Outsourcing legal services can be beneficial to legal firms in terms of cost reduction and freeing up resources in-house for employees to focus on other, more important legal tasks. Before outsourcing services, companies should set up their payroll to support international employee pay, and Eastern Daily Press provided seven vital items to consider.
"The good news is that hiring foreign employees has numerous benefits – it's cost-efficient, provides access to new skills and expertise, builds diverse teams and can help SMEs expand into new markets, wrote Eastern Daily Press.
The first important item to decide upon when recruiting an overseas workforce is whether to hire permanent staff or contractors. The way you classify employees will determine your international payroll requirements and can have its own legal implications tied to it, according to the article. It is suggested to hire contactors due to them being classified as self-employed as that classification does not have as many complexities.
When setting up international payroll, there are some options that can help save money depending on a company's needs. Those options include outsourcing international payroll (though it may be expensive and time-consuming), using in-house payroll via a bank (exchange rates and the efficiency of the bank service should be considered when choosing this option), or using a currency specialist, which may be a time-efficient and cost-effective solution.
Another essential step is deciding on a payment method. Payment for outsourced employees and contractors can be done through home payroll, establishing a local entity abroad, working with a trusted third party, using an employer of record (EOR), or hiring contractors.
Other items of importance to take into consideration are tax liabilities for international employees, which can already be complex for full-time employees, international laws and regulations, currency risks and transfers.