January 14, 2019 – Optimism is high on global teams, according to Globalization Partners’ 2019 Global Employee Survey, with reservoirs of good will, and high levels of engagement and trust. However, global employees — and in particular younger employees — are poised to move to new companies if they feel it is in their interest. Companies are most successful in building and nurturing local teams when they demonstrate an understanding of local culture, and establish communications practices that make employees feel included, valued, and heard.
The 2019 report, The Impact of Inclusion or Exclusion on Distributed Global Teams, which was released this week, explores the experience of distributed global team members and reveals that while global employees are generally engaged, organizations who are not are prioritizing inclusion and equity are struggling to both find and retain employees in an increasingly competitive global marketplace.
The survey results were announced by Globalization Partners, a global employer of record that helps companies expand internationally into more than 170 countries without the hassle of setting up overseas branch offices and subsidiaries.
“We were not surprised by the enthusiasm we saw for global teams,” said Andrea Dumont, Globalization Partners Senior Vice President of Marketing. “But as competition in global hiring intensifies, it’s clear that the companies who focus on understanding their local team and business environment will be far more likely to win new talent — and keep the great talent they have.”
This survey of nearly 700 employees across the globe indicated that the companies most likely to keep global teams on board and happy are those who make the effort to master local culture, laws and practices, and keep subsidiary teams feeling connected, included, and treated with equity. Ultimately, the survey found, this strengthens not only distributed teams, but also team members who work in organizational headquarters.
Key insights and findings from the report include:
- 70% of global employees report a great rapport between the home office and satellite offices, but the further removed from headquarters an employee is, the less likely they are to feel connected to the organization. Almost a third of employees in subsidiaries reported they feel like they belong and are more connected to their direct team (15%) or country members (15%) than to the company as a whole.
- A company’s equitable resolution of issues will impact voluntary turnover 2.5x more than engagement. Employees who feel their organizations are not equitably addressing issues are 51% more likely to have turnover intentions in 2019.
- 68% of employees say their companies struggle at least some of the time to align with, be sensitive about and adhere to local laws, practices and cultures—and 36% of employees agree that their companies struggle often. Only a third of employees (33%) said their companies aren’t struggling with global acclimation.
- Employees who interact with global teams daily are more likely to feel they belong in their organizations, regardless of their location. Of the people who felt connected, 80% interacted with team members abroad at least once a week. Of those who did not feel that sense of belonging, 56% said they interact with team members abroad only rarely.
- 37% of employees say their companies are having trouble finding good candidates, and 30% say their companies outsource recruiting. More than a third of employees indicated they have experienced difficulty on their team with finding good candidates, followed by personnel and management issues.
Survey Methodology:
The Global Employee survey was conducted by Globalization Partners® from October 16-23, 2018. This is the first deployment of this survey. The final sample of the survey was composed of 738 randomly selected fully employed persons (aged 18 or older), balanced for gender and age, who are employed at organizations with a staff size of 1000 or more employees. Respondents were randomly provided by independent market research firm SurveyMonkey, from our list of representative countries that included Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Mexico, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The survey had a margin of error of +/- 4 percentage points at a 95 percent level of confidence.
About Globalization Partners:
Globalization Partners, a Global Expansion Platform renowned for pioneering the Global Employer of Record model, helps companies expand internationally into more than 170 countries without the hassle of setting up overseas branch offices and subsidiaries. Through our platform, companies can quickly and easily hire employees overseas without having to navigate complex international legal, tax and HR issues. Whether it’s to test a new market or to expand the talent pool globally, Globalization Partners is the most trustworthy global workforce management solution in the market. We take the burden—and risk—of global expansion off our clients’ shoulders and place it onto ours.
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For more information, contact:
Andrea Dumont
Senior Vice President of Marketing
Email: adumont@globalization-partners.com