IT Outsourcing: Industry Tips on Global Workforce Management

Skilled workers are the backbone of the IT outsourcing industry. And the quality of this workforce directly influences the success of outsourcing businesses.

However, achieving and maintaining this quality extends beyond hiring exceptional talent. It requires a strategic focus on retaining employees and nurturing their unique strengths into valuable assets that meet both current and future client demands.

When your workforce is global, the stakes become even higher. Unique challenges arise, such as managing diverse cultures, overcoming communication barriers, and navigating complex regulatory environments.

To succeed, you must implement global workforce management strategies that maximize worker potential while minimizing costs and legal risks.

With Deel as your all-in-one global workforce management tool, you can transform your workforce into a cohesive unit ready to meet evolving client demands.

Here are some ways Deel enhances your global workforce management strategy.

1. Source top talent from global labor markets

Success in the IT outsourcing industry depends on the ability to provide clients with the necessary IT skill set. However, innovations in tech are outpacing the development of necessary skills, making it increasingly challenging to meet client expectations.

About 90% of tech companies report that recruiting skilled talent has become a moderate to major challenge. High-skill roles, such as those requiring AI expertise, are particularly difficult to fill.

Failing to deliver the right expertise can result in lost contracts, damaged reputations, and reduced client trust.

By using Deel’s EOR and Contractor of Record services, you can access a broader global talent pool. You can hire employees, contractors, and freelancers in over 150 countries without the costs of setting up local entities.

In a competitive job market where top talent receives multiple offers, quick onboarding is crucial to securing candidates. Deel enhances the onboarding process by:

• Reducing onboarding time to just 3 days through workflow automation
• Automating background checks
• Localizing contracts and agreements to align with local labor laws, giving workers confidence in their employment terms
• Offering a self-serve platform for workers to upload required documents and complete the onboarding at their own pace
• Providing Slack integration to send friendly alerts for assigned tasks

For new hires needing relocation to your headquarters or clients’ offices, Deel Immigration ensures a seamless experience.

We manage the entire relocation process, including checking visa eligibility, visa sponsorship and expedited processing. New hires can track their visa applications using an in-app tracker and get access to exclusive relocation support discounts.

These features create a positive onboarding experience, supporting and preparing new hires for their new roles.

Discover how App Bar uses Deel EOR to hire and retain skilled workers from Southeast Asia and North America. With Deel’s assistance, App Bar hires talent based on capability rather than location.

See also: The Value of Expat Employees for Your Global Team

2. Offer fair compensation

Nearly 40% of global employees consider performance-aligned compensation the most important factor in attracting them to an employer.

The IT outsourcing industry is no exception. Competitive compensation is crucial for both attracting and retaining top talent.

To achieve this, you need a comprehensive compensation strategy powered by market research. Deel provides the tools and resources to gather accurate data, enabling you to create a competitive salary structure that includes:

• Skill-based pay tailored to local market rates. A Salary Insights Tool offers real-time global market rates for various roles. It ensures compensation reflects workers’ unique expertise while remaining competitive within local markets
• Flexible benefits packages. A Global Benefits Tool helps you identify mandatory, common, and competitive benefits to offer in each country
• Attractive perks. Deel Contractor Perks enables you to provide additional incentives that enhance the overall employee experience. This includes well-being, personal growth, and productivity perks available directly from the worker’s Deel profile

Regular market benchmarking is essential for maintaining your competitive edge as an employer. Use these research tools to assess market rates regularly and make informed adjustments to your pay scales.

Discover how LiquidX uses Deel to benchmark salary ranges while managing over 70 software engineers, game designers, and developers.

See also: Provide a Good Employee Experience Globally with an EOR

3. Ensure accurate, compliant, and timely global payroll management

Managing global payroll presents a sticky recurring challenge for IT outsourcing businesses. It involves navigating:

• Different tax regulations and compliance requirements
• Multiple currency conversions
• Varying benefits and pay structures
• Different contractual obligations for outsourced services

Even the smallest errors can lead to delayed payments, compliance issues, or diminished employee trust.

Processing payroll for each country separately using multiple vendors may seem like an option. But it’s not sustainable. It creates data silos, hinders consistency in payroll management, and limits visibility into costs. This is on top of the complexities of multi-vendor management.

