Increasingly, employers are looking beyond borders to hire top talent. A survey suggests that as many as 54% of companies have staff in more than one country.
This is unsurprising considering the perks of hiring across borders. Hiring talent abroad is often cheaper, remote work is now normalized, and employers get access to a much wider global talent pool.
Employers also continue to experience fierce global competition for talent. Technology is considered to be an important market for cross-border hiring. Despite the recent mass layoffs, many companies are still experiencing the crunch when it comes to onboarding the tech talent they need. In Canada, about 70% of companies surveyed cited lacking access to skilled tech professionals as an important bottleneck to their growth.
While workers were reluctant to relocate during the pandemic, employee relocation services are back on the uptick as the world goes back to “normal”. Data reports suggest professional growth and making more money as the key drivers for job relocation.
Despite the exciting opportunities of both global hiring and relocation, human resources professionals are finding cultural differences a crucial challenge in the success of globalized teams. It is true that global careers come with facing society's norms across different cultural backgrounds.
Both language and cultural norms have a significant impact on the workings of a team. Depending on their backgrounds and locations, team members can have vastly different communication styles and values. Social norms, moral codes, and even legal norms may differ. Couple this with asynchronous time zones and a fully remote set-up that lacks face-to-face collaboration, and it can be a recipe for disaster.
The good news is it doesn’t have to be. With the right mix of cultural sensitivity, HR strategies, technological tools, and embedded diversity training, employers can reap the benefits of global teams while creating a positive and exciting work environment for everyone.
The Role of Language in a Cross-Border Workforce
One of the first challenges of cross-border hiring is making sure your team members can understand one another – literally. So, let’s assume you are hiring team members with English language proficiency for a team whose language is primarily English.
The good news is that about 1.35 billion people in the world speak English (only about 360 million of those are native English speakers). However, you may still run into certain challenges or difficulties when managing a multi-lingual team.
Communication Challenges and Misunderstandings
First off, it’s important to remember that language shapes the way we think and perceive the world. Say you hire a team of Indian software developers who are fluent in English. They will have likely grown up speaking between two and four languages on the regular.
Speaking more than one language has incredible benefits — it increases memory capacity, the ability to multitask, and performance in other academic areas.
But it can also be challenging to work day in and day out in a language you are not the most comfortable in. Your employees may feel tired at the end of the day and need more frequent breaks to mitigate burnout.
It can also be difficult to understand English from different parts of the world. Certain expressions may seem offensive or be misunderstood by colleagues, especially if they are not native speakers. Sometimes, online translators can worsen the impact by providing a direct translation to idiomatic language. Plus, certain accents or dialects can be difficult to discern at the onset.
Enhancing Collaboration Through Effective Language Use
Despite possible challenges, language doesn’t need to be a barrier. Through effective communication, multilingual teams can achieve smooth and efficient collaboration.
For your native speakers, this means using clear and concise language, especially in meetings and emails. Avoiding idioms, jargon, and complex language structures can go a long way in supporting comprehension for everyone on the team.
You may also consider a multi-lingual approach to your most important meetings and documents. For example, documentation pertaining to safety, regulations, and legal aspects of work should be provided in both English and your team’s native language. This will prevent misunderstandings.
Language Proficiency Assessment and Training
During the hiring process, it’s crucial to understand the level of language proficiency of your future staff. Sometimes, a simple interview is enough. However, you can include language assessments as part of the interview process to ensure you find a good fit for your team.
If you find the perfect person for a given role but their language skills need brushing up, you can offer language training. This can be a great perk for the employee and an opportunity to bring on skilled talent no matter where they are from. Make sure to tailor such training programs to business language and topics about your organization.
Cultural Diversity in Cross-Border Workplaces
While language can present certain obstacles to communication, the nuances of different cultures, both work and personal, can make or break a team. International teams must sync up and understand how everyone can work in harmony, despite the visible differences.
Different Cultural Norms and Their Implications
There are so many small things that make up a “culture”, making it difficult to pinpoint exactly what to look out for. Cultural norms examples may include the perception of personal space, dress codes, workplace hierarchies, eye contact, dining etiquette, and so much more.
There are certainly a few things that HR managers, global employers, and members of international teams can look out for when it comes to cultural nuances.
It starts with understanding different perspectives on what goes on at work. Think about how the cultures your team members belong to would approach some of these situations:
- Are decisions made collaboratively or unilaterally by the leader?
- Is communication typically direct or implicit?
- How about non-verbal communication, does it look the same as your culture’s?
- How do people perceive time management and use different words to describe deadlines?
- What is the best approach to giving and receiving feedback?
- Is participation encouraged or frowned upon?
- What are the expectations about work-life balance, breaks, sharing meals, etc.?
- Which holidays do your teammates celebrate?
These are just a few things to consider when managing a team across borders. Understanding these nuances will help you mitigate unnecessary discomfort and possibly avoid conflicts with team members. It will also help ensure that everyone’s voices get heard.
Different Communication Styles and Norms
Culture often defines how we communicate with one another. There are three crucial aspects of communication styles that you should be aware of when working with team members from different backgrounds.
- Direct vs indirect communication: Some cultures tend to use direct communication, stating exactly what they mean. For example, if something makes the person uncomfortable, they will say so. The US, Canada, and Northern Europe tend to be direct communicators.
Indirect communication uses more subtle language to express a person’s opinions or thoughts. This means that you need to pay attention to subtle cues to interpret the person’s level of comfort with a decision and how to navigate a conversation. Much of Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America use indirect communication.
- High vs low context cultures: Similarly, there is the concept of high and low-context cultures. This refers to how much you need to consider context, tone of voice, and body language as you navigate communication.
