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In a landmark decision, Australia’s Fair Work Act has been extended to overseas contractors following two incidents of controversial dismissals of remote employees by Australian businesses. Last month, claims were accepted on behalf of a Filipino Legal Assistant and a Bosnian Software Engineer. In both cases, surprisingly, the Fair Work Commission agreed not only to hear the cases, but also found in favor of these workers being classified as employees rather than independent contractors.

The decision signifies a pivotal shift in employment rights for overseas contractors - and the companies that employ them - at a global scale.

Details about the cases

Contrary to her contract, upon further investigation, the Fair Work Act ruled that the Filipino employee, Pascua, was indeed a full time employee, not an independent contractor because she was hired directly by the Australian firm without an Employer of Record in the Philippines. This means that Pascua has full protection under Australian labor laws, and also must be paid the national minimum wage of AUD$30.95 an hour—something that hadn’t formerly been the case.

Similarly, while the Bosnian employee - Mr Zahirovic - was working exclusively from Indonesia as a digital nomad, the ruling found that he too was actually a full time employee in Australia, and should be protected by the same laws as those who are permanently employed there.

What this means for businesses

These rulings are a warning to global employers hiring outsourced talent online without the proper support or regulation and compliance measures in place. In the above cases, the companies got in touch with the contractors directly, which left them exposed to claims by either - or both - labor laws.

While international businesses often struggle with finding the right talents, retaining those talents, and complying with a myriad of regulations, it’s clear that this is no longer an excuse to cut corners when hiring remote teams. Thankfully, there’s an all-encompassing solution for any business wanting to reap the benefits of hiring overseas talent while keeping compliant.

How an Employer of Record solves the problem

Partnering with an Employer of Record (EOR) - like us here at Remotify - insulates companies from this issue. EORs act as the local employer and strategic HR partner on the ground to help keep businesses compliant. Alongside this, an EOR will take care of contracts, payroll and all the administrative heavy lifting to ensure employers have happy employees who produce better results, no matter where they are in the world. Similarly, for contractors hoping to work globally, an EOR acts as their legal protection against unfair dismissals, poor working environments, and generally unfair treatment. In short: an EOR works for both employers and employees, alleviating the burden of compliance issues that - more and more - are going to be called out and dealt with—sometimes severely.

If you’d like to hear more about how Remotify can help you go about hiring outsourced talent the ethical way without losing control of your daily operations, do book a call with a member of our friendly team today. We’d be happy to help you with your transition towards more remote, global ways of working.

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In his new role as Department of Government Efficiency (Doge), Elon Musk has said the quiet part loud when it comes to forcing federal workers back into the office full time: he hopes it will make people quit. It’s a concept that many have discussed, predicted and rebuked over the last year or so, but few CEOs have voiced it so plainly and unapologetically until now.

In a joint op-ed in the Wall Street Journal alongside Vivek Ramaswamy, Musk wrote that “Requiring federal employees to come to the office five days a week would result in a wave of voluntary terminations that we welcome: If federal employees don’t want to show up, American taxpayers shouldn’t pay them for the Covid-era privilege of staying home.”

Perhaps this is no real surprise coming from Musk, who banned remote work when he took over X (formerly Twitter) and immediately laid off the majority of the company’s talent. But his hard stance on remote and hybrid work will undoubtedly drip down into other areas outside government, too.

Deliberately creating a work environment that makes life hard for employees is highly controversial—especially when the end result is to force people to quit on their own terms. Doing so means corporations can avoid costly redundancies and administrative burdens that are legally required when letting an employee go properly and ethically. In the case of the US government, over a million people (that’s half the federal staff) stand to be affected by a return to office mandate, given that they currently work from home at least some of the time.

At a glance, you can see why some companies might find such a mandate tempting. But, as we’ve seen with X, the brand damage is irreversible when a company treats its people so poorly. This month alone, millions have jumped ship in a mass exodus from X onto its competitors Bluesky and Threads. Eventually, cut corners come back to bite you.

When he refers to hybrid work as a “Covid-era privilege”, this is perhaps where Musk shows his colors most plainly. He sees a better work-life balance and increased trust in his employees as a threat to his leadership—a privilege rather than a basic human choice. But flexible work is far from a privilege, it makes perfect sense for millions of people all over the world. And while Musk may currently “welcome” a surge in voluntary exits, in the near future, it will be the CEOs who refuse to move with the times that suffer the long-term consequences. Flexible work is here to stay, whether Elon Musk likes it or not.

At Remotify, we believe that the best workplaces are flexible workplaces. Our Employer of Record service makes transitioning to remote work simple, seamless and effective. Want to find out more about how we do it? Book a call with a member of our friendly team today.

