As an employer of labor, you have to take adequate precautions while hiring or bringing onboard new workers to your team. You want to make sure you have the best-skilled persons you can afford for the job, willing to work according to your terms. Getting the right employee is essential for the success of every business.
The rules of the country sufficiently protect employees from mistreatment by their employers. While this is an excellent way to save the community’s labor, there are extreme cases in which employers are at the receiving end of the law. Several employers have encountered significant problems from violating labor laws, which has cost them more than they could have imagined.
Listed below are common mistakes companies make while hiring abroad:
- Lack of Proper Understanding of the Employment Laws
Before you embark on employment processes in another country, you must first familiarize yourself with the employment regulations. It is the only way in which you can protect your organization.
A full understanding of the labor laws will guide you on what steps to take or not during hiring. You’d get informed on the essential elements that should make up your employment process and what structure would work best for your organization.
- Hiring Without Legal Entity
As a foreign company, you should be aware that you cannot hire employees directly in the country of your choice without a legal entity. If you fall into this category, you’d need to use a talent dispatching service to outsource your hiring process to an HR agency that can help you completely manage your hiring process.
- Failure to Draft a Proper Contract
You should know that a detailed contract is what will save your business or organization whenever there is a legal dispute between you as an employer and your employees. Understanding that the labor laws protect employees, you can draft a detailed contract according to the law to protect your organization from excesses of employees.
Once an employee agrees to the contract (so long as no part of the agreement contradicts the law), they remain bound by it all through the term defined by the agreement. This way, both parties can understand the terms of service and can operate within it.
- Direct Employment Confirmation
It is best as an employer that you do not automatically confirm the appointment of employees. You should set up a structure that allows you to place newly hired staff on a probationary period, to test their work capabilities and ethics.
Your contract should cover that an employer can lose their appointment when they do not make satisfactory work progress or do not meet the work standards defined by the organization while they are on probation.
This method allows you to legally weed out unproductive employees in the case of a wrong decision during the recruitment process.
- Foreign Employees and Visa Applications
In order for a company to thrive it needs to consider hiring people from all over the world, instead of just sticking to locals. Your company going global means that you will have the opportunity to get foreing employees and have a more diverse team, however there are some things you need to take care of first.
There are a number of documents that your foreign employees need to have to be able to work for your company. They have to submit the work permit and visa application. The way this is done and the type of visa that is required depends on the country or the regulations that they have. You need to ensure that these are completed to avoid any legal problems in the future.
Despite the longer process compared to hiring locals, it is still worth the trouble. Having foreign employees in your company brings a completely new perspective to it and you will benefit from their innovative skills that might even transform your company.
- Resistance to Outsourcing
One mistake you can make when hiring abroad is to think you can do it all by yourself or try to regardless of your incapacities.
While it is okay to handle your human resource department and manage your hiring and employment processes internally, you should be welcoming to the idea of using professional agencies or organizations to handle your labor management.
You would have a lot at stake if you handled your hiring process internally without the right skills and experience. You could be at the risk of lawsuits from employees, management crises, and even financial crises if proper damage control measures are not implemented.
You can save yourself all of the extra headaches by using Professional Employer Organizations abroad to help handle your Human Resources Management. With these organizations, you can hire an international payroll company, manage and train your staff, all within the confines of the law. It is your safest option for hiring abroad.
- Remuneration and Compensation Plan
Another mistake you would make while recruiting will be fixing a fixed price for employees as their remuneration. It would help if you broke down employees’ pay into parts that cover basic salary, bonuses, and allowances.
Experience has shown that this payment method and compensation allows enough flexibility for employers to manage their costs and employees adequately.
In addition, creating a remuneration and compensation plan is what makes workers attracted to your company and this way you will be able to hire qualified candidates. Employees will be more motivated to perform well and meet their goals if they know they will be paid extra and be appreciated for their effort.
Final thoughts
As it can be seen, it is important for employers, especially if you are running a foreign company abroad, you have to be thorough with your hiring process to ensure that you are well protected, and all loose ends are tied even while complying with the law. Some of the most significant elements that need to be considered are complying to legal obligations and being open to outsourcing and foreign employees.