Remote work on a global scale will be essential to accessing talent going forward. Access to a constant supply of talent and skills is essential as businesses pivot towards growth. This makes people, and importantly HR teams, central to firms’ recovery from Covid-19.

At the same time, the U.K.’s skills crisis has reached a critical level exacerbated by Brexit and the added immigration complexities to bring in talent from our neighbours.

The skills need also hits bottom lines. Research from The Open University found that more than half of all UK firms (56%) reported a skills shortage during the past year and to plug these gaps costs them a record £6.6 billion in inflated salaries, temporary staffing, recruitment fees and training. *

Businesses need to look beyond domestic borders to tackle this issue and seek out the talent they need.

Going global
The pandemic forced companies to overcome their dependence on physical proximity to the office and firms now have the tech and policies needed to manage their people from anywhere. Businesses apply these capabilities as they move towards remote employment on an international scale.

Progressive, fast-moving sectors such as tech already adopt this approach. Our research of 500 U.K. tech business leaders reveals almost half (46%) intend to continue or accelerate recruitment of foreign workers and hire them remotely in the workers’ own country.

Tech firms realise that employees can be anywhere they choose, or anywhere the company chooses to hire them. Businesses in other sectors must now consider this ethos to address their own skills concerns.

Size matters
Our findings also report that over a third (34%) of tech firms with 500 or more employees are more likely to hire remote workers overseas.

But this figure fell to 21% for companies with 100-199 employees and one in ten (10%) for businesses with 50-99 employees.

It’s clear, even in tech, that many firms believe that global operation is only achievable for the largest organizations. But skills shortages affect firms of all sizes.

More traditional forms of global expansion, like establishing foreign business entities, are costly and time consuming, making it hard for SMEs. That’s why smaller entities must find ways to emulate their larger rivals’ more expansive approach to access talent – global remote employment offers a solution.

Think global, employ remotely.
Global remote work simplifies the process to employ overseas talent. Businesses adopt a location-agnostic approach to recruitment; they hire people in the worker’s home country to overcome skills shortages and avoid the issues associated with importing staff into the UK.

The remote management of those employees avoids the cost and complexity of establishing a physical presence in a foreign country.

This dynamic approach to access talent allows businesses to secure the skills they need to innovate and grow post-Covid.