Summary of Hiring Internationally? Contract vs Employee

Tim Burgess and Jevin Maltais

Hiring Internationally? Contract vs Employee summary

Rating

The rating – what does it mean?

At getAbstract, we summarize books* that help people understand the world and make it better. Whatever we select for our library has to excel in one or the other of these two core criteria:

Enlightening – You’ll learn things that will inform and improve your decisions.

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We rate each piece of content on a scale of 1–10 with regard to these two core criteria. Our rating helps you sort the titles on your reading list from adequate (5) to brilliant (10). Books we rate below 5 won’t be summarized. Here's what the ratings mean:

5 –Solid. A helpful and/or enlightening book, inspite of its obvious shortcomings. For instance, it may be offer decent advice in some areas but be repetitive or unremarkable in others. 6 – Notable. A helpful and/or enlightening book that stands out by at least one aspect, e.g. is particularly well structured. 7 – Good. A helpful and/or enlightening book that combines two or more noteworthy strengths, e.g. contains uncommonly novel ideas and presents them in an engaging manner. 8 – Very good. A helpful and/or enlightening book that has a substantial number of outstanding qualities without excelling across the board, e.g. presents the latest findings in a topical field and is written by a renowned expert but lacks a bit in style. 9 – Superb. A helpful and/or enlightening book that is extremely well rounded, has many strengths and no shortcomings worth mentioning. 10 – Brilliant. A helpful and/or enlightening book that, in addition to meeting the highest standards in all pertinent aspects, stands out even among the best. Often an instant classic and must-read for everyone. While the rating tells you how good a book is according to our two core criteria, it says nothing about its particular defining features. Therefore, we use a set of 20 qualities to characterize each book by its strengths:

Applicable – You’ll get advice that can be directly applied in the workplace or in everyday situations.
Analytical – You’ll understand the inner workings of the subject matter.
Background – You’ll get contextual knowledge as a frame for informed action or analysis.
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Well structured – You’ll find this to be particularly well organized to support its reception or application.

*getAbstract is summarizing much more than books. We look at every kind of content that may matter to our audience: books, but also articles, reports, videos and podcasts. What we say here about books applies to all formats we cover.

Qualities

Applicable
Engaging
Insider's Take

Recommendation

Hiring remote workers increases your talent pool exponentially. But how do hire someone from abroad? What legal implications do you need to consider? Tim Burgess runs a GEO called Shield GEO which helps connect international employees and employers. In this episode of the podcast Building Remote Teams, host Jevin Maltais talks to Burgess about engaging overseas workers as regular employees versus contractors.

About the Podcast

Building Remote Teams is an interview podcast about building strong remote teams. In this episode, host Jevin Maltais talks to Tim Burgess who runs Shield GEO and has helped connect international employees and employers throughout his career.

Summary

More than ever, organizations engage remote workers based in other countries.

Every nation has labor laws and cultural norms around employment. Firms that wish to tap into overseas talent should do so thoughtfully and with awareness of local rules, norms and culture. In the United States, for example, many employees don’t have a contract. Instead, they receive an offer letter that specifies their status as an at-will employee: The employees can leave, and employers can let them go, without notice or cause. Almost everywhere else, laws require at least two weeks’ notice and legitimate cause for termination.

Whatever their status, most traditional employees enjoy benefits that amount to half or more of their salary. To make up for having no health care, paid vacations and other perks as well as less job security, contractors typically charge higher hourly rates than equivalent employees. Normally, however, they remain less expensive than regular employees and easier to separate.