Stay-at-home orders and lockdowns in the wake of the pandemic led to an unprecedented boom in remote work — a trend that many say is here to stay.
“The pandemic has been awful in many ways, but it has been positive in the sense that it has allowed employers to [realize] that people working remotely will, for the most part, do wonderful jobs and be super responsible about what they do, and there is real benefit in leveraging that,” Erik Olsson, vice president of operations at U.K.-based remote hiring platform Omnipresent, told PYMNTS in an interview.
As employee demand for flexibility in the workplace continues to increase, the need for businesses to remove hiring complexities and embrace effective remote hiring strategies will become increasingly important to ensure fair and equitable treatment for all workers.
Read more: Report: Remote is How Two-Thirds of US Professionals Now Work
“[For example] medical insurance is not particularly important in Germany and so nobody will need it there, whereas it’s the biggest thing [elsewhere],” Olksson said, adding that it’s important for employers to find other benefits to match contributions for workers where they are lacking.
On managing expenses across different currencies, he argued that multicurrency payments are generally well-managed by banking systems, but they can be challenging across some markets, especially in countries that are susceptible to high volatility and have very high inflation rates.
“What we typically try to do with our clients is to work on consolidated invoicing so that they get to see all the costs in one currency, making it easy to read and easy to act upon,” he explained.
Today, the British firm, founded in 2019, is present in over 150 countries, helping businesses to seamlessly onboard talent from anywhere in the world and offering clients and their remote employees access to a streamlined, cost-effective and legally-compliant working experience via its automation-focused tech platform.
Salary Benchmarking, Security Risks
Benchmarking compensation for remote workers can be challenging for firms often caught between either paying their remote workers based on their role or location — a decision that could result in pay discrimination if not properly assessed.
“It’s a difficult piece to get right,” Olsson acknowledged, adding that it cannot be done solely mathematically, but it has to include a common-sense approach that factors in elements, such as cost of living, in order to make local adjustments where necessary.
“If a person gets employed in New York, we should recognize that the cost of living there is slightly higher than what it would be in other places and we can adjust for that,” he explained.
Remote work has also exposed more businesses and their employees to cybersecurity risks, contributing to a surge in identity fraud since the onset of the pandemic.
To help clients safeguard their virtual presence, the firm works with end users — they are more vulnerable to attacks, Olsson said — to create awareness and ensure that they are well educated on how to handle devices safely. He added that once that awareness piece is done, “then we’ve eliminated a lot of the complications.”
The Future Is Hybrid and Remote
From payroll, benefits, compliance and taxes, the London-based company offers a wide range of services to its growing client base, generating revenues 25 times higher in 2021 than what was recorded the year prior.
That significant growth very likely contributed to investors’ decision to inject $120 million into the business during a recent Series B round, a clear indication that businesses in the global remote employment space are poised for significant growth moving forward.
Related news: Remote Hiring Platform Omnipresent Closes $120M Series B
As pandemic-related restrictions ease around the world and employee demand for flexibility finds its way into more companies, Olsson said the hybrid work model will gain more traction, forcing companies to adapt the work environment to suit employee needs.
See also: AP Automation Is Going for the Ecosystem Play to Take the Hassle out of Hybrid Work
“If you were to look into office buildings, you will see that they have changed,” he remarked. “They’re no longer offices in cubicles, but they’re built in a way to mimic different needs and what different assignments or tasks will look like, which is a positive change.”
Overall, people have become much better and more sophisticated at using asynchronous work technology, “and I think we’ve just scratched the surface of the shift that’s happening,” he said.
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