DT) afoot, today’s leaders have a challenging road ahead, mainly in establishing the workforce of tomorrow. Hiring practices will need redefining as will the upskilling and reskilling strategies if companies are to transition seamlessly. This paradigm shift is no overnight task and demands a strong vision and plan of action. To know why digital-ready workforces must be prioritized and how companies can build these teams, read on.

The Remote Revolution is underway

Since 2005, there has been a spike in virtual and remote work, and it saw a 159% growth before 2020. A PWC Future of Work survey found that 41% of remote workers want no change in their working model, which was a sharp 12% increase from data collected previously. All this suggests is that the modern employee prefers the remote working model, and more so each year. The 2019 pandemic definitely played a key role in this drastic shift, and in many ways, the modern remote workplace has proven to be a superior solution.

Physical workplaces had obvious limitations that remote working simply does not. For one, companies can now fully leverage the power of distributed teams and global talent. This has several benefits, among which is that it provides access to a higher quality employee. Additionally, remote or hybrid working has had a significant impact in improving diversity and inclusion in enterprises across the globe.

Companies now have access to the required infrastructure to sustain, manage, and employ individuals across time zones seamlessly. As a result, building a highly skilled digital-ready workforce was the natural next step, especially if companies are to thrive in the post-pandemic VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity) world.

The roadmap to building digital-ready workforces

For companies operating on legacy models, embracing the change isn’t easy. Fortunately, there are frameworks that can guide systemic reform. For instance, Deloitte Digital suggests that these are primary elements of DT:

Forming a digital work environment
Implementing rapid changes in business models and products
Expanding the organization management processes
Involving customers in different communication channels

Here, the first focus is on restructuring the workplace. Overcoming corporate cultural hurdles is key to forming a highly-skilled digital-ready workforce. Ideally, the focus should be to institute policies that promote flexibility across sectors in the organization. Work should be possible even when there is asynchronous communication. One way to achieve this is to pave the way for collaboration and engagement digitally. The digital ecosystem is all about rapid progress, and companies need to adopt modern technologies that allow for it.

The next area to focus on is upskilling. This is very different from reskilling, which is often used interchangeably. Upskilling must occur as digital disruption demands constant learning to be leveraged fully. In fact, PWC will spend 3 billion USD for the coming 4 years to upskill their employees. This investment will go toward upskilling for 8 essential technologies, which are:

Augmented Reality (AR)
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Drones
Blockchain
3D Printing
Robotics
Virtual Reality (VR)
Internet of Things (IoT)

The exemplars

DT is at the forefront of disruption and these 10 companies have successfully embraced it, even setting standards.

Unilever
Porsche
Keller Williams
Starbucks
DHL
LEGO
IKEA
Walmart
Nike
McDonald’s

The major industry leaders are leveraging all that DT has to offer on the backs of a highly skilled digital-ready workforce. To get on board, partner with Talent500 and get started on the right foot. Bring on the best people with relevant skills and scale as intended for the hybrid ecosystem.

With pre-assessment tests and intelligent AI-enabled tools, we source the best candidates across various parameters and help you build global teams efficiently. Our Fortune500 partners have trusted us to aid them in their transformational journey, and we have delivered. To know the different solutions on offer, schedule a consultation.

Understanding the costs of a global, distributed workforce

Posted on April 5, 2022 by shanthamurthy

As businesses are recovering from the pandemic, they are realizing the benefits of building globally distributed teams. Industry leaders understand that they can get the work done from anywhere and this is an eye-opener for them. Not only does it result in impressive cost savings, but it also expands the talent pool available for hire, exponentially. Companies can now hire candidates with specialized skills from anywhere in the world.

However, with the freedom of a global workforce come associated costs and risks. When you hire globally, it becomes imperative to know the laws and requirements of each country. HR has to address and deal with policies around international payroll, statutory benefits, and taxes.

This is why understanding the cost of the global workforce is important. You have two options to deal with the compliance associated with global expansion: either set up an entity in each country you want to hire workers from or partner with a global employer of record (EOR) that will act as a single point of contact to manage the local workforce. The second option is more appealing in terms of cost-effectiveness and time. Setting up local entities can be time-consuming and end up working out very expensive. With EORs you can start operating in any country quickly and compliantly.

Evaluating global expansion costs

The success of your global expansion for hiring talent will depend on how comprehensive your understanding of the cost that it entails is. Identify the areas that will require financial and personnel resources such as legal representation, awareness of banking policies, payroll costs and management, research about local tax law, and HR costs and considerations.

