Expert reveals the most common pitfalls, from cultural misunderstandings to poor worker engagement
This article was produced in partnership with Safeguard Global
Client expertise blurb: Safeguard Global is an industry leader in workforce management solutions, helping businesses to manage their international workforce more efficiently. Its offerings include global payroll, employment outsourcing and consulting services in relation to international labour laws, tax compliance and HR strategies.
Over the last three years, Australia has faced a persistent skills shortage. Jobs and Skills Australia estimates that 29% of occupations have been in shortage throughout 2022-23, and 47% of these were professional occupations related to health, engineering, IT and science.
With local talent pools drying up, some organisations have been looking overseas to fill the gaps. According to Jonathan Perumal, country manager ANZ at Safeguard Global, some organisations enter this process with a good idea of the requirements and pitfalls. However, many make fundamental mistakes – from not considering time zones and public holidays, to misunderstanding local working culture.
So, what are the key things to consider when hiring globally? Perumal says that culture, compliance, communication and technology are all vital to ensure smooth sailing.
“One of the biggest mistakes that organisations make is using the broad brush of the cultural norms that they’ve had in their office HQ, and applying it to every other region,” Perumal tells HRD.
“You need to think about how you’re going to engage with your talent on an ongoing basis, because hiring someone is just the first piece.”
“I’ve seen clients who hire their first person overseas, and expect that they’ll work to Australian hours,” he explains. “They don’t factor in the different public holidays, and they don’t consider that if someone in India is working to Australian hours, they’re technically working overtime. I’ve seen many clients get burned by that, simply because they don’t ask those questions to begin with.”
Despite some of these practical difficulties, Perumal notes that the advantages of a global team are obvious. They can provide clients with 24/7 support, working across different time zones and covering Australian public holidays.
However, it’s important to have a solid communication strategy in place in order to keep all of your global employees on the same page. Perumal highlights that some organisations can become too ‘task focused’ with remote workers, and fail to integrate them properly into the company’s culture, brand and direction.
“Your employees can’t be their own island the whole time,” Perumal says.
“Where I’ve seen companies fail is when they’ve purely focused on handing over tasks, and expecting a return of work without any further communication. There’s a big risk that remote workers will be left behind, so you need to think about engagement, communication and career development, and also have flexibility in terms of how training and development is done.”
When it comes to gathering local expertise, organisations can choose to do this in various ways. Perumal says that having access to local, on-the-ground expertise is a great way to get in touch with local talent pools that you otherwise wouldn’t know how to tap into, and it can also provide vital insights into hiring and engagement.
As an example, hiring in Australia includes the use of platforms like Seek, Indeed and LinkedIn. But in China, LinkedIn is just a job board – there isn’t the social and thought leadership aspect, and that’s important for organisations to know before attempting to hire.
Perumal notes that language can also be different across jurisdictions, and so being able to use the language of the local market is very important.
“For example, the word ‘bonus’ is used in Australia for a performance bonus that isn’t tied to a sales amount,” Perumal explains.
“In other countries, that isn’t the terminology – it’s actually ‘commission’, even though it’s not based on a sales figure. It’s important to know things like this.”
With all of these challenges in mind, Safeguard Global has developed a range of tools to help organisations hiring globally. Its AI-enabled tool ChatSG allows clients to ask questions about statutory components and benefits in different countries, and its hiring tools can help generate job descriptions based on what resonates market to market.
Perumal notes that ultimately, hiring globally has become a lot more accessible to companies of every size – and the future is looking bright.
“We don’t have things like international calls charges anymore, and international talent has become very accessible for everyone,” Perumal says.
“We are looking at more global talent pools, and we’re going to be leveraging resources across 190-odd jurisdictions. Each of those has different labour laws, and different ways of managing onboarding and compliance. That’s where HR departments are going to become really strategic, and platforms like Safeguard Global are going to become invaluable.”
