Chris Wakely

Despite recent claims to the contrary, globalization is still alive and well. In fact, PricewaterhouseCoopers estimates that by 2020, a typical global company will have employees stationed in an average of 33 different nations — a major jump from the 2009 average of 22 countries.

As companies expand into international markets and on-board new employees in multiple countries, HR teams will encounter new complexities and challenges. These include language barriers; differing employee regulations, entitlements and reporting requirements; and managing benefits, rewards and payroll operations for remote employees. Global expansion is a significant investment, and a disjointed on-boarding process can lead to unhappy hires.

According to research company Gallup, more than 70% of international workers consider themselves either not engaged or actively disengaged, costing businesses more than $370B annually. So how can companies defy these odds with their important new hires?

Bringing Benefits Management to the Cloud
Global benefits management Software as a Service (SaaS) is one solution. SaaS platforms streamline benefits administration, governance and compliance across multiple regions. The integration of a scalable, rules-based SaaS solution can help multinational companies manage populations with varying benefits structures with reduced risk and complexity.

Advances in cloud computing have brought the ability to administer all employee benefits set-ups using a single solution. This allows the employer to control the on-boarding process and streamline the experience for their employees, while offering a globally consistent, branded experience for internationally located employees — regardless of location.

Whether enrolling in 401k in the US, the provident fund in India or auto-enrolling into a pension scheme in the UK, the employee journey, branding and messaging remains consistent. Local language and currency support offered through global benefits management platforms means that consistency doesn’t have to come with additional work for the HR and benefits team.

Click here for Company Culture
SaaS can also help organizations provide compelling platforms for promoting effective employee engagement and building global identity through a harmonized, branded reward program with the same look, feel and structure internationally. New employees want to be a part of the company culture, and businesses seeking to engage workers across the globe, must clearly communicate the company’s core-culture.

Implementing SaaS to create an intuitive, engaging web portal for new employees can help infuse some of that culture into the on-boarding process. Self-service portals and communication can incorporate animation or live videos of a company’s executive staff or other employees offering instruction and/or amusing anecdotes regarding the company, and applicable benefits packages. They can also deliver annual benefits enrollment reminders through an automated and tailored email campaign featuring teasers, a pre-launch countdown timer, or socially sharable location-specific, branded graphics.

As more and more employees use mobile devices to access work-related content, it is imperative that employee self-service portals be tablet/smartphone compatible and incorporate everything from email to text messaging to online guides so people can choose the communication method that best fits their needs.

E-Engagement
Your company may offer the world’s best benefits and rewards packages, but unless employees are knowledgeable and engaged with their packages, they may have an unclear understanding of their benefits and ultimately miss out on opportunities, increasing the risk of turnover. Providing the right rewards experience can incentivize new hire behavior and engagement.

Well-designed and sophisticated global benefits SaaS platforms can provide an engaging user experience similar to consumer software, rather than a business interface, to encourage repeated employee interaction and participation with benefits programs while constantly reinforcing the power of the company’s total reward. Using cloud-based solutions can also enhance the employee user experience with ability to move between self-service applications seamlessly — without even noticing the use of multiple software solutions.

Demonstrating the value of an organization’s investment in its employees through engaging benefits technology can dramatically increase employee appreciation for their total reward packages.

Conclusion
The international on-boarding process creates unique challenges. It is important to be prepared and have the right solution in place for a smooth transition during international expansion — both for new employees as well as the organization. SaaS solutions can help protect the investment of global growth and offer certainty and security during periods of rapid change for a business.