The world is work is becoming more and more globalized.
But that creates new challenges for employers.
Here's how to make global, remote successful for your teams.
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The COVID-19 pandemic changed the world of work for good.
It has pushed remote work to the forefront, and now employers are grappling with enabling their employees to work remotely (at least part of the week, which is known as hybrid working) for the long-term.
According to a study of 2,000 workers by Omnipresent, 89% of UK businesses plan to adopt a remote or hybrid model. Unfortunately, they are planning to do this largely without the input of HR leaders – just 36% plan to consult HR leaders, while 56% are going to consult the board of senior leadership team.
The reasons why the majority of employers are embracing hybrid and remote work are multi-fold. 37% said it was about retaining staff, while 49% cited wellbeing concerns.
However, 25% also noted that remote working model enabled them to tap into specialized talent pools.
This suggests that some companies, the more ambitious ones, “are realizing that if they hire remotely, they can hire globally too and bring on the smartest people anywhere on the globe”, according to Omnipresent’s CEO and co-founder Matthew Wilson.
How to make global work successful
Of course, hiring global and managing remote, globally distributed teams is much easier said than done.
Wilson stated: “We’re now on the cusp of a revolution that will change our world like never before – but leaders must be attuned to the complexities of global hiring, or risk reputational damage.”
A major concern is that Omnipresent reported found that only 4% are concerned about compliance, and just 6% are worried about implementing local benefits.
Wilson shares with UNLEASH some tips for companies grappling with the globalization of work.
He notes that employers need to “invest in your team’s learning and development to retain and attract the best talent. This should not only include investment in technical skills but interpersonal skills as well, so leaders are equipped to manage diverse teams”.
In addition, they need to “bring onboard tools and ways of working that will foster collaboration. As teams globalize, so too will the time zones and cultures across which your people will need to collaborate”, according to Wilson.
“Setting yourself up with the right tools and comprehensively documenting processes and knowledge will reap rewards in the long run. And tackling the challenges of asynchronous working will be key.”
Given how concerned employers are about burnout and wellbeing, they need to ensure that asynchronous work does not create a situation where employees actually never switch off and have no work-life balance.
Further Wilson recommends that companies create “an environment of cross-cultural awareness”. They must not “allow the leadership team’s own biases to set the culture of the business and seek to hire diversely throughout the organization”.
Instead, they must encourage everyone to “speak openly about each others’ cultures to create a dialogue that fosters mutual understanding. In short: embrace and acknowledge the difference, then celebrate it”.
