More business’ are taking advantage of the rise in new technology and innovations when thinking about the way their business works. Fewer businesses are wanting to commit to office space and instead, are choosing local workers that operate from home or shared office space.
Although you may think that employing a small team in a new country sounds simple, many companies head into the process unprepared.
New markets equal different tax and legal regulations that you must comply with. In addition to this, there are cultural and language differences that could halt the recruitment process. By being unprepared for these complications, your business could miss out on the top talent and cause long delays in recruiting employees.
Here are some important considerations to make before looking to hire employees overseas:
Expat vs local hire
There are pros and cons to either of these options. Local hire may be beneficial in terms of industry knowledge and insights that they can bring to the company. They will also possess the language and cultural knowledge to work well with clients and customers, additionally, it means talent is not restricted by who is willing to move abroad to work.
Expat hire is opted for when someone can immerse themselves in the company culture, however, each situation is different, and it depends on the type of role.
Choosing either option requires thinking about various factors from the start of the recruitment process.
Candidate Identification
The first step during the candidate search process is to understand your industry in a new market. Skill shortages and salary expectations may be very different from what you are used to, which can have a particular impact if you chose to hire locally. There is also the potential that what you are looking to achieve in a new location isn’t a viable option for you. The talent you need may not exist, or your company may not be well-known enough to interest employees to work for you.
It is important at this stage to be clear on the expectations of the role and the attributes you are looking for in your perfect candidate. They may need to work independently without much support, which would require the candidate to be able to motivate themselves and work independently. Take a look at our post which looks at the important criteria to look at when recruiting.
The Interview Process
If you choose local hire, the interview process should be relatively simple. The difficulties arise when interviewing candidates from other countries. We would recommend having as many people as possible in the first stage interview to reduce the number of separate meetings required.
Conducting these interviews over video conferencing can speed up the process and mean that you are ensuring that you are encouraging a wide range of people to interview as this doesn’t require them to travel a long distance for a first interview. Although when using video conferencing take into consideration the time differences that may be a problem.
Selection Process
There are several legal and tax implications to consider whether you hire locally or not. Once the candidate has been offered the job this can often be when the problems with planning begin to show.
In some countries, companies cannot hire local employees without having some sort of incorporated local presence. Contracting workers is a much simpler process in many cases than hiring permanent staff, but often this isn’t a suitable option for many roles, and it may put off talented candidates who want the security of a permanent contract.
Maternity and Paternity pay is another issue that should be considered, in addition to pension and overtime payments.
Onboarding Support
Onboarding an overseas employee can be really difficult, its important to consider localising training materials and work documents into the right language to make things more simple.
Employees should be made to feel part of one global team, and so integration processes should be put into place. If someone doesn’t feel supported you run the risk of them considering other career options, read more about how we suggest you should onboard new team members, here.
Preparing to Hire in a New Overseas Market
All of our considerations are not to deter you from hiring overseas, we simply want you to be made aware that the process can be complicated and that you should prepare for these complications beforehand.
Working with in-country HR and legal professionals are usually the best way to ensure you are prepared for any contractual and tax laws you need to abide by. This can also be helpful as they can advise on what company status you require to hire legally in a country as well as the legality of non-compete agreements and termination policies.
Many businesses have successfully hired from overseas and had amazing results for their company. It takes planning to avoid the complications during the recruitment and hiring processes.
If you have enjoyed this blog, you can find all our other blogs here, or if you would like to discuss a vacancy you’re hiring for, please contact us here.
