Starting a business and building a team is tough, but it’s even tougher when you’re working with employees in other countries. Still, having an international roster of employees can be massively beneficial for your business. You might be able to find talented people willing to work for a lower rate, or you could establish high-profile connections in countries with lots of new opportunities for your business.
Finding success in this endeavor depends on your ability to manage your employees effectively, and account for any weaknesses in your system.
Get Travel Authorization in Order
If you’re working closely with team members in other countries, you’ll likely want to meet them in person sooner or later—and in some cases, you’ll need them to be able to travel freely and frequently between your countries. There are a few ways you can make this easier on yourself. For example, you could take advantage of the visa waiver program (VWP) and the electronic system for travel authorization (ESTA). This is essentially an online application system created by the U.S. government to pre-screen international travelers bound for the United States.
Make sure you fully understand the logistical and legal requirements of traveling from your employees’ destination country to the United States, and vice versa.
Establish a System of Payment
You may be able to negotiate a fair rate of payment initially, but have you thought about how you’re going to distribute funds via payroll? There are a few different options available to you here. You could pay your international employees based on your home country’s payroll; this can be difficult to manage, and isn’t possible for some countries. You could also find a local partner in another country to manage payments to your employees, but these relationships can be hard to manage. Another option is to utilize a third-party payroll service, which will help you manage and disburse international payments, taking care of currency exchange in the process.
Understand Employment Laws
Hiring and working with international employees can be tricky because depending on the circumstances, you may be forced to comply with employment laws in your home country, in your employees’ home country, or both. For example, in some cases, you may be able to hire international workers as independent contractors. In other cases, you may be forced to bring them on full-time or not at all. You may also encounter different definitions for what constitutes a “full-time” employee or “independent contractor.” You’ll need to do some research, possibly with the aid of a lawyer, to figure out what your limitations are.
Prepare for Language and Time Barriers
You’ll also need to think about managing the inevitable language and time barriers that arise during international employee management. If you’re working with employees in another country, there’s a good chance they either won’t speak English, or may not be able to speak English fluently. If you speak their native language, you can manage communications much easier, but then you’ll need to think about how you manage your time translating their communications.
If the country is in a different time zone, you may need to work hard to collaborate with each other; there may be only a few hours of overlap between your workday and their workday, or no overlap whatsoever.
Tips for Success
Generally, these tips can help you succeed when managing employees in other countries:
- Choose the right country. Not all countries will offer the same benefits. Some are more accessible and easier to understand, but may have greater logistical challenges or regulatory hurdles to jump through. Some may have more English speakers, but may have a less favorable exchange rate.
- Be consistent. If you’re putting together a team of international employees, it’s good to pick a strategy and stick to it. Work with only one other country at first, and treat all your new employees the same way. Only start branching out and trying new approaches once you feel comfortable with your initial setup.
- Start slow. Similarly, you’ll want to start slow and gradually scale your efforts up. You won’t want to hire a full team of people all at once; instead, hire one or two fundamentally important roles, and gradually hire more as your operation can tolerate them.
- Be flexible. Even if you go into this with a hypothetically perfect plan, there’s a good chance your expectations will be contradicted. Make sure there’s plenty of room for adjustment as you learn more about managing international employees.
Opening your employment options to people in other countries can be a boon for your business, but only if you manage your expectations and account for both the strengths and weaknesses of such an arrangement. Make sure you do your research and have a plan in place to meet the challenges ahead.
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This content is sponsored by Larry Alton.
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