The last few weeks, and the coming few weeks, have seen conference and webinar season in full flow.
One of the best we have seen in a long time was the Mercer webinar on remote work trends by Olivier Meier (slide extract above). It is well worth getting in touch with your local Mercer contact to get a hold of this recording as he expanded eloquently on where they see the future of work from anywhere, virtual assignments, hire from anywhere and how this all fits into the employee experience. He also gave actionable tips companies can consider when implementing international remote work into their global mobility policies.
If you enjoyed that one, you might also like to watch John’s interview with Fathers & Lavan. Clive Fathers and Sarah Lavan have both been key mentors to our team over the last few years, so this was a chance for John to brainstorm with Clive and Sarah about how they see the future of global mobility.
We really enjoyed this GME Live event on remote work with some brilliant insights by Siobhan Cummins, Nicelle Galeano, Pradeep Setlur, Stephen McGarry and Julia Onslow-Cole. Julia as always gave some helpful tips on how to navigate digital nomad visas, in particular being very cautious about using them if you have a legal entity in that country.
This coming week will see John speak at the IHRM Kolloquium in Switzerland (2nd October) as well as Mercer’s European Rewards conference in Portugal. There are also a number of webinars planned for the rest of October, including a few regional Mercer webinars around the world (such as Asia and Italy, amongst others), so reach out to your local Mercer representative to hear when John will be speaking next.
The Importance of a Feedback Loop
If the summer months were all about algorithm updates and deep work, then it’s fair to say that September was the opposite. It was lights, camera, action. We had as you can see above a packed agenda of conferences and webinars, with plenty more to come.
My favourite part of the month? Speaking to the community looking for ideas on how we can push the platform further.
It’s really interesting, when I step into a regular sales call, I on the one hand want to build a connection, build a relationship, but at the same time I have certain moments where I go into auto-pilot, like when I’m running a demo. I’ve literally done hundreds of them now at this stage and they’re like second nature.
But product discovery calls are the opposite. No pre-conceived agenda. No pushing any messages. Just listening. Asking probing questions. Trying to peel back the onion of why somebody is facing a certain problem, how they address their challenges, and trying to uncover the pain points that really matter.
Then stepping into the second phase which is all about asking them what is wrong (not what is right) about our current platform.
Sometimes feedback can be difficult to get a hold of. Especially if people are happy with the current state of the product. But if we’re to continue to aim to really differentiate ourselves, it’s vital we continue to focus on building those muscles that allow us to evolve our product at speed.
We’re a speedboat after all, so why not take advantage of our biggest strength.
That’s why I’m personally very excited about the redesign of the work from anywhere part of our platform which Donal covers below.
It will be launching on the 2nd October so take it for a spin next week, and I would hugely appreciate it if you could email me at john@wfa.team to tell me what’s missing, what don’t you like and how we can improve it further.
Work From Anywhere Platform Relaunch
We are hugely excited to launch some major changes with our Work From Anywhere solution in the coming week. We’ve listened to your feedback and have made some subtle yet powerful changes to empower compliance teams to quickly make informed decisions whether to approve a remote work request or not.
Our Compliance Checklist quickly allows you to assess:
Whether the trip is in line with your internal company policy
Whether a visa is required by the employee when travelling
When payroll withholding obligations are triggered
Whether you have any Posted Worker or Social Security requirements
Any mitigating actions you should take to reduce your risk of triggering Permanent Establishment (PE)
While also suggesting compatible solutions for further mitigating those risks when they are appropriate (i.e. digital nomad visa, legal entity & EOR)
Check out a brief tour of the new platform here. Or even better yet…sign up for a free trial and give it a test drive!
Work From Anywhere, Remote Work, Workation, International Remote Work, Work From Abroad, Temporary International Work…
The fact that there is no common name for this benefit offering is not surprising especially, according to a recent Mercer survey, when 18% of companies do not allow their employees to work outside of their home employment country. A further 23% of companies allowed their employees to work outside of their home employment country, but only as an exception and special justification was needed.
So what that does tell me is that a little over 40% of companies do not have a policy in place. But why? Below are some of the key reasons we have seen across different conversations and surveys. What stumbling blocks have you come across?
Culture: C-Suite not open to remote work; risk averse company culture
Time: Lack of clear department ownership over the policy and process; lack of resources (people / budget) to implement an international remote work policy
Time has been a recurring theme which we hear a lot of from Global Mobility teams. It’s been a challenge I’ve seen again and again for the 20 years I’ve been in mobility in various companies and industry types. Which is why the Work From Anywhere platform helps with that in 60 seconds. This is something we’re proud of and I know we’re blowing our own trumpets but it’s true, I can’t say any more.
Culture, that is a tougher one to break however there are a few things that could help and that’s data. Do you get requests from current employees? Do candidates ask for this benefit during the interview process? Do you know what your peer companies offer? Do you know what your competitor companies offer? Start the drip drip feed of data to the C-suite, which will then allow you to build the wider business case.
It’s been nearly 2 ½ years since we were all in lockdown at home and 50% of companies have come out of it with some type of temporary international work from anywhere but there is still a way to go.
Thanks for tuning in!
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Explore the Future of Remote Work: Dive into our latest newsletter covering essential topics on building a Workation Policy. Learn about the evolving landscape of international remote work, tax authorities’ responses, and the challenges faced by companies and individuals. Discover insights on asynchronous communication and how it impacts personal connections. Plus, join our Hello Workation campaign and share your perspective on workations. Stay informed and engaged with the global shift in work dynamics. Read now for valuable insights!
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