These are rarely one-time expenses and will continue to be part of the balance sheet as long as you retain global employees. Another factor to account for are additional costs such as tax filing and accounting support, IT support, statutory obligations, and more.

This is a general outline of what the cost of global hiring looks like when you are not establishing a local entity. If you choose to maintain a local entity, there are several other costs incurred for smooth functioning of your organization. This will include, and may not be restricted to, annual audit costs, property taxes, maintenance costs, HR consultancy fees, and more.

A partnership with an EOR is advisable for companies that can operate entirely online without requiring local physical setup such as IT companies.

Tax compliance costs

Tax compliance costs will significantly affect your global expansion plans. As these costs vary depending on the country, you must take them into account when hiring local talent. For example, France has mandatory employer costs that are around 50% of the employee’s wages. Similarly, many Asian countries have a 20% tax for international employers. There are also cities with little or no tax for global hires such as Dubai.

Fortunately, the EOR you will partner with can take care of tax compliance and the associated costs but depending on the complexity of the local laws, you may end up paying 10% to 30% in additional fees.

It is important to note that some countries have strict severance requirements that can include hidden costs. Some EORs might not discuss severance upfront, this may make monthly costs appear lower but once you decide to terminate the partnership, there can be a costly surprise.

Are you ready to make the decision?

Companies are benefiting from hiring globally. As the distributed workforce is slated to be the future of work, it’s time you weigh the costs of global expansion. It is important to consider tangible and intangible benefits along with the associated costs before you decide to expand internationally. Because setting up a local entity can be costly and time-consuming, a partnership with an EOR is a more viable option.

Familiarizing yourself with how and why employee costs are computed will ensure that you are aware of what costs are involved and can budget effectively. This is important to truly incentivize global talent-hiring benefits.

Talent500 can help you with building a global workforce and managing the associated costs and compliance requirements. We are a trusted partner of start-ups and Fortune 500 companies. Let’s discuss your global hiring plan, request a consultation today.

3 Main reasons to use Employer of Record

Posted on April 5, 2022April 5, 2022 by shanthamurthy

By definition, an Employer of Record (EOR) is an arrangement that acts as a “go-between” for the client company and the employee. Unless you have used an EOR in the past, it can seem daunting to get on board with the concept and what it entails.

Let’s look at it this way – if an organization plans to expand operations in a country where they have no footprint, it can be difficult to stay on top of things with complex local regulations, taxes, and benefits. The easiest solution is to hire a third-party organization to take responsibility for paying employees. The hired organization will also be responsible for handling payroll, taxes, insurance, benefits, and visa and sponsorship applications.

EORs give companies easy access to new markets by simplifying HR-related operations, while overall supervision and management controls remain with said company, and not the external partner. When organization’s hire an EOR service, the partner firm only becomes the registered employer of the company’s workers and provides the company with a legal entity to manage compliant payroll inside the host country.

Does your company need EOR services?

The primary goal of using EOR is to overcome the regulatory and cost hurdles when expanding and hiring in a new country. Every country has its own employment, payroll, and work permit requirements for foreign companies. Dealing with local laws and regulations can be a major challenge to business expansion internationally.

Unless you are a big firm with enough resources to take the DIY approach of incorporation, registration, and setting up a local payroll, an EOR is an ideal alternative. It is a tool devised to provide companies a chance to enter a new market even with limited HR resources.

An Employer of Record solution is available for almost any country and is often included as the core of a comprehensive GEO (Global Employment Organization) solution. As an EOR is in full compliance with the host country laws, it works with both local workforces as well as expats.

What are the benefits of using an EOR?

Despite what it may come across as, the benefits of an EOR go beyond just providing easy access to a competitive markets with complex cost, payroll, and compliance policies.

No need for local incorporation

As mentioned above, not every company has the resources to set up a local entity via incorporation. The entire process of incorporation and registration is time-consuming, expensive, and complicated. Plus, when entering a new market, it is beneficial to explore future growth prospects before setting up a foreign subsidiary. An EOR offers the best alternative as it provides an already existing legal entity to handle hiring, payroll, employment, and immigration. As the EOR partner has the expertise to ensure full compliance with local laws, running smooth operations in the host country becomes infinitely easier.

