Introduction

Having a human resource (HR) department is critical to your company's growth. Without it, you would be unable to attract and retain employees, engage in training and development, or handle compensation and benefits.

An effective HR department ensures the employees hired are highly knowledgeable and skilled, able to complete their functions to the highest standards. It also provides a good relationship between employees and the employer so that, in the end, the company can run smoothly with minimal hitches.

What Is Global HR?

Companies are expanding their workforce by hiring international workers thanks to modern technological advancements and increasing globalization.

Global HR management is managing workforces for companies that hire from more than one country. While global HR management deals in all the typical functions of a local HR department, it also addresses the unique requirements and factors that come into play when a company operates globally.

Below are three critical factors that global HR management takes into account:

• Economic factors: Global HR analyzes differences in labor costs across countries by looking at compensation and benefits.
• Legal factors: Global HR focuses on the laws and regulations across different countries and how a company can comply with the laws in the country it hires from. These can include regulations on taxation, statutory benefits, employment contracts, protected groups, and more. ‍
• Cultural factors: Global HR focuses on how a country's culture might affect an employee's experience with a company while also looking for ways to eliminate cultural barriers.

Functions of a Global HR

Global expansion comes with multiple challenges in terms of managing your workforce. Global HR performs various functions to make that international expansion easier and more successful.

Below are the main functions of global HR.

Recruitment and Hiring

When a company is recruiting international employees, the goal is to find the most qualified person for the job. To make this possible, the global HR team engages in various activities such as creating job descriptions, inviting applications, interviewing candidates, and negotiating compensation.

However, international hiring becomes complex because education levels and job experiences may differ across countries. As such, the global HR team should adequately understand the specific skill sets they are looking for and place a great deal of emphasis on recruitment to ensure they get the right fit.

Administering Salaries and Benefits

Companies hiring international workers also change how they administer salaries and benefits. For example, countries have different minimum wage requirements, and global HR teams must factor in these requirements during compensation.

Depending on where a company hires, the HR team also has to consider benefits such as maternity and paternity, vacation, and sick leave. Ensuring the employees receive the proper salaries and benefits helps them to stay motivated to work.

Training and Development

After hiring new employees, the global HR team needs to train them on how the company runs its operations. That's because every company performs its tasks differently from others. The computer software program in your organization may be unfamiliar to your new foreign workers, so training helps to get them up to speed.

Development entails providing opportunities for employees to advance their skills or knowledge. For example, your HR team may decide to move your new hires across boundaries so they can gain relevant skills to apply when they start work.

Other common ways HR departments offer development opportunities include sponsoring visits to trade shows and conferences. Apart from helping employees improve, these opportunities help employees feel valued by the organization, which can motivate them to work harder.

Ensuring Legal Compliance

Global HR compliance is another huge responsibility for HR departments. The local and state government of the countries you’re hiring from may have different tax laws, labor laws, and other regulations that affect how a business operates.

Ensuring global compliance is one of the most challenging tasks among HR teams, especially when a company is hiring many employees from different countries. Global HR managers must ensure that all the relevant laws and regulations are followed to avoid compliance issues.

Benefits of Having an Efficient Global HR

The impact of an efficient global HR is essential to your organization’s growth. While you might be tempted to handle HR functions internally, using global HR solutions has multiple benefits.

The following are the top five benefits of having an efficient global HR.

Reduce Compliance Issues

Global HR departments must comply with multiple rules and regulations, especially if they hire many employees from different countries. These rules and regulations span from hiring to benefits administration, payroll, and termination.

By hiring global HR business solutions, you can relax knowing your business has complied with all the necessary labor and tax laws. Also, the experts will remain updated in case there are changes in regulations, so your business can remain compliant throughout your partnership.

Conflict Management

It’s not uncommon for disagreements and conflicts to arise among employees or between an employee and an employer. If you're not careful, such disputes could grow and disrupt your business operations.

While it may be impossible to prevent conflicts from happening, you can manage them by having an efficient global HR team. For example, if two people in conflict are sharing a common platform in a way that aggravates the conflict, the HR team will take swift action to resolve the contention systems.

An efficient HR department can also deal with one-on-one disputes and ensure the issues are solved amicably.

Improve Relationships

Apart from managing conflicts, an efficient global HR can foster good relations. In most cases, the HR department holds meetings with the employees on behalf of the management. It also safeguards the privacy and safety of employees.

When employees feel safe, they can interact freely and trust the management more, allowing relationships to thrive in the workspace.

Attract the Top Talent

Attracting top talent worldwide to work for your company can be a big challenge. Research shows that it takes 23 days on average for an employer to get the right candidate, and that timeline can be longer if your business deals in a specific niche.

However, getting the top talent to work for your company doesn't have to be complicated. With an efficient global HR, you get access to some of the best talent distributed across the world. And since you can offer competitive salaries and benefits that match their expectations, it becomes easier to secure their services.

Enhance Employee Retention

High turnover rates can destroy your business's image and lead to significant losses. Losing one employee can cost your company 1.5 to 2 times the employee’s salary, and the rate may be higher for employees in management positions or those holding technical positions.

Moreover, losing an employee has other adverse effects, such as lost productivity, diminished morale among the remaining employees, and more turnover.

The good news is that an efficient global HR can help reduce turnover and increase retention rates. One sure way to reduce turnover rates is to hire the right employees. Another way is to prepare the employment contracts carefully and offer the proper compensation based on where an employee comes from.

Save Time and Money

Partnering with a global HR service provider like Skuad can save you time and money. The provider can handle all your HR requirements, saving you the time you would have used trying to do everything in-house.

Once you're free from the HR requirements, you can focus more on your business and its growth. With the access to skilled human capital that global HR provides, your business can grow in new dimensions.

Easier Access to HR

Traditionally, companies and organizations relied on HR personnel based in-office for all their HR needs. If an employee needed help, they had to visit or call the office to get help.

Today, things are different. While office-based HR teams are still used, they are used primarily for domestic HR needs. Many global HR providers have embraced software platforms and tools to manage HR. For example, if you want to compensate your remote team, you can do so with a few simple clicks.

The advanced software platforms also benefit your employees. They can use the platform to update payment info, enroll in benefits, view pay stubs, and request time off when needed. The management also gets access to crucial HR data, which it can use to improve operations.

Skuad – Your Global Employment and Payroll Platform

HR management comes with many challenges, from the first step of recruiting employees to manage their performance. Outsourcing HR through a reliable global HR provider can help your company remain compliant, improve its HR functions, and save time and money.

Skuad is reliable global employment and payroll platform committed to providing comprehensive HR services such as recruitment, onboarding, compensation and benefits administration, risk management, payroll administration, and more.

If you’re wondering how to get started, book a free demo with a Skuad today.