All companies have steady policies and regulations in an HR department and usually managed quite effectively with minimal issues. However which could be a challenge when expanding globally, as HR is an area which has to be carefully developed into an internationally equipped HR department to overcome the challenges that take place during expansion.
Given below are few aspects of HR that has to be carefully considered during a global expansion.
Recruitment
One of the most key areas to success is finding and recruiting the right talent to take over the newly established entity, and this usually comes with many challenges. If current recruitment is managed in-house then the methods of recruitment has to be changed according to the region that they operate in. It is important to do a research on the country’s talent pool to identify the gaps and challenges which may come across your standard job role, it is important to rectify before looking for the right people to recruit. Understand the labor market, be aware of legal process of hiring employees and ensure that proper protocol is followed during the process. It is important to blend in within the country’s recruitment channels, have a clear understanding of platforms to publish ads and have few head hunters or advisors in place to bring in right talent to the company.
Regulations
HR has to have a clear knowledge and understanding of different regulations that govern the labor relationships within the region. It could vary from government regulations, national labor laws to industry regulations. The International HR needs to have a solid understanding on holidays, employee rights within the countries and industries. It could be the simplest regulations such as working hours, minimum wage and overtime rates, allowance for maternity leave or employee termination regulations; but if not complied can be risked for penalties and tarnish the image of the company.
Payroll
Payroll is considered as one of the highest outsourced units during global expansion. Most companies outsource for the simplest reason of the hassle and inability to place an employee in a particular region to manage payroll. Even if the company has a different entity, payroll involves a lot of complexities including different laws and compliance. Hence many companies outsource Payroll to specialists such as ExroAsia to save cost, eliminate time spent on manual processes and mainly due to security reasons. Having an in-house payroll department would require additional security measures which a middle level organisation might not be equipped to have. Outsourcing a payroll unit would ease all these extra risk factors and security issues as experts like ExroAsia are equipped with data storage and protection measures with multiple backups.
Communication
During international expansion, one of the strategies that an HR has is to have more than two official languages to be used within the company. Certain multi-national companies use 5 or more languages to communicate across regions officially. It is important to find communication channels that would suit every employee within the company to stay connected. Global teams connect virtually on many platforms for formal and informal communications, and it is important to identify the tools that work for the teams and support employees with multiple tools so they can be connected from where ever they are.