In today’s remote working environment, hiring foreign workers may help global business expansion. Established business owners from many industries have questioned the need to have a central office; companies incur high rental costs and other expenses towards office maintenance. The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the remote workforce trend.
The process of hiring a foreign worker could sound daunting especially to tier-2 and tier-3 companies given the legal procedures and other authorizations involved. Businesses that embrace the concept of hiring international workers may get intimidated with the legalities associated with it. For most of the developed countries, a local entity is essential to hire an employee. As in, if you are choosing to recruit a candidate from a different home country, you will have to register your company as a local entity in that particular country.
This process is tedious as the company should remain compliant with the federal and state laws of all the countries where they have registered themselves as an entity. Multiplier has registered entities in various countries thus, we enable you to manage your international employees through the registered entities using our local HR platform. Thus, Multiplier helps you to employ, onboard and manage international talent.
Guide to Hire International Employees:
We, at Multiplier specialize in helping companies to manage international workforce besides the legal requirements around it. Based on our insights, we have curated a comprehensive guide that would help you to hire employees from overseas.
Perform Market Research:
While choosing to hire employees from an international talent pool, it is essential to perform market analysis beforehand. This research would involve points like,
- Job roles and responsibilities
- Basic payscale for that job profile
- Employee benefits
- Other demands per the respective Department of Labour (DOL)
The above-mentioned list would vary based on the corresponding country practices. The results obtained from this market research is further used to promote the open positions on the job portals.
Acquire certifications:
Every country would have a department dedicated to verify the legalities around labour or employment opportunities. Per the terms laid by the department of labour, each company will have to apply for the ‘right to employ’ certification from the respective government. To complete this application and get the certificate, you will have to provide proof for the following,
- Evidence stating the need to hire a foreign worker
- Documentation ensuring that the vacancy meets the criteria for the foreign labour certificate program (This may vary between different countries)
- Filing the appropriate Employment and Training Administration (ETA) form
- Ensuring credibility to pay the employee wages
Post these documentation procedures, you will have to submit the ETA form along with the other attachments to the designated DOL office. By involving a Global employment partner like Multiplier, you can elude all the paperwork mentioned above. Multiplier ca; also manage contracts and other legal documents for all the international workers hired by your company.
Promote your open position:
Be it hiring local or international employees, advertising your open positions on the right job boards is the initial step towards finding the right talent. It becomes difficult for companies to identify the right professionals to fill the open positions across the world.
In such instances, international job boards act as job posting sites and operate in numerous countries. Employers who would like to recruit international candidates can find exceptional talent pool from across the globe using these job boards. Some of the best international job boards are,
- Indeed
- Glassdoor
- Monster
- Craigslist
- CareerBuilder
In addition to this, you can also ask your existing employees to refer suitable candidates if any, based on the job profile. This would increase credibility about the company besides helping the new hires to get accustomed to the company practices.
Recruitment process:
The hiring process for international employees can start only after the DOL approves your certification for a foreign worker. The hiring process followed for international employees may vary from the typical recruitment process framed for local employees. As in, International employees would have vivid experiences to offer than the normal competencies projected by the local workers. Hence, it is essential to have an open mind while scrutinizing the applications to appear in the interview.
Post narrowing-down the applications, you will have to conduct official interviews to select the best-suited candidate. While connecting with international candidates, it is preferable to have a video interview session to break the ice and get them to talk more.
Obtain Work visas:
If the recruited foreign national employee has to report at your home office, you will have to process the work visa beforehand. This is a mandatory step for them to be legally permitted to work in your country. In certain cases where the employee already has a work visa, you will have to verify the work authorization. Sponsoring a work visa usually takes anywhere between three to six months. Hence, it you will have to plan these commitments well ahead to refrain from last minute hustle.
Compliance to tax laws:
Furthermore, it is important to address all the tax laws that apply to your company and the foreign worker. For instance, international workers in the United States will have to get a Social-Security Number (SSN) to get enrolled for tax benefits.
Similarly, other countries may have different requisites. Our in-house experts at multiplier will help you with getting to know such mandatory requirements and processing them. In addition to this, Multiplier also performs international payroll calculations.
How to Manage International Employees Working Remotely?
When your international employees are working remotely, it is essential to maintain consistency with the employment relationship. Since, you don’t get to interact in-person, you can contribute through significant efforts like, releasing wage payment at the right time or enabling other benefits to reassure the relationship with your foreign employees.
Remote Payroll:
Companies that employ foreign workers cannot pay them directly from the home payroll. This is because, international employees would not have access to the benefits and entitlements that concern to your home country. Hence, they rely on local payroll to receive their compensation and tax withholding. Book a demo session with Multiplier to know how you can manage the local payroll for all your employees from different countries in a single click.
Enabling other benefits for international workers:
In addition to the payroll, you will have to manage other tax withholdings as well for the international employees. This involves employee tax, which has to get deducted based on the local compensation norms. We, at multiplier also offer services that include filing the tax forms and processing all the other entitlements through a simple self-service platform.
For further information or queries regarding remote hiring or managing your international workforce efficiently, kindly visit us!