You need a unified payroll solution like Deel’s global payroll services. Deel offers fully managed payroll, covering wage calculations, benefits processing, deductions, and compliance in over 150 countries.

With a single click, you can make timely payments to all contractors, EORs, and direct employees in their preferred currency.

Workers have the flexibility to access their funds up to 30 days early through Deel Advance or spend conveniently with the Deel Card. For withdrawals, options include Instant Card Transfer, bank transfers, PayPal, Payoneer, Revolut, Wise, and more.

These options give your workers greater control over their finances, enhancing overall satisfaction and engagement.

Additional payroll services from Deel that improve global workforce management include:

• Off-cycle payroll processing to accommodate adjustments without delays on payments
• Payslip generation to reduce admin work
• A dedicated point of contact for each country to support workers in their local language and time zones
• In-house payroll experts with localized expertise in tax regulations and benefits to address any concerns

The icing on the cake? An integrated HR software platform eliminates data errors and enables timely reporting. You can compare employment costs across countries in a single currency, analyze spending in specific areas, and much more.

Discover how Gecko Robotics, Inc. achieves a 70% increase in efficiency by using Deel Global Payroll.

See also: Hidden Costs of Payroll: What’s Draining Global Teams’ Budgets?

4. Keep employee data safe

Protecting employee data from unauthorized access, breaches, and cyberattacks is critical in workforce management.

It becomes even more critical in a global setting where cross-border data transfers increase security risks. The more data travels across networks in different countries, the greater the risk of exposure to cyberattacks.

A data breach can lead to widespread distrust among workers. This is especially true if they feel the company isn’t adequately protecting their privacy rights.

Additionally, different countries have unique regulations regarding data privacy. A breach in your systems exposes your IT outsourcing business to legal liabilities across multiple jurisdictions, each with its own penalties.

Use a workforce management system that ensures strong data protection. Deel is fully compliant with GDPR, SOC1, SOC2, SOC3, and ISO 27001. It ensures the highest level of security and data protection, even as employees access the system from different networks.

Data encryption and advanced access controls, including single sign-on and role-based access control ensure that only authorized personnel can interact with critical information.

Our AWS-hosted infrastructure, backed by 24/7 SIEM SOC monitoring, guarantees a secure, scalable, and reliable platform. As your operations grow, Deel adapts to increased demands while maintaining strong security.

See also: Payroll Security in 2024: How to Protect Your Company

5. Stay vigilant in your compliance

Remaining attentive and proactive in complying with relevant laws and regulations minimizes legal risks while building a stable, trustworthy work environment.

However, you can’t rely solely on your HR team to ensure compliant workforce management processes and practices. Keeping up with legal frameworks across multiple jurisdictions can divert their time and resources from other strategic workforce management initiatives.

One alternative is to delegate this task to an internal or outsourced legal team. However, this can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Another alternative—and the most efficient and cost-effective option—is to leverage Deel's Compliance Hub.

The Compliance Hub has three core features designed to facilitate continuous compliance with minimal effort on your part:

• Compliance Monitor: Automatically scans and collects the latest regulatory changes globally. It then provides simplified summaries of their impact on your business.
• Monthly Workforce Insights: Analyzes worker data and tracks recent compliance developments. From this, it delivers tailored reports that highlight potential risks and offer actionable insights for proactive compliance management.
• AI-based Worker Classifier: Minimizes misclassification risks by using advanced AI for accurate worker classification assessments. These assessments rely on local employment laws and legal precedents.

Discover how Turing uses Deel to ensure compliance while managing 550 developers from 60 countries who handle both outsourced work and internal projects.

See also: Compliance Challenges Companies Face When Growing Globally

6. Strengthen support for remote workers

With a global workforce, remote work is a necessity. Focus on creating a positive and enriching experience for your workers.

This begins with providing the right tools for your IT workforce to perform effectively. And Deel IT offers a comprehensive solution. We supply your team with the necessary hardware, ensuring they have what they need to work efficiently from anywhere.

