Growing your business, whether in your home country or around the world, can be hard work, and there are lots of things that you need to take into consideration. Not only is there the need for funding to boost your marketing spend, but you’ll need to expand into new markets, open new stores, and ensure your website or business infrastructure is prepared for your growth.
Something else that you need to think about when expanding is staff. As well as the time and costs associated with recruitment, you’ll need to think about their working environments and ensuring your human resources department is prepared for their increased workload. Below, I’ve put together some of the reasons why you should step back from your current expansion plans, and instead consider the benefits of employment outsourcing for your business venture.
Why expand into new markets?
As businesses become more and more competitive and work hard to get ahead of their local rivals to stand a chance of fighting against the big corporations like Amazon and eBay, finding ways to look outside of your current market is important. Even if you run the most successful and respected business in your town or city, you’ll still have to contend with rivals online and from other multinational companies, and so finding a way to grow your market share makes sense. Staying within your country and offering products and services online is a good idea, but you should think big, and consider the opportunities that international expansion could offer.
There are a whole host of benefits of expanding into new territories. Of course, the most obvious is that you can unlock growth in untapped markets, in places with limited or no competition, but there’s also the fact that you can diversify. The truth is, even the most established and healthy markets can suffer setbacks, whether that be through a recession or natural disaster. Another reason why you should look to expand internationally is so you can access more talent, and gain a competitive advantage over other businesses in your niche, which won’t benefit from the same buying and distribution powers as you. Finally, expansion offers international investment opportunities – you can make contacts, and work with businesses to establish new ventures.
What are the drawbacks of expansion?
There are some drawbacks to expanding a business internationally, however. One of the first is that you may compromise on quality if you’re too focused on growing your business, a second being that employees may struggle to feel valued if they become just another number in the company. Perhaps one of the most obvious drawbacks of an expansion is that you may face some financial challenges, especially if you’re entering a market that is expensive to crack, like the United States or the United Kingdom, and that you may lose some control over your brand.
As an entrepreneur helping businesses work on their own expansions, I know first hand that there are drawbacks to expanding too quickly, and so you should ensure you have a clear plan in place so that you take your time and enter the market only when you’re ready to do so.
Consider using professional employer organisations
If you’re concerned that you’re not going to have the funds to establish a business in a new territory, then you could look to professional employer organisations (PEOs) to assist in your expansion. Indeed, outsourcing your employment offers a number of benefits; not only will it save you the hassle of forming a local entity within a new country, but you won’t have to worry about engaging with staff and dealing with the administrative challenges of payroll, compliance and more. By working with a company that offers employer of record Colombia-based, for example, you’ll be able to sit back and relax, knowing your employees are being handled by a third-party company and that you can focus on more important business tasks, like growing your business, making new contacts and forging ahead with your development and expansion plans.
As a small or medium-sized brand, unlocking the ability to hire top talent without the headache of launching a new business makes sense, and because your legal responsibilities are handled by another company, you’ll maintain everyday control over your staff without wasting time on the things that don’t matter, which also reduces your risk and level of professional responsibility.
What to think about when hiring new staff
When hiring new staff for your organisation, there are a whole host of things that you’ll need to think about before you can get started. Hiring employees from another country can be a challenge, depending on your country of origin and location of your business expansion. If you want to hire employees from the United States in the United Kingdom, for example, you’ll need to apply for visas and working permits to ensure they’re legally entitled to work for your brand.
Deciding on the right employment contract for your new employees is also something you must think about. You could choose to hire employees on a short-term basis to reduce risk, fixed term contract, or an ongoing rolling contract to ensure you have talent at your disposal as and when you need it. Remembering to adhere to local government regulations – like working hours, paying at least minimum wage, allowing employees to have time for vacations, contributing to your employee’s social security and pensions, and in some countries offering healthcare – is key.
The good news is that, should you choose to outsource your employment, such responsibilities will be handled by the PEO, so that you can relax knowing everything has been covered for you. Indeed, whether you’re a one-man band or you run a team of two hundred, it’s a technique I would recommend when launching a business in a new territory, or simply expanding a business in your home country, as it removes all hassles and ensures regulatory compliance. And as any good entrepreneur knows, the fewer risks and responsibilities you have, the more freedom you have to grow your brand and take your business to the next level. I wish you the best of luck!
