Top 7 Tips to Hire Great Talent from India to Work Remotely for Your Business
Proven over the years and by various surveys globally, India is enriched with professionally qualified human resources. It makes India (the second-largest English-speaking country) an attractive locus for developing talent pools by many businesses across the world. As the demand for Indian talent is booming in the global career market, it is significant to know a few important perspectives about hiring remote teams from India that work out well for you. This article is a comprehensive study of tips for retaining and managing efficient Indian resources regardless of geographical remoteness. In this blog, you can learn the differentiating factors to consider, how to manage the remote teams in India, and other important aspects you need to know before expanding to India for talent needs.
Points to remember while building effective remote teams in India
1. Acknowledge time zone differences
India is at approximately a half-earth distance from the USA with a time difference of around 12.5 hours during the majority of the year. It results in the work hours being exactly opposite to the USA. When you sleep in the USA, people might be spending their time at work in India. Hence it is important to structure the office timings as per the time zone and address the time differences without affecting any productivity. Your resource might not be available readily for some emails, phone calls, or other communication modes unless you guys agree on a set schedule with some overlap between working hours. Many resources are used to working at night or on some kind of shift that will often overlap with your work hours. These work schedules should be discussed upfront during the interview process and also outlined in the offer letter to avoid any confusion. For any additional meetings outside of the work hours overlapping time, schedule meetings ahead of the time so that you and your resource from India can plan. Understand that it goes both ways and sometimes plan meetings outside your regular work hours to make it convenient for your Indian counterpart.
2. Mindful of accent/pronunciation differences and help each other understand better by speaking slowly
The majority of the Indian population considers English as a foreign language and starts learning academically in their schools. Even though the Indian resources are technically strong in their English skills, language fluency in writing and speaking may vary from the USA. They might have a great vocabulary and British grammar skills in English. But they mostly speak with an accent similar to their regional language aka mother tongue. Pronunciations of certain words may seem way different and they tend to speak fast. Your counterpart will feel the same way if you speak fast. Encourage each other to speak slowly so that you both can understand each other well. If you are interviewing hires from India if all things equal, the one that tends to speak slowly naturally is the best candidate to pick as it will be easier to understand. As time goes by in a couple of months you and your Indian counterpart get used to each other’s accents that you might not even notice there are accent differences.
3. Communicate and educate each other about cultural differences at work
Since childhood Indians are trained to respect elders and people at higher designations in the society. Needless to say, they will address you as “Sir or Ma’am” at work if you are not communicating the joviality of the company culture. So, appreciate the way they respect and train them on the differences in work culture at your organization. Build a homogenous cultural framework without focusing on any religion, race, nationality, or gender. Educate the same to your Indian remote workforce and shape them to be the best inclusive fit for your global team.
See also: Understanding and managing work culture differences: USA vs India
4. Avoid micromanagement and let them work in their style
Considering the time differences, language barriers, and cultural differences, micromanaging your Indian remote team may cause a backfire. Obliging them to push beyond their limits and customizing the work strategies as per your rules without delegating with them, or getting their feedback may result in the quick departure of the remote talent you hired by spending a lot of time and money. Bad tone/style of communication can drive employees to do a job hop. In short, avoiding micromanaging practices and showing mutual respect will bring the best out of Indian resources as they are in general very committed to building professional relationships for the long term. Thus, treat them well, and they will treat you better by showing their dedication, honesty, and high efficiency at work.
5. Hire regional leaders to manage bigger remote teams
Regional leaders residing in India who are having a higher chance of close interactions and know exactly both international and domestic teams will simplify everything. They can communicate with you and convey the message exactly to your Indian team regarding projects, decorum at work, and anything formal and informal without having any communication gap. The tone of conversations can be modulated by such people and they will make things transparent between the organization and workforce by creating a very solid bridge. Choose someone trustable, strong, good at communication, compassionate, smart, and with experience in people management.
6. Pay competitive compensation
Run an in-depth study and market research about the compensation range in India depending on the job roles. Pay competitive remuneration including all mandatory benefits and allowances considering the cost of living and employee expectations. If the employee didn’t demand a high salary compared to your budget and he/she deserves to be paid well according to skillsets and knowledge, it is advisable to pay them well to accelerate the employee’s gratitude and satisfaction. It can improve the retention rate for your teams. Even if you pay them above the Indian market, they are still considerably way less expensive compared to the USA market.
See also: Employment laws and mandatory benefits in India
7. Choose the right partner in India to help you find talent, and manage their payroll, benefits, and compliance
If the process of hiring, managing payrolling, providing them a good workplace in India, adhering to compliance, and handling all HR solutions sound intriguing, then the best option is to work with a global PEO partner like GlobalSquirrels.com. Global Squirrels will help you find the resource(s) you need and act as your PEO for your India hires. Global Squirrels is a unique and innovative self-service subscription-based platform that takes care of your international sourcing and hiring needs. You don’t need to set up a local entity in India or don’t need to work with contractors using an offshore service provider or don’t need to deal with staffing companies. You can just sign up at globalsquirrels.com, submit your resource requests by picking one of our plans, and have the Global Squirrels platform to unlock the most budget-friendly and time-saving way to hire international talent to supercharge your business operations and/or growth. The only people you will be talking to are the candidates that you are going to hire during the interview process. The rest of the process is managed without any friction using the Global Squirrels’ platform. The super automated software and the Global Squirrels’ team behind the screen take care of everything for you.
