Hire Remote Workers

What are remote employees?

Remote workers are full-time employees that perform their day-to-day tasks at home, in co-working spaces like WeWork, or anywhere outside of the company’s central office. Remote employees should receive the same benefits as those working in the office, including health insurance, equity, and PTO.

Today, there are so many job seekers looking for work remotely that companies requiring in-person work risk losing candidates to employers offering more flexible work options. Now, working remotely is the expectation.

Benefits of remote work

Remote work has greatly changed how people find jobs and how businesses interview job seekers and recruit new candidates. To build your team remotely, you will need to make sure that you have the time, resources, and communication strategies in place to get the job done right.

In general, hiring remote workers can lead to increased productivity, satisfaction, retention, and the overall employee experience.

Larger talent pool. The competition in engineering, finance, marketing, and design has never been more fierce. Businesses that open their doors to remote workers from across the globe have access to the best, no matter where they are located.

No relocation costs. Companies that ask remote job seekers to move across the country for a new role should expect to pay for relocation costs, including plane tickets, shipping, and a stipend for furnishing their new home. By hiring remote workers, you can save thousands of dollars worth of resources per remote job seeker.

More efficient. Rather than wait for your job seekers to move, you can start onboarding them as soon as they accept your offer, which saves time.

Increased diversity. Businesses that recruit remote workers can build teams that are more diverse in terms of class, race, socioeconomic status, and other factors. In the long term, having more unique perspectives on your team can help improve products and services.

More accessible. For some, commuting to the office is not a feasible option, especially for workers with children and disabilities. Remote work makes it easier for parents with family obligations to juggle work and childcare. For those with disabilities, a strong remote work culture can ease the burden that comes with commuting, saving employees both time and valuable resources.

Challenges of remote work

Hiring remote candidates can greatly benefit your business, but there are some challenges to take into account before you begin building your international team and establishing a global HR process.

Payroll. Each country has its own labor laws, not to mention local laws that vary from state to state or province to province. For this reason, you will need to build an in-house HR team that are experts in each country where you plan to operate, or partner with an EOR (employer-of-record) service like Via to handle administering payroll, time sheets, and benefits for you.

Localizing salary and benefits. Each country has their own set of mandatory benefits/requirements that must be met. However, most businesses, especially startups and tech companies, go above and beyond the minimum requirements in order to recruit and retain job seekers with the right experience. For example, businesses in Canada often offer optional private health insurance.

Understanding not just what benefits are required, but also what benefits are expected, can help you build and recruit the best team possible. Partnering with an EOR service like Via is a good option, since the employer-of-record will have a good sense of what compensation is expected in the country, based on cost of living, experience, and local labor regulations.

Misclassification. Many companies cut corners and treat remote workers that should be classified as full-time as contractors instead, since the paperwork for hiring independent contractors is much simpler.

However, if your remote employees are expected to perform the same tasks as full-time remote employees, they should be classified as such. Otherwise, your business risks penalties, fees, and extensive legal action.

IP rights. When hiring abroad or remotely, it’s important that your employment contractors clearly outline your company’s rights to all intellectual property produced abroad. How do you interview for jobs remotely? The process of conducting a job interview remotely is pretty straightforward. Once your recruiting team has sourced the right candidates, you can invite them to an interview on Zoom, Microsoft Teams, or a similar video conferencing service.

In the interview, you will want to introduce candidates to your culture remotely while also evaluating their past experience. This is a good opportunity to show off your company’s communication skills. As always, you should thank candidates for their time after the interview is complete.

How do I hire remote employees in different countries?

Many businesses are starting to look across borders to hire remote talent, especially across Latin America, Canada, and Europe. However, companies looking to onboard full-time remote employees in new countries need to ensure that they are remaining compliant with local labor laws. This means you will need to establish an HR process in each country where you operate.

For most companies, this means opening an entity in the new country or partnering with an employer-of-record (EOR) service provider like Via. An EOR can also help you become aware of each country’s specific working culture.

Why companies onboard remote employees with an employer-of-record

The process of opening an entity takes months, costs thousands of dollars, and leaves your company liable for any compliance related issues that pop up related to benefits, payroll, and taxes. For these reasons, hiring remote employees based in different countries can be burdensome. We take care of the process for you.

When you partner with an employer-of-record service, the EOR provider takes on full responsibility for maintaining compliance so that you can focus on what matters most: running your business.

By partnering with Via, you can scale up at your own pace–start with 1 software engineer in Canada or a team of developers in Colombia and grow globally in the way that makes sense for your business.

At Via, we create labor contracts that ensure the best possible protection for your business, including protections for intellectual property (IP).

FAQ 

Should I hire a remote employee?

Yes! Since Covid-19 struck in March 2020, more and more employers are realizing the benefits of hiring remote employees. By hiring remote workers, you can find people with relevant experience without needing to worry about paying for relocation expenses. It’s also more efficient, since remote employees can get started working as soon as they fill out the necessary paperwork.

How do I hire the best remote worker?

To find the best remote workers possible, you will still want to have in place a strategic hiring and recruiting process, which means:

• Sourcing candidates with the right right skills using LinkedIn
• Evaluating resumes and portfolios
• Speaking to the candidate’s references to ensure that their resume matches their accomplishments
• Introducing candidates to your team via a virtual interview, sometimes called a virtual onsite
• Creating excellent onboarding materials that allows new remote employees to hit the ground running as quickly as possible

Can you hire someone from another country to work remotely?

In the US, you can legally hire foreigners living outside of the country to work for a US-based company. However, you will need to make sure that you are following the foreign country’s local labors to ensure compliance. This means you will probably need to open an entity or subsidiary, or partner with an EOR service like Via.

How do you hire someone virtually?

To hire someone virtually, you should take the following steps:

• Find candidates through LinkedIn, job postings on sites like Glassdoor, or referrals from current team members
• Meet with the candidate on Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, or another video conferencing software
• Engage the candidate with group interviews so that other members of the team can offer their insights
• Assign the candidate a short take-home assignment so that you can evaluate their skills
• Speak with the candidate’s references to understand their strengths and areas for future improvement
• Ensure that the candidate has all of the necessary information to complete onboarding, including enrolling in benefits