Engaging international IT personnel in Eastern Europe, Asia and some other regions known as IT talent hubs is both a popular cost-saving imperative due to budget cuts and also the way to respond to the increasing demand for unique skills and knowledge. Whatever your reasons may be, once you decide to employ international IT professionals, the first question to answer is how to onboard them with minimum risks, and as quickly as possible. The most popular ways of engaging a global IT workforce are through one’s own foreign subsidiary setup and / or working through independent IT contractors / freelancers.
Below we have compared, engaging an independent IT Contractor/Freelancer vs the innovative Virtual Employee employed through Express Global Employment (EGE) solution.
| Independent Contractor/Freelancer | Acumen ExpressGEO Solution | |
|---|---|---|
| Tax compliance | unknown |
|
| Foreign country employment/legal/financial risks | high* | no |
| Right to work for other companies |  |
 |
| Level of control/accountability | low | high |
| Company/project loyalty | low | high |
| Time of recruitment | unknown | 1-3 weeks** |
*Employer companies may be sued by contractors who want to be recognized as employees; this may involve pricey backdated payments the employees are entitled to.
**We liaise you with our partner recruitment companies to help you select the required specialists first and then employ them through Acumen International.
On the one hand, our EGE solution for International IT Personnel provides IT companies with the cost-effective and low-risk international IT staffing. On the other hand, it gives contractors and freelancers higher social security and unlimited opportunities to sell their expertise abroad. We can do the entire job of hiring international staff on your behalf in full compliance with local regulations. We free you from the necessity to establish you own foreign subsidiaries and help you employ based on skills, not on geography.
We have developed our Virtual Foreign Employee and Virtual Foreign Subsidiary solutions to engage the brightest talents on your behalf. If you are seeking a particular competence, we can do Recruitment and Employment to let you select the best candidate and then employ him for you whenever it is needed.
Now, let’s see what distinguishes your Own Foreign Subsidiary setup in any country of your choice from our innovative Virtual Foreign Subsidiary solution.
| Own Foreign Subsidiary | Acumen EGE Solution | |
|---|---|---|
| Costs | ||
| Setup cost | |
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| Legal costs | |
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| Director costs | |
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| Management admin costs | |
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| HR costs | |
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| Accounting costs | |
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| Accounting software costs | |
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| Risks | ||
| Foreign country employment risks | |
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| Risk of employee litigation | |
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| Foreign currency exchange risks | |
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| Tax and compliance | ||
| Profit repatriation tax | |
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| Accounting and legal compliance | |
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| Occupational safety compliance | |
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| Competitive advantage | ||
| Time to setup | up to 3 months | days through EGE solution |
