Time-Zone Mania: How to Deal With Geodiversity

What is geodiversity?

Geodiversity is more commonly defined as the combination of the materials, processes and features that make up the Earth. However, in the HR world it refers to the act of global employment. Businesses that employ workers across multiple geographic locations are practicing geodiversity, whether they realize it or not.

Maintaining a global workforce is a growing employment trend. Although geodiversity was once a luxury typically afforded to large businesses, smaller companies are realizing the possibility — and upsides — of hiring workers globally.

What are the benefits of having a global workforce?

Hiring and managing employees across multiple states and countries might seem daunting, but geodiversity has many advantages. Here are some of the primary benefits of having a global workforce.

Greater access to top talent

If you only hire employees in one city or state, you’re limited to the job applicants in that area and those who are willing to relocate there. Conversely, hiring globally gives you access to a larger pool of candidates. By overlooking geographic borders, you can connect with highly skilled workers that you may not have otherwise had the opportunity to hire.

“Hiring across regions and countries allows businesses to tap into a significantly larger talent pool, allowing them to attract the most suitable and skilled employees,” Pavel Bahu, Global HR head at Trevolution Group, told business.com. “For example, if a business is looking for great customer service specialists, I would highly advise exploring the Philippines’ talent pool, while an organization looking to hire within the IT and technologies field should look into India and Europe.”

Accessing the best workers is a great way to improve and grow your business. But, have you thought about what embracing geodiversity could mean for solving labor shortages? Seeking talent across the globe is a great solution for finding skilled workers when you’re unable to fill a position with candidates in your local area. This can help significantly with some of the hiring challenges many companies face today.

Enhanced company diversity

This one might seem like a given, but it’s important to highlight. When you have a workforce that is made up of employees across different regions, you improve your company’s diversity. For example, a business that employs workers across North America, South America and Asia is far more likely to have a diverse workforce than a company that only employs workers based in rural West Virginia.

Over the past few years, organizations have started paying closer attention to company diversity and inclusion. While some may be doing it simply to improve their brand image and prevent consumer boycotts, others have recognized the true value in facilitating a diverse and inclusive workplace. In any case, a diverse and inclusive workplace is good for business.

Increased innovation and creativity

If you employ workers from only one area, you run the risk of getting limited perspectives and opinions. On the other hand, increasing company diversity, especially across multiple countries, gives your company a wider range of employee perspectives — leading to increased creativity and innovation.

“People from different cultures often interact in ways you might not expect, and more creative solutions emerge,” said Kraig Kleeman, founder and CEO The New Workforce, a talent outsourcing organization. “Some of the most innovative ideas I’ve seen come from globally diverse teams working together.”

This type of varied thinking is also great for connecting with more diverse groups of consumers.

Expanded operation hours and productivity

Expanding your hours of operation can benefit businesses with workers across multiple time zones. This allows your business to operate 24/7. Plus, if you have customers in multiple time zones, it allows you to offer customer support with ease.

“Employees working across different time zones around the globe ensure that business needs can be worked on regardless of time,” said Bahu. “This way, an organization does not need to look for people to cover ‘inconvenient’ shifts and ensures round-the-clock progress without wasting time.”

Cost efficiencies

Many global employers toy with the idea of compensating workers differently based on each employee’s respective location and cost of living. Depending on where you hire your global workers, you might see cost savings from this strategy. For instance, employing workers in Uganda will likely cost you less than ones who live in San Jose, California.

However, one crucial thing to note here is that regardless of where your employees live, you should pay them livable and competitive wages for their area. Hiring workers overseas is not an excuse to shortchange workers.

What are the challenges of having a global workforce?

While there are many benefits to employing a global workforce, it doesn’t come without challenges. Here are some potential drawbacks of geodiversity to keep in mind.

Collaborating across multiple time zones

If you’ve ever tried to work with someone in another state or country, you probably know all too well that timing can be a challenge. When you have multiple work schedules and time zones to contend with, real-time collaboration can be difficult to accomplish. Instead, some workforces rely on asynchronous communication.

