While remote work has brought ease to employees’ lives in some ways, setting up an
With more than a third of the global workforce remote by the end of 2021, a new startup is helping employers get their employees setup for success, regardless of their location. Hofy is a software platform positioned to help employers provide and manage furniture and IT equipment for global workforces. Having access to the right equipment plays a direct role in employee morale and retention, says Sami Bouremoum, Hofy co-founder and CEO.
“We are very conscious that we directly impact an employee’s first experience with their company,” says Bouremoum. “The amount of money and care that goes to equipment really affects your employees’ experiences.”
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As the definition of the “workplace” continues to change, Employee Benefit News spoke with Bouremoum about how employers can properly equip their global teams and what’s in store for this evolution.
How is Hofy helping employers hire, onboard and support a global workforce?
On the tech side, since we integrate into most HR software platforms, companies can define their equipment policies so different roles can receive the right equipment. Then when you make an offer, the employee automatically gets invited into Hofy and can select the equipment they want. We will deliver it, install it, maintain it and recover it for a monthly subscription.
From a regulatory perspective, the laws [vary]: in California, it says that an employer is legally responsible for ensuring that their employees have a healthy and safe workplace, even if they are in their home. In that case, employees may need to be provided with a monitor, chair, desk, mouse and keyboard. In other states, that responsibility stays with the employee.
Instead of HR spending their time on this, it’s all figured out through Hofy. We're kind of like the magic fairies in the background doing all the heavy lifting.
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What types of equipment are must-haves for remote workers?
Lighting and sound are really important. We find that especially in the winter months in more northern cities, the days get short and people who work into the night get headaches because their lights are at the wrong temperature. Task lights are grossly under-demanded, even though a lot of people suffer from straining their eyes.
The other thing is noise-canceling headsets. You may be living right next to a train line or you may be working from home and have a screaming two-year-old. You don't want customers to hear the train or the child.
Webcams and mics are also crucial. People still use the webcams in their laptops, which are quite poor. Your webcam and sound quality is the interface between your employees and your company and the outside world.
Even a fully fledged home office is basically about 10 to 20 times cheaper than the cost of office space. So there's just no excuse for an employer not to pay for it.
How does providing the right equipment help ease the on- and off-boarding process for employers building a global staff?
Hofy helps our clients tick all the compliance boxes, both from a finance and health and safety perspective across the globe. Most of our customers use us when they start hiring people abroad. We guarantee that you can have your equipment anywhere in the world in 10 working days. We want to make the process of onboarding and even offboarding someone easy.
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Our data shows that it takes on average about three and a half hours to onboard a new hire remotely within the company’s country. For international hires, a company may spend six to eight hours because there are many added difficulties.
For example, you may not have someone in the company who speaks Brazilian, but you need to find a laptop in Brazil for your next employee. People don't realize that a lot of countries don't accept foreign Visa or MasterCard. If you want to buy a laptop in Germany, most e-commerce resellers will not accept U.S. credit cards.
Once a company provides its employees with proper equipment, how can they foresee this affecting their retention rates?
Because everyone has realized that they can learn remotely, the talent pool has shifted into one global talent pool. Now employers are not just competing with local companies for the top 10% of talent in their city, but they’re competing with everyone else in the world who are trying to poach those people.
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I think the power is increasingly in the employees' hands and the way that you can differentiate yourself from other employers is by not just letting employees work from home but actually facilitating and enabling it. The more you do for your employees and the better experience they have, the more likely they will stay.
As an employee, if you're not in the office, you want to feel cared for. At the end of the day, talent is a company's most valuable asset. And if you invest in your talent, you get better outcomes.
