Managing international workforce is challenging but, crucial for the growth of your business. So, you can try an employee management platform for this task. It streamlines the planning and administration of your workforce.
Here, we are going to discuss eight top-notch software to manage your international workforce. All the suggested applications increase the productivity of your organization, improve the efficiency of your staff, and help you make better decisions. So, read the reviews and pick the right solution for your business.
Global Workforce Management Challenges
A lot of organizations hire internationally, which complicates their human resource management. Navigating between cultural differences and handling a diverse team is not easy. So, understand the global workforce management challenges and pick the best strategies to deal with them. Knowing these barriers is important before you go international.
Bridging the distance
Scheduling meetings and collaboration is challenging in a global team. You need to overcome time zone differences and offer professional development training to unite your international workforce. Providing access to leadership is also a problem. HR managers must ensure everyone knows the strategies planned and deployed by the top-level management.
Ensuring legal compliance
You have to stay compliant with all the different labor laws and local regulations of each country if you own an international workforce. Checking all these requirements and making policies accordingly is another challenge for the HR team. Violation of laws and regulations could be an expensive mistake.
Do you know the biggest problem? The local laws can change anytime, which means the HRs have to keep up with all these changes. It’s one of the areas where a high-quality international workforce management software like Deel can give you additional peace of mind because it keeps you compliant with all the latest laws and regulations.
Managing diverse cultures
International teams bring different cultures together, which is great for your company. Such a working arrangement helps you to understand the perspective of different people from different regions, know creative solutions to problems, and create better employee engagement. But, the HR team has to work hard to generate these benefits.
Creating a tenacious working environment in diverse teams is not easy. Language is the biggest hindrance to team communication. These differences can also lead to misunderstandings if not considered correctly. In addition, culturally different individuals might not be able to follow the same norms, values, and regulations.
Top 8 Platforms for Managing International Workforce
Deel
Deel is our favorite because it has a wide range of features to manage your international workforce. This solution covers payroll, insurance, taxes, compliance, and more. Plus, it has a user-friendly interface.
Managing global workforce is easy with Deel as it’s a single solution for HR, global hiring, and payroll. Whether you wish to hire employees and contractors across the globe or consolidate payroll for all your staff, Deel has your back. Plus, this platform keeps you compliant. These are some of the reasons why over 20000 businesses trust it.
Brands like Reebok, Calvin Klien, Shopify, Dropbox, Zapier, and Reddit use Deel. So, you can also try its free plan and upgrade if you like the features. This software is suitable for businesses of all sizes, even if you have over 10, 000 employees. Moreover, it is quick and easy to implement.
Key features
- Global HR management
- In-house Open API
- Global payroll system
- Automated invoicing
- In-built compliance
- Payroll experts to provide you with country-specific support
Pros
- Easy to setup
- Fast onboarding within a few minutes
- Multiple useful tools for HR
- High-class customer support is available 24 by 7
- Seamlessly integrates with multiple platforms
Cons
- Cannot generate invoices in any other language apart from English
Price: Starts from $49 per month
Free plan: Yes. Deel HR is free to use for organizations comprising up to 200 employees
Connecteam
Connecteam is an all-in-one HR platform for global teams, which helps you to automate multiple business tasks. It keeps track of the working hours of your employees using a GPS clock. So, you can efficiently schedule shifts.
Workforce management software (WMS) simplifies the communication process of your employees and helps them to improve their professional skills. This solution also helps your staff to manage everyday operations. In other words, you are getting everything in one unified platform.
Here comes the good news. Connecteam has a smartphone application. So, you get notifications and reminders without any delay. Therefore, you can keep everyone on the same page without making a lot of effort. Apart from that, it integrates with several third-party platforms like QuickBooks Payroll, Gusto, Google Calendar, and more.
Key features
- One-click payroll
- Team Scheduling
- Task management
- Form templates
Pros
- Gives you complete control
- Multiple tools to connect your employees
- Signup for the free plan without a credit card
- Set within a few minutes
- Trusted by over 30,000 companies
Cons
- New employees cannot see past posts
Pricing: Starts from $29 per month (for the first 30 users)
Free plan: Yes. Connecteam The Small Business Plan is free for life. But, it is suitable only for up to 10 users.
