Top Strategies to Recruit International Talent for your project

Guest blog written by Omnipresent

Over the last few years, the way teams operate has changed significantly. Remote work has become increasingly popular, and as a result, companies are broadening their horizons beyond local talent. Now, they’re hiring globally. 

International hiring offers businesses a wide range of benefits, including access to a larger talent pool, more diverse teams, global expansion opportunities, and most importantly international talent. That said, it’s important to remember that hiring abroad also bears other considerations. One of the major issues is complying with local employment laws. If businesses fail to stay compliant, they could face hefty fines and legal action.

So let us help you understand how to hire international talent compliantly. In this guide, we’ll outline a few options to consider, including working with a Professional Employer Organization (PEO), partnering with an Employer of Record (EOR), or hiring an independent contractor. 

Let’s get started.

1. Hire a Professional Employer Organization (PEO)

PEOs provide companies with outsourced HR and administrative services. The main solution PEOs offer is taking care of payroll. That’s why they’re sometimes referred to as “global payroll providers.” However, some PEOs may also provide support with employee benefits, onboarding, and assistance to meet local customs and industry best practices.

When a company hires a PEO, they sign a service agreement to enter into a co-employment relationship with the employee(s). The agreement outlines the responsibilities of both parties. The PEO assumes responsibility for specific HR and administrative services while the company remains legally responsible for its employees. 

In other words, the company is still responsible for hiring and managing its employees in accordance with the employment laws in each employee's jurisdiction. To do that, the company must have a local entity in the hiring countries. If they don’t, it can be extremely time-consuming and expensive to set one up. 

Pros and cons of a PEO

 2. Partner with an Employer of Record (EOR)

EORs provide many of the same HR and administrative services that PEOs do, but unlike PEOs, an EOR becomes the legal employer of a business’s chosen talent. This means businesses don’t need to set up local entities when hiring international talent. It also means that EORs manage the complexities of staying compliant on the company’s behalf.

Since the EOR becomes the legal employer of the talent, they're responsible for drawing up and signing the employment contracts. At the same time, they create a service agreement, which essentially outlines the relationship and obligations between the company, talent, and EOR. 

In general, the company will be responsible for the employee’s day-to-day management, such as their tasks and reporting structure. On the other hand, the EOR will be responsible for complying with local laws, processing payroll, and administering statutory and supplementary benefits. 

Pros and cons of an EOR

3. Hire an independent contractor

Another option for hiring internationally is using independent contractors. Independent contractors are workers that are independent of the business. In other words, they’re not employees and don’t go on the company’s payroll. They get paid via invoices instead. 

Businesses contract these workers to perform specific jobs, usually for a defined period of time. The contractor signs an agreement with the company detailing things like pay, contract length, and required insurance. Contractors generally aren’t entitled to statutory employee benefits like paid time off.

When hiring contractors abroad, companies are subject to the contractors’ local labor laws, which can vary significantly from one country to the next. So companies must be mindful of correctly classifying independent contractors and maintaining compliance with local labor laws. If they do misclassify a worker, the company could face legal action and penalties. This can make hiring independent contractors quite risky.  

Pros and cons of hiring independent contractors

Which option is best for your business?

Now let’s take a look at which of the three options is right for your business:

• EORs allow you to onboard and pay talent abroad when you don’t have a local entity in the hiring country. Compliance is simplified since your company isn't responsible for adhering to local labor laws - the EOR is instead. However, this can mean that your company has less control over how certain operations processes are performed.
• PEOs require you to have a local entity wherever you wish to hire. All legal and employment responsibilities rest on your company, so the business is at higher risk of non-compliance. That said, PEOs can significantly reduce HR costs and simplify payroll processes if the company is able to set up a local entity.
• Independent contractors can be a great way to tap into niche skills for a specific project. However, hiring contractors can be risky. Employee misclassification is a serious infringement in most countries, and rules around classification vary from one country to the next. Additionally, depending on the jurisdiction, there is no guarantee that an independent contractor's work becomes the company's intellectual property. If you do wish to work with a contractor, you must understand the local rules first.

Companies like Omnipresent make international hiring easy

As you can see, there are many things to keep in mind when hiring international talent. Although the process can seem complicated, working with a global employment partner like Omnipresent makes it easy to build and manage your international teams compliantly.

Omnipresent uses intelligent automation and expert support to take care of compliance, payroll, and benefits for you. That way, you have more time to focus on your people. So book a call with our team if you’d like to know more. 

And if you want to gain a deeper understanding of international hiring best practices, visit our free online learning platform to gain valuable insights from experts in the field.

Notchup and Omnipresent have partnered to help you build the best teams on earth.  Notchup’s platform is dedicated to helping you find the right talent to scale your tech teams, while Omnipresent can help you onboard and pay international talent compliantly.