Many HR departments don’t have the mechanisms in place to keep track of an increasingly remote workforce. In this article, David Livitt, global practice leader, business traveler and remote worker solutions, Global Tax Network, writes why tracking is essential, how to preserve employee privacy, and the strategies for effective implementation.
Global business travel is about to take off, and it’s poised to overwhelm unprepared HR teams. As travel returns and companies extend full-time remote work policies, many HR professionals are realizing they don’t have the mechanisms in place to keep track of where their employees are working. Unfortunately, as HR teams start to track workers scattered across the globe, they may find that not every solution is appropriate or effective. However, by understanding what’s acceptable, available, and possible when it comes to employee tracking, your HR department can track employees globally and avoid common HR pitfalls.
HR Professionals Can Avoid Future Pitfalls by Tracking Employees Now
Global business travel is expected to surge 21% in 2021Opens a new window , and 70% of employeesOpens a new window are expected to work remotely at least five days per month by 2025. As employees move across the globe, many HR professionals are reassessing their long-term remote work policies and realizing their strategies are outdated. Worse yet, in many cases, their ability to adequately track employee whereabouts is nonexistent.
Tracking employees extends beyond simply knowing when and where an employee is working. As employees flock to international work locations, they’re setting off compliance, tax, and corporate culture alarm bells. However, by accurately tracking employees now, HR professionals can avoid major headaches and complications in the future.
Learn More: 4 Vital Steps To Ensure Workplace Health and Safety
Does Your HR Team Need to Track Employees?
Tracking employees today, when more workers than ever are on the move, can be a daunting task. You’re probably wondering if it’s worth it to set up policies or invest in technology to track employees. The short answer is: yes. There are three pressing reasons HR teams need to track employee whereabouts:
1.Duty of care
One major reason to track employees is to keep them safe. If your employees are in an area where there is a sudden natural disaster, political unrest, or any unexpected event, you’ll want to be able to take care of them. If you don’t know where they’re working, it’s impossible to set up emergency procedures that will protect your workers.
2. Regulatory and compliance needs
Different countries and states require unique tax reporting and filing responsibilities. In many cases, these tax and compliance regulations will hinge on the total number of work visits an employee makes to a certain location in a given time period. The associated responsibilities could spill into everything from social security obligations, immigration laws, global equity compensation, and unique one-off tax rules. Ignoring regulatory standards can result in everything from corporate compliance violations and company penalties to employee fines or ongoing audit costs and frustrations.
3. Reputational risk
Another reason to track employees is to dig into whether they’re creating excessive risk by working in a specific area. Especially for high-profile employees, violating international rules can significantly impact your company’s reputation.
Beyond reputational damage among the general public, losing track of workers can affect internal culture. Employees want to be able to work remotely. A recent State of Remote Work surveyOpens a new window , conducted before the pandemic by the social media company Buffer, found that 99% of the surveyed remote workers want to continue working remotely at least some of the time throughout their careers. Without tracking capabilities, it is tough to set up clear remote work policies. This means employees may not be able to work where they want or may have no idea where they are and aren’t allowed to work.
Not tracking global employees can also cause their compensation to shift under the radar. For instance, if your employee is receiving global equity as compensation, but suddenly they’re taxed at a higher rate by a particular country, the compensation package may no longer be attractive. Without clear tracking policies, it is difficult to identify where to adjust compensation to keep employees happy.
What To Consider When Forming Tracking Policies
HR professionals may think tracking an employee’s whereabouts is as easy as turning on their location on a phone or GPS device. Unfortunately, privacy concerns make this simplistic approach unreliable, if not unrealistic. After all, would you feel comfortable if your employer knew your exact location 24 hours a day? If you want to keep your internal culture intact, avoid legal action, and track employees effectively, there are some human factors to consider when crafting tracking policies:
- Employee emotions: Before setting up a tracking policy, consider whether it is going to impinge on your employees’ emotions. This will vary from company to company, but the key is tuning into your employee base. If it seems like policies are intrusive, you may need to scale them back.
- Cultural and personal boundaries: Privacy will hold different values based on your individual employee’s culture. Before setting up an employee tracking procedure, make sure it isn’t damaging company culture by asking too much of employees.
- Reasonable expectations: There may be critical information that employees are happy to share and other details that are off-limits. For instance, most employees will be willing to let you know what country or city they’re working in, but allowing more in-depth GPS tracking may be considered intrusive and overkill. Try to ask employees what they’re willing to share before you craft employee tracking policies.
Steps Toward Tracking Employees Effectively
Once you’ve established clear boundaries around employee tracking, there are steps you can take to effectively check in on employees and promote a more beneficial global work environment for everyone involved. Here are the steps you can take:
1. Lay out policies
Start by defining the different types of work that are available at your business and build policies for each category. Some common work groups include business travelers, remote workers, commuters, short-term global employees, and permanent global employees. Effective policies include established rules for booking travel, managing expenses, and tracking locations. From there, be sure to back up your policies with a “frequently asked questions†document to help employees find answers as needed.
2. Establish processes
Once you’ve set up policies, data will start pouring in. You’ll want to establish who is in charge of what information and which employees need to make which decisions. It’s best to place a single person in charge of your employee tracking efforts but be sure to spread the work out across a team. This way, when cross-departmental issues pop up, such as immigration, social security tax, value-added tax (VAT), and other specialized topics, your HR professional won’t be overwhelmed.
 Learn More: Emotional Intelligence in the Hybrid Workplace: How Technology Can Help Us Be More Human
3. Embrace technology
Technology will be a lifesaver, especially for companies with more remote and global work management needs. With the right technology, your HR team can centralize data and manage workflows without drowning in employee requests. Consult with your various mobility providers on technology that will streamline your processes and support the specific needs of your mobility program.
With these steps, your HR team can build a foundation to support remote and global work well into the future, even as the nature of work continues to evolve. When the remote work requests come flooding in, your team will know where employees are setting up shop and be equipped to meet shifting workplace needs head-on.