Welcome message from the CEO
This monthly newsletter will try to distill some of the more interesting trends and developments at the intersection of remote work and Global Mobility.
How is this impacting Global Mobility and how can Global Mobility rise to the challenge?
Best from Portugal,
CEO and Co-Founder
Welcome to this month’s newsletter.
This month we cover:
- Can you work from anywhere in space?
- Our most recent product updates.
- As well as other technology developments in the market.
- The future of work and the future of talent mobility.
- Key trends in digital nomad visas and employers of record.
- We’ll also include tips from our Head of Global Mobility Strategy, Imelda Keane.
Work From Anywhere…In Space
The idea for this article came from a recent GME conference that John spoke at in London where he was asked to talk about the tax challenges of working from anywhere in space.
It might seem a bit far-fetched, but the world of work is changing faster than many of us ever expected. It might not be too long before we move global mobility from international experience to intergalactic experience.
So how could that future look?
Themes:
Can you work from anywhere in space?
And if so, which planet would you choose to work from?
What does this all mean for the future of talent mobility?
If one of your employees request to work from anywhere in space, how would you handle this from a talent mobility perspective?
Product Updates
After 18 months of research and development, it was incredibly exciting to finally launch our remote work software to the world.
Our application empowers global mobility, tax, and finance teams to navigate the complex challenges of hiring internationally and allowing staff to work temporarily overseas. This helps to speed up decision making to make it easier to say YES to remote.
You might have seen glimpses of our tool in action if you follow us on LinkedIn or are connected with Mel or Donal. In a recent piece, Mel demonstrated how to #sayyes2remote in less than two minutes by running a work from anywhere scenario with a UK citizen who wants to work remotely in Mexico for two weeks.
Never ones to sit still, we have already been making improvements to the platform including an IATA visa checker which covers off the visa & immigration hurdles of remote work. And we’ve also included customisation to help companies embed their own remote work policy rules and risk appetites. You can check out more details in this video from our Co-Founder and Head of Product, Donal Brady.
Current Trends
We’re always interested in innovative projects that push the boundaries of remote work and global mobility, so the Plumia project caught our attention. Can you create a country on the internet? Is it even possible? Who knows but this is a project that might peak your interest.
Have you ever heard of the concept of “talent brokering”? This is a critical development in the future of talent mobility so we highly recommend Olivier Meier’s article on the evolution of talent mobility here.
Employers of Record are coming more and more into focus so we’d suggest this recent Benivo show featuring Deel is worth a look. Velocity Global also released a useful guide on PEOs versus EORs.
Digital Nomad Visa Developments
A brilliant blog post by Fragomen explains in detail the digital nomad visa landscape of Europe. It details the countries that have implemented the visas and expands on whether they are a solution to many current problems.
- Anna Jaworska in her digital nomad guide to Malta mentioned some of the tax challenges here.
- While the jury is still out for many global mobility leaders, digital nomad visas are coming into focus. They were featured at a number of talks at the Worldwide ERC conference in Las Vegas.
- Lily Bruns put together a very useful digital nomad visa resource here.
Mel’s Tip: Gather the troops
Recently I’ve had this question come up a lot “Where do I start with a work from anywhere policy?”
Global Mobility is used to dealing with complex situations on a daily basis, and we always take pride in our function as the gatekeeper of compliance. However, Covid upended everything, and we had to learn to be comfortable with the uncomfortable. In other words, we were urged to #sayyes2remote
I say, gather the troops! Bring your important allies to the meeting, including the heads of IT, benefits, people/HR, corporate tax, and employment legal.
The main result of the dialogue is that you leave knowing the risk tolerance across each function. Bringing along a few case scenarios that are a good balance of intricate and conservative is something I’ve found to be helpful in the past. You may either take real instances that have crossed your desk or make up your own.
Next – Now that you know the level of risk tolerance in your organisation you are ready to present to the C-suite. I would recommend presenting as follows:
- A mixture of work from anywhere scenarios
- The risks – actual; immigration, payroll taxes and social security, permanent establishment, etc.
- The organisation risk threshold
- Scenarios and solutions – here you need to be brave and cavalier. You should present scenarios from zero risk to “open known” risk.
Leave the final sign off to the C-suite, they need to be able to understand the risks, and possible scenarios without you taking them through it.
Thanks for tuning in!
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