Papaya Global
Papaya Global is an end-to-end HR platform for global teams that facilitates payments in more than 160 countries. You can fund its Citibank and JPMorgan-powered wallets using any currency of your choice and pay your employees in their currency. This platform offers 100 percent liability, full compliance, and bank-level security.
Papaya Global has real-time business intelligence. It gives you insights about your staff, their working region, working cost, etc. This software also shows why the employees are working with you and some of them prefer to resign. Apart from that, it visualizes the data to make employee comparisons based on gender, age, the cost to the company, experience levels, and more.
Automated payroll is one of the best parts of Papaya Global because it helps your HR team solve global workforce management challenges related to payroll. This solution also has several onboarding features to reduce the workload of the HR team.
Key features
- Regulated financial institution
- Seamless KYC process
- Designed for a global workforce
- Global health benefits
Pros
- The global payment system gets activated within 15 seconds
- E-wallet activates within 2 business days
- Backed by Citibank and JPMorgan
- 24 by 7 support
Cons
- No smartphone application yet
Pricing: Starts from $3, but it’s only for the Payroll Platform License. The Full Service Payroll starts from $12 per month/ employee.
Free plan: No. You can only get a demo on the Papaya Global website.
Monday
You might be surprised to see Monday in this list because it used to be only a project management solution. However, now this application can solve almost all your global workforce management challenges. It keeps your employees informed about the announcements, assignments, and timelines. So, Monday could be perfect if you have international remote teams.
Task assigning and tracking abilities of Monday are beneficial. These two features help you or team managers to track the work progress and manipulate the workloads as per the requirements. Therefore, everyone stays aware of their goals and projects.
Monday comes with recruitment pipelines to help you hire new candidates, and bring them on board. Moreover, it also reviews the performance of your staff and takes care of their well-being. In addition, this platform lets you communicate within its dashboard. In case you do not find the required features, you can build them.
Key features
- Tools to facilitate the onboarding process
- Recruitment pipeline
- Employee wellbeing
- Market leader across 18 categories
Pros
- Helps you to target top talent
- Gives better visibility of the performance of your employees
- Optimizes your recruitment process
- Ready-to-use HR templates
- No credit card is required to sign up and start
- Trusted by over 180, 000 brands like Canva, Coca-Cola, Lionsgate
- 24 by 7 Support
Cons
- Time tracking is only available in the premium plans
Pricing: Starts from $24 per month ($8 per user)
Free plan: Yes. Monday Free Forever plan is perfect if to want to keep track of your work. It’s suitable for up to 2 seats.
Rippling
Try Rippling if you need a unified platform for managing international workforce of your business. It comes with HR, finance, and IT management tools. So, you can manage payroll, expenses, benefits, and many more things without using multiple applications.
Rippling handles everything starting from the onboarding of employees and their offboarding. It also automates almost all the manual tasks without any coding. This platform takes your business beyond simple IF/THEN automation. Therefore, you can trigger actions off any attribute.
Rippling stores all your data in one place. So, you can get device data, third-party app data, payroll data, or all other details on its reporting dashboard. Therefore, you do not have to check multiple Excel files or export any other system to get the reports you need.
Key features
- Workflow automation
- Analytics, policies, and permissions
- Centralizes your company policies
Pros
- Easy to understand and navigate
- Keeps all your data unified
- Creates any imaginable report
- Automates almost all the workflows
- Integrates with nearly all the systems
- Give you control with flexible approvals
Cons
- The maximum number of leaves the employees can take is only three
Pricing: $8 per user
Free plan: No, you can only see Rippling in action by signing up for its free demo.
Replicon
Managing global workforce time and attendance is a complex task. However, Replicon simplifies time tracking and management of attendance using its artificial intelligence & machine learning. This application automatically captures the time and work data of your employees.
