跨国远程办公将如何重构全球职场体系

       How the Emergence of International Remote Work Will Transform the Global Workplace

       作为领先的专业平台，领英一直努力走在职场发展的最前沿。随着工作形式变得愈发灵活，人才和机会在全球的分布变得更加广泛，这是远程办公发展的新常态。为此，我想与各组织和人力资源部门分享一些关于如何顺应远程办公新趋势，从而获得持续成功的想法。

       As the leading professional platform, LinkedIn strives to always be at the forefront of workplace developments. As a new normal in the world of increasingly flexible work materializes in which talents and opportunities are more globally distributed, here are some of my thoughts to share with organizations and HR departments about how to ride this trend for continued success.

       新冠肺炎疫情从根本上改变了我们的工作方式。疫情带来的最显著影响在于其为员工和企业提供了更为灵活的办公场所。调查机构数据显示，过去两年半里，曾经需要面对面办公的全球工作岗位中，有45%已经至少部分地支持远程办公。随着疫情消退，其中许多职位将保持混合办公或者完全远程的状态。尽管多数高管不希望在疫情缓和后继续远程管理团队，而是看到员工重回办公室，但是研究发现，大多数员工希望继续灵活办公。

       The COVID-19 pandemic has forever changed the way we work. Its most significant impact has come in the form of offering professionals and businesses a more flexible workplace. As many as 45 percent of global jobs once located in an in-person or office setting have gone at least partly remote during the past two-and-a-half years, according to polling agencies, and many of those positions will remain in a hybrid or fully remote role as the pandemic subsides. While a fair percentage of executives still reject the idea of managing a remote team permanently when lockdowns are over and prefer that staffers eventually return to the office, research finds that most employees are now embracing flexibility.  

       在领英，我们发现随着新冠疫情爆发，全球远程工作的供给与需求量几乎呈现瞬间增长模式。2020年1月，只有2%的新职位涉及远程办公。而到今年3月，这一数字已增加到20%。更重要的是，针对“远程岗位”的浏览和新工作申请数据分别是30%和27%——这表明远程职位供不应求。回到之前提出的问题:这是否为大势所趋?我们真能回到线下工作的旧“常态”吗? 这一问题的答案取决于你提问的对象。远程办公调查机构显示，有一半的员工会拒绝回归全职线下办公模式。接受调查的员工表示，有必要的话，他们甚至会在被要求完全重返办公室之前选择辞职。

       At LinkedIn, we found that supply and demand for remote work surged globally, almost immediately as the COVID-19 virus began to spread. In January 2020, only 2 percent of all new jobs posted involved remote work. By March of this year, that number had increased to 20 percent. What's more, 30 percent of all job views and about 27 percent of all applications for new jobs were for remote positions - indicating that growth in job seeker's demand for remote jobs outpaced supply of those jobs. Going back to our questions from earlier: is this trend cyclic or secular? Can we really go back to the old "normal" of office work? It depends on who you ask. Surveys from WFH Research suggest that half of employees would refuse to return to a full-time on-site schedule at their employer's request. Surveyed employees said they'd go as far as leaving their jobs, if necessary, before returning to the office full time.

       还有一个新概念叫“远程优先”。“远程优先”是指在开展新业务或组建团队时，优先安排远程工作和计划。包括Nationwide、Shopify、Pinterest和Dropbox在内的一系列公司已经建立了“远程优先”政策，将远程工作设置为大多数员工的默认选项。领英的数据发现，远程工作的需求和供给量正在激增，传统公司也必须适应这种情况，考虑“远程优先”。可口可乐(Coca-Cola)、微软(Microsoft)、德勤(Deloitte)、第一资本(Capital One)和State Farm等公司现已经向员工提供有条件的远程办公选择。

       There is also a new concept called "remote first", "Remote first" means prioritizing remote work and planning when launching a new business or setting up a team. A range of firms - including Nationwide, Shopify, Pinterest, and Dropbox - have already established "remote first" policies by making remote work the default option for most of their employees. As LinkedIn data finds the demand and supply for remote work is surging, traditional companies must adapt, too, by thinking "remote first". Corporations like Coca-Cola, Microsoft, Deloitte, Capital One and State Farm now offer employees the choice of working from home if their physical presence in the office is not essential.

