Despite all the damage caused by the pandemic, one silver lining is its impact on hiring, as remote working is now as accepted – if not encouraged – as being in a central office.

This particularly applies to businesses expanding into new geographies, as the ability to hire locally has proven benefits, from language and relationships to the intricacies and nuances of conducting business which can vary widely. from one region to another.

However, the employment of cross-border workers also presents various problems. As we find in The Cross-Border Payroll And Contractor Payments Report, a PYMNTS and nium collaboration, “paying and managing international workers, in particular, presents a wide range of challenges. Companies particularly struggle to manage taxes, financial data security, exchange rate fluctuations, and legal or regulatory issues when paying international workers.

Based on a survey of 250 executives in senior roles in Accounts Payable, Payroll, or Payments at US and UK-based companies with revenue over $100 million, the study focuses on the key pressures related to payroll management and related compliance for a growing number of remote workers operating in countries where their employers are not present.

Get your copy: The Cross-Border Payroll and Contractor Payments Report

• 67% of companies that hire internationally using a private agency struggle to pay their taxes

Our research found that tax management is the most cited struggle for companies hiring workers in foreign markets, often pushing these companies to use private employment agencies in these markets. But 67% of those who say they have local pay issues as a result.

This makes a powerful argument for the international payroll and tax compliance platform.

US businesses say they struggle with this more than their UK counterparts, as 18% of US-based businesses rate taxes as their biggest international payment issue, while just 9% of UK businesses said the same . Additionally, 20% of companies with revenues of $500 million or more are their biggest international payment challenge, double the share of companies with revenues of less than $500 million. dollars.

• 63% of companies that hire internationally are interested in innovative ways to pay workers

With nearly 95% of cross-border workers paid by bank transfer today, more and more companies are seriously considering cheaper, more comprehensive and faster payment platforms.

Among US businesses, 19% rely primarily on wire transfers to pay their international workers today, compared to just 3% of UK businesses, which we found “more likely to use regular ACH and daytime ACH even to pay national and international workers”. .”

The benefits of exchanging these legacy methods and the international payments platform are now growing in popularity, with 63% of businesses surveyed being “slightly” or “somewhat” interested, and nearly 25% being “very” interested. “extremely” interested. The most aggressive players plan to switch to this initiative as soon as possible, with 69% of them now innovating payment methods “or planning to do so within six months of the survey”, and 87% who are innovating now or plan to do so within a year.

• 33% said global expansion was their main reason for hiring internationally

Nearly 7 in 10 (67%) companies we surveyed are interested in hiring more workers from overseas markets, 33% said global expansion is their top reason for hiring internationally.

Ironically enough, the pandemic has opened the floodgates on cross-border hiring payments, even amid supply chain disruptions and the closure of entire countries to travellers. But that’s the point: the restrictions have revealed both weaknesses and opportunities when it comes to having boots on the ground in international markets to mitigate unpredictable disasters.

Get your copy: The Cross-Border Payroll and Contractor Payments Report