While recent developments in technology and artificial intelligence have significantly streamlined the customer service process, the overly computerized approach leaves consumers missing the human touch. A survey conducted by Usabilla found that 55% of consumers prefer talking to a human over the phone when communicating with customer service.
The cost efficiency of AI customer service bots cannot be denied, but most consumers are after a customer service experience with a more personal touch. The question then is how can you negotiate this within your business’ customer service department?
The answer, we can reveal, lies in overseas customer service.
What is overseas customer service?
Overseas customer service refers to the outsourcing of your customer service processes to an overseas team. While customer service outsourcing usually conjures the image of an overseas call centre, the reality of creating an overseas customer service team can be made much easier by working with a third-party Professional Employer Organization or Employer of Record company.
Why build an overseas customer service team in Canada?
So why build your customer service team in Canada? Let’s take a look at some of the benefits of having an overseas customer service team in Canada.
Lower Cost
Salary expectations vary worldwide, so hiring customer service workers overseas in a country with lower salary expectations helps you cut costs while providing excellent service to your customers. Canadian workers, while being highly educated, don’t have the same opportunities that larger employment markets like the US and the UK offer, so salaries, on average, are much lower.
Different time zones
By hiring customer service workers overseas in different time zones, you can extend your operating hours and provide round-the-clock support to your customers. There are six main time zones in Canada, and seven in the USA – the countries have five of these time zones in common. Canada is an extremely large nation, and as a direct result of its numerous time zones, the Canadian workforce is more acclimatized to working off-hours remotely.
Cultural Fit
The size and diversity of Canada has bred a unique workforce that’s highly adaptable. For all their flexibility, however, there are a number of shared similarities between Canadian culture and US or UK culture, so remote employees in Canada are likely to fit well into existing company culture.
What is a PEO/EOR?
First, we’ll give a quick overview of what a PEO is, and what an EOR is.
What is a PEO?
A Professional Employer Organization (PEO) is a third-party organization which helps companies hire remote workers internationally. PEOs alleviate a number of HR-related services, acting as the joint employer of a member of staff. A PEO’s services can include recruitment and onboarding of staff, payroll and benefits processing, and other administrative HR services such as termination.
A PEO can hire international, remote workers, acting as their ‘Employer of Record’. The PEO will handle the processing, compliance and administration responsibilities, while acting as the employer for tax and insurance purposes, while the employee works directly under your instruction.
Read our blog for a more detailed discussion on PEO services in Canada.
What is an EOR?
An Employer of Record (EOR), like a PEO, is a third-party organization that takes on the legal responsibilities of hiring new employees and handling payroll for a company interested in global employment. Some of the legal responsibilities an EOR can absorb are the handling of visas, work permits, employment contracts and termination, compliance with local employment law, payroll and HR services.
Why hire with a Canadian PEO or EOR?
We’ve established that the Canadian workforce is an excellent talent pool from which to create your overseas customer service team – the next step is to hire them. Building and managing your customer service team with a local PEO or EOR organization takes the headache out of hiring. Here are a few benefits of working with a PEO to build your remote overseas customer service team:
Less Administration
By outsourcing your business’ HR responsibilities to a third-party PEO or EOR organization, you become able to dedicate more time to your core business, as you clear your plate of HR and administrative responsibility. The third-party organization takes care of HR matters such as recruitment, onboarding and remuneration, giving you more time to focus on the core responsibilities of your business.
A PEO or EOR doesn’t need to replace your HR team, though, and can take some of the administrative load off your existing team and free up their time for more valuable strategic work. By delegating the administrative responsibilities to a third-party organization, your HR staff have more time to focus on training and developing your existing staff.
Local Expertise = Compliance Assured
When you’re looking to hire workers internationally, hiring through a PEO based locally within the country you wish to recruit from helps to assure compliance. A local PEO handles all administrative processes pertaining to the employee and will do so in full compliance with local employment law and regulations, saving you time and stress.
Streamlined Recruitment Process
By partnering with a Canadian PEO to hire customer service workers in Canada, you can significantly streamline the recruitment process. If your overseas customer service team is managed by a third-party PEO, then there is no need to set up a legal entity in the country you’re hiring in. If you were wanting to expand your business to service customers in North America, for example, then the team at Canadian Payroll Services can help you hire remote workers in Canada without setting up a legal entity – a process which can cost precious time and resources.
And though EORs and PEOs don’t have total control over the recruitment of international customer service workers, they can offer support to you and your business throughout the hiring and onboarding process. While you will still have the ultimate choice as far as which individuals to hire, and which to terminate, third-party PEOs can share knowledge and expertise, helping you to select promising candidates from international talent pools, ensuring you get the right fit for your role and for your business.
Hiring the right candidates first time, every time will increase your business’ productivity. Having the right fit for a role provably reduces turnover and absenteeism, and the knowledge of a third-party PEO will help you hire someone who fits well with the existing company culture.
How we can help you hire customer service workers in Canada
As a PEO that also offers EOR services, Canadian Payroll Services hires, onboards, and payrolls Canadian remote customer service workers to support your core business in different time zone. Canada has some of the best customer service workers of all the countries around the world, and our local expertise will support you with recommendations, full compliance with local employment law assured. Our expert team has a wealth of knowledge on Canadian employment law and payroll rules and keep fully up to date on developments and changes in legislation, so you can sit back and relax. You can check out our blog on Ontario’s right to disconnect bill to see how we’re doing just that.
Want to learn more about how Canadian Payroll Services can help you build an overseas customer service team in Canada? Get in touch!