India is becoming a leader in remote work arrangements. Companies are calling for more and more tech professionals — and India is answering. With over 500,000 software engineers graduating annually, India has become the world's biggest producer of English-speaking tech talent.
Organizations are looking towards India for hiring remote workers in the tech industry. According to the India Times, the country is a favorite destination for Fortune 500 companies looking to outsource and hire tech talent abroad.
Aside from possessing spectacular tech talent, the country also has lower salaries and labor costs than the United States and Canada. If your company is looking to minimize expenses, India has given itself a unique competitive advantage.
A company looking to recruit and hire highly-skilled employees in India must have practices and policies to guarantee productivity, satisfaction, and employee performance. One way to achieve this is by implementing a remote work policy.
By clearly outlining expectations and guidelines in a remote working policy, there’s no confusion or miscommunication among employees that work from home.
Benefits of Remote Work
Working remotely has been shown to have many benefits for employers and employees. For the company, these benefits look like:
- Increased employee productivity: Giving employees the opportunity to work from home allows them to focus on their tasks rather than their commute to the office. At home, a remote employee can work in a distraction-free zone tailored to their comfort.
Or, if they need a change of scenery, they can choose to work from a coworking space or cafe. Wherever it allows them to be productive and perform at their job, remote work allows them to do so.
- Employers have access to a worldwide talent pool: One of the biggest benefits of remote working is that employees are, for the most part, location independent. As a result, employers are no longer restricted to a specific geographic location looking to hire new talent.
Employers now have access to nationwide talent, or, if they’re savvy about it, worldwide talent. This allows employers to recruit employees with the specific skill set needed for the role.
- Higher employee retention rates: Not every company offers employees the ability to work remotely. For some employees, working remotely is a needed benefit. So, if an employer allows employees to work remotely, they’ll be more likely to stay with the company.
Also, with remote working, employees won’t need to leave their current position if they’re moving to a different city — they can continue to be a vital part of the team.
- Improved employee satisfaction: Allowing employees to work remotely shows that the organization respects, appreciates, and, most importantly, trusts them to complete their tasks.
- Reduced overhead costs: Fully remote organizations can save on many office-related costs and expenses. Since employees are no longer in an office, an organization won’t need to keep an office open. As a result, employers are able to save on costs related to the office, such as a monthly lease, on-site technical support, utility costs, and equipment supplied to full-time employees.
For employees, the primary benefit they experience is improved work-life balance. A balance between professional and personal is one of the essential reasons why people decide to work remotely.
Working remotely allows employees to have greater flexibility and command over their day-to-day routines. And, without commutes, employees can invest more time and energy with their friends and family.
What is a Remote Work Policy?
As more companies embrace remote work and having globally distributed teams, the more benefits and challenges they’re experiencing. Most employers have already started to utilize tools and software to simplify the remote work process and provide general guidelines on remote work expectations. But have they implemented remote work policies?
While remote work policies are not mandatory — and 57% of remote companies still don’t have a remote policy — they are one of the best ways to streamline remote work and manage a remote team.
Without a remote working policy in place, employees and employers may have confusion, frustration, and ineffective communication regarding their daily tasks and responsibilities.
Advantages of Formalizing Policies for Remote Workers
A remote work policy allows your company to set expectations and general guidelines for their remote workers. They also allow employers to appropriately manage risks among their remote teams. These risks may include termination laws, labor laws, leave entitlements, and other types of legal risk — depending on where the eligible employees reside.
A remote working policy is essential for employers to smoothly operate their remote teams and ensure their legal rights. Even if managers have confidence in their employees and trust them to do their work, such policies provide remote employees with structure and clear guidelines.
This type of policy also sets consistent standards across the organization — this way, there are no questions about what employees are expected to deliver and everyone is treated fairly.
Is It the Same as a Flexible Working Policy?
Another critical element for employers to be aware of is the difference between a flexible working policy and a remote working policy. Sometimes, these terms are used interchangeably, but they could not be more different. Having both policies in place or noting the differences, will reduce confusion among employees.
A flexible working policy refers to when an employee works and can include a telecommuting policy. It provides employees with the ability to set their schedules or change their work hours as opposed to working core office hours, like nine to five. For instance, a flexible work policy will allow employees to work early in the morning and log off early in the afternoon, or vice versa.
Meanwhile, a remote work policy outlines where an employee works rather than when. It provides guidelines and rules for location-independent employees; this can be from home, a cafe, or a hotel.
Employers can have both a remote and flexible work policy if they wish.
Key Components of a Remote Work Policy in India
Companies can create their remote work policy and include what they see fit. However, when developing a remote work policy in India, there are key things to include in your remote employee handbook:
- Eligibility to work remotely
- Work location
- Work schedule
- Privacy and IT security
- Legal rights and concessions
#1: Who Can Work Remotely?
Only some people on the team may have remote work eligibility. Some roles require employees to be on-site, whereas other roles can fulfill all of their tasks anywhere that has an internet connection. Copywriters, administrators, software engineers, and more can work completely remotely.
A remote work policy outlines eligibility for which employees work remotely and who cannot. This ensures transparency and avoids future inquiries for remote work.
#2: Location, Location, Location
Employers need to know that working remotely doesn’t always mean that employees work from home. They may work from a cafe, a coworking office, a beach, by a pool, or in a hotel. So, it’s a good idea for your policy to clearly define the rules and guidelines for where employees can work from.