Immigration compliance

Regardless of country, there are regular changes and updates to the country’s immigration policies and rules. Additionally, the increased scrutiny of work permits by foreign governments makes it challenging for multinational corporations to comply with the local laws and regulations. As immigration violations can have lasting (and damaging) consequences for any company, one way to avoid this would be to use an EOR. With an EOR, companies can manage remote payroll issues, avoid overuse of business visas, and eliminate the risk of multiple entries into the country.

Running a local payroll in the host country

Most countries have a restriction against ‘remote payroll’, i.e., remitting by the home country payroll. This is why they make it mandatory for foreign entities to run payroll in compliance with local standards with a registered entity. When companies use an EOR, they do not need to take on the additional burden of calculating and withholding statutory deductions from pay such as taxes, pensions, and health insurance. The hired organization takes care of these critical details, so the company can focus only on meeting their objectives.

If you are planning to expand business operations internationally, an EOR can help you deploy services quickly without risking non-compliance with local laws. Our team of experts at Talent500 can help you with this. Set up a consultation here.

8 Steps to a profitable location and talent strategy

Posted on April 5, 2022 by shanthamurthy

An organization’s success depends on many factors, but the two most important are location and talent. The location of an organization is critical to ensure profitable business and to attract employees. Retaining talent is the next priority to maintain a competitive advantage, making talent strategy as important as location strategy.

Simply put, talent strategy entails a comprehensive plan to structure a company’s hiring, retaining, and development policies for sustainable growth of the employees. The workforce is a valuable asset which is why in today’s fast-paced environment, a company’s focus must not only be on hiring the right people for present requirements but also for skills that they might need in the future. This is where talent planning comes in. It can help keep a company’s momentum, giving them an edge over competitors.

Let’s get into the fundamentals of strategy setup that will help in building the foundation of your organization.

1. Discover the best location

A profitable location strategy means more than just where to locate the offices and employees. It also encompasses extensive market analysis and uses labor data to understand the cost, availability, and sustainability of labor. This is why companies need to locate venues that have talent supply appropriate to goals.

2. Real-time data

Having ambiguous datasets doesn’t serve a purpose. In order to determine the ideal location to set up a business in, it requires accurate datasets that will help in understanding the market, improve customer satisfaction, and monitor competitors. This is why companies must focus on getting real-time data to improve the performance in the long run, rather than relying on passive information.

3. Plan ahead

Successful businesses never aim for immediate success but for life-long sustainability. A company’s location strategy must be based on how they aim to progress over the next 10-20 years. This helps reduce operating costs and avoids price shocks. A specified business location decided after planning, shields companies against factors like natural hazards, security threats, and incompatible government policies.

4. Talent analytics

According to a Deloitte report, only 4% of companies use predictive talent analytics capabilities to manage talent, and just 14% of companies implement any sort of talent analytics program. Implementing a talent analytics program is important to analyze the talent your company already has but more importantly, it can help identify skills gaps.

5. Pay attention to critical hiring needs

To ensure that a company’s future goals are not stalled due to open positions, initiate conversations with hiring managers to know about key positions in their departments that might be open soon due to retirements or resignations. Once companies are aware of the need, they can create a hiring plan to attract the right talent by assessing the future skills gaps, budget, and recruitment process.

7. Develop an employees capabilities

True talent planning requires a strategy that focuses on the development of every staff member. It is the company’s responsibility to provide employees with learning and mentoring opportunities. As long as employees can envision a clear career pathway in the company, they are more likely to stay. Additionally, reskilling can help fill departmental gaps without the need to hire externally.

8. Work on retention strategies

Hiring good talent is hard, but retaining them is even harder. Retaining talent is about showing them that they have a clear career path in your company, that they are actively contributing to the overall objectives, and their opinions and concerns are acknowledged and addressed. Employee surveys can help you identify issues and deal with them before the retention numbers start dropping.

Talent500 has helped some of the biggest brands with skill gap management by connecting them to location-independent professionals. To know more, request a consultation online.

Employee compensation and merit pay expectation

Posted on April 5, 2022April 5, 2022 by shanthamurthy

Finding the right talent is a lengthy and resource-intensive process. You do not want to lose high-performance employees to the competition. As compensation continues to be a primary motive to stay at the job, you must ensure that there are no missed opportunities to offer raises and bonuses to employees.

According to the new research by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) over the past several years, the employees’ expectation of higher compensation and richer benefits has risen.

