High-tech’s latest trend: employment without borders
High-tech’s latest trend: employment without borders
Now that remote work is accepted at the majority of high-tech companies, employers are increasingly interested in diversifying recruitment sources and hiring talent from all over the world regardless of location, while employees are increasingly interested in working remotely regardless of where the company is based.
Working remotely or in a hybrid environment has long been the norm in the tech industry, starting during the COVID-19 era and continuing since. Now, the new trend among employers is 'borderless' remote employment, to the delight of their employees. Employers want to hire the best talent and employees want to find the best job regardless of where they live. Improved technology, a global mindset, and openness to this type of employment are all accelerating this trend.
Fifty-eight percent of tech companies already employ remote workers from other countries, according to a recent Gartner report, and more companies are considering this type of employment. "We definitely see in recent years a trend where more and more companies are adopting new models of employment, moving to a borderless employment model. Employers often have access to services and goods at better prices and quality through employment from other countries. Our annual report, the SMB Ambitions Barometer, also found that two-thirds of small and medium-sized businesses believe that diversifying the global supply network helps overcome global disruptions," says John Caplan, CEO of Payoneer, which has developed a money transfer service that extends across borders worldwide.
"The world is becoming more global, but to seize global opportunities, organizations need the tools to help them do so. The adoption of hybrid work models during the COVID-19 period and the advancement of remote work technologies have accelerated employers' willingness to diversify their workforce, increasing their access to quality talent that they weren’t exposed to before," he says.
Maor Levran, CEO of Slice, which developed a global equity platform utilizing AI for continuous compliance, also notes the acceleration of remote employment since COVID-19. "The trend is gaining momentum in the U.S., especially in red states like Florida and Texas where taxes are more favorable. Simultaneously, there is blossoming tech talent in Europe, where some countries have recently made significant legislative changes regarding taxation and equity for employees," he says.
The growing trend among employers to hire without borders has been met with great willingness from employees to work for companies outside of their country of residence. A global annual survey on employee mobility and relocation by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) found that 66% of employees would be willing to work for a foreign employer and never go to the office, compared to 57% in 2020. The survey, which included 150,000 employees from 188 countries, also found that the highest interest in remote work was found among respondents in South America and Africa. The lowest rate at 55% was recorded in North America.
Alongside the increase in remote borderless work, many employees still dream of a full relocation. According to the survey, 23% of respondents are actively seeking work abroad compared to 21% in previous years (2020 and 2018). This trend is also led by tech professionals, 29% of which are seeking relocation.
Global teams have the advantage of access to the best talent in the world and cost-efficient management. However, when team members are in different time zones, from different cultures, and never meet their colleagues and team members in person, new challenges arise.
"It's easier to recruit strong talent because there is no requirement to hire only in a specific area. This is particularly significant in large territories like the U.S., where talent is scattered everywhere, and it is not feasible to open offices across the entire country. It also facilitates human diversity within the company as it's easier to achieve gender and ethnic diversity, and the model even provides more control over labor costs," says Jonathan Matus, Founder and CEO of Fairmatic, which employs 130 people, including 50 remote workers in the U.S. and 16 remote workers in European countries including the U.K., Poland, and Portugal.
The challenges, says Matus, involve time differences and virtual meetings that are convenient for all employees. "To create a solution that connects employees, we hold multiple meetings on the same topic, so that people can join the meeting according to their time zone. We also record meetings so people can access the content even if they didn’t attend in real-time. As the CEO, I am based in Portugal, which provides excellent coverage for all employees worldwide in terms of time zones and is also a strategic location in terms of geographical proximity to Israel and the U.S."
Although the company has offices in Tel Aviv, and the Israeli employees work in a hybrid mode, when more than half of the employees, including the CEO, are spread across the world, the task of creating a positive and strong organizational culture becomes challenging. "We have a budget for two to three physical meet-ups a year for all employees. This way, people have experiences and build personal connections so that they feel that they are working together under the same umbrella.
“For example, in March last year, we took the entire company to Goa, India, for two weeks of work and fun, which created many connections and friendships. My management team and I spend more time traveling to meet everyone regularly. Overall, we don't really feel that working remotely is an issue or a challenge because the people who join the company are already comfortable working remotely. Those who want to work from an office won't apply for a remote position," says Matus.
Currently, 154 fully remote positions are advertised in Israel on LinkedIn. Globally, there are 305,000 positions open to candidates in different countries. The criteria for choosing regions or countries where remote employees are hired depends on the market in which the company operates, says Matus. "Our business activity is spread across the U.S., so it was clear to us that we needed employees from coast to coast, close to our customers. We hired remote workers in Europe following the recruitment of senior key personnel to the company, who brought personnel that they had been working with for years."
On the technical management side, technological systems help companies employ global teams remotely, enabling the trend of expanding 'borderless' employment. For example, Fairmatic uses a digital HR system that deals with compliance with labor and tax laws in different territories.
Slice’s global equity platform is designed to address the tax-legal aspect of 'borderless' employment of workers in the tech industry. "Tech companies deal with allocating equity to employees, especially in the early stages when they have not yet raised large amounts of money. This is a main way to compete with higher salaries at large companies. But at this stage, small startups don't have a CFO, so the greatest potential damage occurs there. Even in more mature organizations, the finance personnel don't have all the knowledge about laws and taxation in every country and the ability to constantly monitor changes," says Levran.
Payoneer, which itself employs 2,000 people across the world, allows payment to talent regardless of their physical location. "We believe that talent is distributed equally, but opportunities aren’t," says Caplan.
The difference between global remote workers and local workers does not lie in the quality of work, says Matus, but in the types of jobs that suit the employment model. "In positions requiring teamwork like development, we will recruit hybrid teams for our offices in Tel Aviv and India because team collaboration accelerates product development. Our non-tech teams, like customer support, sales, and marketing, can work as independent units from anywhere, and proximity to the customer is more important than proximity to a central office," he says.
According to all forecasts, borderless employment is the future. LinkedIn predicts that more and more companies will hire employees worldwide for remote work to expand their talent pool. This means more employment opportunities for job seekers. A survey by Upwork found that 57% of employers plan to increase the rate of hiring remote workers this year, and LinkedIn predicts that new technologies, such as virtual reality, will enhance the remote work experience.