With only a few hours left before we find out the US Election results, both workers and businesses are gearing up for potential drastic change to the corporate landscape. But one outcome appears to be set no matter which candidate wins: a rise in remote work.

According to a recent article by Forbes, the US Election is greatly influencing people’s desires to both hire and work from other countries outside of the States—mainly because of the uncertainty that a presidential election brings with it. When speaking to Forbes, Jae Gardner, Director of Operations at recruitment platform Redrob, said: “There is always unease during election season, with businesses aiming to keep costs low and possible candidates less inclined to leave their job for the unknown of something new. A win-win for those who need to hire will be to turn toward the talent that exists outside of the US. They're cheaper, less affected by the current US election anxiety, and even perhaps a better fit for the role.”

Research from Redrob backs this up, with more than one-third (36%) of companies saying they are willing to hire fully remote workers anywhere in the US (26%), or abroad (the remaining 10%). But is it just uncertainty that’s causing the shift toward remote ways of working?

Dubbed “the election effect”, the corporate lean towards remote work is also influenced by the presidential candidates themselves. Both Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump will have different methods of handling things like taxes and regulations—both issues that can be significantly adapted - and also cost considerably less - when hiring remotely.

On an individual level, workers are also more inclined to begin working remotely as a result of the US Election. Many prefer to become digital nomads, able to surf the wave of political uncertainty rather than falling too deeply into it. Unencumbered by US-based employers, freelancers and contractors are able to avoid some of the cutbacks that will inevitably occur among US businesses as a result of the election.

Research by Ladders also found that, in the same quarter that Kamala Harris was announced as the Democratic nominee, remote roles made up more than 10% of high-paying job postings (aka $100,000 or more a year), with high-paying hybrid roles increasing by 50%.

These findings come at an interesting time, as many household-name companies in the US have been pushing for a full-scale return to office. In the last few weeks alone, both Amazon and Dell have forced employees back to the office five days a week, for instance. But these policies are undoubtedly going against the grain, with companies like Spotify willing to embrace the increasing popularity of remote and hybrid work.

All in all, it’s good news for those of us who understand and push for the freedom to work remotely. It’s a sign of the times that, no matter which candidate succeeds, the remote route remains a popular option for future-proofing business and weathering storms. Something which - as we all know - will always be necessary.

At Remotify, we believe that the best workplaces are flexible workplaces. We’ve helped countless companies transition from mandatory office hours to a more flexible approach, handling the complex details on your behalf. Want to find out more about how we do it? Book a call with a member of our friendly team today.

“Work is not a place you come to, it’s something you do.”

Affirming words from Spotify’s Chief HR Officer, Katarina Berg, as the music streaming company pledges to keep its popular work-from-home policy. Spotify, which has been digital from birth, has likened forcing employees back to the office to treating them “like children”, with Berg adding, “Why shouldn’t we give our people flexibility and freedom?”

Spotify’s decision to continue with flexible work comes amid fresh demands from other tech giants to get employees back into the office full-time. Earlier this month, Dell’s sudden 5-day return to office mandate left employees scrambling to find childcare. And Amazon - who has long attempted to erase remote work wherever possible from its business - has now doubled down with a 5-day mandatory in-office policy.

So, why has Spotify taken this line, when so many others are pushing for a widespread return to in-person work?

Spotify knows that remote and hybrid work makes for happier employees

It’s no secret that Spotify’s pledge to retain a flexible work policy is linked to the company’s recent layoffs. Spotify let go of 1,500 members of staff last December, its biggest-ever round of layoffs. The company naturally had a job to do to increase morale among its remaining employees. And what makes employees happy? Flexible work.

The fact is that remote and hybrid ways of working are still immensely popular among the world’s talent pool. Research has shown that a staggering 77% of workers are more likely to leave a company if they’re not offered some level of freedom to choose where they work, and that attitudes towards hybrid work are becoming increasingly positive, with 29% saying they preferred a hybrid work model in 2024, up from 25% the previous year.

Tech leaders need to learn how to trust

No matter the reasoning from the Amazons and Dells of the world - whether it’s productivity, collaboration, or company culture - Spotify has a point about infantilizing employees by forcing them into an office 5 days a week. Employees must be allowed to make their own decisions about where and when they do their best work. For every team member who enjoys remote work, there’s usually another who prefers the office. So why force anyone’s hand?

Online, many have been speculating that some of these companies are using mandatory returns to the office to force resignations—allowing them to reduce their headcounts without the financial burden of official layoffs, or excessive brand damage. If this is the case, however, it’s hardly a win for brand recognition.

After all, company culture is far more likely to thrive when employees are given autonomy over their work-life balance. Forcing begrudging employees back to the office every day - some of whom have to travel hours to get there, organize expensive childcare, or struggle against physical or mental disabilities to do it - is hardly going to improve attitudes.

It’s refreshing to see a tech giant like Spotify understand the nuances of flexible work. By putting the wellbeing and choices of its employees at the forefront of business, it’s better able to weather the inevitable disruptions that come with running a business. Those that refuse to follow suit? Well, the results speak for themselves.

At Remotify, we believe that the best workplaces are flexible workplaces. We’ve helped countless companies transition from mandatory office hours to a more flexible approach, handling the complex details on your behalf. Want to find out more about how we do it? Book a call with a member of our friendly team today.

This month, economists have reported that remote work has solidified its position as a major labor market shift. The findings have backed what many of us already believed: that remote work has been the most significant long-term transformation to the world of work in decades, and has likely changed the way we’ll work forever.

While remote work continues to be a divisive subject, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, 35% of employees did some or all of their work from home in 2023, compared to 24% in 2019. The numbers are particularly interesting in light of the “return to office” schemes that have taken place at multiple corporations since the pandemic. Because while remote work is (as you’d expect) not as prolific as it was during the global lockdowns, it has now stabilized at a level far higher than pre-pandemic.

For businesses and individuals who are willing to accept remote and hybrid working models, its popularity comes as no surprise. The benefits for employees are huge. Nick Bloom, an economics professor at Stanford University, asserts that offering hybrid working models is almost equal to giving employees an 8% raise.

The freedom to work from where you choose and the flexibility that brings, vastly improves the quality of life for many workers. Remote work allows people to spend more time with family and friends, it’s more economically sustainable, it democratizes land so that people don’t have to live in overpopulated cities, and it’s great for work-life balance and managing burnout.

But it’s not just employees who get to reap the benefits. Businesses also stand to benefit hugely from the new standard. Financially, companies can save significant costs on real estate, travel, and hiring. But it also enables companies to work with people from all over the world, unencumbered by borders. The idea that your talent has to fall within a handful of miles from your HQ is quickly becoming an archaic line of thinking. In a remote-first work environment, the best person for the job might be in the furthest corner of the globe. Does it matter? Not one bit.

For those of us who champion the benefits of remote work, this announcement is music to our ears. The more universally the corporate world accepts remote work, the more we can focus on honing it and perfecting it—making it the best and most effective method of working we’ve had to date.

At Remotify, we work with companies and individuals to transfer easily to a remote work model, allowing them to hire the best global talent, cut back on costs, and create truly amazing places to work. If you’d like to find out more about our services, why not book a call with our friendly team? We’d be happy to help!

A recent talk by Airbnb’s cofounder Brian Chesky has been making waves across the startup landscape this month, all revolving around one exciting new term: Founder Mode. Up until recently, there was no convenient explainer for Founder Mode, but many have felt its effects or impact for decades. To better explain what Founder Mode exemplifies, it’s useful to start by understanding its opposite: Manager Mode.

For a long time, Manager Mode has been the way countless startups have been run as they scale into larger businesses. It’s the idea that, when a company reaches a certain size or success level, once-involved leaders begin to adopt a delegation-centric, hands-off management style. It runs nicely alongside the mantra of “hire good people and the work will take care of itself”, but it seems that doing so does not always reap the rewards Manager Mode promises.

In fact, Chesky and many others (including Steve Jobs) have felt that, when founders begin to ease into Manager Mode, the company suffers as a result. Instead, they believe in adopting Founder Mode, which is the art of remaining close to the details and to the people behind them, even as your company scales.

In a now widely-shared article by Paul Graham of Y-combinator, he talks about the reasoning behind why Manager Mode often doesn’t work for founders. He says, “What [founders] were being told was how to run a company you hadn't founded — how to run a company if you're merely a professional manager. But…there are things founders can do that managers can't, and not doing them feels wrong to founders, because it is.”

Essentially, if you take responsibilities like problem-solving, creative ideation and risk-taking decisions away from founders, you lose what makes them so uniquely useful and powerful to the company. Having them sitting behind a desk away from the noise is not where they typically thrive, or what got them there in the first place.

For many startups - like us here at Remotify - having Founder Mode coined is of huge importance, because it helps others to understand the differences between staying where our talents lie, and negative terms like “micromanaging”. As a female-founded business, this is especially important because Founder Mode is a much harder dance for women, who are more likely to get canceled or reprimanded for exhibiting Founder Mode than their male counterparts. As Bumble’s founder Whitney Wolfe Herd says, “[I was] in founder mode for 10 years and got attacked for it every single day.”

