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The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted a great many businesses worldwide. The pandemic tested the resilience of companies to doing business under uncertain conditions. There was confusion followed by chaos as California was the first state in the US to lockdown. Economic activity seemed to be coming to a grinding halt. Businesses had to rapidly learn new ways of conducting business as their employees were forced to stay home. Physical teams started transforming rapidly into virtual teams. It took a while but gradually remote work and work from home became mainstream.

In this blog, we aim to address concerns about arriving at the know-how of hiring a remote team. How an Employer of Record services, i.e EOR services in India or an International PEO can contribute to finding the right fit with relevant experiences at competitive rates.

Our blog will educate you on exploring India as a prospective location for skilled resources, the risks, advantages, costs, and strategies for hiring and retaining a remote team in India. As well as how Professional Employer Organizations, i.e PEO services in India can outrun and serve as the best alternative compared to the other routes of remote hiring.

The remote working trend becomes mainstream

As it became evident to businesses that high-caliber workers were easily available in other countries like India for a fraction of the cost, it kick-started a race to hire overseas employees. There emerged an opportunity for certain types of businesses using cloud and telecom technologies to leverage remote workforce and gain a strategic advantage in their marketplaces.

The pandemic had indeed leveled the playing field for workers to provide their service to businesses out of their native country. The wave of remote working started by platforms like Upwork, Fiverr, Freelancer, Brickworks, and the likes got expedited by the pandemic.

The pandemic has encouraged successful remote teams’ work culture

The post-pandemic revolutionized the concept of work and business ecosystem altogether.

Interestingly, the Netherlands has decided to prioritize its employees’ work-life balance. They are just a step away from becoming the first country to provide work-from-home legally if the law is approved by the Senate. The pandemic was instrumental in playing a huge role in implementing remote hiring and increasing staff productivity.

India as a preferred destination for skilled manpower

India is perceived as a land of opportunity for its cultural, well-educated, and diverse background. India has a talent pool of highly educated and skilled professionals who are adept at problem-solving abilities and are immensely creative. People from India hail from different regions and bring various cultures and thought processes to the table. As per Quora, 4.4 million employees from India were employed in the IT and ITES sectors as of 2020.

Diving into the specifics of India, India holds the second-largest English-speaking manpower. It churns out a great tech talent of 1.5 million engineers yearly from various tier 1 and tier 2 engineering premier institutes like the Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) and National Institutes of Information Technology (NIT). According to the report published by the National Survey of India, the literacy rate of India as of 2022 is 77.7 %. India ranks 159 amongst 197 countries.

The cost of living in India on average is 64.6% lower than that of the US. The country’s average population is young. Moreover, it is quite easy to find staff who are eager to succeed and adapt to new business ethos. The salary packages are lower which means businesses in the west can have a larger workforce for the same budget.

India has over 75% of the World’s CMM-Level 5 companies and has the highest number of ISO-9000 certified companies. Whether you are offshoring to India or hiring Indian talents, high standards, professionalism, and reliability are a given. The Indian IT sector today is estimated to be $235 billion.

Companies emphasizing virtual team building

The journey of global companies exploring remote hiring dates back to global airlines like Texas Instruments and British Airways availing their back-end offices in India. IT/ITES companies followed the lead realizing India has great communication, technological and high-end telecom facilities. It has favorable business working environments as well. From 1945-1994, companies like International Business Machines (IBM), American Express, and American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T) permitted their employees to telecommute. Considering the telecommuting study conducted by the United States Federal Government reduced the employees’ commuting expenses and increased their productivity.

Today a lot of global software giants like Oracle, Microsoft, SAP, etc outsource to India by acknowledging its potential. India has a strong industrial base, growing infrastructure, and digitization. As well as an enthusiastic start-up population, encouraging growth, and partnering vision from the Government. In fact, 8% of India’s total Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is accounted for in the IT/ITES industry in 2020. The software industry of India has given out an output of $16 billion. The leading IT companies of India are well equipped with attractively designed buildings and posh campuses in prime locations.

The influx of global companies during the pandemic

There was a surge of companies coming to India. India benefited hugely from the pandemic. It’s one of the biggest countries in the world with a fast-growing economy, so it wasn’t a surprise why it became the top destination for hiring a remote team.

To get some context, the Indian Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) registered more than 124,000 companies in 2019-20, 155,000 in 2020-21 (25% growth), and 167,000 (8% growth) companies registered in the financial year 2021-22.

During FY 2021-22, the states that registered the largest number of companies were Maharashtra with 31,107 companies, followed by Uttar Pradesh at 16,969, Delhi at 16,323, Karnataka at 13,403, and Tamil Nadu at 11,020 companies.

Advantages of hiring a remote team and leading remotely

  • Broadens brand reach in two countries

By narrowing down on India as a prospective location for your global business expansion plans, you will have an opportunity to augment your brand visibility and culture in dual countries.

  • Remote hiring allows you to tap into a pool of diverse and adept population

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