An online survey by SHRM titled Respect at Work Boosts Job Satisfaction found that 88% of employees report total satisfaction from their job. The higher job satisfaction resulted in an increased retention rate. The study further concluded that the top three drivers of job satisfaction were:

Respectful treatment at the workplace
Compensation/pay
Benefits.

For firms, compensation remains one of the important factors to retain talent at all levels within an organization.

According to Evren Esen, director of SHRM’s survey programs, a majority of workers have suffered from stagnant wage growth in the last decade. As economies recovered from tepid growth over the years, employees are more focused on compensation, especially the Millennial and Gen X generations. As young workers have college loans to pay off and try to save to buy homes and start families, they are particular about the compensation any employer has to offer.

The pay has become the #1 attrition driver in 2020’s 4th quarter jumping from the fourth position in 2014. In regions such as India, China, South-East Asia, and the USA, compensation ranks among the top 3 attrition drivers.

Compensation increase anticipation

With over 60% of employees rating benefits as one of the important contributors to job satisfaction, a change in the pandemic-marred economy has caused a drop in compensation and increased anticipation. As the job market continued to struggle with changing dynamics of work location, reduced compensation saw an increasing trend of employees seeking new jobs.

According to Gartner’s Global Talent Monitor Report sourced from about 30,000 employees in more than 40 countries and regions, compensation increase anticipation has dropped to approximately 9.5% in quarter 4 of 2020, compared to 13% during the same period in 2019.

Increased merit pay expectations

A strategic move to retain talent is to offer unscheduled pay raises and bonuses to reward deserving employees. It goes a long way not only in minimizing the attrition rate but also in building loyalty and boosting morale.

What is a merit raise?

Merit raise is the reward for the most productive and the highest-performing employees to acknowledge their talent and to encourage others to do better. Some regions have a higher demand for merit raises than others. Of all the regions, in 2020, India, Brazil and Australia at 3-4% have the highest change in merit pay expectations.

Among these regions, Indian talent expected the highest change in base pay. Indian employees expect on average a 9% change in base pay in the coming year.

Talent acquisition: A tricky balancing act

With changing employee preference and availability of more options, making their choice discerning it is a continuous balancing act for organizations to hire global talent while keeping regional expectations in mind.

1. Attrition and opportunity

The global compensation-switching premium is dropping significantly indicating a manifold increase in global attrition. This presents an unprecedented opportunity for companies to build a globally distributed workforce.

2. Remote talent war

Recent studies indicate that 1 in 2 people won’t return to jobs that don’t offer remote work after COVID-19. Global companies are amending the benefits to include remote work perks for employees to retain talent. If you are looking to build a global team, there seems to be no way around it – you need to offer remote work benefits to employees.

3. Merit pay to retain talent

While compensation will remain an attrition driver, in the long run, merit pay expectations present a regional factor to be addressed to retain talent. For eg: setting above-average merit increases processes and guidelines to help retain talent.

Expect a shift in work culture

In the war to retain talent, expect more employees to want remote work – at least during some part of the week. According to a study by Boston Consulting Group, 89% of the global workforce agreed that their preference in the future will be the jobs that allow for work from home at least occasionally.

As attrition rates across industries are continuing to rise, companies can capitalize on this wave by expanding globally and building distributed teams. To hire the best of the talent, include region-wise expectations in the compensation models you offer to employees. Finally, to retain the current employees and attract more talent, offer remote work options.

Talent500 can help you hire the top talent from over 50 countries. Fortune500 companies build their distributed teams with us, and you can too, set up a consultation to discuss more.

5 compliance mistakes to avoid when building your global team

Posted on March 9, 2022March 9, 2022 by shanthamurthy

Global expansion is a tangible milestone in the growth trajectory of every company. In the last couple of years, we have seen a massive increase in the opportunities for location-independent work opportunities. As a result, businesses have been leveraging the multiple benefits of having a global team.

However, hiring across borders comes with its own set of caveats. When it comes to employment, every country has its own set of laws which must be followed strictly. Considering different technical hubs in order to build your location strategy? Don’t forget to factor in the time, cost, effort and expertise required to fulfil legal requirements in a foreign country.

Here are five areas of compliance that must be fully vetted before you start rolling out offer letters:

Taxation laws

When hiring in a new country, ensuring compliance with its tax regime is non negotiable. We know that Income tax is a common deduction across all nations. However, the percentage can differ anywhere between 5% to 40%, depending on the country’s laws. In addition to this, there are multiple other allied taxes that employers must take into account when calculating compensation.