The more we learn about Founder Mode, the easier it will be for us to exhibit it, no matter who we are, what our gender is or what we look like. The results have continued to show us that many founders do their best work when they continue to roll up their sleeves and remain a part of the everyday running of the business. And who are we to argue with these results?

At Remotify, we work with companies and individuals to create amazing places to work, no matter where you are in the world. Want to find out more about how we do it? Book a call with a member of our friendly team today.

Outsourcing certain tasks and roles can be an amazing way for businesses to connect with the best talent for the job, and run a company efficiently from anywhere in the world—but it requires some due diligence. The nature of outsourcing will sadly encourage some people to cut corners or not treat outsourced talent with the same respect and fairness as their full-time employees. But doing so is lose-lose for both talent and brand, and that’s where the practice of ethical outsourcing comes into play.

What is ethical outsourcing?

Put simply, ethical outsourcing is hiring outside talent or services while still adhering to a high standard of ethical conduct and regulations. This means that everyone you hire - whether that’s internal or external - gets access to the same rights, privileges and dignity. These might include things like safe working conditions, labor rights, fair compensation, cultural or environmental sensitivity, and legal compliance.

What are the benefits of ethical outsourcing?

The benefits of ethical outsourcing for talent are pretty clear: they’re treated more fairly, have a greater sense of job security, and are better able to progress in their careers. But it’s not just workers who benefit from more ethical approaches to outsourcing. The companies themselves typically see an enhanced brand reputation, higher levels of productivity and work quality, more innovation and creativity, improved company culture and better financial results.

Alongside the positives, companies will also avoid a host of negative issues presented by unethical outsourcing, such as worker exploitation and legal and compliance complaints. Both of these can be hugely expensive to solve, but perhaps still not as detrimental or everlasting as the brand damage that comes with them.

Ways you can implement ethical outsourcing in your workplace

So, how do you begin to implement ethical outsourcing? The below list outlines some sure-fire ways to make sure you’re doing it right:

At Remotify, we work with companies and individuals to make outsourcing as ethical, successful and positive as it can be. We believe the best talent and connections take place all over the world, but you need the right tools, people and services to make that happen. That’s where we come in. Want to find out more about how we do it? Book a call with a member of our friendly team today!

There are many challenges to being a founder—most especially in the early stages of creating a business. When starting out as a founder, you are the business. You are the idea, the hard work, the salesperson, the creativity. Because of this, it feels amazing when you succeed—but it’s just as easy to take it personally when you don’t.

Traits like being able to handle rejection, having perseverance and betting on yourself require a unique and - to many of us who have been taught to value modesty or carefulness - an unnatural way of thinking. But it’s a crucial mindset to have to succeed in the startup space.

Here, we’ve explored some of these character traits in more detail which we believe make up that endlessly sought-after ‘founder mindset’.

Handling rejections

Hopefully, as a founder, you already believe in what you do. If that’s the case, you’re in the right mindset—you just need to keep flexing it, like a muscle. When you understand exactly why your business is vital - and who it’s vital for - you grow a much thicker skin when pitching to the outside world. In this way, when you experience rejection (and as any seasoned founder will tell you, you’ll experience plenty in your journey, no matter how successful you are!) it won’t derail your journey or make you doubt your vision.

Coming to terms with rejection as a part of (startup) life - something to learn from but not dwell on - will give you the right mindset to persevere with your journey. Because sometimes, just carrying on is the hardest but most necessary thing you’ll have to do.

Betting on yourself

Creating a business from scratch requires more than a little risk—and risk is something you must learn to live with and use if you want to be a successful founder. When leading a startup, there are of course times to be careful. You need to be able to stay afloat in harder moments and have a plan for the future, for instance. But there are also times when you need to have the mindset to bet on yourself, in spite of the risks.

In its simplest form, betting on yourself is just another way of having faith—faith in what you’ve created, but also faith in your ability to see it through.

Being your most reliable ally

Sometimes, it might feel like being a founder is all about being strong, robust and thick-skinned, but you also need to be gentle and compassionate with yourself and your team.

Being an ‘ally’ to yourself isn’t only about openly supporting what you’re doing, it’s about supporting yourself on an emotional level, too. Having your business’s best interests at heart can sometimes look like asking for help, taking a break or slowing down. Founders are only human, after all, and no one can keep up a founder mindset without rest, kindness and support.

