Through the COVID-19 Pandemic, shifting sentiment on remote work has opened doors to new ways of thinking. With everyone working from home, why not globally broaden an employee base?
Bringing on new full-time employees from different countries comes with its share of complications. From resolving legal grey areas to providing a first-class experience for the employee, Panther aims to solve these issues.
Matt Redler, Founder and CEO of Panther, discusses how the company is changing the way remote work operates with employees in multiple countries.
We talked about:
- How Panther got started
- The issues with hiring employees globally
- What sets Panther apart from similar companies
How Panther got started
“And so that’s what we did; we found an easy way for them to hire our teammates, and now that’s become Panther.”
— Matt Redler
Panther was born from the challenges faced through a previous company where employees were limited because of the countries they were based out of.
With this in mind, Matt Redler founded Panther to solve this problem: how do we make it seamless to hire full-time employees from any country without the legal hassle and high cost?
The issues with hiring employees globally
A company has just found an all-star potential employee but they’re based out of the country. No matter how perfect an employee candidate may be, companies can’t ignore the list of challenges they will have to overcome: local payroll, banks, HR, legal, and accounting; and, to accomplish all of this, it requires approximately $80,000. So why not just hire the second-best candidate who’s based in the country instead?
“You need to run locally compliant payroll, which means you need a local entity, you need a local bank account, you need local legal, accounting, HR, all that kind of fun stuff.” — Matt Redler”
If a company is adamant on hiring the all-star candidate, they may take the path of bringing the person on as a contractor. While this may seem like a way around, setting someone up as a contractor when they should be labeled as a full-time employee can have legal ramifications, such as tax evasion.
A contractor cannot be an integral part of the company; so, to treat a contractor in such a way is unfair and provides a second-class experience for the employee.
What sets Panther apart from similar companies
So, what exactly does Panther do differently?
A lot of companies called Professional Employment Organizations (PEO) help provide administrative work but they still require entities in each of the countries where there is an employee. Panther stands out as an Employer of Record (EOR) that doesn’t need entities in other countries to work globally.
”You don’t need the infrastructure around the world; we’re kind of companies’ global arm.”
— Matt Redler
With the ease and advantage of being an EOR company, Panther is looking to raise the standard of remote work. Beyond handling all payroll and currency conversion for all employees to make sure they have a stable income, Panther is looking at ways to bring the remote team closer together and provide the same kind of bond employees can expect from an in-person work experience.
”I’m incredibly bullish about remote work, and how the experience that we’ll have will just continue to improve over time .”
— Matt Redler
This post is based on the Payments Innovation podcast. You can listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify , or your preferred podcast platform.
Matt can be reached at the following:
