Expanding your business internationally can be a great leap forward, but also a risky one. In this day and age, introducing your products and services in new markets is imperative for brand recognition and higher revenue. However, opening up a new office internationally can be prohibitively expensive, when there isn’t any legal entity to rely on or carry forward your investment.
Companies, therefore, ought to be prepared to test waters before they make that pricey jump. If you are considering expanding in a new country, think of the all the paperwork you’d need to go through – right from company registration, local partnership, legal counsel, banking, compliance, workforce and even to finding the right office space.
Collaborating with a Professional Employer Organization is a great way to gain access to domestic legal entities and expand on human resource. This way, much of the risk is eliminated from the start, allowing your new business to kick-start with minimal delay.
WHY PEO?
A Professional Employer Organization or PEO is a company that acts as the local employer on record for client companies planning to make investments in new markets. By acting as an intermediary, PEOs help client companies to gain exposure to new business turfs without having to worry over setting up their own foreign subsidiaries.
PEOs act as business entities in the region and double up as co-employer for new hires. They also take upon a whole suite of employer functions such as payroll, training, benefits, compliance and other HR essentials. By providing all HR needs in a comprehensive package, PEOs help you stay connected through a single point of contact. They also help to screen your hires in a much better way.
Entering a new market is not as thrilling as it sounds, especially the initial months or years. From localizing your products, hiring the right technical expertise to making good business connections, none of these come easy without prior domain knowledge. A PEO serves as your local partners to get you acclimatized and build networks in your new operational zone.
PEOs & HR
Employees form the core of all organizations. They are the real reasons why businesses tick. Making a wrong recruiting decision can cost the company a good deal, not to mention the amount of time spent on it. PEOs track the intricacies of labour laws no matter where your business is based. As recruitment specialists, they are in the know of every new tax, employment law, wage policy, expatriate employment clause and rules governing discrimination, gender parity and hiring of the differently-abled.
Most of these policies keep changing every year, and some, which come into effect almost instantly, without many of us even knowing it! Tracking them can be exhausting, and once any of these regulations are breached, federal authorities can fine you into costly settlements.
And it’s just not that risk they save you from. Meeting payroll demand is one of their critical functions. So are benefits, health insurance, wellness plans and retirement schemes. All these core HR responsibilities are adhered to month-by-month in seamless clockwork precision. PEOs also ensure HR compliance is met whether it is medical leave policy or the proprieties associated with requesting salary history from employees.
SPOTTING THE RIGHT ONE
When scouting for the best PEO, zero in on the one with the best credentials and one that gives you personalized attention. A brand that is acclaimed in the industry and one that has good connections would be an added advantage. When you start operations in a new country, you will be aware of business opportunities in neighbouring countries as well, so pick a PEO that has operations in and around your host country.
A PEO specializing in payroll, statutory requirements and employee mobility solutions is recommended as they can seamlessly carry out your HR functions without complications. Make sure your PEO also helps you build good business relationships domestically. However, there are occasions when due diligence comes handy even when finalizing on a good PEO. There are a number of them that charge separately for every extra service and add-ons, forcing companies to spend more than what they’d initially planned.
The purpose that PEOs serve is much more than what is mutually agreed upon. So relevant is their contribution that companies don’t have to agonize over starting afresh in a new market. Besides the tremendous economic opportunities they are exposed to, companies can build a long-lasting business relationship with their PEO. They also help give companies that avant-garde experience in corporate HR, commonly seen in Fortune 500 companies.
