Working from Anywhere — the new normal?
A gotcha for the CEO or business owner that will let this happen.
An impact that a global pandemic that has practically shut down all leading economies and has led to a large number of people becoming used to ‘working from home’ may translate more into ‘Working from Anywhere’.
But before you let all the employees fill their backpacks and find a place in Costa Rica, Vietnam or become a full-time Recreational Vehicle/Mobile Home dweller, there are some issues to Face.
For US Employees, each State has many Employment laws, employee tax and benefit implications, and until there are universal or cross-state Health Insurance Plans there will be many issues to comply with local and State regulations, especially if there is no business footprint or ‘Nexus’ for the organization already in that State or locality. It may be somewhat easier for an independent contractor or gig-worker to get away with ‘no fixed abode’, or working whilst on temporary non-immigrant status and not otherwise permitted to work in the country that they are currently located in. Even then, this is going into a grey area unless they have qualified and been accepted to a status that allows for work to be carried out in that country, which still will mean that they are now responsible to file and pay income taxes and other taxes in more than one country, if a US Citizen or a few other countries that have no waivers from taxation through a defined absence from the country for a period of time.
If the person remains an employee, there are a lot of overheads for the organization to ‘eat up’ if there is no other operating presence in that locality; it may be resolved by contraction out through ‘Employers of Fact’ service companies that offer a way to retain an employee but take away some of the headaches to comply with every location’s employment and taxation rules where an employee may wish to establish themselves.
This all depends on the post-COVID-19 pandemic attitude an Employer wishes to adopt :
‘Return to Normal’ as if nothing happened for the last year, with all employees commuting to an Office daily or as on shift, where the activities that they perform have been adequately carried out without physical presence in an Office location for the last 12 months.
‘New Normal’ with some range of flexibility, from minimum core hour working and availability for ‘in-office’ activities to continue fully remote working with optional in-office scheduled times, for things such as monthly reviews, product showcases, team building and corporate policy-sharing meetings, and social interaction opportunities.
Some industries will only have the option of returning to the old normal, such as service businesses such as hairdressers, dine-in restaurants, entertainment venues, transportation and manufacturing and delivery organizations. Any policy-making, meeting and analysis processes, management, software development, content development and system and call center functions do not need to have a physical co-located presence full time, as long as internet connections are stable and fast.
Some establishment partners for global operation of a workforce are not so global in that they specialize in a region or Continent, such as Safeguard Global specializing in employees located in Spain, Infotree specializing in Employees that wish to be based in the UK or any State and Territory of the USA. Velocity Global operates in over 185 countries; Globalization Partners operates in over 150 countries, Papayaglobal services over 140 countries and there are other providers that have customized solutions but do not declare exactly how many countries they can operate in.
So if you are not really a global company, but want to retain your top talent, there are ways to consider enabling a ‘work from anywhere’ policy rather than a restricted ‘ work from home’ or purely ‘work in the office’ return, without having to become a global or multi-state enterprise. Otherwise, the options if they do not exist might make retention of staff more difficult, if they can achieve a work-life balance and location of work preference for another employer.
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