Hiring international employees: key benefits of working with international workers

The current system in the world has provided space for local and international work collaborations. Technology, urbanization, industrialization, and modernization have broken the walls confining people to work within one’s home country alone. Businesses have now adopted diversity, creativity, and innovation as a strategic medium of growth and expansion. Since there are now conducive regulations that support international recruitment, most businesses across the world are now leveraging on the international employment of skilled workers and staff. Offshoring is now a common practice among businesses worldwide. The practice of hiring companies or employees in other countries is known as offshoring.

The global market is expanding daily, businesses are competitive, the global workforce is on a daily increase, and now, preference has been shifted to hiring only the most skilled and most qualified talents. Global expansion is a key strategy to working efficiently in all these conditions. One of the common ways of expanding internationally is to hire international employees. International talents include employees that are hired remotely and can work on their own from anywhere in the world, international employees that were hired overseas to work at the local and foreign subsidiary of the head office in the employee’s country, and finally, global/international employee can also be talents hired from another country or sent to another country for a particular assignment within a given period.

Companies considering international expansion via employing foreign workers must be sure of their reasons, and they must be aware of the best practices in effectively carrying out the hiring process. To give you the best understanding of this topic, we have developed some exciting information for you in this guide. Find out more in the sections below.

Reasons to Hire Employees Overseas

Most international companies hiring talents globally are doing it because of one reason or the other. Although there are several reasons why businesses are bent on hiring foreign talents, growth, diversity, and innovation are primary to most organizations. For companies with similar goals of international hiring and global expansion, below are some cogent reasons why every company and business must hire foreign employees.

International Talent Pool

Since businesses across the world now have unlimited access to a large community of talents who are ready to work, there has been a significant increase in overseas hiring. The development of new technologies, industrialization, and education has led to an upsurge in the number of jobs and skilled talents in the world. Companies can now hire people based on the skill needed, the standard of payments they can afford, ease in employment policies, etc. With international employment, you are not limited to the knowledge, innovation, skills, or experience of talents in your country alone. International hiring provides you with several options in different countries to pick from depending on your need and capacity. This will relatively increase your workplace productivity and innovation

Business Expansion

Expanding the scope of your business to other locations is another major reason why companies hire international employees. Quick growth, fast and extended market integration, and a deep understanding of the foreign market are often assured when companies engage the activities and capacity of local talents from that area. The local experts with their extensive knowledge on the standard of business, pricing, tax, customers’ taste, acceptance strategies, etc will save you from the stress and cost of struggling to establish your foot in the foreign market.

Increased Productivity

Employees overseas bring about extensive productivity to your business and workplace. Working with talents worldwide gives your company a new outlook, improved efficiency, and performance, extended round clock working hours, etc. With employment overseas, companies can hire talents from places with different time zones and this will concurrently assist you in having your business opened throughout your company’s working days. When some of your workers are sleeping, some are already awake to get the job done. With this, you can cover more grounds, attend to more customers, have quicker turnarounds, etc. This can be done by having your businesses in different locations with talents employed from that location or engaging the services of remote or virtual teams. Aside from the time differences, foreign employees bring flexibility and creativity onboard. Their creativity and flexibility relatively increase the performance of other workers, and thus, the productivity of the company.

People with Unique Skills

Each country has some specific fields in which they are more proficient than other countries. For instance, Germany is known to be a more industrialized and engineering-based country than Singapore, the United States has more artificial intelligence experts than talents from Poland, etc. This diversity in skill proficiency is another important reason why companies hiring overseas are consistent, progressive, and intentional about it. With international employees, your HR department is open to several skill and experience options to pick from. You don’t have to rely on the limited workforce in your country before your tasks and assignments are done. You can easily locate and onboard the best talent in that field or for that job from anywhere in the world. For instance, according to a study by the Harvard Business Review, if you are running a fintech company or you require business skills, you should leverage the expertise of talents from Switzerland than Indonesia. Whereas for tech skills, talents from Sweden are considered to be better than those from Kenya. Working with a skilled workforce from other countries of the world will help you learn from the new knowledge they are bringing on board, learn from their experiences on different jobs, etc.

Move into New Markets

Expanding into a new economy is better done by engaging the services of international workers. You can expand into a new market directly by establishing a local subsidiary in that country and then engage the services of talents from that country. Otherwise, you can expand into a new market through the talents you’ve already employed in that country. Those talents will just be the ones to advance and expand the reach of your business to that market. This is one of the best strategies any employer or business owner will always want to leverage. This is because these foreign workers have deeper knowledge and understanding of the new market, its economy, the people, culture, etc. For instance, it is better for a US-based company that is moving to Spain to hire Spanish talents who understands the language and market than working in English and getting an interpreter. The former is easy and less stressful, but while the latter option is not that bad, it is more costly, time-consuming, and hectic. With overseas hiring, you can easily interact with customers in the new market, roll out your products and/or services in the local language, ensure fast growth, etc.