For example, employers in Brazil are responsible for paying a portion of employees’ social security and unemployment tax. In Germany, employers pay taxes toward employees’ social security (unemployment, accidental and health care insurance).

Misclassifying your employees

Many companies prefer hiring independent contractors as compared to full-time employees, as it restricts their employer responsibilities substantially. Full time employees are generally entitled to a host of benefits like pension fund, health insurance, paid time off etc. On the other hand, these benefits are not usually provided to contractors. Due to this reason, many companies choose to intentionally misclassify their full time or part time employees as contractors on their payrolls.

However, this is one mistake that you must avoid at all costs, as this can result in hefty fines and significant legal consequences. For example, in the USA, the punishment for misclassification is $1000 and imprisonment for a year. In Japan and the U.K., employees with a fixed-term contract automatically become permanent employees after a certain amount of time.

Not offering statutory entitlements and benefits

While every company can decide what perks and benefits it wants to offer, there are certain basic benefits that all employees are entitled to. These range from employer’s contributions to pension funds, to health insurance, maternity leaves and many other similar aspects. In India, all female employees are entitled to a minimum of 12 weeks of maternity leave. In France, it is illegal to ask your employees to work over weekends under the Right to Disconnect law.

There is no one-size fits all solution when it comes to identifying employee entitlements and benefits. Our advice? Draft your policies in a way that is aligned with statutory requirements of individual countries.

Violating minimum wage/ compensation laws

We understand that one of the biggest benefits of hiring globally is getting access to highly qualified talent with affordable compensation. However, as you set about calculating compensation for employees living in a different country, you must factor in minimum wage laws.

All over the world, over 193 countries have a list of their own minimum wages that must be complied with. India has over 1200 different classifications of minimum wage. The USA has a minimum wage for each state, as well as the federal minimum wage. What remains uniform is the strict penalty dealt out to businesses that fail to comply with these regulations. In Japan, the fine for non-compliance can go up to 500,000 Yen.

Not meeting immigration, visa or work permit requirements

When working globally, you will often have to bring foreing nationals into your home country, or send employees to a different third country. In all such cases, you must ensure compliance with all immigration and work visa requirements.

Some countries on the top of this list are the USA, Canada and most European countries. Individuals on a tourist or dependent visa will not be allowed to work in these countries. Moreover, non-compliance with immigration, visa and work permit laws can lead directly to deportation of the employee. For the employer, it could mean heavy penalisation and black-listing of the company.

A global team is the solution to numerous problems, from the lack of specialised talent, to the ease of entering into any country’s local market. As you build your global team, it is important to prioritise these five factors for a seamless hiring process.

At Talent500, we are helping global companies hire, build and manage global teams in 30+ countries by acting as their Employers of Record. We aim to transform high-impact companies by giving them access to a worldwide community of highly skilled professionals transcending geographical boundaries. Sign up here to take your first step towards global expansion!

6 strategies for building a hybrid workforce from CEOs who did it overnight

Posted on February 7, 2022 by shanthamurthy

Data from a study by Upwork’s Chief Economist, Adam Ozimek, is conclusive: the remote revolution is here and accelerating. The 5-year growth rate for fully-remote teams rose from 30% pre-pandemic, to 65% post-pandemic. The figures for work forces that can be called “significantly remote” and “some remote” are similar and favor flexible work.

While nobody was trained to pivot to a cloud-based office overnight, some of the biggest names in the industry have – and increased their markets while doing so too! Read on to learn from 6 companies leading the remote-hybrid work challenge.

Twitter: Flexible work starts with flexible leadership

The attitude a company’s leadership has towards work from home defines how the option is received. For Twitter, the option to work from home “forever” was always on the cards. Back in 2018, Jack Dorsey, then Twitter CEO, had mentioned the idea of Twitter employees being open-minded when it came to flexible work and “optimizing for where people feel their most creative.”

When leaders are positive about remote work, employees can leverage the option to its fullest potential. Employees know that they aren’t going to “miss a promotion”, have to meet certain “expectations”, or have to worry about “micromanagement”.

Jennifer Christie, Chief HR Officer at Twitter, urges Tweeps to #LoveWhereverYouWork. “Opening offices will be our decision, when and if our employees come back, will be theirs,” she says.

Slack: Manager-employee transparency is crucial to success

Slack backed up its decision to offer employees the “option to work remotely on a permanent basis if they choose” with healthy, open conversation.

