Small businesses face a variety of obstacles to their growth. From changing market conditions to the increasingly digital marketplace, the average small business owner can be forgiven for feeling overwhelmed. A rarely discussed obstacle is the quality of talent that small businesses hire.
A survey of small business owners conducted in 2018 revealed that 56% of them faced issues hiring talent. The problems ranged from a lack of resources to a lack of necessary skills in the talent pool. In an increasingly global marketplace, small businesses have turned to foreign markets to hire qualified employees.
In such situations, using the services of an Employer of Record (EOR) can prove extremely beneficial. Here are 4 ways in which EORs are powering SMB growth.
Flexibility
The premise of an EOR service is simple. Instead of hiring employees in a foreign location by itself, the SMB contracts an EOR and outsources its global payroll and HR systems management. The result is a flexible workforce situation that allows the SMB to access top-tier talent without spending resources setting up an international framework.
EORs are referred to by various names, such as a Global Employment Organization (GEO) or global/ international PEOs. These companies help SMBs avoid the legal hassles that an international structure requires as setting up an overseas registered entity is often unpractical and unsustainable for a small business.
Compliance requirements vary depending on the location. If a talented employee resides in France while another resides in Norway, setting up 2 entities in those countries for the sole purpose of employing 1 person is hardly a good business move.
A temporary solution that SMBs adopt is to hire temporary workers. However, this solution isn’t a recipe for a dedicated workforce. Instead, contacting an international PEO to hire employees on paper and avoiding building a mercenary workforce is the best solution.
Legal Compliance
Payroll and benefits regulations vary dramatically depending on the jurisdiction.
An EOR helps companies sidestep these problematic regulations as they’re wholly aware of local laws and can help you figure out what payroll laws are and how you can structure your pay offers.
Employee dispute handling is also an area that heavily leans on local laws. Most SMBs won’t have the resources to thoroughly research employment and payroll laws and ensure a satisfactory outcome. Using the services of a local EOR is the best move in such cases.
Easy Scaling
Many small businesses are looking for ways to scale quickly and achieve growth to attract sustainable investment. Hiring top-tier employees is the best way to ensure this happens smoothly. The problem is that setting up international entities is a time-consuming process, not to mention expensive.
A small business or startup can hardly afford to waste money on entities that cause bloat. In such situations, the services of an EOR are invaluable. EORs can help startups hire globally while retaining a local physical presence through the leasing of employee services.
The result is that even hyper growth startups and businesses can engineer flexibility and agility into their business models without compromising on hiring quality or increasing costs.
Diversity
Agile organizations understand their customers’ needs well and tailor products to serve them. These days, SMBs are likely to have customers all over the globe, and this is one of the reasons why hiring talent globally is a good idea. An employee in a location is more likely to understand consumer preferences than one who works abroad.
A global workforce also builds business resilience thanks to a variety of ideas being thrown into the mix. Homogenous organizations struggle to survive these days thanks to the pace at which our world is changing. In such times, having a diverse workforce is the best way of generating fresh ideas and staying ahead of the curve.
EORs make the process of building a global workforce cost-effective and seamless. As a result, even SMBs can access talented individuals irrespective of location and build unique business models. Building a remote workforce is simple thanks to EORs since physical presence is no longer needed.
A Global Solution
EORs, GEOs, and Global PEOs are a great way for small businesses to hire the talent they need to grow quickly. Historically, large enterprises were the only ones that had access to global markets. Now, thanks to changing business conditions, SMBs too can compete on a global scale.
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This article, “How Small Businesses Can “Hack” Their Way Into Overseas Hiring” was first published on Small Business Trends
Source: Small Business Trends