       如今，许多初创公司甚至“天生远程”，这意味着这些公司在创业时便没有设立实体办公室，而是让整个团队远程工作。如DevOps、软件开发商GitLab和工作平台网站Turing等公司，自成立之日起就明确了“远程第一”的制度。

       Many startups are now even "born remote", meaning they started the business without a physical office, and have their entire team work remotely. Firms such as DevOps software developer GitLab and job platform website Turing have embodied the "remote first" vision since the day they launched.

       当我们接受远程办公模式时，它将不再局限于同一座城市，甚至同一个国家。对雇主们来说，人才无处不在。对于员工和求职者们来说，机会也无处不在。

       When we embrace the remote working model, it's not limited to the same city or even the same country. To employers, talents are everywhere. To employees and job seekers, opportunities are everywhere.

       所谓跨国远程办公，我们特指的是跨国的远程雇佣和工作。今年4月，领英在对美国人力资源专业人士的一项调查中发现，超过86%的人说他们在考虑雇佣远程应聘者。最值得注意的是，近一半受访招聘者表示，他们愿意在信息技术、工程、销售和业务开发部门的多个职位上聘用跨国远程工作者。招聘专家指出，英国、印度、加拿大、德国、爱尔兰和中国是跨国远程职位的主要市场。据他们称，引进这类海外人才将有助于扩大公司的人才库，降低劳动力成本，提升公司的雇主品牌形象。受益于跨国远程办公的远远不止美国大型企业及其雇佣的人才。通过推动全球化和扩大人才储备，它将助力中国企业和世界各地的初创公司更好地走向世界。

       By international remote work, we mean specifically employing and working remotely across countries. A LinkedIn survey of U.S. HR professionals this April found over 86 percent were considering hiring remote candidates. Most notably, almost half of the surveyed recruiters said they'd be open to hiring internationally remote workers for a variety of positions including IT, engineering, sales and business development. The hiring professionals cited the UK, India, Canada, Germany, Ireland and China as top markets for international remote positions and said bringing on such overseas talents would help expand firms'  talent pools, reduce labor costs and enhance employer branding. The benefits of international remote work go much beyond major U.S. firms and the talents these firms hire. By bolstering globalization and expanding talent pools, this style of work makes it easier for Chinese businesses and other startups across the world to go global.

       需要注意的是，跨国远程办公也存在着重大挑战。首先，企业领导层必须了解如何从没有商业实体且对当地知之甚少的远程市场中寻找和聘用人才。其次，他们面临着潜在的运营问题，主要体现在从这些市场中聘请专业人士时如何做到合规。他们还必须安排好工资支付和税收缴纳，同时创建适当的福利计划。最后，由于远程团队分布在不同的国家，企业在建立公司文化和员工归属感方面同样面临挑战。

       It's important to note that international remote work does present major challenges. First, business leaders must figure out how to source and hire talent in remote markets where they likely don't yet have business entities or knowledge about the local talents. They face potential operations issues, primarily in how to be compliant when hiring professionals from other markets. They also have to figure out payroll and taxes while creating appropriate benefits packages. Finally, with remote teams across different countries, businesses face challenges in building company culture and a sense of belonging among employees.

       这些复杂的挑战为勇于创新的企业家们提供了机会。我们看到了一类新公司的崛起，它们被称为远程人力资源服务平台。

       These myriad challenges have created opportunities for innovative entrepreneurs who are developing a new category of remote HR platforms.

       除了员工和人力资源调查，商界正通过远程人力资源服务平台从更宏观的层面感知跨国远程办公趋势。在这个领域，企业提供远程人才招聘、管理和发展解决方案。据Crunchbase数据库显示，这一领域已然“爆火”，且增长速度非常快。

       Besides employee and HR surveys, the business world is perceiving the international remote trend at a more macroscopic level through the remote HR platform space. In this space, businesses offer remote talent hiring, management and development solutions. The space is "on fire", according to Crunchbase, and it’s growing incredibly fast.