At Remotify, we’re on a mission to help companies and their founders succeed through the freedom and flexibility of remote work. We help both companies and individuals grow with remote teams, using our Employer of Record Plus service. Want to find out more about how we do it? Book a call with a member of our friendly team today.

Globally, the Baby Boomer generation are reaching retirement age, resulting in a mass exodus from the workforce. Great news for any Boomers ready to swap corporate meetings for gardening gloves (or any other hobby of their choice), but the exodus is leaving the labor market in rather a sticky situation. The problem is: employers aren’t being left with enough time to transfer skills and knowledge onto younger employees, meaning certain skills are at risk of dying out altogether.

That’s where ‘flextirement’ comes in.

What is flextirement?

Flextirement is the new term being used by companies offering older employees the chance to ease flexibly into retirement without giving up work altogether. It would focus less on day-to-day tasks and more on the transfer of knowledge and skills. Employees that are ‘flextired’ are more likely to take up mentoring or consulting positions, for example.

Why are people doing it?

As well as allowing older generations to properly pass on their learnings to younger employees, flextirement also allows people at retirement age to make a slower and more gradual journey towards retirement, rather than cutting off all forms of work at once. While retirement is often positioned as a happy, relaxing moment in our lives that we’ve worked hard to reach, research has found that almost one in three retirees say they feel depressed—a rate higher than that of the adult population overall. Going from full-time work to nothing at all can be a physical and emotional shock. Flextirement is one way to make the process less so.

A shift towards flexibility

The trend in flextirement is a mirror of other more flexible measures occurring across the global workforce. Since the pandemic, many workplaces have introduced either remote or hybrid working options, and the rise of the ‘digital nomad’ career has skyrocketed. Clearly, we’re living through a moment of unparalleled openness to change.

While flextirement gives employers a great opportunity to squeeze knowledge and skills from an experienced demographic, undoubtedly most of the benefits are felt by the workers themselves. Flextirement is giving the Boomer generation the flexibility to prioritize things like family, health, and travel—all while retaining a sense of career purpose until they’re ready to fully transition into retirement.

For those willing to embrace more flexible, unconventional methods of working, the future of work will be second nature. That is, after all, where things are headed.

At Remotify, we believe in the power of flexibility and being able to work from wherever you choose. We help countless companies and individuals transition seamlessly to growing with remote teams, using our Employer of Record service. Want to find out more about how we do it? Book a call with a member of our friendly team today.

Tap in, drink a coffee, tap out. Sound like the ideal day at the office? Well, plenty of people are doing exactly this—but employers aren’t too happy about it. ‘Coffee badging’, a term coined by Owl Labs, describes the new trend of office workers showing up to work to physically meet their attendance quota, staying for the length of a coffee, catch-up or meeting, then heading home right after.

Why are so many people ‘coffee badging’?

After the pandemic, many employers wanted to get their staff back into the office, some going as far as to implement mandatory office days that were tracked by swipe cards. While the new trend of coffee badging undoubtedly has a connection to the popularity of remote work, it’s largely down to rising resentments around a lack of freedom and trust.

With so many companies offering either fully remote or hybrid working options for employees, it’s understandable that individuals might come to resent companies that don’t offer the same freedoms.

Surveillance and scaremongering - why it doesn’t work

At first glance, mandatory office time bolstered by surveillance might seem like a good way to get butts back in office chairs. But research has shown that a staggering 77% of workers are more likely to leave a company if they’re not offered some level of freedom to choose where they work.

Scaring your workers into returning to the office won’t end up boosting productivity. Rather, the stats show that workers who feel pressured and surveilled will simply find somewhere else to work.

So, what’s the solution?

If you want your employees in the office at least some of the time, the best thing you can do to avoid coffee badging is to make in-office time useful, productive and sociable. People are far more likely to feel frustrated if they come into the office to do exactly what they could at home. Actively schedule meetings, guest speakers, treats and perks for those days when you require people’s attendance. And perhaps try to encourage your staff to come in on specific days, so that they’re not surrounded by empty desks.

Of course, you could always trust your employees to choose for themselves whether office or remote work works best for them. Not all humans are built the same, and some people simply prefer - whether for mental, physical or personal differences - to work from home. And do a better job because of it.

At the end of the day, as long as employees are performing well and are happy in their roles, what does it matter if they are at home, in an office, or in a co-working space? Surely anything is better than resentfully beeping in for the sake of it.

At Remotify, we believe that the best workplaces are flexible workplaces. Our Employer of Record service makes transitioning to remote teams simple, seamless and effective. Want to find out more about how we do it? Book a call with a member of our friendly team today.