Hiring is going truly borderless, with almost two-thirds of businesses (62%) planning to increase the number of remote staff they hire outside of their main country of operations over the next 12 months.
This is according to research from Perkbox, which also found that this drive is fuelled by technological advances over the past two years facilitating greater hybrid and remote working.
Businesses can now leverage those advances to boost their borderless working strategy.
There are many motivations, but the research highlighted the top three as building a more diverse workforce to access a wider talent pool (35%), encouraging innovation (32%), and building a global workforce (29%) to service a wider customer base.
The Great Resignation is forcing businesses to widen talent pools internationally to fuel their growth.
Rewards and recognition, no matter the location
The research revealed that many businesses are taking the first steps towards creating a unified culture.
It highlighted the following as the most successful ways of doing so:
- Allowing staff to travel freely and continue working while abroad (32%)
- All-company access to financial and wellbeing support (32%)
- Creating a companywide forum for recognising the good work of colleagues in different locations (29%)
Sahgal comments further: “Borderless working is here to stay, so businesses must evolve their employee value propositions and find ways to modernise their traditional rewards and benefits. We understand how essential this transition is. We have therefore focused on developing a platform capable of harmonising rewards and benefits across complex global organisations. Our goal is to democratise the ability for businesses to become borderless.”
What do organisations need to be aware of as they turn borderless?
It is imperative that HR policies keep pace with business expansion. This fact has not been lost on business leaders.
Almost three quarters (73%) of those who have already adopted borderless working say they have updated how they manage their global staff in the last 24 months.
So far, businesses have prioritised introducing flexible hours (43%) and dedicated remote working policies (42%).
However, less than one in three (29%) have realised the importance of developing a localised benefits offering to align to market needs, with only 31 percent begun investing in tools to support borderless workers.
Many businesses are missing a crucial step in keeping their borderless employees engaged and in-role.
Amelia Brand is the Editor for HRreview, and host of the HR in Review podcast series. With a Master’s degree in Legal and Political Theory, her particular interests within HR include employment law, DE&I, and wellbeing within the workplace. Prior to working with HRreview, Amelia was Sub-Editor of a magazine, and Editor of the Environmental Justice Project at University College London, writing and overseeing articles into UCL’s weekly newsletter. Her previous academic work has focused on philosophy, politics and law, with a special focus on how artificial intelligence will feature in the future.
