How to pay overseas staff without the stress
The decision to run a business overseas is not an easy decision to make. However, this is a new day and age. The world has been brought closer together thanks to the internet and technology. If all or a portion of your business operations are taking place abroad, you likely have legitimate concerns about getting everyone paid. Wanting a paycheck for work performed is something everyone has in common.
Given the likelihood you are dealing with employees, freelancers, contractors and even vendors, you just as likely have concerns about getting everyone paid timely and efficiently. The discussion below is going to centre on how to keep your support staff happy overseas with a minimum of stress and effort.
The Gig-economy
Have you ever heard the term a “Gig-economy?” As indicated above, the business world is a lot more fluid than it used to be. In years gone past, businesses relied heavily on employees. That requires paying wagers, offering benefits and exhibiting a bit of control over their activities. Thanks to the internet, employment has become less relevant. Business owners now prefer to use temporary human resources that can get the job done while relying mostly on themselves to do so. This revolutionary way of doing business is referred to as a gig-economy.
With more businesses interacting with people overseas, the maintaining of employees no longer makes sense. Even in the US, telecommuting has changed the relationship between businesses and their workers. The biggest issue business owners face when they work with nontraditional human resources is making sure everyone gets paid timely.
Eliminating the stress of paying human resources abroad
As a business owner who conducts business operations overseas, you likely find yourself in a situation where you have contractors and freelancers handling a lot of your business activities abroad. They might be in different countries with different currencies, which requires you to figure out how to get them paid with a minimum of stress.
The good news is the same technology that makes it easier to conduct business overseas is the same technology that makes it easy to pay people abroad. Many of the top payment options you have at your disposal have far-reaching capabilities that offer you a lot of flexibility. Take a look at a couple of the current payment options you have at your disposal to pay your human resources abroad.
Traditional payment options
Some traditions never fade away. If you should so choose, you do have the option of sending direct deposits and wire transfers to pay people right from your bank account. Of course, it requires the recipients also have bank accounts. That’s where this option might not be as viable as you would expect. The reality is you will encounter a lot of contractors and freelancers who prefer to do business on a cash basis. As long as you know what to expect, you’ll soon learn you have some easy and efficient ways to meet their needs.
By the way, it’s still possible to exchange money through credit cards. In late 2017, MasterCard actually introduced its Assemble financial platform that made it easy and affordable to send money back and forth.
Money transfer services
Money transfer services have been around for decades. However, what’s new is how easy it is to send money in an instant from anywhere at any time. With an international money sending app, you could pay all of your contractors and freelancers within minutes in their own currencies.
The cost of such services tends to be more affordable that a wire transfers, though you would need to deal with currency conversion rates. All your recipients would need to do is walk into any affiliated money transfer service office where they would be permitted to pick up cash. The only requirement they would have to abide by is having the appropriate transaction number and the proper personal identification.
Welcome to the new business world. Heading into the future, business people such as yourself can look forward to a business infrastructure that’s going to make it extremely easy for you to do business anywhere in the world from your living room at home. For now, you can eliminate the stress of paying people abroad by putting into place all the payment options you’ll need to complete transactions with the press of a button.
