Getting Past the Hesitation of Hiring Off-Site Workers

With remote work having gone mainstream, the concept of workers on the payroll who are completing tasks many miles away from the home office is no longer suspect or concerning. Hiring the best talent, anywhere you can find it, has become commonplace.   

Yet some companies remain uneasy. Issues of trust can be alleviated by gaging the work product and productivity of remote employees — some who may even exceed expectations without having to face onerous commutes or to adhere to 9-to-5 work hours.   

Generational shifts in the workplace and the rising demand for more flexible work options continue to lend themselves to the expansion of remote work options.    

When contemplating hiring off-site workers, consider these potential prospects:  

1. Tap into talent worldwide:
   Rather than hiring employees within a certain radius of headquarters or offices, companies can hire from anywhere in the world they find talented people. Whether from little-known communities across the country, or from far-flung places beyond their national border, the recruitment reach has become boundless. What’s more, with a lack of qualified talent to fill key technology roles, such as the shortage of engineers in the U.S., recruitment efforts must push further afield. 
2. Take advantage of technological advances:
   New software tools that enable remote communication, such as Zoom for videoconferencing and Slack and Trello for remote team project management, have reduced the feeling of disconnectedness and lack of work oversight managers have long feared. Digital learning tools provide efficiencies to onboarding and training. The culture shift triggered by the pandemic, as well as ever-increasing mastery of technology, have flung the doors to global remote work wide open.  
3. Utilize an Employer of Record model:
   A new industry is emerging that allows companies to outsource their global employment infrastructure. Globalization Partners streamlines the process of hiring employees through its Global Employment Platform, allowing companies to quickly hire in another jurisdiction by tackling legal and regulatory barriers and ensuring that everything is compliant locally. The industry’s closest relation may be the temporary staffing agency, but Globalization Partners is the sole direct legal employer of its customers’ international staff. These entities hire and help onboard the employees, and take responsibility for payroll, taxes, and benefits. Globalization Partners is responsible for all of the employee management activities, is the employee’s direct supervisor and is in charge of work assignments. 
4. Retain many employer/employee norms:
   No matter where your next hire resides, your recruitment, hiring, and onboarding process will likely remain the same. Just as with new hires on site, companies must have an effective onboarding process, along with strategies to allow new employees to become aware and feel part of the organization’s culture. Other essential measures to maintain employee engagement, such as providing team members with sufficient resources for their role and providing regular feedback to help them perform at their best, don’t change regardless of whether the employee is remote or not.  
5. Improve employment opportunities globally:
   Employing remote workers can have beneficial societal implications. By spreading jobs out more evenly, both across the U.S. and beyond, workers can access higher paying jobs in places outside major cities. Such opportunities can benefit workers in smaller towns and cities that suffered when manufacturing jobs disappeared. Further, rising access to employment means less income inequality and, ultimately, a reduction in poverty globally. 

With the advent of global remote work, modern telecommunications infrastructure, and the global Employer of Record industry, the barriers to everyone, everywhere being able to get a good job have been broken. 

Written by Nicole M. Sahin.