By Neya Abdi on Oct 10, 2017 3:01:50 PM
These days, there are few obstacles to hiring an international team. Relocation costs aren’t an issue when an employee can work from their home country via the internet. Collaboration isn’t impossible when everyone can tune in through excellent video conferencing tools. And cross-border payments, while still a pain, are much more manageable than they were a few decades ago. With so little standing in the way, what do you have to lose from hiring an international team?
Very little. In fact, you have quite a lot to gain.
More Productivity
It’s next to impossible to micromanage a remote team. There’s no way to know for certain whether they’ve spent every minute at their desk. But if you’ve hired the right people they’ll get the job done without someone hovering over them. Many remote workers report that they feel more productive working from home. Another defining feature of remote teams is the results-driven approach. The team expects each member to have a certain deliverable, making everyone on the team feel accountable for playing their part.
Increased Innovative Potential
Multilingual teams tend to be more innovative. Gabrielle Hogan-Brun addresses how team members with varied first languages draw on different concepts when discussing a problem. For example, the English word “put” means different things to a native German speaker. In German, there are multiple variations of the verb “to put”, with one version meaning to lie something horizontally and the other meaning to stand something up vertically. A multilingual team benefits from several minds making different associations and potentially stumbling on new ideas.
Opportunity to Explore New Markets
An international team member may draw your attention to a regional market opportunity you hadn’t considered. Their experience in the area coupled with their skill set gives your team the local knowledge needed to decide whether to pursue an expansion opportunity and if so, how to successfully execute your strategy.
Access a Wider Talent Pool
Hiring internationally allows you to fill positions without limiting yourself to who lives locally. And if you’re also offering remote work opportunities, you can hire talented people who are interested in the work, but aren’t interested in relocating. Companies increasingly report talent shortages, particularly in areas like IT. This is the perfect time to look internationally. If you don’t, other companies certainly will.
Optimized Processes
Working with individuals who are located internationally forces teams to get smart. They learn how to communicate effectively and work efficiently. There’s not a lot of room for clunky processes when you’re working with people over long distances. As teams get better at this, it becomes easier to scale up their international workforce and implement processes that improve the organization’s efficiency as a whole.
Visit www.talaera.com to find out more and start your language journey today.
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