How Can HR Managers Effectively Manage Remote Workers with an Employer of Record (EOR)?
Discover how to set clear expectations and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for your global workforce
Remote work has created opportunities for employers and employees to collaborate from anywhere in the world. But, with employees spread out across time zones, it can be challenging for human resources managers to effectively monitor and assess the performance of workers spread out across different countries and regions. Despite these challenges, an Employer of Record (EOR) service can make a world of difference to leaders who are struggling to monitor employee performance.
In short, an Employer of Record acts as the employer for workers in foreign countries. An effective EOR solution like Atlas takes care of compliance matters, payroll processing, employee benefits administration, and more. This enables companies to onboard and compensate team members from around the world without needing to establish entities in different countries.
But before we get into the ins and outs of using an EOR, let’s start with setting clear KPIs around employee management.
Setting Clear Expectations and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Prior to managing employees, managers should establish expectations and define KPIs. This involves setting goals and targets for each individual based on their roles. KPIs should be objectives that are achievable, set within a specific timeframe, and that add up to a larger departmental or organisational goal.
For example, a marketing specialist's KPIs may include metrics like generating new leads and increasing website conversion rates as part of a larger initiative for a given business quarter. By defining these employee expectations upfront, it becomes easier for professionals to monitor and evaluate employee performance.
Ensuring Compliance Management
When employees are based overseas, leaders must grapple with complex foreign compliance rules. Fortunately, an Employer of Record becomes the legal employer abroad, taking on this compliance burden. They help ensure compliance with local employment laws, payroll policies, benefits standards, and regulations.
Why does this matter? To start, compliance often sets parameters around employee management and data collection. This means that laws differ across countries regarding employee consent, data privacy, and surveillance restrictions. It’s crucial to have an intimate understanding of these various laws before rolling out an employee management initiative, which is where an EOR comes in handy.
Tapping into an EOR's Compliance Knowledge
When evaluating EOR partners, it's crucial to assess their global compliance capabilities. Atlas stands out in this regard through its worldwide team of legal experts.
For example, Atlas provides comprehensive guidance at every stage of global growth. For beginners venturing abroad for the first time to large multinationals, Atlas ensures compliance best practices are implemented. Their consultants directly advise clients on the latest regulatory changes in 160+ countries. This keeps companies current as laws evolve across all jurisdictions where they employ remote staff.
Importantly, Atlas also offers robust data protection guidance tailored to each country's privacy laws, which is key for initiatives involving employee information collection and storage. This in-depth level of worldwide support empowers managers to manage global teams while avoiding compliance pitfalls.
Managing Employees Through Self-Service Portals
Another major benefit of partnering with an EOR is gaining access to a self-service employee portal. These centralized platforms generate invaluable data for managing remote workers. For example, business leaders can track new hire progress by completing tasks like uploading documents, confirming job details, and selecting benefits during onboarding.
The self-service portal becomes a real-time feed of remote employee activity, which means that any issues like missing paperwork or benefits questions are flagged instantly through the system. An EOR’s user analytics functionality can also identify remote teams not adopting self-service features and managers can then be coached to increase engagement in these areas.
Ensuring Cultural Best Practices
Managers may also face challenges when it comes to understanding the various cultures, norms, and regulations of global workers. A major advantage of partnering with an EOR is tapping into their expertise on local labor, employment, and compliance laws. When managing a global remote workforce, adhering to country-specific regulations is crucial to expanding your business operations overseas.
The EOR can advise on legally sound and culturally appropriate employee management practices. This is key for remote workers, as regulations differ globally around surveillance, consent, data usage, and more. With an EOR's expertise, leaders can implement management policies and procedures that align with local laws. This reduces legal risks and creates employee trust that their rights are being protected.
While cultural expertise is still valuable, an EOR's knowledge is the most critical advantage for multinational companies. With guidance from EOR experts, oversight can navigate complex regulations to safely and effectively monitor international remote workers.
Business Intelligence Enables Insightful Monitoring
Robust business intelligence (BI) capabilities are another key offering of leading EOR platforms. Advanced BI reporting transforms raw data into actionable insights that can be used to effectively manage remote workers.
For example, intelligent BI analytics can be used to help managers understand:
Employee performance by country
Onboarding timelines by market
Expenses and costs by team or division
Diversity, equity, and inclusion statistics
Payroll accuracy across borders
Access to these data points can provide a ton of insights to HR teams. For example, business leaders can leverage this data to identify onboarding bottlenecks by country to improve hiring, or to detect payroll error patterns across international offices. You can also leverage these analytics to improve cultural practices like tracking DEI progress and gaps globally.
By leveraging BI analytics, managers can elevate from reactive to proactive management across borders, allowing data to become a key driver of strategy, engagement, and compliance in the workplace.
Using an EOR to Monitor Remote Workers
By partnering with an Employer of Record service, leaders can overcome the difficulties of monitoring a dispersed remote workforce. For example, Atlas offers custom reporting, time tracking, and expert support to give complete visibility into virtual employee performance. This allows for informed decision-making and constructive feedback that enhances remote worker productivity.
For more information about EOR, download the handbook below.