Similarly, Scandinavian countries and Germany tend to be the most explicit. But even Western cultures are not exactly on the same spectrum. Canada and the US are slightly less low context, but still quite direct. Southern Europe falling somewhere in the middle. And Asia is at the far end of high-context cultures.
- Formality and hierarchy: Finally, consider how much hierarchy and formality influence the way that your team members communicate. It can be extremely disrespectful or off putting when these hierarchies are broken without prior preparation.
Cultural Awareness and Sensitivity
Simply being aware of a cultural norm or social behavior is the first step to creating harmony on your international team. It’s crucial to be sensitive to the fact that not everyone will be on the same page.
Having different backgrounds offers you the benefit of diversity, out-of-the-box thinking, and fresh perspectives. And this comes at the cost of building cultural awareness and sensitivity across your entire team.
It’s important to understand the moral norms, values, and perspectives that staff from different backgrounds bring to the table. It’s also crucial to remember that each person within that culture will have their own take on the world.
5 Strategies for Fostering Inclusivity and Productivity on a Global Team
How do you create an international team that can smoothly communicate on projects and deliver results? Here are a few strategies that can help you build your global team.
Create a Diverse and Inclusive Work Environment
The first step to a diverse and inclusive team is building a work environment that allows for one. To create one, start at the roots of your organization. Create a diversity policy and goals that you want to achieve as an inclusive organization.
Make sure that you work in diversity and inclusion in your hiring practices. Remove bias through data-driven HR tools and promote a safe space for different cultures and backgrounds to come together.
Your day-to-day operations should also exude inclusion. For example, flexible work arrangements have been proven to promote diversity in the workplace. Also, make sure that your benefits packages are tailored to various types of lifestyles and individuals.
Promote Cross-Cultural Interactions and Exchange of Ideas
Getting to know each other can go a long way in building rapport on your international team. This can be challenging with a fully-remote team or if your workers are based in different countries and time zones. But, it’s not impossible.
Provide spaces for cross-cultural events, even if these are simply online activities that allow people to share something about their culture. You can also establish cultural exchange programs, allowing workers to temporarily work out of an office based in a different location.
Another option is to set up cross-cultural mentorship programs and match up with people from different backgrounds.
Encourage Employees to Share their Cultural Backgrounds
When you have a global team, it’s important to celebrate it. Create spaces where people can share their cultures and let others get insight into what that means.
You could have storytelling platforms for your employees, both at HQ and offices abroad. Maybe, you can celebrate different traditions and events by having team members share their traditions, holidays, food, and music.
Also, ensure that your project teams are diverse. This not only creates a space for intercultural collaboration but also provides a variety of perspectives for your business.
Finally, talk to your team members from different backgrounds and listen to what they have to say about diversity and inclusion in your organization.
Provide Cultural Sensitivity Training for All Employees
From your leadership team to junior associates, everyone at your global organization should have the tools to build their cultural awareness. Training can go a long way in ensuring that people are aware of the fact that cultural differences exist and how to address them.
Training can help workers understand other cultures. It can range from simpler topics such as examples of general social norms to more complex explorations on shared beliefs and social psychology.
If you are unsure of how to deliver such training, there are third-party organizations that focus on cultural sensitivity training for all types of organizations.
Leverage technology for cross-border communication
Allow technology to help you on your journey to creating diversity and inclusion on a cross-border team. There are hundreds of great tools out there today that can facilitate harmony on your global team.
Tools and Platforms for Seamless Language Translation
If it’s language you are worried about, then use translation tools to make sure everyone understands what’s going on.
- Google Translate: A widely recognized and free tool, Google Translate provides translations for text, and documents, and even offers a mobile app with real-time translation. It supports a variety of languages and is suitable for quick and informal translations.
- Microsoft Translator: Similar to Google Translate, Microsoft Translator offers text, document, and speech translation. It integrates well with Microsoft Office applications and offers developer APIs (application programming interface) for customization.
- DeepL: Known for its high-quality translations, DeepL uses neural machine translation to provide accurate and natural-sounding translations. It's suitable for more complex and professional documents.
- Smartling: Designed for businesses, Smartling offers a translation management platform that enables teams to collaborate on translations, manage workflows, and maintain consistent terminology.
These are just a few options to choose from. Your organization may benefit from one of the many other tools available on the market today.
Virtual Collaboration Techniques to Bridge Geographical Gaps
There is also no shortage of tools that help global teams collaborate across time and space. Here are some of the tools you can consider to help you effectively manage a team abroad.
- Video Conferencing: Platforms like Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google Meet allow teams to hold virtual meetings with video and audio, facilitating face-to-face interactions regardless of location. Video conferencing enhances communication by enabling participants to see each other's expressions and body language.
- Instant Messaging and Chat: Tools like Slack, Microsoft Teams, and WhatsApp provide real-time chat capabilities, making it easy for team members to ask questions, share updates, and have quick discussions.
- Project Management Software: Platforms like Trello, Asana, and Basecamp help teams organize tasks, track progress, and collaborate on projects in a centralized virtual workspace.
- Document Collaboration: Cloud-based tools such as Google Workspace and Microsoft Office 365 enable teams to collaborate on documents, spreadsheets, and presentations in real-time, reducing the need for back-and-forth email exchanges.
A lot of these tools go beyond collaboration but help you across the lifecycle of your projects. They can help you analyze site traffic, answer questions, personalize content, and do so much more.
Work Seamlessly Across the Globe with Borderless
Are you ready to build a global team but worried about cultural fit? Talk to our team of global HR experts, who can guide you through the nuances of hiring employees in over 170 countries around the world.
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.
