This CEO manages employees in 60 countries — his advice for launching a digital nomad policy

With remote work here to stay, employees are rethinking exactly where they'd prefer to work. For an increasing number of people, working while living or traveling abroad is striking the right balance. 

According to MBO Partners, an independent workforce management platform, 16.9 million American workers describe themselves as "digital nomads" — employees who regularly move from place to place while continuing to work remotely. That's a 131% increase from 2019, their research found.  

While aspirational, working remotely while traveling abroad is not as simple as packing up a laptop and heading to a Parisian cafe. To support this lifestyle, employers and employees  should understand the logistical and legal hurdles that may come into play. 

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"The pandemic and the flip to remote work showed the world that yeah, you can be wherever you want to be, as long as you have a computer," says Bjorn Reynolds, CEO of Safeguard Global, a global workforce management company. "But each country still has its own employment laws. Each country still has its own cultural habits. The key for the employer is to really make sure that they're compliant." 

Traditionally, employees wanting to work abroad would need to work from a company's HQ in that particular location, or seek out a work visa. Yet an increasing number of countries are now offering digital nomad visas, which permit employees to live in the country legally while working remotely for a foreign-based employer. Portugal recently launched their digital visa program, joining others like Iceland, Bermuda and Costa Rica in welcoming expats to work abroad.  

While employees with digital nomad visas could ease some of the logistical issues for employers, HR leaders could still have their hands full if they don't have a policy in place, Reynolds says. Safeguard Global helps HR leaders navigate international employment laws, manage payroll for a global workforce and more. 

Bjorn Reynolds, CEO of Safeguard Global

"We help organizations locate, recruit, manage, and pay their workforce across 180 countries. We get requests from companies that have a worker who wants to move to a different country, yet they don't have the traditional means of employing them," he says. "We help from a technological standpoint and a services infrastructure. We facilitate with governments and make sure everybody's compliant legally and that they have the payroll so that their business is covered."

Read more: Do you need a corporate mobility policy for your digital nomad workers?

While these factors are important, it also requires a mindset shift when it comes to embracing a far-flung workforce — and acknowledging there's no turning back. 

"Those that are leaning into it have invested in the technology, the infrastructure, and have a mindset of, 'Go, you're remote, it doesn't matter where,'" Reynolds says. "The ones that probably are struggling a bit more haven't changed their muscle memory. They're worried about, 'How do I know that you're busy? How can I monitor you?' But we have to think differently to attract and retain [employees]." 

Reynolds says his team is entirely remote and spread out over 60 countries — he himself has lived and worked in nine different countries. One employee on his team travels from place-to-place monthly, and has worked from nearly 30 countries over the last few years. For him and his employees, the benefits far outweigh any logistical headaches that come with managing a global remote team. 

"I think it gives you insight and balance to really be able to broaden your own individual horizons," he says. "The team leader who travels to a new country every month to work, she is so happy. She's gotten to experience things from a personal level, but I've never seen someone who loves their job so much, because that job affords her the ability to do this." 

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Making this an option for employees can set an organization apart, especially as more workers seek unconventional work arrangements and want the freedom to work when, where and how they want. 

"Imagine telling somebody who hasn't had to commute for four hours a day, you have to go back, and then there's a company that won't make you go back. You'd leave and go there," Reynolds says. "Everyone needs to lean into this — there's nothing more powerful than an empowered, excited employee who really loves the company because they feel the company is leaning into the way they're thinking. The productivity and the results and outcomes you get is considerably stronger." 

A September survey by Resume Builder found that 90% of companies plan to require employees to return to the office in 2023, and a fifth would even fire workers who don't return. But that approach is antiquated and will push even more employees out the door, Reynolds says. Whether an employee wants to work in a foreign country or just from their dining room table, options and flexibility will remain a top priority. 

"I was talking to a CEO in Austin with a few hundred employees who forced everybody back to the office, and 40% of his staff left there within three months," Reynolds says. "The taste of flexibility, of freedom, of empowerment to choose what you do in the day, it's so hard to put that genie back in the bottle."