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A leader’s guide to competing for global talent
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A leader’s guide to competing for global talent

Top tips for overcoming the global talent shortage by hiring creatively, managing a distributed workforce, and providing a competitive benefits offering.

This article is brought to you by Remote.

A high salary? Yes, please. Career growth? Definitely. Flexible and remote work options? A resounding yes!

High-potential prospective, and current, employees want it all. And if you’re a forward-thinking employer, chances are you’ll want to work hard to attract and retain such talent.

While factors such as an organisation's growth, prestige, values, and culture are still seen as important to candidates today, many are choosing to prioritise what meets their individual needs first. "It’s Maslow’s hierarchy of needs for the modern workplace", Remote’s Global Benefits Report 2022 notes.

In the report, workers ranked salary (63%), career growth potential (40%), benefits and perks (38%), and flexibility in where/how they work (29%) as their top four most important considerations when evaluating a job offer. And if these things don’t measure up? Over one-third of employees say they have turned down or left a job due to issues with the benefits offered.

As the hiring landscape rapidly evolves, HR and people leaders need to think bigger in order to recruit the best candidate for a role. One place to start is a re-evaluation of your benefits offerings and work models. Another is to take an opportunity to look beyond borders to recruit talent. After all, the silver lining from the pandemic was its role in accelerating remote work, providing greater opportunities to businesses and their employees.

While there are employers who have upped their game to adapt to these changes, many still see a mismatch between what they can offer, and what employees actually want. As a result, they are unable to attract the type of talent they want, particularly in highly competitive roles, thus creating a perceived talent shortage. 

Going beyond borders

The talent shortage does not have to be here for the long haul. If you are an HR or business leader, you have likely considered the possibilities of expanding your workforce beyond your current market. Perhaps you’re facing a shrinking talent pool in your market or you’re unable to find the caliber of talent you need. Great talent no longer resides only in the big cities, developed markets, or industrialised nations – talent pools are flourishing in markets you may not have explored yet.

Against this backdrop, international hiring has been cited as a fast-growing solution to the talent shortage.

If you’re currently assessing this solution, or if it’s new to you, we’ve identified two reliable approaches to managing a distributed workforce.

Explore a mix of work models

A common challenge of having a distributed workforce is that it can be harder to communicate, receive deliverables, or host discussions across different time zones. It’s time to turn that ‘disadvantage’ into an advantage.

If you’ve already worked on a ‘follow the sun’ model, then here’s your opportunity to elevate that into the asynchronous work model.

This is the practice of working on a team that does not require all members to be online simultaneously. By working asynchronously, individuals can maximise their productivity without waiting for others to complete their tasks.

The key to asynchronous work is creating processes that allow employees to work autonomously, while also providing them with the trust they need to do so. In brief, here’s why it is worth considering this seriously:

  • Synchronous, or the traditional way of working, relies on people being together and working at the same time, which can slow down projects. Asynchronous work, on the other hand, relies heavily on documentation and transparency, so everyone is on the same page despite not being in the same time zone.
  • Synchronous work is more common in office environments than in remote work structures, but is still not always optimal in the former.
  • With asynchronous work, employers place more trust in employees and their ability to perform – thus driving greater performance and productivity.

Moving to this model requires you to rethink what tools you use, how you measure productivity, and how you enable your employees. It relies on three main tenets: multiplexing, communication, and action. It takes time and trials, but the results can be worth the effort. You may refer to a full guide here to get started.

Overcoming international hiring obstacles

Recruiting globally is one thing. Managing an international workforce is another. Once someone is hired, wherever they are based in the world, he or she still needs a high-quality employment experience, including being paid on time and receiving good local benefits. Not to mention, their employment must be in full compliance with ever-changing regulations and tax requirements.

It is important to remember that no company can retain employees in countries where it does not have a legal entity established. In that vein, there are two common options for international hiring:

  • Option A: You can set up your own legal entity in every country where you are looking to hire. However, this is an expensive and time-intensive option, and may not be a worthwhile investment if you are testing a new market or only have a few employees to hire.
  • Option B: You can engage an employer of record (EoR) who will employ international workers on your behalf and handle all compliance, payroll, benefits, taxes, onboarding, offboarding, and more. They will be your voice in the market, assume all employment risk and responsibility, and offset your workload in terms of hiring for culture, skill sets, and statutory regulations. This is the fastest and most cost-effective option, especially if you only have a few people in a certain country.

Food for thought

Hiring internationally indeed brings value to the table, but the importance of having the right global hiring partner by your side cannot be stressed enough in managing a distributed workforce.

Keeping tabs on ever-changing compliance rulings, compensation benchmarking, local taxes, and benefits is challenging in the best of times, and harder when cross-border talent management is involved.

An EoR expert can provide the resources needed to hire exceptional talent for your organisation on a global basis. They offer a high level of client service, and ensure compliance in hiring by jurisdiction.

The team from Remote would love to be that partner of choice. Founded in 2019, immediately prior to the pandemic, Remote’s inception could not be more timely. Remote enables employers to hire anyone from anywhere, providing access to opportunity so people everywhere can build better lives.

"Talent is the key to unlocking growth; finding the right people and providing the best environment regardless of their location is important. Companies can work with Remote to scale up globally while simplifying complexities of compliance across borders", Chris McNamara, Chief Revenue Officer, Remote, affirms.

Thousands of businesses rely on Remote’s modern platform and legal, financial, and cultural expertise to onboard, pay, and manage employees and contractors in more than 150 countries.

While you ponder this, we’d like to invite you to head on to Remote’s website to book a consultation and find out how your company can plan and create a global workforce.

You may also download the Global Benefits Report 2022 to find out more, or write to the team at userhappiness@remote.com for advice.


Image / Provided by Remote (Taken from iStock)

Follow us on Telegram and on Instagram @humanresourcesonline for all the latest HR and manpower news from around the region!

Follow us on Telegram and on Instagram @humanresourcesonline for all the latest HR and manpower news from around the region!

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