According to studies, many employees quit for reasons such as:

No clear direction
Poor relationships with managers

Slack avoids these and does an excellent job at engaging employees by bringing future-defining deliberations into the common forum. When employees are made part of the process of change, the buy-in is strong. For instance, while affirming that the company will be more distributed in the future, Slack asks its employees to think about things like:

The challenge of building a culture of belonging
Improving trust amongst employees who have never met in person.

By being open about the hurdles, Slack employees are more likely to share a common vision. Ultimately, Slack has its employees understand that remote work is more than “technology and tools”. It’s about “culture and norms”.

Upwork: Productivity cannot be tied to a desk, but the office isn’t dead

For freelance platform Upwork, remote work has always been part of their DNA. However, the pandemic led it to a remote-first model. Its CEO, Hayden Brown tweeted, “Going forward, working remotely will be the default for everyone, while teams will also be able to come together—once it’s safe—for intentional collaboration and socialization.”

From the time of the announcement, May 2020, till December 2021, Upwork’s market cap has grown from $1.43 billion to $4.27 billion, and this includes its rising beyond $7 billion on multiple occasions.

Loss of productivity? The figures point to the opposite.

However, instead of shutting all offices, Upwork intends to work with 2 of its 3 workspaces. The reason? “Intentional collaboration and socialization.” Yes, despite the upsides of remote work, Upwork’s approach shows that companies must find space for human connections.

Google: Hybrid work models must be effective and attractive

Tech giant Google seems certain that a fully remote setup cannot be the future for its vast and myriad operations. In-person collaboration is a must. Its approach has been that of encouraging “voluntary return to office”, and secondly of embedding flexibility into Googlers’ work life in multiple ways.

At Google, hybrid work is attractive:

~60% of Googlers will work from office about 3 out of 5 days a week
~20% of Googlers can work from global locations
~20% of Googlers can work remotely
To support holiday travel, Googlers can work from anywhere for about 4 weeks
Employees across Google will enjoy the day off on “reset” days

After tasting the benefits of remote work, many employees seem to need a reason to return to the office. With hybrid work being unchartered territory, companies like Google are envisioning work models that safeguard company culture and goals, as well as allow for employee benefits.

Salesforce: Remote-first works best when coupled with employee-first

In an interview with CNBC, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff said he expects 50-60% of his workforce to work from home in the future. This step towards a digital future despite making huge real estate commitments showcases Salesforce’s greater commitment to its people.

For Salesforce, becoming remote-first is a product of being employee-first. When the pandemic struck, the company ran employee wellness surveys to discover employee pain points. The results were revealing.

~50% of employees wanted to come to office only few times each month
80% wanted to remain connected to a physical space

Keeping the results in mind, Salesforce devised a hybrid work plan in which:

Most employees will come to office 1-3 days a week
Some will be fully remote
A small amount will be predominantly office-based

Keeping to its people-centric approach, Salesforce doesn’t compel itself to fit hybrid work into the confines of company culture. Rather, it views the future of work as “the next evolution of its culture.”

Shopify: The home office deserves to be an office

Amid the pandemic, CEO Tobi Lütke announced that Shopify would henceforth be a “digital-by-default company.” “Office-centricity” in his words was “over.”

Shopify had remote employees on their roster well before the pandemic, and the company was proficient at this model. Existing remote workers would know that even if office-centricity was over, the office experience wasn’t. That’s because Shopify considers investments in home office setups a matter of great importance, according to an interview with John Riordan, Director of Support, Ireland. It’s about making work from home sustainable, even enjoyable. Amid the pandemic, Shopify is reported to have offered its employees $1,000 towards their home office setups!

The approaches taken by industry leaders show that when you are open to change, people-first, and intentional with your vision, the transition to hybrid work can happen without major hiccups.

The tech hubs of tomorrow

Posted on December 17, 2021December 17, 2021 by shanthamurthy

The pandemic catalyzed the shift to a digital working interface, and remote working opened the door to a world that many companies had not yet considered – recruiting across borders. Companies, especially when recruiting for tech roles, now have access to an unlimited pool of highly qualified technical talent from hubs across the globe.

A key factor that companies assess when choosing a country to migrate over a digital-run economy, is its readiness. More importantly, the existing infrastructure should be able to withstand the bandwidth-intensive spike in traffic.