       那么，究竟什么是远程人力资源服务平台呢?领英可以算是其中之一，因为企业可以在领英平台上寻找和雇佣世界各地的人才。另一个是所谓的“名义雇主”（EoR），其任务是解决当地市场的合规问题。他们提供薪资、税收等人力资源服务，还有包括设计和实施福利计划，并帮助雇主在远程团队中建立公司文化。最重要的是，他们可以帮助那些还没有建立商业实体的公司管理人才。

       So, what exactly are remote HR platforms? LinkedIn can be categorized as one of them, as businesses can source and hire talents everywhere from the LinkedIn platform. The other ones are the so-called Employer of Record (EoR) tasked with solving compliance problems in local markets. They provide HR services such as payroll, taxes and more, including designing and implementing benefits packages and helping employers build company culture among remote teams. Most importantly, they assist with managing talents in countries where a company may not have a business entity.

       据Upwork的一项研究估算，到2025年，美国将有超过3600万的员工远程工作。到目前为止，远程人力资源服务平台每年将向每位员工收取约7000美元的服务费。我个人认为，每名员工每年7000美元的数字现在是一个较高标准，当远程人力资源服务平台市场的竞争加剧时，这个数字将会下降。然而，与此同时，远程员工的数量将持续增加，预计市场潜力仍然巨大。

       Upwork study estimated that over 36 million professionals in the United States will be working remotely by 2025. And as of now, a remote HR platform will charge an estimated $7,000 service fee per employee per year. I personally believe the $7,000 per employee per year figure represents a premium now and will drop when competition in the remote HR platform market increases. However, the number of remote workers will continue to increase at the same time, and the estimated market potential should still be reasonably enormous.

       跨国远程办公和远程人力资源服务平台对企业的影响，取决于公司是否正在亦或未来考虑开展跨国远程招聘。跨国公司的人力资源主管和专业人士之所以能在当今竞争激烈的市场中立足，是因为他们的公司在这些市场中拥有实体业务和团队。远程人力资源服务平台概念的本质，可以被理解为全球化服务（GaaS），背后的道理已然非常明显。随着GaaS的出现，新型远程人力资源服务平台将有能力提供人力资源基础设施，以支持跨国远程办公员工的外包和招聘。在领英，我们相信，在远程人力资源服务平台的辅助下，跨国远程办公将推动全新的人才跨境循环流动。

       The implications of international remote work and remote HR platforms for business rely on whether a company is hiring internationally remote or whether it will consider hiring internationally remote in the future. HR leaders and professionals of multinational companies are in many markets today because their companies expanded into those markets with a physical business entity and team. The new concept for remote HR platforms, called Globalization as a Service (GaaS), is very illustrating. Now comes GaaS as these remote HR platforms provide the HR infrastructure to support sourcing and hiring of international remote workers. We at LinkedIn believe that international remote work, with the support from remote HR platforms, will increase new talent circulation beyond borders.

       从长远来看，越来越灵活的工作环境和人才新循环正在加速全球化。全球雇主可以在中国聘用远程人才，而中国企业也可以寻得远程海外人才，以扩大其国际影响力。不管渠道如何扩展和升级，最重要的是，远程已是必然趋势，我们不会再回到过去的工作方式。跨国远程办公将来自世界各地的人才与机会连接到一起。远程人力资源服务平台为每一种模式提供了更全面的基础设施，并有助于推动全球化新时代的到来。我们将拥有新的招聘和管理人才方式，但也应准备好面对全新且未知的挑战。

       In perspective, the increasingly more flexible world of work and new circulation of talents are accelerating globalization. Global employers can hire remote talents in China, while Chinese companies can also explore remote global candidates to grow their global reach. Regardless of how the channels will expand and further upgrade, the bottom line is that the remote trend is here to stay, and we're not going back to how we used to work. International remote work is connecting talents from everywhere around the world with opportunities. Remote HR platforms provide a wider infrastructure for each and every mode and will help usher in a new era of globalization. We have new ways to hire and manage talents, but we should also be prepared to face new challenges.