Managing the challenges of talent localization when building your team globally

Expanding your business internationally is an exciting prospect as it opens up new opportunities for business growth and development in a new market.

One of the key aspects of a successful expansion is having the right team in place to lead that entry. Historically, companies would deploy someone from their headquarters to begin laying the groundwork for operations in a new country.

However, the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic has made it challenging for businesses to send people into new international markets, and this has been compounded by a rising trend of talent localization that is taking place especially within Asia.

“We’re starting to see more of a regionalization – or nationalization – of focus from companies and governments around the workforce,” says Charles Ferguson, general manager for Asia Pacific at employer-of-record (EOR) firm Globalization Partners. “It makes a lot of sense to think about how you localize your workforce.”

Charles Ferguson, general manager of Asia Pacific at Globalization Partners / Photo credit: Globalization Partners

Aside from how much easier it is from an administrative perspective to hire locals to be the company’s people on the ground, having someone familiar with the culture of a new market is fundamental to fostering the necessary relationships with suppliers, distributors, and possible clients.

“Relationships really matter,” says Ferguson. “Finding local talent who are already connected to those distribution channels and networks helps you get into the market with a lot more credibility and a lot more speed.”

Managing a remote team

But the challenges involved in managing a team remotely are not to be underestimated. Putting a team in place is just the first step; actually creating the right environment and processes for your business when it’s not located in the same country you’re in is no easy task.

One sticking point is that startup founders have a tendency to put things like growth ahead of ensuring that fundamental processes – human resources (HR), for example – are in place.

Photo credit: Andrea Piacquadio / Pexels

This is especially true with tech companies. Tech startups with 100 or fewer employees tend to have half as many personnel professionals as companies of the same size in other industries. Tech companies are often of the view that administrative responsibilities inherent to HR operations run antithetical to the “move fast and disrupt things” mentality that’s necessary for innovation.

However, this is also where tech startups face problems, especially when the company is expanding and growing.

According to Ferguson, startups could find themselves running afoul of local regulations and laws, especially if they don’t have the right processes in place to manage things such as payroll, taxes, and benefits administration. Failure to do so can have severe consequences, such as massive fines that could cripple a business.

There are also the day-to-day challenges involved with managing a team remotely, from figuring out work processes to creating the right company culture. Any new hire needs to be a good match with the company’s culture, vision, and ethics.

“Founders need to think about the nuance of building culture in a different context,” says Kartik Krishnamurthy, managing director for Asia at Cornerstone OnDemand, a cloud-based people development software provider.

But while managing a team when you’re not physically present is difficult, there are ways to handle this effectively.

Owning the employee experience

According to Kartik, there are three key ways startup founders can address some of the difficulties in managing a remote team.

Kartik Krishnamurthy, managing director for Asia at Cornerstone OnDemand / Photo credit: Cornerstone OnDemand

The first is to break down the organization hierarchy as quickly as they can. In his view, organizations are now getting flatter, and the lines dividing one’s work from another’s are often blurred. It is therefore important to manage this and ensure employees know who runs which project and who is responsible for which task, in order to ensure that everyone is working more efficiently.

Doing so also mitigates the risk of miscommunication and disagreement, which are often exacerbated when teams are working remotely.

Second, companies need to “own the employee experience,” as Kartik puts it. It’s easy for founders to get caught up in the processes and policies, but as important as they are, talent management is just as vital.

Startups need to have strategies in place to support their staff at every stage of the employee lifecycle, meeting them where they are and providing avenues for growth and development. Employees want to know their prospects for career development, both in their current role and where they can go next. They want to be heard and be more than just cogs in the wheel of an organization.

It is therefore key that companies use technology in order to facilitate this process.

“Sixty percent of the world’s millennials are in Asia,” Kartik says. “Organizations [in the region] need to have a mindset that is driven by technology, and they need to meet their future talent where they are: [online].”

This could involve using different tools such as video-conferencing software or talent management systems in order to make processes such as onboarding and employee management easier, even though your team may be miles away.

Lastly, companies need to leverage data. This ties in with the point about using technology: Companies need to be data-driven, whether they’re hiring a new employee or evaluating the performance of an existing one.

“Data needs to be at the center of all decisions, especially talent decisions,” says Kartik.

Putting people first

A study in the California Management Review found that tech startups who had a proper HR strategy in place from the start were generally more successful. That’s why, at the end of the day, startup founders need to put their people first.

“Outsource the transactional processes and focus on the people and overall strategy,” advises Kartik.

Companies can turn to EOR firms like Globalization Partners to handle the nitty-gritty details involved with local labor laws, taxes, and HR issues when expanding internationally, or work with companies like Cornerstone OnDemand to build an effective talent management system. This will free up founders to focus on their core competencies and on fostering the right culture in their teams.

In Ferguson’s view, the kind of talent that a startup attracts and retains is what makes or breaks the company.

“If you put people first, then all the other things that companies get hung up on as measures of success will become the outcome,” he says. “It’s not enough to have great tech. To stay ahead of the curve, founders need to expand their market – and do so by building the best team they can possibly build.”

Globalization Partners enables companies to quickly and easily expand internationally in 187 countries. Its Global Employer of Record model allows companies to hire employees quickly, enabling businesses to manage compliance and mitigate risk without having to navigate complex international legal, tax, and HR issues.

Succeed faster with Globalization Partners. Find out more here.

Cornerstone OnDemand is a people development company that believes people can achieve anything when presented with the right development and growth opportunities. It offers organizations the technology, content, expertise, and specialized focus to help them realize the potential of their people. Cornerstone’s people development solutions are used by approximately 6,300 clients of all sizes, spanning more than 75 million users across over 180 countries and nearly 50 languages.

Learn more about Cornerstone OnDemand here.

This content was produced by Tech in Asia Studios, which connects brands with Asia’s tech community. Learn more about partnering with Tech in Asia Studios.