Remote work is on the rise. Especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, we have seen a surge in the adoption of remote work by many companies around the globe.
This trend will surely increase in the future as many companies and employees start to understand the benefits in terms of costs, flexibility, and higher productivity of having a remote workforce.
But remote employment comes with challenges that have to be considered by the company interested in hiring remote employees.
Opportunities are also increasing since having a remote workforce will allow companies to easily expand the business operations in other countries.
In this guide, we want to introduce the benefits and challenges of remote employment and how you can legally hire remote employees abroad.
Key Benefits Of Remote Employment
A lot has been said about Remote Employment and how it is the way to go in modern times. However, there is one thing that needs to be clarified before you decide to make the best of your prospects and that is the exact meaning of the term ‘remote work’. When people use the word remote, they are referring to different kinds of positions that can be accessed by remote employees.
You might be thinking that most remote employment involves telecommuting. This is something that many people would probably agree upon. With telecommuting, employees do not necessarily need to be in the same place physically. They can easily go about their day as if they were at home.
But the advantage of working remotely does not mean you don’t have to work. You will still be required to attend to your duties diligently as well as meeting deadlines that you set for yourself.
Most people get employed in telecommuting jobs because they can be located almost anywhere in the world and they can be reached by a huge number of people through the internet. You can be as close as your home or as far away as another country.
Another major advantage of remote employment is the flexibility that it offers. It enables you to work on different projects and assignments from anywhere in the world and at any time. One big perk of working remotely is that you can be in different places and still enjoy all that is great to offer.
Working remotely also means that you don’t have to worry about everyday issues like supervising your employees, managing the schedules of your employees, monitoring their productivity, communicating with them on a regular basis, and handling conflicts.
You will be able to use the most advanced tools for communication when you are working remotely like computer voice conferences, videoconferencing, email, conferencing, video calls, online collaboration tools, whiteboard resources, etc.
You can even save on your office equipment and resources such as electricity, water, and space by making use of these modern tools for better work management.
The great thing about remote working is that you can easily adjust your resources for the needs of your business. You do not have to stick to the usual office space requirements that may not fit your budget. You can choose to work from a small workplace if it’s necessary or you can opt to rent a spacious office building to set up a remote workforce.
Another of the key benefits of remote working is that you can focus on your clients and products. Since your employees are spread around the globe, you can’t visit them in person as often as you would like. This can result in lost sales because your consumers might not be aware of your new services or products.
In addition, some clients cannot simply wait for you to arrive in order to receive their orders. With an online presence though, you can ensure that your employees receive all the information they need to make good use of their time and fulfill their duties with efficiency.
Challenges When Hiring Remote Employees
Hiring remote employees offers some unique challenges for the business owner. You may not be aware of it, but there are actually a number of risks or pitfalls when hiring remote employees.
One challenge for example is finding out whether or not the potential employees will have time to fit into the business model successfully.
One more challenge for hiring remote employees is that you really need to pay attention to their actual workload. Do they need extra assistance? Can they get more work done? These questions are vital when hiring remote employees because if the person isn’t working efficiently, it can be difficult for everyone involved to be productive.
One major challenge is that you have no direct eye on what is going on. When hiring remote employees, it’s important to have someone in the office or on the phone who can check on them regularly to ensure that everything is going smoothly. It’s also important to have training available for your employees.
Remote workers aren’t always familiar with your company’s policies, and procedures. It’s a good idea to conduct training sessions with your employees before hiring them so that they’ll know what to expect from the beginning.
These are just a few of the challenges associated with hiring remote employees. If you think you have no issues with these types of employees, then it’s likely that hiring remote employees will be successful for your company. Just make sure you have adequate training and support for your employees, and you’ll soon find out that everything goes smoothly.
Aspects To Consider When Hiring A Remote Employee
It can be tricky to find the right person for a job that requires specialized knowledge and experience. It is important that you understand all your options before you make the commitment to having an employee work for you.
1) One of the first things to consider when you are trying to understand how to hire a remote employee is whether you can afford to retain this employee on a regular basis.
You will also need to make sure that your chosen employee has the skills that are necessary for the position. Many times, you are better off hiring a temporary employee with skills that you can develop into permanent ones. This will make your job easier and you will not spend valuable time training your new employee.
2) Once you have figured out how to hire a remote employee, it is imperative that you put in the effort to communicate effectively with your remote employee.
There are times when a remote employee may be away from his or her desk for a number of hours at one time. If you do not establish clear communication with your employee, you may end up losing that employee permanently.
3) Another consideration that you should make when you are looking at how to hire a remote employee is the specific skills that each of your employees has.
For instance, if you have IT workers, you will want to make sure that they understand the ins and outs of your computer system. If you have marketing or salespeople, you need them to have the basic skills of these professions. If you have accounting workers, you will need them to know how to complete any type of tax return.
When you are looking for how to hire a remote employee, you should also take the time to determine if you want to hire the worker completely on your own, or if you would rather have an employee come in periodically to do a few tasks for you. If you hire a remote worker to do most of your work, you will need to pay them per task, but hiring someone for a few hours per month can save you money. You will simply need to determine how often the remote worker needs to be paid. For many companies, the cost savings are worth the small amount of extra work required to hire someone locally.