Some additional factors taken by businesses when hiring globally include:

Existence, robustness, and resilience of platforms key to business continuity
Digital payment solutions in use to ensure seamless transactions

Research conducted at Tufts University’s Fletcher School measured the readiness of 42 countries in this regard. This data is important because it shows which locations have the required infrastructure and resilience to accommodate the needs of companies. The findings showed that advanced economies were usually better prepared and a better choice, but such was not always the case. The EU, for instance, was found lacking due to archaic infrastructure and many limitations.

So, which locations make the cut for ideal tech hotspots in a digital world? More importantly, can any of these locations emerge as tech hubs of tomorrow? Read on to find out.

Argentina

Among Latin American locations, Argentina is a hotspot for tech companies looking to find remote workers in the industry. Its IT sector has seen tremendous advancement over the past years, but its appeal to industry leaders is due to its talent pool.

Per Coursera’s Global Skills Index Report 2020, Argentina secured Rank 22 globally for Data Science Skills. Some of the categories in which it outdid other Latin American countries were:

Cybersecurity
Cloud computing
Application Programming Interface
Convolutional Neural Network
Web development
UX design
Internet of Things

That’s not all. The same year, Argentina also secured 1^st place in the global ranking in technology. The Argentinian government is also actively involved in the development of this sector, with one of its campaign goals centered around increasing the number of women in technological fields. As per a report, this has proven effective and is expected to grow to include 40% of females by 2024.

The wages for such professionals are another reason why tech companies are likely to jump at the opportunity to set up remote teams here. The average monthly income for software developers is about $1000, and can go up to double the amount based on seniority.

Poland

Nearly a quarter of the 1 million IT professionals in the Eastern and Central European regions live and work in Poland as per data published by Stack Overflow. For a country in the heart of the EU, the sheer numbers alone make it a tech hub for the world. Teams working in this region enjoy easy collaboration benefits, and their stable economy reduces the risk of attrition.

From an employer’s standpoint, Poland is one of the ideal locations to set up a remote team for a number of reasons:

Ranked 3^rd globally on the HackerRank challenges.
Nearly half, 43.5%, of the population has a tertiary level education across STEM fields.
Salaries in Poland can be up to 50% lower than the average salary in the US or Western Europe. In fact, the average salary is around $25,800, which is nearly 3X less than the salary offered in the US for the same quality of service.
Professionals often work with international companies and are proficient in English. Communication problems are few, and this is key for a remote team.

Brazil

With over 450,000 developers, Brazil has steadily become one of the locations that tech companies choose when hiring or setting up distributed teams. Much like the other Latin American powerhouse, Argentina, the IT infrastructure in Brazil is booming. Tech parks, accelerators, and high-density research centers churn out some of the most talented professionals, most of whom are sure to be assets.

A key reason why Brazil is soon to become the go-to in the future is because of its proximity to the United States. Collaboration is much easier, and top tech companies located in the valley won’t have trouble with the time difference and can work in real-time. Lastly, Brazil offers cost-effective talent that is reliable with high retention rates. The average yearly salary here is $18,043 and as the market isn’t as competitive, the risk of attrition is negligible.

India

India has always been known to be one of the most cost-effective locations for technology-related services. The country has more than 2 million people working within the IT sector, meaning that companies have a rich vein of talent to choose from.

Besides this, tech companies looking to set up remote teams in India also benefit from the fact that it is a cost-effective option and that it has a booming IT market. The average hourly wage for IT professionals in India is between $25 and $49 per hour, and it is possible to work with experts at a significantly cheaper rate. Communication is another plus point as English is a primary language. Combining the largest talent pool with the evolving IT sector, companies looking to set up efficient remote teams needn’t look any further.

According to Gartner, as many as 51% of knowledge-intensive workers like engineers and writers will work remotely by the end of 2021. This seems more than likely considering the vast pool of talent spread around the globe and tech companies are sure to leverage them to the maximum. However, choosing skilled workers from the tech hubs is just one-half of the battle. The other is extracting true value from the exchange. Oftentimes the price-to-quality ratio isn’t all that favorable. This is especially the case with remote software development teams and fixing issues could easily cost twice as much.

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5 communication strategies to boost productivity in distributed teams

Posted on May 12, 2021May 19, 2021 by shanthamurthy

Competitive advantages of globally distributed teams include access to experienced, international talent cost savings, a reduction in reaction times and delays, and faster product development.
However, for globally distributed teams to work like a well-oiled machine, effective communication is critical.
Collaboration and communication within and across teams can be improved by motivating team members to interact with each other, and inculcating a sense of camaraderie.
The success and efficiency with which a project is executed depends on how the individuals in a team are managed. Project supervisors have to establish channels for team communication, humanize their dialogue, while setting a common goal for everyone to work towards by holding them accountable.