Replicon deserves your attention because of its consistency, visibility, and accountability. It automatically deploys the most recent legal requirements and generates customizable rule sets to keep you adherent to internal policies and labor laws. Such an arrangement is useful if your company operates in diverse industries or environments.
Thanks to mobile time tracking and advanced geofencing techniques, Replicon is always accurate. So, you get precise login and logout timings to prove the physical presence of the employees. Hence, your business does not have to deal with incorrect reporting.
Key features
- Automatic time tracking
- Continuous over-the-air updates for compliance
- Create multi-level client projects
- Plug and play Integration
Pros
- Generates customizable reports
- Keeps your employees away from traditional timesheets
- Functions to track the activities
- Captures time across more than 100 apps
- Supports all employee types and roles
- 100 percent accuracy
Cons
- The interface could be a bit tricky for the newcomers
Pricing: Time & Attendance product suite is available at $6 per month, Project Time Tracking at $12 per month, and Professional Services Automation Suit (PSA) comes at $29 per month.
Free plan: Yes, full access for 14 days.
ADP Workforce Management
ADP is an efficient and flexible HR platform for global teams, which is designed to adapt to your working style. It is a one-stop solution for almost all HR-related activities. Whether you want to simplify leave management, attendance tracking, scheduling, payroll, or compliance, ADP covers all the aspects.
ADP not only helps you in the management of your international workforce but also helps you to make smart data-driven decisions. It’s a scalable solution. So, you can add the required functions as you grow.
Thanks to ADP’s industry-leading security arrangements, your data is safe with them. Apart from that, it comes with ready-to-use integrations with SAP SuccessFactors, Oracle, and Workday. You can check all the features of this workforce management software on its website.
Key features
- Time and attendance tracking
- Payroll & HCM Integration
- Absence Management
- Analytics and insights
Pros
- User-friendly interface
- Saves employees up to 30 minutes per month
- Saves 40 minutes of per manager/week (on average)
- Visualization of staffing needs
- Helps you manage attendance policies
Cons
- No major punch backs
Pricing: Custom pricing is available on the ADP website.
Free plan: No, you can check the demo on the ADP website.
BambooHR
BambooHR solves a lot of global workforce management challenges with time-off tracking, onboarding tools, employee data centralization, and benefit management features. It could be a perfect solution if you are looking for smart HR software to manage your international staff. This software has everything you need, including payroll, hiring & onboarding, data & reporting, and functions to improve the performance of your employees.
If we talk about hiring, BambooHR helps you to find and recruit top talent. Its applicant tracking system and onboarding system promise a smooth candidate experience. In terms of payroll, BambooHR tracks the working hours and makes the payments. You do not have to approve anything manually.
BambooHR gathers feedback from your employees, which allows you to improve their satisfaction levels. Apart from that, it comes with an in-built analytics mechanism, pre-built reports, and automated workflows to reduce your workload and data generation time. Furthermore, this application has more than 125 integrations to make your workflow easy.
Key features
- Covers complete HR lifecycle
- Endless payroll runs
- Smartphone application for employees
Pros
- User-friendly interface
- Provides all the modern functions to the HR
- Able to handle domestic and international payrolls
- Features for seamless onboarding/hiring and offboarding
- Over 30000 companies trust BambooHR
Cons
- Global payroll is only accessible with the help of integrations
Pricing: Custom pricing is available on the website of BambooHR.
Free plan. No. You can only check the demo on the website of BamooHR.
How to Select the Best HR Platform for Global Teams?
Consider several factors while picking an HR platform for global teams in your organization. Check the following points to ensure you get the perfect solution as per your needs and business goals.
Interface
We recommend you look for a workforce management platform with a user-friendly interface. It should be easy to learn and simple to navigate. Prefer something with smartphone applications.
Features
You should make sure the workforce management application has the following features:
- Employee scheduling: Ensure the workforce management application can create work schedules. Prefer a drag-and-drop calendar. Shift swapping and time off management could be an excellent addition.
