The remote working trend, brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, has accelerated the need for the evolution of more traditional working practices. The ability to work flexibly has become a priority for many employees, meaning flexible working policies are now an important mechanism for attracting and retaining talent.
Employers are increasingly recognising that there are some significant benefits, particularly with regards to talent management. As well as enhancing a company’s Employee Value Proposition, offering greater flexibility with regards to working location can give employers access to much larger talent pools, enabling them to get the right people in the right roles, irrespective of geographical boundaries.
This increased flexibility however can create challenges for employers, and there is often a conflict between offering greater flexibility and key business objectives. As employees are afforded greater flexibility, this can lead to increased corporate and personal compliance obligations such as business taxes, employment taxes, social security and employment law.
Some employers are also realising that their Working from anywhere strategy better aligns with other key company objectives, such as ESG and Diversity & Inclusion.
What are the key considerations for working from anywhere?
- Income tax and Social Security
- Immigration and employment law
- Regulatory and licensing considerations
- Change management
- Health and safety
- Corporate tax/permanent establishment
- Talent management
- Employment tax and Payroll tax
How KPMG can help you?
We can help you to take advantage of the opportunities that Working From Anywhere can bring to your organisation, through the creation of a competitive and cost-effective remote working strategy in tandem with controls to manage compliance.
Some of the key area of focus would include the following:
- Strategy and policy - we can co-develop your remote working strategy to ensure that it aligns with your overall business and talent strategy, as well as design the policies which help with the governance/risk management
- Structure - your organisational structure may have an impact on your global and local compliance requirements. We can review the effectiveness of this structure as you move to a more flexible working model
- Compliance and process - we can help design and implement the required processes which will ensure that global compliance is maintained.
- Risk and data analytics - we can identify the risks associated with your remote working strategy, and provide models in respect of the potential costs
- Change management - we can help ensure that changes to policy and processes are seamless, to minimise the impact to business as usual, and maximise employee experience.
Get in touch
If you would like to learn more about what Working from anywhere might mean for you or your organisation, please contact Thalia O’Toole or Edward Stewart-Moore of our Global Mobility team. We'd be delighted to hear from you.