Whether progressive start-ups or global giants, the transformation into an agile organisation is only possible with the advantages that a global network of teams can offer.

Indeed, a recent survey by FlexJobs points to 45% of companies already offering flexibility around working from remote locations, with Fortune 500 companies such as Amazon, Cigna, and Dell leading the way by setting up globally distributed teams. Competitive advantage lies in hiring team members located in different countries and time zones. Access to experienced, international tech talent is, of course, a primary gain, as is cost savings, and a reduction in reaction times and delays, resulting in faster product development.

With these outcomes becoming crucial to all firms, the question then is about how to boost your distributed team’s efficiency and productivity. Quality, speed, and accuracy of information exchanged within teams, and among team members, now directly impacts the bottom-line of the organization. In other words, communicating clearly and constructively has never been more important.

Practical strategies to improve workplace communication

1) Set up centralized communication channels

Given that the team is distributed across different countries and timezones, identifying communication channels for different purposes, such as Jell for daily standup, is one simple way to align communication.

Addressing time-zone related issues though requires the right mix of synchronous communication through video conferencing tools, and asynchronous communication through tools such as email or Slack. Almost all conversations in Zapier for instance, take place on public Slack channels. Wade Foster, Zapier’s CEO, looks to the tool to help keep all team members in the loop commenting “[It’s] especially helpful when working as a team across different time zones. When team members wake up, they can easily gain context and pick up where others left off instead of not knowing what went on while they were sleeping.”

2) And then set ground rules

Just because you can message someone on Slack doesn’t mean that you should. Collaboration between distributed teams becomes easier when managers establish which tool is the most appropriate to accomplish a specific communication goal.

For instance, it’s a truth often unacknowledged that receiving one-sentence emails can be an exercise in frustration. Instead standardize that emails can be used for updates that are not time sensitive, while an instant messaging service or platform is best for when quick collaboration is necessary. The most important factor is that all team members follow the same guidelines for communication.

3) Transparency improves accountability

CEOs be warned: a lack of transparency can decay the distributed work model. When workers feel isolated and excluded, communication suffers, and trust breaks down.

The greater the transparency in communicating both challenges and successes, the easier it is to encourage an open dialogue, which results in greater agility and accountability. For instance, at DevOps unicorn HashiCorp, the weekly all-hands is held at Thursday mornings PST so that team members across a wide range of timezones can attend.

For some companies, prioritizing transparency means using asynchronous communication to achieve greater buy-in; team members can keep track of key changes and decisions, and contribute ideas and perspectives when they’re online. Others use workflow management systems such as Github or Trello to encourage transparency between team members. It works because having clear targets and reporting against them makes it easy to track productivity and progress.

4) Humanise the discussion

While written communication dominates the workplace, it doesn’t benefit from the nuances of tone of voice or facial expressions, making miscommunication more likely. Schedule real-time media interactions such as FaceTime, video conferences, web calls, or phone calls. People feel more engaged as they can pick up on verbal or physical cues, which immediately humanizes the conversation.

This can also help to build connections between distributed team members, says Srini Koushik, CTO for Magellan Health. ““I may have only seen you on Zoom but when paths finally cross, iit no longer feels as if I’m meeting a stranger. We recognize one another.”

5) Provide opportunities for social interaction

Without the traditional Christmas office party to rely on, distributed teams need to structure creative ways for team members to interact socially, build connections and foster friendships — no matter how far apart they may be. Gitlab, for instance, pairs its team members up to take virtual coffee breaks together, while startup Help Scout encourages its employees to share video tours of their workspaces at home.

Buffer is a perfect example of creating a positive working environment for its distributed team. With a strong backbone of distributed work tools, the company has built its culture using annual retreats, where the entire team spread across the world meets and interacts face to face. This is supported by mini-retreats for smaller teams and specific departments, Buffer has managed to extract the best out of its distributed team.

Taking cues from Buffer, Github, and other globally distributed organizations, it is obvious that implementing communication and collaboration strategies results in better business outcomes. Open communication is the key to success, supplemented by a strong backbone of internal collaboration tools and workflow management systems. Having clear expectations from your employees with the same KPIs from distributed teams as those in place for teams working HQ can bridge the gap too. By being an active partner to distributed teams with your employees’ support, these teams can yield real value.