Practices to Hire a Foreign Worker

Having established some of the reasons why most companies hire talents from across the world, the next step is to understand the best practices on how to hire a foreign employee. In this section, we have outlined three important tips you must consider while sourcing, hiring, and onboarding new talents or workers for your business from anywhere around the globe.  

Do you need to Hire a Legal Expert to get International Employees Faster?

Each country has its legal obligations and requirements. You can’t expect the same legal requirements in the United States to be used in other countries because of the difference in government and other things. Thus, you must understand the legal requirements that are accepted in a certain country before hiring talents from that country. Work permits, immigration laws, visa issuance requirements vary from country to country. you are expected to comply with all the provided laws to be qualified for these documents. You must follow the proper media/channel to safely getting the whole process done with comfort.

However, you are prone to mistakes and being penalized if you use the DIY approach here. Engaging the service of a legal expert who is well versed in quickly getting international employees is very paramount to businesses practicing offshoring. Legal experts will help you navigate the whole legal processes that are involved in the hiring of talents. They will save you from potential risks associated with onboarding foreign workers, provide and interpret all immigration laws to you, etc. Nevertheless, working with a global PEO like WeHireGlobally is safer, cheaper, and faster while hiring talents globally. A global PEO will mitigate all employment risks, ensure compliance with all legal obligations, etc within a short time.

Select your Candidates Carefully

Always learn to take your time properly and carefully select foreign staff for your company. Proper planning and the proactiveness of your HR team won’t even warrant any unnecessary rush in case of emergencies. Careful selection is a function of proper planning. When you ensure that maximum time is given to the hiring process, the best talents will be selected for the desired tasks. When you take your time, you will be able to completely understand why you need the talent, the duration for which you need the talent, the requirements you must take in properly selecting the talent, etc. This process is slightly or entirely different from what happens when you onboard a candidate locally. For international hiring, you must ensure that you hire the right and best candidate for the job, assist the candidate in complying with all legal obligations, immigration process, etc. When the hiring process is carefully done without haste, you will even have access to a larger pool of talents. Furthermore, when selecting talents with care, you can try hiring foreign workers in just 4 steps. These four steps include understanding what your needs are, ensuring complete and regular checks, knowing whom to consult, and being sure of whom the best is.  With WeHireGlobally your can onboard, payroll, provide benefits to your candidates in 150 countries in three easy steps.

Pay Attention to Onboarding New Employees

Paying rapt attention to the onboarding process of new employees is one of the most important practices you must ensure while undergoing the process of overseas hiring. You must ensure that your new employees are fully onboarded even before they carry out any task in your company. With proper onboarding, new workers will be walked through the company’s policies, their responsibilities, and obligations, terms, and services, contract of agreement, legal bindings, classification, etc. For instance, it will be difficult for a Ukrainian talent to just enter the US work system with the proper understanding of the United States pattern of work. The onboarding process will give the recruits the chance to ask questions, learn more, and be prepared for good performance.

Roles of WeHireGlobally in International Hiring

With WeHG, you are assured of easy tapping into a pool of global talent, and accessing the best candidates for the job in a safe and secured manner. We provide you with sufficient risk mitigation, engaging and retaining your international workforce with 100% compliance with all legal and financial obligations. With us, onboarding of your new employees will be carefully and properly carried out within a short time.

FAQ Hiring international employees: key benefits of working with international workers

  • What do Companies need to know about Hiring Internationally?

    There are several things businesses around the world must know about employing globally. International hiring brings about workplace diversification, improved productivity, and performance, quick growth, creativity, and innovation, etc. However, companies also need to know that this process must be carefully carried out without mistakes but with proper adherence to regulations.

  • What are the Challenges Associated with International Hiring?

    Various problems are associated with overseas hiring, among them are inadequate compliance, processing of employment and travel documents, onboarding, differences in policies and regulations, man management, etc.

  • What is Offshoring?

    Offshoring is the practice of hiring companies or employees in other countries. It also refers to the process of outsourcing jobs to talents from other countries. Offshoring is usually carried out by companies in industrialized countries to seek talents with lower costs in developing nations.

  • Hannah Kohl
    Author:
    Hannah Kohl. Head of Customer Success. Has extensive experience in the HR and IT industries. Helped 100+ international clients to achieve their global goals.

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