Remote-Readiness Checklist: 5 Tips to Harness Global Talent Mobility

As experts in global talent mobility, we’re here to help companies move into the remote and hybrid era without breaking stride. In this post, we’ll be exploring 5 essential steps to becoming a remote employer of choice.

Step 1: clearing the red tape of foreign legal compliance

Working with foreign nationals living in their own countries is anything but straightforward. The most formidable obstacle is complying with labor law and tax regulations. To do that, any global business must:

• Incorporate a legal entity on the ground to hire and pay employees in their own country
• Offer contracts and benefits packages in line with local laws
• Maintain ongoing legal compliance throughout the relationship, from hiring to termination

That’s a tall order, even for large multinational companies with deep enough coffers to make it happen. But even they must still contend with significant risk.

If expansion into a particular country does not go to plan, it can be difficult to recuperate all of these costs. There’s also the ever present risk of legal missteps that can be mission-ending.

Leap over compliance hurdles with an Employer of Record partnership

These are just some of the challenges solved by an Employer of Record (EOR). Companies who partner with an EOR avoid the need to incorporate legal entities of their own, leveraging the EOR’s in-country entities instead.

The EOR employs your people on your behalf, and - if they’re worth their salt - provide ongoing legal support to keep you compliant.

Before you continue reading, head over to Playroll and create a free account. Then, come back for the rest of this checklist.

Step 2: onboarding that leaves no stone unturned

When it comes to onboarding, employees have increasingly high expectations. Your new hire will be hoping for a seamless digital onboarding experience that doesn’t take substantial effort on their part.

Snags in the process reflect poorly on your remote-readiness, and your ability to offer long term growth. In contrast, a thorough and hassle-free onboarding experience can drastically improve employee retention.

By some estimates, 69% of employees are more likely to stay for at least 3 years following a positive onboarding experience. 

For fully remote employees, this process must be very clear, and equip newcomers with everything they need to manage their lives within the company. Employees should be in no doubt about vital issues such as:

• Performance expectations 
• Where to find HR support 
• Important milestones and probation periods 
• Company and vision and purpose

That doesn’t all need to happen in a week, or even two. Onboarding should last as long as employees need to become fully acclimated to their roles and responsibilities, their colleagues, and the overall mission of the organization. 

Equipping remote workers for success

Depending on company policy, it may also involve the distribution of the hardware and software that workers need.

Companies who really want to pull ahead in the race for top talent should consider what a healthy remote office work setup actually looks like, and take steps to facilitate that for their employees. 

Step 3: optimizing your tech stack for (asynchronous) communication 

As HR buzzwords go, asynchronous is one of the most important. For teams distributed across time zones, it’s absolutely essential that they can work in a way that doesn’t require them all to be online at the same time.  

Implementing the right tech tools to enable rich, async communication and collaboration have some powerful benefits. 

Improved mental health

Firstly, it frees remote workers from “always-on”, burnout-prone lifestyles. This is especially important for geographically distributed teams. Instead of a meeting or a call, a video explanation can be shared and accessed at a time that makes sense.

There are now many tools that make asynchronous communication and collaboration possible, creating healthier conditions for workers and giving them more control over how they structure their time. 

Better project documentation

Secondly, because async workflow relies on meticulous documentation to avoid misunderstanding, it forces everyone in the organization to pay close attention to detail. The resulting transparency eliminates ambiguity and makes workflow smoother for everyone.  

Step 4: building human connection 

We’re all familiar with the many benefits of global talent mobility and remote/hybrid work. But there are unavoidable drawbacks, too, especially in terms of human connection.

Co-located employees are able to forge connections in a more direct way, and this goes a long way toward fostering a sense of belonging on the human level.

The resulting cohesion and relationship building makes people more likely to buy into the company mission and commit to the team on a long-term basis. 

So how should businesses replicate (as far as possible) those conditions in the absence of actual in-person interaction and shared physical space? It’s not easy, but it can be done.

Here are some of the strategies that forward-thinking business are implementing to build real connections among their distributed teams:

Encourage mentorship

Assigning newcomers a buddy from among more senior employees is an effective way to foster belonging and cohesion. It can also ease the burden of fielding technical queries for internal HR teams.

This is particularly important during onboarding, when new employees may have difficulty mastering systems and tools. 

Reach across the digital/physical divide

Remote employees obviously need enablement in the form of software and tech tools. But, as we said earlier, they also need office equipment.

Providing this in a timely and efficient way goes a long way to making employees feel like they are truly a part of the organization. Branded furniture and merchandise help employees turn their home office into something like an extension of the company. 

Prioritize feedback and recognition

Input from managers is common in brick and mortar businesses, and it should be just as common in remote settings. Positive recognition of achievement, and even constructive criticism, can enhance an employee’s sense of being part of a living, breathing team.

Remote employees who work in isolated silos for too long will begin to lose sight of the company’s overall mission and are more likely to disconnect to pursue other opportunities. 

Step 5: equip your internal HR teams with remote-ready recruitment channels

Global talent mobility has changed recruitment in many sectors in important ways. For one thing, potential candidates now live all over the world, and the way you make contact with them has to change accordingly. Local job boards are no longer enough; to get the cream of the crop, you need to go global. 

Find a Candidate: Playroll’s answer to remote recruitment challenges

Equip your internal recruitment teams with remote-appropriate tools and channels. With Playroll’s Global Talent Finder, internal recruiters can narrow their search by tapping into an extensive network of premium recruitment agencies across industries.

All of the recruiters in our platform have a proven track record of being able to vet candidates and match them to the right roles. 

Global Talent Finder is just one of the many Playroll features that enable global businesses to hire and retain talent for growing remote teams. With an international network of subsidiaries, Playroll enables smooth, compliant hiring in over 170 countries.

To explore the full range of Playroll’s capabilities, request a demo with our team. They’ll guide you through the platform and show you how easy and risk-free your global expansion could be with a leading Employer of Record.