How does remote work affect your salary?

As remote work seeps into our lives and jobs become almost borderless, a new problem arises: can you receive your salary working remotely for a company that is based in another country? 

It’s becoming more and more common for tech professionals to be hired by companies that aren’t in their countries. Asynchronous and remote work has allowed for this to happen and it presents so many advantages for both sides. 

On one hand, companies have a bigger talent pool to hire from—they can search for the best professionals everywhere (or at least in the countries that belong to the timezone they prefer). On the other hand, we have tech professionals that can job hunt internationally while still being able to remain in their home. This means more opportunities, acclaimed companies, perhaps better salaries and flexible working hours. 

While there are many obstacles linked to this type of remote work—multicultural work environments, aligning different timezone schedules, the lack of in-person interactions, and more—there is one in particular that hasn’t received the same light: receiving an international salary.

Why is salary an issue? 

Maybe it’s something you’ve never even considered, never thought about. And, in truth, why would you? Until very recently, remote work wasn’t that mainstream. While it’s true that the tech industry has practised remote work for many years now, the reality is it’s never been as globalised as it is now. 

The prospect of securing a much better salary by applying for an international company is tempting. In fact, one of the greatest advantages of being able to apply for companies outside of your own country is the fact that you can pursue competitive salaries (but more on this here). 

However, let’s look at why receiving an international salary from a company that doesn’t have a legal entity in your country presents a particular challenge. 

• Compliance—making sure all labour and tax laws from your country are respected is a job in itself. It’s probably the main pain point for companies and one that is paramount to handle correctly. A lot of companies decide not to deal with this on their own due to its complexity.
• Safety—there’s not much to add here other than that it’s crucial, both for the company and the tech professional, to handle payroll in a safe way. It’s especially important for the tech professional to know that they’re receiving their salary in a secure way.
• Reliability—safe to say everyone loves to be paid on time. This isn’t exactly a problem brought by remote/international hiring per se, but it’s a ramification of the challenge. 

Now imagine the company has employees in four different continents and needs to manage these challenges on a global scale. They need to comply with different laws, deal with different pay cycles, and monitor all of this global workforce expense. Things become trickier. 

Don’t leave it all to the companies 

Now we’re getting to the interesting part. Can you have an active say in the solution to this problem? Yes, you can. 

Although traditionally it’s more common to see the employer take the first step to make sure they can hire you and insure you’re paid properly, there are definitely cases where you can (and need) to take the initiative. If you’re in the hiring process for a company that hasn’t figured this whole global payroll part out, you can be the one to make sure that it’s not this one misstep that prevents you from being hired. 

We’re tackling this problem at Landing.Jobs and making sure tech professionals can take an active part in the solution to this challenge, allowing them to take ownership of their careers. We worked on a solution that allows both parties to step up when they need to. 

If you want to learn more about how we can help you get started, head over here.