In this month’s newsletter we cover:
- The future of a globally distributed workforce
- Donal & John catch up in Ireland
- Work From Anywhere featured in The Sunday Times
- Work From Anywhere at Mercer rewards conference in Portugal
- Remotely Interesting with John
- Product updates with Donal
- Mel’s reflections on 2023
The Future of a Globally Distributed Workforce
Anyone who has seen our demos in action will recognize this graphic above.
It speaks to our vision of how we see the future of international remote work evolving.
We anticipate a future that will have a mixture of “hub and spoke” models and “plug and play” models where:
-
“Core” talent hubs will emerge that will be home to senior, strategic roles, especially those with a high permanent establishment risk. These talent hubs will more often than not be located in core commercial markets. These operating model for these core talent hubs will almost always be legal entities.
-
“Non-core” talent spokes will be in countries where we have low-to-medium permanent establishment risk roles (e.g. typically not sales-generating or senior IP generating roles). These will be countries that are potentially on the roadmap to becoming core talent or commercial hubs, but maybe the organization is not quite in the position to fully commit just yet. In these countries, Employers of Record may well be an interesting option to explore. This new HR operating models come more sharply into focus when you consider the implications of getting access to a deeper talent pool at a structurally lower cost.
-
“Plug and Play” hire from anywhere models: Mercer’s research suggests that in the future, approximately 30%+ of tasks will be filled by flexible/fractional talent, rather than fixed/rigid roles. For example, if a company needs to hire an M&A specialist for a 12-week project, it may be more cost-effective and more advantageous to engage them compliantly as an independent contractor rather than as a full-time employee, particularly in situations where the risk of permanent establishment and contractor misclassification is low. With this in mind, the future points to one where there will be much greater use of independent contractors. This is where independent contractors can become interesting to explore. We covered the evolution of independent contractors here.
-
“Plug and Play” work from anywhere models: Many companies have taken the conservative approach that they only allow work from anywhere in countries that they have legal entities in. They have heard about digital nomad visas but are rightly concerned about permanent establishment risks as well as inconsistencies with different digital nomad visas, not only across countries but also within countries. Saying that, there are also well designed digital nomad visas out there, and if you have a scenario that is a low permanent establishment risk, and the digital nomad visa in question is well structured allied to the fact they will not be performing services in the local market, then why not consider this as a useful way to expand the country coverage of your work from anywhere offering?
Global Mobility Crystal Ball
Nobody has a crystal ball about what work will look like in 10 years’ time, but we’re firmly of the deep conviction that a world where everyone can access job possibilities wherever they live is one that will create more opportunities than challenges. It won’t be without some speedbumps and it will potentially cause some economic dislocation in some countries that will be difficult to navigate.
But over the long-term we feel the opportunities will outweigh the challenges.
We’re curious, how do you see the the future of international remote work?
Do you see these new operating models such as Employers of Record and Digital Nomad Visas as short-term fads that are not realistic options for your company and company culture?
Or do you see them as strategic tools that more companies will be availing of more in the future?
Donal and John catch up in Ireland
Did you know our co-founders John and Donal have built Work From Anywhere exclusively remotely over the last 3 years? In that time they’ve only met a handful of times. But even the most successfully remote-first companies put a heavy emphasis on meeting in person.
Above you can see them both catching up in August where they met up in John’s home town of Limerick, Ireland.
Work From Anywhere featured in the Sunday Times
We were thrilled to see Work From Anywhere feature in The Sunday Times. You can read more about the article below.
Work From Anywhere at Mercer Rewards Conference in Portugal
Did you know that Work From Anywhere will be at the Mercer Global Rewards conference in Portugal in 5 week’s time?
You can find out more about the event here.
Back to school…please!
Additional countries…visited and on platform!
As John mentioned above, we’ve been fully embracing our own Work From Anywhere policy (for we must walk the walk!) and I’ve been working remotely from Ireland, Poland and Spain over the last 5 weeks with Italy still to come next week, taking time away from my usual Sydney base to catch up with family and friends. I’ve certainly been stretching my roaming data limits but really the experience has been seamless thus far, with perfect wifi even from the most remote places of rural Poland (a pic of my wife and I below at the wedding of some great friends).
Besides the personal stuff, we’re delighted to share that the following countries will be live on the platform in the coming week:
Nordic Countries – Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland & Iceland
Other European Countries – Slovakia, Slovenia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Armenia & Serbia
Non-European Countries – Taiwan, Egypt & Saudi Arabia
We’ve also been listening to your feedback, delving deep into the minutiae of the details, taking your recommendations on board and we’re currently working on some significant changes to how we present Work From Anywhere scenarios (temporary remote work trips) which we think you’re going to love. Stay tuned for more.