We take charge of the entire process, from shipping the required devices to tracking and managing them. With round-the-clock support, your employees always have access to the assistance they need. Features like automated return shipping for offboarded staff and real-time inventory management keep your equipment organized and accessible.

To further enhance remote work, Deel provides convenient access to co-working spaces for your workers. Each location features high-speed Wi-Fi, meeting rooms, and collaborative areas, creating an ideal environment for productivity.

Intentional communication is also vital for creating a connected remote workforce. By integrating Deel with Slack, you can clearly communicate expectations, check in on workers, and provide timely feedback.

You can create dedicated channels for casual conversations and team-building activities. This helps recreate the sense of community often found in in-person environments.

See also: 17 Top Remote Work Tools & Software for a Productive Team

7. Future-proof your workforce through continuous learning and development

IT skills can become obsolete quickly due to rapid advancements in technology and industry practices. To keep pace without incurring excessive recruitment and onboarding costs, your workforce management strategy should prioritize upskilling current talent. Continuous development ensures your team remains adaptable and competitive.

However, don’t limit your focus to the company’s needs when designing learning and development programs. Consider the employees’ needs as well. Tailor training programs to match their career aspirations.

A Gartner survey found that aligning development programs with career growth expectations makes employees feel 45% more supported. This boosts employee engagement, which is crucial as only 29.1% of IT workers worldwide plan to stay with their current employers.

Deel offers a comprehensive suite of tools for managing career development, performance, and training programs. Through Deel Engage, you can:

• Conduct 360° reviews to identify gaps in employees’ skills and core competencies from multiple perspectives
• Upskill and reskill workers using personalized training and development programs that include both internal and external courses
• Create flexible career paths for employees using competency-based career progression frameworks
• Use Slack plugins to integrate HR tools like Kudos for peer recognition and feedback

Discover how reev replaced four disjointed tools for managing career progression, feedback, growth conversations, and competencies, with Deel Engage.

See also: Enhance Employee Experience with a Unified HR Tech Stack

8. Control workforce management costs

As your workforce expands, the need for effective management tools and HR personnel to coordinate workflows becomes more critical. Operating globally worsens this challenge. It demands investments in HR tools and local staff to navigate diverse legal frameworks and region-specific employee relations.

Additionally, seasonal client demands complicate cost management and workforce planning. This often requires extra hires during peak periods, increasing labor costs. On the other hand, quieter times create excess personnel, leading to unnecessary expenses.

This ongoing need for adjustment makes it difficult to maintain budget control while providing quality managed services.

Two cost-saving strategies implemented with Deel can enhance workforce management efficiency.

1. Leverage our EOR and Contractor of Record services to hire and terminate temporary workers

Using EOR employees and contractors to meet seasonal demands helps you avoid costs associated with overstaffing and lengthy hiring processes.

With Deel managing hiring, you can quickly onboard temporary staff during peak periods and offboard when demand decreases. This is achievable with minimal involvement from your internal HR team.

2. Consolidate multiple HR functionalities under Deel’s all-in-one platform

This includes:

• Payroll and benefits administration
• Performance management
• Expense management
• Time-off requests
• App provisioning

Deel localizes all features to ensure compliance.

By automating these processes, you reduce the need for multiple HR specialists. This allows your existing HR team to concentrate on strategic initiatives rather than routine tasks.

See also: Business Expansion Strategy: Plan & Execute With Our Guide

Use Deel to optimize your workforce management and engage global workers

Strategic workforce management is a key advantage in the IT outsourcing industry. With Deel as your partner, you can:

• Hire, onboard, and constantly upskill top global talent to meet current and future client demands quickly and efficiently
• Build a strong employer brand that retains talent through competitive compensation, flexible payments, and a superior remote work experience
• Maintain your business’s reputation through continuous and proactive compliance and powerful data privacy measures
• Remain agile and responsive to market changes by scaling your workforce without inflating costs or overstretching resources

"If we didn't use Deel, we would not even consider offering employment in other countries, especially given our past experiences. Now, if we find someone great in Australia for example, we can hire them immediately without any concern of how we will manage compliance, payments, and more." —Megan Reed, Chief Human Resources Officer at oVice

Book a personalized demo to see how Deel can enhance your global hiring and workforce management strategies.