Daivergent's Success Story with Remotify

To maximise the full potential of your human capital, you need clear organisational values, great culture and employees who can cultivate this culture.

This can be challenging if your staff primarily consists of contractors and freelancers. It’s important to have a team that is eager to grow alongside you and help you develop your company.

These were the growing pains that Daivergent found itself facing before partnering with Remotify. Daivergent is an all-digital job-creating platform for the disability community.  Since its launch in 2017, Daivergent has grown tremendously. 

Byran Dai, the CEO and co-founder of Daivergent, built his business for his family, as many other entrepreneurs in the disability industry do. Daivergent has helped numerous neurodivergent individuals as they transition into adulthood by helping them develop the necessary skills for employment, social interactions and independent living.

“We source, we train and we match individuals in this community. We provide exceptional coaches and personalised training plans for each individual’s professional and personal goals. The journey has been incredibly enlightening for us. We started as just doing job placements, but it evolved in time to include training services,” shared Byran.

The contractor conundrum: Significant retention challenges

Even in the beginning, Daivergent had a global mindset when it comes to hiring employees, freelancers and contractors. Daivergent recognised that great talent can be from anywhere in the world. The biggest driver for their need to hire is the growth of the coaching and training service they created. People recognised that Daivergent can enhance, supplement and grow the support they can give to disabled communities by leveraging talent anywhere in the world.

However, hiring freelancers and contractors predominantly within the staff resulted in significant challenges to Daivergent’s sustainable and scalable growth. Especially in a remote work environment, it’s crucial to find workers who are fully engaged in their tasks and committed to the organisation.

Byran recounted that: “In the past, we’ve had people from freelance platforms, and they come in at a relatively decent pace but the retention is challenging. We realised internally that it was hard to build a company culture when you’re not deliberate about it.”

There are other disadvantages of hiring contractors or freelancers that business owners need to consider as they grow their teams. Because freelancers are responsible for their income streams, taxes and contributions, they’re focused on making business decisions that increase their opportunities for profit — whether this means accepting more projects or terminating a partnership with a client. 

Freelancers also involve a lot of legal grey areas, including the misclassification of employees as freelancers, which can negatively impact workers and businesses. 

If you’re at the stage where your business is ready for long-term growth and development, as Daivergent was, then it’s more beneficial for you to invest in full-time employees. This will allow you to build a team that can support you in realising your vision and building your business. 

A shared corporate vision and mission are crucial in bringing your staff together, especially in a remote work environment.  It’s important to provide this sense of purpose to your employees to increase retention.

“We had an ‘aha!’ moment when we asked our US-based employees what made our company so compelling to work with us: It was the feeling that there was a shared mission and team they can work with. It wasn’t just a job that ends once the project is over,” Byran said.

Discovering the outsourcing opportunities in the Philippines

Daivergent first had the opportunity to work with the Philippines through its collaboration with the Autism Society of the Philippines in 2020. That was when Byran truly saw the potential in the Philippine market. It motivated him to open different departments for hiring in the Philippines.

“We were keen on working with the Philippines because of our great experience with the Autism Society of the Philippines in the past. The Filipinos’ work ethic, attention to detail and culture reflected the corporate culture we wanted to build in Daivergent. So when we found Remotify in the Philippines, it caught my attention,” Byran shared.

Outsourcing in the Philippines is a great opportunity for businesses around the world. The Philippine workforce has a high adaptability to the Western culture and an advanced proficiency in English, allowing Filipino employees to excel in English-speaking companies. The affordable labour wages in the Philippines also enable business owners to accelerate their growth and focus on developing different areas in the company.

However, outsourcing can be challenging if a business owner is doing it alone. There are different outsourcing options available, but each one has its advantages and disadvantages. As a business owner, you need to identify the right option for your company and ensure that it will help you achieve your hiring goals.

Byran recalled that, “My first conversation with Erwin was focused on understanding the ecosystems in the Philippines. It didn’t feel like a pitch of Remotify, more of helping me understand strategies in hiring. I stepped away from that conversation feeling great about what I heard.”

When Byran went to the Philippines to meet his team, he also decided to meet up with Maria and Erwin, deep diving into what it looks like to have a formal HR presence and culture that is built and instilled from the top down to maximise retention. 

“In essence, our conversation was about what it would be like if Daivergent’s workers were employees, not just contractors. That meeting with Maria and Erwin made me think Remotify gets it. They knew what we were trying to do, and they’re also looking to grow,” Byran said.

What sets Remotify apart from the typical Employer of Record is Remotify’s commitment to be a strategic HR partner for their clients, not just as a contract mill. Remotify recognises the potential of human capital and how it offers a unique competitive advantage for its clients. They are driven to help small to medium businesses harness the full potential of their workforce by developing a strong company culture even in a remote work environment.  

Establishing a formal HR presence in Daivergent 

Daivergent initially considered forming an entity in the Philippines before they signed with Remotify. However, the process of setting up a business in the Philippines was too costly in time, effort and resources. In comparison, Remotify delivers a cost advantage to their clients while ensuring that they stay compliant with local labour laws.

Since partnering with Remotify, almost a third of Daivergent’s workforce comes from the Philippines. The Daivergent team has grown 533% since starting with Remotify in October, allowing Daivergent to create happy clients and achieve its aggressive growth plans.

Remotify acts as Daivergent’s strategic HR business partner in the Philippines and manages the HR aspects of the business, running the gamut on the hiring process at every employee level, from management to junior employees.

"When we’re looking for a manager, we want to get a grasp of compensation perspectives and allowances. As CEO, I’ve been told by my directors that the most value we get from Remotify is the intuitive understanding of the local market. That’s something we don’t get from anywhere else," Byran shared.

Remotify has helped build Daivergent’s operations teams, comprising coaches, operations managers, and team leads. Remotify also handles the development of Daivergent’s engagement teams, which consist of resume reviewers, mock interviewers, and social facilitators. 

Hiring an Employer of Record as a remote HR provider enables businesses to successfully implement a remote work environment while building a thriving corporate culture. A remote HR provider has a clear understanding of remote work, allowing them to engage effectively with remote employees. In this regard, Remotify has been a pillar of support in Daivergent’s growth.

"Remotify supports us by making sure we don’t have to do anything HR-related. Everything from salary verification or handling an off-boarding of an employee and understanding the legal and administrative risks. Remotify helps us in the hiring process, making sure that potential candidates understand the role when interviewing them," Byran shared.

Building a thriving global corporate culture with Remotify

Remotify brought in Daivergent’s existing team under its record, helped Daivergent grow and onboard the staff, and continuously manages HR, payroll and all legal compliances. Remotify also helped procure devices for remote employees based in different locations in the Philippines.

Most importantly, Remotify ensures continuous engagement with the team through its INSPIRE culture, which aligns with Daivergent’s corporate culture. 

This just goes to show that human resources are essential in building a sustainable company culture even in a remote work environment. Human resources are the first port of call for employees, and they make sure that employees are involved in business processes and decisions that can impact them and their work.

As Daivergent’s HR partner, Remotify ensures that it implements hiring and retention strategies that align with the company’s vision and objectives. Remotify is driven to provide a “human” touch to its services, adding much-needed warmth and personality in a remote work environment.

“As the community grows, more families look at Daivergent’s digital model as something they can use themselves. Being able to trust Remotify with one side of the house, such as the HR management of the team and people operations, helps me focus on the other side of the house so I can grow my business,” Byran said.

We can help you harness your company’s human capital as your greatest competitive advantage. Contact us and we will help you achieve your goals of growing your team excellently and cost-effectively.