Most companies surveyed have employees in more than one country

Does scrolling through Instagram pics of your friends’ latest exotic escapades give you FOMO? How about seeing other companies expand into new countries? If it seems like every other organization is hiring abroad, well, that’s because they might be.

Hiring got harder. The pandemic and the ongoing talent war have led many employers to rethink their business models and, as a result, their workforce strategies, with some expanding their hiring horizons across state and country borders.

Dave McGonegal, VP of talent solutions consulting at ManpowerGroup, previously told HR Brew that this push “has been driven in large part by a 15-year high talent shortage, along with cost-saving and risk-mitigating measures that companies are putting into place.”

The perks are undeniable. There are many benefits of hiring overseas. Some do it to save money: The average salary for a software engineer in the Philippines or Nigeria, is far lower than it is in the United States, particularly in major hubs like San Francisco or New York. Others do it to solve staffing shortages.

But the main catalyst for going global is the increasing acceptance of remote work. With distributed teams, location matters less. So, if a company is struggling to fill a job or is working with a tight budget, a worker from another country could be a winning solution.

So are the barriers. The process of forming a legal business entity is often the main barrier to hiring abroad, though local labor laws and other regulations are also considerations. Staffing firms and employers of record (EOR), including Oyster, Deel, Velocity Global, and Remote, can help HR teams navigate the legal and compliance challenges.

How popular is it? We asked HR Brew readers how many countries they currently have employees in. The majority are branching out. While 46% said they operate in just one country, the remaining 54% said they operate in two or more: 23% said they’re in between two and four, 9% said they’re in between five and nine, and 22% said they’re in 10 or more countries.—AK

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