Hiring an employee is one of the hardest things you will ever do as a business owner. It is exciting, yet dangerous. Employees are expensive and fraught with issues. Your liability goes through the roof compared to what it was when you were the only person in your company. Regardless of what stupid thing you do, you are not going to sue yourself. For even a minor thing, an employee can sue you for every penny you have, and quite a few that you don't.
The complexity of hiring is increased by an order of magnitude when doing remote hiring outside of your country. Doing anything globally is more complicated than doing it locally. In the States, most employment is at will. That means that a person can be fired for almost any reason at any time. Other parts of the world favor something called an indefinite contract. That is a type of employment that makes it a lot harder to fire a worker. Regulations vary depending on where you are. You cannot just assume that hiring someone in another part of the world works exactly the same as it does where you are from. Here are a few more things to consider when remote hiring overseas:
Remote Supply Chain Management
Some UK visionaries are starting businesses in China. That might not be an option for you. But that doesn't mean you can't take advantage of Chinese manufacturing. You will not be alone. Many businesses have outsourced manufacturing to China. You will still need boots on the ground to oversee your supply chain. Sending someone back and forth on a plane in this global moment might not be the best thing to do. One solution is to make a remote hire so that someone is always there to manage and report back on the manufacturing situation.
Sometimes, a supplier might run into unexpected challenges. It helps to have someone who knows the sector and can work with other factories in case changes need to be made. This is an even bigger factor if your supply chain is spread out over multiple continents. If your business relies on manufacturing, remote work has to follow your supply chain.
Global Bandwidth
There is no global internet provider unless you count sat phone providers. The infrastructure is wildly different from one country to another. All remote work is online work. But not all data connections are the same. If you are in Denmark, you cannot expect your remote worker in France to have nearly the bandwidth that you have. Denmark has some of the best broadband in the world. Whatever can be done remotely online can be done effortlessly there. Many of those tasks will not be possible in other places around the globe.
The basic numbers don't tell the whole story. You might live in a country where the broadband providers offer reasonably priced, unlimited bandwidth. So you never have to consider how much bandwidth you are using and for what services. Other places might not have that luxury. So while they might have access to theoretically faster speed, it might come at a high price and be strictly metered. So they literally can't afford to be on long Zoom meetings and download large files.
There is also the matter of money and availability. A theoretically high bandwidth doesn't matter if only the elite can afford it, or if it only exists in certain locations. Workers in many parts of the world do not have the disposable income to spring for fast broadband. You have to tailor your remote work requirements based on the broadband people actually have.
Clarity of Communication
Two people might speak the same language in two different parts of the world. But it is almost certain there are major differences that are based on culture. It is important that things are said clearly and with much explanation to be sure that accidental misunderstandings are avoided. Remote work is one of those places where it is appropriate to use technical jargon for your industry so that there is less room for misunderstanding.
There is a worldwide workforce just waiting to be activated. Remotely utilize that workforce to shore up your supply chain management. Consider regional broadband limitations. And take special care to eliminate linguistic misunderstandings.