Is Hiring Remote Employees In Other Countries A Good Solution For Your Business?
The recent advancements in technology have made it possible for businesses to hire remote employees from different parts of the world. In the past, it used to be almost impossible to hire employees from other countries because you would have to spend a lot of money on plane tickets, and other expenses that might not be affordable for many small businesses.
However, these days, a lot of online recruitment websites have emerged that make it easy for companies to hire workers from other countries. These websites allow you to select applicants from various countries who may be based in your country.
But before hiring remote employees abroad, there are some things you should consider first.
For one, you should ask yourself if you really need to hire employees from other countries. It may seem like hiring employees from other countries would be an expense you can do without, but there are some costs you will be spending in this process.
For instance, when you hire employees from another country, you will have to take into consideration their social security benefits and taxes. You will also be required to provide them with the proper training they need to work in your company.
Another way of assessing whether it would be worth it to hire remote workers is by looking at your own business and the results it gets during peak periods and off-peak seasons.
Consider how many times your business receives phone calls, e-mails, faxes, and visits online. Calculate the average amount of time your sales agent, customer service representative, or whoever else handles your transactions works each day. You can then calculate how many hours those employees work each week. It is easy to see how hiring remote employees can help your business in the long run.
Consider also how much time it would take for you to train your new employees.
It is important for your business to have trained employees because they will be able to handle any problems your business encounters. You might think about hiring remote employees to deal with the customer service aspect of your business, but you should also keep an eye out for someone who can proofread and edit your website, or blog, as well as any other documents you send out to customers. This person will make sure your content is error-free and that you do not miss any important information.
Some businesses are hesitant to hire people in other countries due to fears of not being able to communicate with them.
However, you should remember that there are plenty of companies that are more than willing to hire remote employees.
When it comes to hiring remote employees, there are several things to consider. If you are still unsure, then it might be a good idea to consider hiring a worker through an agency so you can feel completely comfortable with the decision you make.
How To Legally Hire Remote Employees
Many small businesses wonder how to legally hire remote employees. This can be a tricky question to answer for a couple of reasons.
One of the main reasons is that it’s not as simple or as black and white as you may think. The fact of the matter is that the laws on how to legally hire remote employees will vary from country to country. Every country has its own laws when it comes to this, and so it’s vital that you check your local regulations before you begin searching for employees.
As previously mentioned, there are some variations in the laws regarding how to legally hire remote employees. For instance, there are some countries that have created what is known as a “one-off” agreement between a company and employee.
These types of agreements allow for remote employees to work for a company only for a specified period of time, for a set fee, or under a specific set of circumstances. Sometimes, the company may even offer to pay a portion or all of the employees’ expenses while they work away from the business. The laws governing these types of agreements vary by country, so it’s important to research them before signing any papers.
Employing a remote workforce can bring enormous benefits to an organization, like expanding attracting top talent, and saving on overhead expenses that usually accompany a location-dependent workforce. But employing remote workers also comes with its own set of legal implications that remote leaders need to consider.
Some of them are:
- HR policies
- Hiring process
- Onboarding
- Payroll processing
- Organizational structures
Regarding payroll, for example, if you have remote workers in multiple countries, you need to make sure you are paying everyone according to the laws in those countries. What you should guarantee is at least the minimum wage, payroll tax calculation, social benefits calculation, payslip.
HR is another important aspect that if it is not dealt with in the right way can break your company. This is because when you decide to hire remote employees, you have to take into consideration the employment laws and regulations of the country where you hire them.
In some countries, you need to register a company to hire employees. This is a problem that is actually possible to solve using a PEO solution that can help you to hire employees without having a local company in the country.
The Advantage Of Using A PEO To Hire Remote Employees
The world is changing and the needs of companies are developing. Expanding abroad is the solution for many companies to expand their customer base and increase profits.
Hiring remote employees is the solution to guarantee that your business will work effectively also in other countries and without your presence.
But we have seen that there are benefits of hiring remote employees but also many challenges that discourage companies to take this step.
A PEO is a solution that can help your company effectively hire a remote workforce, especially if you are a small-medium business or startup.
A PEO can help you to:
- Attract and retain top talents – Talent is a necessary ingredient for growth and innovation. It can be challenging for a small business or startup to compete with larger, more established businesses in the war for talent, especially in light of the growing reliance on remote teams across many industries. Working with a PEO, though, can be your secret weapon to hire at every level.
- Become compliant – From managing multi-state payroll to keeping up with state and local regulations, trying to keep up with everything in-house could divert resources away from core business functions. A PEO takes care of HR, payroll, social benefits, taxes, for your company, so that you can focus on communication with your remote team.
- Decrease costs – In some countries, even if you decide to hire remote employees, you will still need to have a registered company to operate, increasing the costs of your operations. With a PEO, you can reduce these costs because, with this solution, you don’t need to register a local entity.
NNRoad is a global PEO that can hire and pay remote employees for your company in over 50 countries around the world. Contact us to discuss more your needs!
