With the recruitment challenge we are facing, some companies are willing to let their staff work from any location they want. On paper, it sounds exciting to imagine that the location is no longer an obstacle.
No doubt we are living in a global economy. Does that mean we can sit on every rule that exists?
To make the example easier, let’s imagine a company with an existing business in the EU.
What contract do you give to your nomadic staff who work permanently in another country?
📃 Do they have a contract from your home country, or do you have in each of their countries where you staff is living a legal entity to employ them locally?
Well…on paper, it is not just your choice. We are “lucky” to have rules around such question in the EU.
As your finance and legal team will not be happy with a constellation of legal entities, I believe you would prefer that each of them has a contract in your home country.
What could happen then in the future?
🚑 Health/medical
How will your employees be covered? They will assume medical expenses in a country with which they have no contractual link.Here, when they will have to receive a medical treatment, they will sadly discover, in the worth timing, the consequences of not being locally employed.
🏠 Property mortgage
How will a bank react to someone who only earns money coming from another country? Will he have the same access to a mortgage?
I doubt it. I have experienced it myself. And believe me, it doesn’t matter how much you earn, if your income comes from another country, your bank doesn’t like that at all! And Imagine if you have a contract from another country that seems less protective than the one at home. Oops!
I can multiplicate the example: income tax, future pension, various state benefits...
🔥 As a company, I would take such an ambitious project carefully…Do not make promise you cannot keep!If you want to be global and open to remote working outside your main country, take the time to assess, address the consequences and help your staff with all the questions that will arise.