This is especially important if your remote employees in India move from one state to another. States in India have key differences, such as:
- Leave entitlements
- Public holidays
- Social security contribution rates
- Tax obligations
- Time zone
- Laws surrounding termination, and notice periods
If an employee is planning on traveling throughout India, consider making it mandatory for employees to request working from a different state. This helps employers determine the risks on a case-by-case basis rather than being surprised by any risks.
Having the location element in your remote work agreement eliminates any risks of noncompliance.
#3: Determine the Availability of Remote Employees
Employers should outline employee availability expectations, including their standard working hours. Setting schedules, regardless of location, allows for effective communication across all channels and ensures smooth processes for everyone involved.
#4: Keep Security Measures in Mind
One of the biggest problems with remote work is dealing with data privacy and security issues. Even when companies work on secure networks and keep all data on their company servers, security is not always guaranteed. Remote employees in India need to be careful when working in public places.
If employers don’t want their employees working on a public Wi-Fi, then that should be clearly outlined in the remote work policy. Or, if an employee does work from a public network, require employees to use a virtual private network (VPN). Also, companies should still keep their confidential documents on company servers.
#5: Termination
Employers need to clearly state that no employee will be terminated because they are working remotely. Unfortunately, managers are sometimes uncomfortable with having remote employers simply because they cannot see what they’re up to.
As a result, they can't gauge how productive employees are with their job duties. This part of the policy is in place to protect remote workers from unfair termination.
To track employee performance and guarantee that they complete their job duties,
managers should consider installing communication tools and project management software.
How to Manage a Remote Team
Aside from a remote work policy, employers can effectively manage a remote team in numerous other ways. While there are benefits to remote work, there are also some challenges employers may face. Some of these challenges include:
- Ineffective communication
- Lack of cohesion and processes
- No clear responsibilities or tasks outlined for employees
- Having trouble tracking employee performance
- Trying to be respectful of everyone’s time, especially in a global remote team
- Ensuring that the company culture is positive and inclusive
- Making sure employees work according to their set schedule
- Project collaboration may pose challenges
- Inefficient onboarding processes
- Figuring out global payroll
However, with the right tools, processes, and policies in place, these challenges can be managed. But how, exactly?
Communication
Communication issues can be solved with the right communication tools and software. There are tons of tools designed for remote companies to have positive and open communication lines. This can include Slack, Zoom, Teams, Asana, or for some, even WhatsApp.
To increase other measures of clear communication, employers should consider scheduling weekly one-on-ones and setting clear communication expectations.
Processes
To ensure employees are aware of the proper processes, have standard operating procedures clearly outlined in an easily accessible location on their laptops. Offer tech support and the necessary equipment for business purposes. Provide any additional resources and respond to specific requests efficiently.
Responsibilities and tasks
This can be resolved by having project management software and tools in place. Notion, Monday, Trello, or Wrike help boost organization, productivity, and communication among remote teams. All these tools — and more — help clearly outline responsibilities and tasks for employees.
Tracking employee performance
Tracking employee productivity in a remote team is challenging for remote employers. But, with the right project management tools in place and the structures outlined, employers can trust that their employees are organized and getting their tasks done.
You can also frequently meet with employees via a video call or even phone calls. Discuss progress regularly through one-on-ones and team meetings. And generally, ensure smooth and open lines of communication with your employees working remotely.
Creating an inclusive and positive company culture
Employers should make an effort for each employee to get to know each other, even across departments. Doing this helps create an inclusive, positive, and open company culture.
This can be done by having virtual team-building events or even allowing employees to showcase something unique about themselves at the end of a weekly team meeting.
Being respectful of time
Companies that have remote employees in India need to be respectful of the time difference. Rather than working core hours throughout the day, employers should look into adopting nonlinear work days.
Optimizing the onboarding process
Onboarding is perhaps one of the biggest challenges that remote employers may experience. Usually, employers focus on a variety of things: gathering all the necessary documents, setting up payroll, training, getting them familiar with processes, and trying to build a healthy and positive employer-employee relationship. However, the onboarding process doesn’t have to be this extensive.
By working with Borderless, an Employer of Record (EOR), you can make the onboarding process efficient and easy. With Borderless taking charge of the administrative tasks, employers can focus on connecting with their new hires.
Additional Considerations for Employers
Aside from building a remote work policy to manage a remote team in India effectively, there are other elements employers should consider to guarantee employee satisfaction and smooth processes.
For one, employers should consider having a Head of Remote. A Head of Remote strategizes, designs, and communicates processes to ensure remote teams operate smoothly. A Head of Remote represents the best interests of remote employees. Basically, a Head of Remote ensures that all remote employees have the same experience as on-site employees. When developing a remote work policy, a Head of Remote can help.
Employers should also consider going beyond the nine-to-five standard workday. This is especially important when having employees in a different time zone, like in India.
As more teams become globally distributed, having a nine-to-five workday is going out the window. Embrace asynchronous work and practice work schedules outside of the nine-to-five workday.
Work With Borderless
To legally hire remote employees in India, your business must have a local legal entity. Usually, establishing a local entity on your own is long, stressful, and expensive. This is where an EOR comes in — an EOR acts as the employer on behalf of your company.
An EOR makes hiring a remote team in India a smooth, seamless process. While our team at Borderless takes care of the hiring process, you can take charge of creating a compliant and comprehensive remote work policy. Learn more about what Borderless can do for you.
Disclaimer
Borderless does not provide legal services or legal advice to anyone. This includes customers, contractors, employees, partners, and the general public. We are not lawyers or paralegals. Please read our full disclaimer here.
