Smiling young businesswoman having a video call while working from her home office.
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It's no longer a question of whether to work remotely or not: experts say it's cross-border hiring in tech jobs that's taking the headlines.
“Remote work is like a gateway to crossing borders,” says Jeremy Johnson, CEO of Andela, an AI-enabled tech talent marketplace whose clients include Goldman Sachs, Github, and Coursera. “Once you realize that you don't need everyone to be in the same office five days a week to build an engaging culture, feel connected to a mission, and solve complex problems, you start to think there are amazing people all over the world.”
As technology leaders simultaneously focus on innovation and value-driven efficiency, tech adoption is expanding across countries and global time zones. According to Gartner's 2023 CEO Survey, cross-border tech hiring has doubled in the past three years. According to CBRE's Global Tech Talent Guidebook 2024, by 2022, the tech talent workforce in cities such as Beijing and Delhi will far surpass that of major U.S. metros such as San Francisco and New York. The report cites fast-growing tech talent markets such as Bucharest in Romania, Cape Town in South Africa, Cebu City in the Philippines, and Nairobi in Kenya.
Johnson said global recruiting is an example of a luxury that is moving down the value chain: Just as services like Uber have increased access to what are essentially on-demand personal drivers, talent marketplaces and a digitized workforce are making global recruiting more than just hiring high-paying C-suite executives.
Payoneer, a global payment processing platform, approaches the borderless world of hiring both internally (with around 2,200 employees in 50 countries and over 25 offices worldwide) and with its clients, both to benefit from and drive the borderless trend.
“The rhetoric about the opportunities that globalization offers is powerful, but without the utilities and tools to actually put it into practice, it won't make any difference to the business you do,” said Payoneer CEO John Kaplan.
Gathering talented people from all over the world
Adam Jackson, CEO of distributed tech talent platform Braintrust, puts borders to work in a different way: “We don't have a physical office,” he says. “Everybody works remotely. All but one of the engineers who work at Braintrust are outside the U.S.” Braintrust's clients, from NASA to Nestle, are also building borderless teams, Jackson says.
“When I moved to San Francisco 20 years ago, the best engineers, the best developers, the best product managers, the best designers all lived in Silicon Valley. Not anymore. They're still here, but they're spread all over the world,” Jackson added.
While some leaders like Johnson believe time zone adjustments are still important to give certain employees the opportunity to work in sync, Jackson sees the global innovation that comes with an asynchronous workforce as an opportunity to create companies where “the sun never sets.”
There are questions about work-life balance — which Jackson says doesn't exist in startup culture — but asynchronous working increases clarity in documentation, minimizes endless repetitive meetings, and increases time for creative thinking and deep work.
Johnson says local labor laws, compliance and payroll are all factors that go into running a global business, which is why many organizations set up centers in certain countries. But even these obstacles are not insurmountable.
AI and the future geography of work
What experts agree on is that there's no one-size-fits-all approach to cross-border recruiting. “Each company has to find its own solution,” Kaplan says. “You need to design your office size and future-of-work philosophy to fit the business you're building.”
Looking at artificial intelligence innovation and its flip side, AI regulation, Johnson says the European Union's standard-setting regulatory framework will make it difficult for technology businesses to thrive. As regulations and legal precedents surrounding AI and data increase around the world, cross-border employment trends will change like a puzzle piece.
“Europe is going to be very tough over the next few years,” he said. “They're going to push a lot of data innovation out of the continent, but I think this is going to be an opportunity for Africa, Latin America and other parts of the world.”
Jackson emphasizes the importance of managing risk and hiring great people, regardless of where an organization hires. “Quality is still important,” he says. “There's an old adage that when you're building software, you can choose two: fast, good, or cheap. But I disagree. You can have all three, but quality is still important no matter where you are.”
Kaplan touts the more altruistic potential of cross-border hiring, namely its ability to “uplift communities around the world.” While this may be true, at the very least, the benefits of expanded talent reach and cost efficiency are enough for leaders in any industry to embrace it. With applications for standard work visas in the U.S. set to grow 263% year-over-year in 2023 and U.S. cities making up the top five for average monthly apartment rent, according to Deal's latest tech immigration report, cross-border hiring could ease the burden on job seekers and employers in one fell swoop.
“If you can be 10% more efficient with your biggest expense, your people, that gives you a dramatic advantage,” Johnson said. Cross-border recruiting is likely to continue to permeate growth strategies at all levels.
