Hiring trends are constantly changing, so it’s important to keep up to date. Although these changes can vary between industries, everyone feels their effects. Here’s one pattern that’s been steadily emerging in recent times: in an ever-evolving business landscape, hiring international employees can be one of the keys to success.
With the world more connected than ever before, and workplaces with high levels of diversity thriving, incorporating international employees keeps your workplace exciting and helps bring fresh perspectives to the table. This change may seem small, but it can resonate greatly with customers and employees alike. This is why more and more companies have started to hire employees from overseas.
Should my company be hiring employees abroad?
Keeping track of local candidates and employees can be complicated on its own. Hiring new team members from a continent away can bring an entirely new range of complexities. But despite some drawbacks and complications, there are also significant benefits.
Filling local skill gaps
Skill gaps affect organizations in every part of the world. Countries can have their own sets of specialized skills that set their workers apart from the rest, but this can sometimes create knowledge and skill gaps within certain industries. Hiring international employees helps address this issue.
If there is a well-recognized skill shortage in your particular part of the world, hiring employees from abroad can close that gap and sharpen your company’s competitive edge.
Varying time zones
If you’ve ever considered hiring employees abroad, the time zone difference might seem like a management challenge to overcome. But it could turn out to benefit the company.
Having employees in different time zones can help keep your service running with greater continuity. Distributing workers throughout the world allows businesses to ensure an employee is present to handle customer concerns around the clock. Being active 24/7 greatly boosts a business’s status and reputation.
Managing taxes
Companies hiring international employees gain a substantial benefit when managing their expenses, particularly their taxes. With tax laws varying worldwide, companies can shift finances to a more favorable jurisdiction.
Hiring employees from abroad allows companies to grow while still maintaining significant control over finances. Saving money at tax time can help employers manage costs throughout the year and keep things running smoothly.
Expanding your reach
Hiring international employees also means indirectly expanding your influence in other countries. You can start setting up offices and manufacturing products in a country while benefiting from an employee’s insider perspective. What are their community’s interests and priorities when investing in a product or service? What ideas can the country share to improve your business’s offerings?
Transcending the bounds of your immediate area can have a massive impact on any business. Not only does it help you build new relationships and explore a new market, but it also helps improve your product or service based on insights from customers around the world.
Reducing payroll
Hiring employees abroad can sometimes cost less than hiring a local employee, especially if you’re in an area with a high cost of living or need to consider the expense of relocating a new hire. This is because every country has its own laws and pay rates for companies to follow. An employee might be paid less based on their local scale, but it does not mean they are less skillful.
Driving innovation
Creating a team of like-minded individuals can help you reach a consensus quickly, but it can also contribute to stagnant thinking. Sometimes, the best way to get out of a creative slump is to bring in a range of new perspectives—and hiring employees abroad can help your company explore new ideas.
Foreign workers can help you identify blind spots and missed opportunities based on their research and experiences with your product or service and competitors. They’ll be able to provide insights that a domestic team can’t always reach on their own.
Requirements for hiring international employees
Hiring international employees requires rigorous background checks and authorizations. It’s no small feat, especially for smaller businesses. But if you are willing to commit to this path a little guidance can make the process much more manageable.
International work authorizations vary between countries, so you first need to get acquainted with the laws where you’re recruiting. After that, you must apply for certification from the country’s Ministry of Labor. This assures that nation’s government that you are hiring employees abroad in accordance with local rights and protections. Using international payroll compliance tools simplifies this process.
The next step is to interview prospective candidates. Once the necessary legal paperwork allowing you to hire internationally is finished, you can start advertising the job vacancy with its requirements.
If your new employee is entering the U.S., either temporarily for a business trip or as a long-term relocation, they may require sponsorship for a work visa. This paperwork is filed with their country’s immigration agency, as well as United States Customs and Immigration Services (USCIS), and must be completed at the time of their arrival in the States.
Workers seeking permanent resident status in the U.S. must also apply for a Social Security number for tax purposes. After that, you can simply integrate them into your company and help them get accustomed to the local culture.
About Oyster
Oyster is a global employment platform designed to enable visionary HR leaders to find, hire, pay, manage, develop, and take care of a thriving distributed workforce. Oyster lets growing companies give valued international team members the experience they deserve, without the usual headaches and expense.
Oyster enables hiring anywhere in the world—with reliable, compliant payroll, and great local benefits and perks.
Hiring international employees might seem like a mountain to climb, but it can be extremely beneficial to your company. For more tips and information on global employment and how Oyster can help, check out our website.
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