“Scheduling between time zones is like a calendar game of Tetris. Anytime a person happens to be in an early morning or late afternoon meeting, they will quickly become ill,” said Kleeman. “To avoid this, I recommend that you limit meetings and rely on [a]synchronous communication — using tools such as shared workspaces and recorded updates. This helps everyone without being online at the same time.”

Advanced technology makes this burden easier to manage. But, it is still something to consider if you expect your employees in Chicago to hold frequent virtual meetings with your hires in Bangkok, Thailand.

Plus, leaders who oversee distributed teams may engage in proximity bias — that is, favor staffers who are physically present over those who are based elsewhere. Managers need to proactively ensure remote team members have employment experiences that are equitable with their in-office counterparts.

Maintaining a positive, well-defined company culture

If your employees work remotely or across multiple office spaces — let alone across countries — it can be a challenge to maintain a well-defined company culture that keeps employees excited and engaged.

“You have to have tools to ensure that people are equally engaged with the organization despite their geographical location,” said Bahu. “For that, you need to constantly be on the move to meet or organize e-meetings with your stakeholders on a local level.”

Virtual communication has proved helpful in many aspects of business. But, it’s no secret that dispersed workforces aren’t as conducive to building meaningful company cultures as shared offices are.

“Building an external culture takes effort,” said Kleeman. “Virtual group activities, seasonal celebrations or just moments of familiarity make everyone feel like a team.”

As another potential company culture setback, workers in other countries may have different cultural expectations. If you employ workers in many different countries, it may result in inconsistencies across your company culture. However, as mentioned above, hiring diverse workers is beneficial to business. As long as you cultivate your workforce strategically and make a concerted effort to foster a strong company culture across various locations, this needn’t be a downside.

Creating fair compensation structures

Creating a fair and competitive employee compensation strategy can be a challenge on its own — even for companies that only have employees in one city or state. Once you throw multiple countries into the mix, establishing global employee compensation can quickly become overwhelming. When considering international costs and wages, Bahu said you need to have some economic knowledge to calculate not only the direct cost related to hiring a specialist but also the overhead cost.

“Sometimes, the base salary could be low, but for a specific role, you would need to take into consideration the need to hire additional managerial staff, which is way more expensive than the base level,” said Bahu. “It could turn out to be a lot pricier for the organization, taking into consideration both the base and the managerial costs.”

Not only do you have to consider what is fair or competitive in a specific region but also what is legally expected of you. When you hire employees in different countries, you are required to follow those countries’ pay laws.

Always factor in how you will facilitate compensation management across various locations before expanding into new regions. This may mean hiring an experienced HR professional or consultant who can help you establish competitive and legally compliant pay structures for each location.

Navigating various labor laws

If you want to hire global employees, understand that you must navigate the various laws and regulations of the countries in which your workers reside. Each country has its own set of labor and employment laws that you’re legally required to follow. This can be especially difficult for small businesses that don’t have the resources or staffing to research and comply with labor laws in multiple countries.

One way to minimize the compliance issues that arise with geodiversity is to outsource your HR compliance to one of the best HR outsourcing services. Many of these vendors are accustomed to managing employment across different counties.

“I highly recommend working with employment lawyers, outsourcing to international business professionals to ensure compliance across borders,” said Kleeman. “This will help you avoid legal issues while protecting your employees.”

Who should hire a global workforce?

Any company that wants to tap into the benefits of employing a global workforce should consider hiring international staffers. However, there are several challenges that come with employing workers in different countries. Each business should carefully assess whether it can handle the responsibilities and side effects associated with geodiversity. This option won’t be feasible for every enterprise.

Choose wisely when determining from which country you hire international employees. Some places may have regulations that are easier to comply with than others, and some time-zone differences may be simpler to account for. Another thing to consider when hiring globally is job type. For example, collaboration across different time zones can be complex, but some types of jobs don’t require as much direct communication across departments or locations. Businesses with those roles may find hiring candidates regardless of location more ideal.