Remote work has come under fire from politicians in recent times, but the truth is that finding remote workers in South Africa can open a world of opportunity.
Remote working has become increasingly popular in recent years. The rise of digital technology, coupled with practical challenges posed by the pandemic and a desire for more flexible working arrangements, meant companies had the ability and the will to work take work out of the office. Multidisciplinary and multi-locational teams became the norm.
However, not everyone has been so keen. Politicians have lined up to demand a return to the office. To them, working at home is less productive and effective than bringing your team together in one place. However, the reality is very different. Remote working not only helps your employees enjoy a more comfortable work/life balance, but it also broadens your talent pool, enabling even small businesses to collaborate with high-quality professionals from all over the world. The increasingly globalised nature of the workforce is making skills more accessible and affordable, while boosting efficiency and productivity.
One of the key beneficiaries of this has been South Africa, where remote working has brought overseas jobs into South Africa and made talent accessible and affordable. With professionals being available at a fraction of the cost of their UK-based counterparts, this is an opportunity for companies to boost their bottom line, save money and deepen their talent pool. At a time when cost pressures are rising from all sides, finding remote workers in South Africa is a win/win for everyone.
About South Africa
South Africa has long been a country of unrealised potential. It’s the third-largest economy on the continent. Its cultural blend of African, British and European influences makes it an ideal gateway to the emerging markets of Africa, and its workforce is young, diverse, highly educated and ambitious.
Against that, opportunities are limited. Unemployment remains in double digits. Local companies struggle to provide South Africa’s rising graduate class with the high-paying jobs they are looking for. With opportunities limited at home, many do the obvious thing and move overseas. As with many other developing countries, the brain drain remains one of the biggest drags on the South African economy.
The rise of remote work in South Africa, and elsewhere, changes that calculation. Foreign companies are turning to South Africa as an affordable source of top-notch talent. For example, if you’re a small or medium-sized business in the UK struggling to find or pay for software developers in your home country, you can simply look for South Africa. Here you find people based in a similar time zone, who speak English fluently and can be accessible via Zoom for meetings any time you like. Document sharing tools and instant chat mean it can be as easy to collaborate with a South African professional as someone from your own neighbourhood.
Best of all, those professionals are likely to be cheaper than their British counterparts. A lower cost of living means professionals can be hired at a substantial discount. The exact level of that discount may vary depending on the profession, but in general, you might be looking at a 50% reduction on labour costs. For hard-pressed small businesses struggling attract talent, that can be a game changer and levels the playing field against larger competitors.
For professionals in South Africa, remote working allows them to connect with foreign companies that can pay higher wages and offer more lucrative opportunities than South African-based firms. It brings high-paying jobs into the economy and keeps South Africa’s best talent within the country, where the government wants it.
Using remote workers in South Africa
For most companies, the gateway to remote work in South Africa will be the freelance market. Professionals are making themselves available for international clients across all sorts of sectors, including finance, marketing, software development and much more. The ability to collaborate digitally and remotely enables a seamless and highly efficient working relationship.
The international freelance market has been further opened up by the evolving international payments infrastructure. The arrival of challenger banks and money processing services such as Wise means it’s faster and cheaper to transfer money internationally than ever before. Working with a South African freelancer needn’t be much different from one in your hometown. They do the work, raise an invoice, and you pay it via the terms agreed upon individually. The freelancer or contractor will be responsible for handling his or her own tax affairs.
As working relationships evolve, companies are also beginning to hire remote workers in the country on a full-time basis. This goes beyond the traditional outsourcing model, focusing on basic or front-line tasks. It extends into all areas of business, including senior professional roles. South Africah as carved out a reputation for quality and efficiency, especially in sectors such as the law and finance.
Employing staff directly, though, brings its own challenges. Setting up a legal entity represents a high cost and commitment. Complying with local taxation regulations can also be particularly difficult for foreign companies without a detailed understanding of the legal landscape.
Intermediary firms such as employers or record, professional employers organisations and agents of record help reduce some of these barriers. They can take on the roles of agents or HR teams, enabling your business to focus on the everyday working relationship.
For firms without a legal presence, an EOR will serve as the legal employer of the workers for official purposes. It will pay the salary, provide benefits and meet all PAYE obligations. A PEO works in much the same way but with a shared model and is useful for companies that already have an established entity.
For those companies working on a semi-regular basis with freelancers, an agent of record offers services to handle the admin and make sure all legal requirements are fully complied with. They can help with paying invoices, screening workers and managing onboarding or background checks, as well as ensuring correct classification between employees and freelancers.
Each of these options comes with different costs and structures. However, they all serve to facilitate remote working in South Africa. In so doing, they give businesses access to staff, help the government meet its growth targets and give young upwardly mobile access to better, well-paying jobs that help them to fulfil their ambitions.