“Technology works best when it brings people together”, as Matt Mullenweg, a founding developer of WordPress, once said. Today, tech companies, thanks to modern tools and the strengthening of remote work trends, have the opportunity to unite people from anywhere in the world in their teams.
According to the survey, a third of respondents from global companies work directly with a team member, located in another country, on a daily basis. Plus, nearly 40 percent deal with employees in other countries one to several times per business week. So, why is it good to work together globally?
The main advantages of creating an international team
1. Increasing profitability
According to a McKinsey report, companies with high ethnic and cultural diversity were 36 percent more profitable than those with less diversity.
By the way, in general, the implementation of all types of inclusion directly affects the economic success of the business. According to a recent report by Global Industry Analysts, such a corporate culture helps companies to be more flexible and increase revenue per employee by 2.5 times.
2. Facilitating the development of international markets
Whether it is the opening of an office in a new country, or the international release of a startup – it is important to understand how and for whom you work. Deep knowing of local markets, mentality, culture, and business practices of the location the company is mastering is a strong competitive advantage.
International employees can be a good resource of knowledge and experience of working in a certain region. They may help to better build marketing and communication and more easily integrate into the environment.
3. Access to the specialists from anywhere in the world
Tech talent is unevenly distributed around the globe. In the Middle East, for example, there may be a shortage of programmers working with Rust, Go or Node.js. On the other hand, there are enough such specialists in Eastern Europe.
Moving away from the practice of searching for specialists exclusively in one’s own country opens up an unlimited choice of the best staff. This is especially true of rare skills and experience.
4. Cost reduction
By attracting talent from all over the world, the company has a wider choice for better conditions. South Asia and Eastern Europe have lower developer hourly rates than North America, for example. In addition, a number of countries have tax legislation loyal to the innovation sphere.
For more information on how to reduce spendings, read the article “Hidden Ways to Decrease Your Cost per Hire”.
5. Continuous workflow
A team consisting of residents of countries with different time zones can provide a virtually non-stop workflow. And although the time difference can make scheduling difficult, it allows, for example, 24/7 customer support without de facto the night shifts.
6. Improving creativity and generation of non-trivial solutions
Recruiting only members from its own country, the company is forced to receive only ideas dictated by similar experience and mentality. Instead, a multicultural team can bring fresh blood to the project. According to the CIPD report, such teams are more creative. Managers also point to the advantages of sharing unique insights for innovation.
Exploring the connection between a high level of creativity and the cultural diversity of the team, Tendayi Viki in an article for Forbes comes to the conclusion that new unique ideas are generated at the intersection of different perspectives and worldviews.