- Time tracking: Tracking the working hours, including the ability to clock in and out from mobile devices. Such a feature is helpful for your employees.
- Reporting and analytics: The workforce administration platform must track the KPIs and other important data so that you can generate all the reports from one dashboard.
- Lifecycle management: Look for onboarding tools, performance review features, and options to manage other aspects of an employee’s lifecycle at your company.
Integrations
Prefer platforms that can seamlessly integrate with other HR software. Many employee management applications integrate with communication tools and project management solutions. For instance, Deel integrates with popular accounting software like Intuit Quickbooks, Xero, and Netsuite. It also works with BambooHR (human resource), and hiring applications like Bob, Greenhouse, and Ashby. So, Deel could be a perfect option if you need a workforce management platform with multiple integrations.
Smartphone application
We suggest you try a workforce management solution with dedicated smartphone applications. The app gives you access to the features anytime and anywhere.
Support
The evaluation of the support process is crucial. The customer support team of workforce management software should be knowledgeable and responsive. For instance, Deel offers 24 by 7 in-app support with a response time of 1.25 minutes. Also, it has more than 200 in-house tax, payroll, and legal specialists for your help.
Pricing
The price or monthly/annual subscription fees vary a lot if we talk about the international workforce management platforms. That’s the reason why we have mentioned the prices separately. The idea is to pick a solution that suits your budget.
Who can Use International Workforce Management Software?
A variety of individuals and teams can enjoy the benefits of international workforce management software.
- HR managers: HRs are responsible for recruitment, planning, time & attendance tracking, payroll, and some more tasks in an organization. Managing international workforce becomes simple and convenient with the help of such solutions because they have features to automate these tasks or expedite them.
- Operation managers: If you are an operations manager, you know how you manage resource allocation, manage workloads, track labor costs, and ensure efficient scheduling to maintain productivity. What if we tell you that all these tasks can be easily accomplished with the help of an international workforce management solution like Deel?
- Team leaders: Unit managers, level two supervisors, and team managers can use workforce administration software to track attendance, assign tasks, review performance, and schedule the teams.
- Finance department: Workforce management solutions collect attendance, automate payroll, and perform many other functions to reduce the workload of the finance department.
- Employees: An HR platform for global teams is not only helpful for the management, but it’s also useful for your workforce. Your employees can check their schedules, off-timings, shift swaps, and other relevant information.
- Decision makers: Analytics and reports give you insights about the performance of your employees, which helps you to make data-driven decisions. It also helps you to align your staff according to the goals of your company. Hence, a workforce management platform is extremely useful for decision-makers like founders, directors, and entrepreneurs.
FAQs
What do we mean by managing global workforce?
Managing global workforce includes administration of the day-to-day operations of your employees. Scheduling employees, absence management, performance management, labor management, and payroll are some of the common tasks covered under global workforce management. It also involves the measurement of key metrics and KPIs (key performance indicators) to review the productivity of your staff.
You can take the help of workforce management software to manage your international and domestic employees. Such a platform does all the tasks we mentioned above and also comes with a lot of extra features.
What are the differences between managing international workforce and workforce planning?
A lot of users think workforce management and planning, are the same. However, the reality differs. Workforce management is handling the everyday operations of your employees, which helps you to know you have the right staff for the relevant job profiles. Time/attendance management, employee scheduling, and payroll are some of its common parts.
On the other hand, workforce planning means aligning your employees with your business goals. It involves an analysis of the current skills of your staff and what additional training they need to bridge future skill gaps. Succession planning and headcount analysis are also a part of workforce planning.
As you can understand, workforce planning and management, both are necessary for the success of your company. So, you have to focus on these two aspects, especially if you want to enjoy high productivity and profits.
Final Thoughts
Whether you are a domestic business looking to hire globally or an enterprise in need of a solution for managing international workforce, one of the recommended management software should fit your needs. So, try one of them to streamline scheduling, attendance & time tracking, resource allocation, and improve the productivity of your business. Consider the features, user experience, and scalability while picking the solution.
