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Hiring foreign workers is a good way to bring diversity to the workforce. This comes with enhanced creativity and innovation as well as improved problem-solving capabilities. This means increased performance and productivity for the organization. In addition, setting your eyes on a global talent pool makes it easy to fill in the skills gap that you can’t find locally. Foreign workers also come with a deep understanding of foreign markets that you can leverage to expand quickly. However, with the entrance of foreign workers, the issue of employment law can be quite challenging. But, it is always important to get it right to avoid brushing with the law the wrong way down the line. Here are 5 ways to adjust employment law for your foreign workers.
Workers salary payment
When it comes to paying foreign workers working cross borders, certain things are bound to change. For starters, you need to think of the currency that you are going to use, keeping in mind how currency conversions affect the amount of money your workers receive. In addition, taxes differ from country to country. You might need to check how taxes are in the countries that your workers are working from. More on that, find out if there are any treaties in existence and make adjustments appropriately.
Another important thing to think about is workers’ classification. Rushing to pay every foreign employee as an independent contractor might land you in trouble legally. Do your homework and classify workers correctly. You might need to have a payroll in their country or hire a third-party company as an employer of record. Including team-building activities will further help to develop a friendly and diverse work culture where everyone will feel comfortable.
Occupational safety and health
The safety and health of your workers when undertaking their duties are very important. Now that you have foreign workers joining the organization, you need to adapt your policy to match the international labor standards on occupational safety and health. According to the International Labor Organization, every worker must be protected from injury, disease, and sickness emerging from employment. This means implementing prevention, inspection, and reporting practices in the workplace to prevent tragedies. Ensure that you review the ILO standards on occupational safety and health to find out tools that can apply to your organization.
To this end, it is paramount that workers understand the occupational health and safety clause on their contracts. Hiring translation services for contract translation becomes necessary. You need to ensure that you are working with translation experts to avoid miscommunication.
Employment termination
Cases of unfair dismissal are common and cost employers heftily. Before signing a contract with foreign workers, it is important to understand what the termination law says in their country. This includes understanding the duration of the notice period when you have to issue employees with a termination notice. In addition, most countries allow termination for potentially valid reasons for terminating employees. They include gross misconduct, poor performance, fraud, insubordination, and willful breach of trust among others. However, do your due diligence to understand the standards set by the International Labor Organization before putting pen to paper.
Working hours
Most of us know that the standard working hours are 8 hours a day, 40 hours a week. However, this isn’t always the case. The number of working hours per day depends on the worker's classification and the country they are working from. For instance, in Australia, a student visa holder is only allowed to work for 20 hours per week. This means that you have to pay attention to every detail about the person you are hiring. Additionally, the case changes if you are hiring independent contractors and freelancers to work on flexible hours.
Paid leave
Each country has its own regulations on what is considered paid leave. ILO standards have set paid annual leave at three weeks for each year of service. Ensure that your contract matches what the law requires. In addition, keep in mind any other situation where you might be required to pay your workers in their absence. This includes sick days, maternity days, and public holidays.
Conclusion
Hiring foreign workers presents various benefits for organizations such as heightened innovation and productivity. However, you need to be prepared to hire foreign workers compliantly if you are to keep away costly legal tussles. To get it right, consider working with a legal expert to understand areas you need to make adjustments to the employment law for foreign workers.
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