Labor markets in advanced economies are facing their greatest strain in two decades. While the US, UK and Canada remain the leading destinations for global talent, the race to attract skilled workers has intensified as other countries, especially across the Middle East, have made a play for the world's best and brightest.
This pressure is prompting more organizations to explore international hiring. In The Global Atlas: Challenges, Strategies, and Solutions for HR Leaders in 2025, access to specialized talent was identified as a primary motivator for hiring globally by 55% of respondents with an existing international presence and 26% of those yet to expand globally.
For HR leaders at Small and Medium-sized Business (SMBs), tasked with balancing talent needs with limited budgets, borderless hiring offers a powerful solution. While traditional international expansion often involves significant upfront costs, like setting up new legal entities, alternative models such as Employer of Record (EOR) services are removing these barriers.
Global hiring offers SMBs a competitive advantage in cost efficiency
By removing upfront costs and administrative burdens, an EOR enables faster global expansion and makes it easier for smaller companies to compete for top talent. SMBs no longer need to choose between accessing high-quality talent and managing costs – they can now target regions that offer both, driving long-term growth and strengthening organizational resilience. Atlas’ survey reflected this shift, and found that cost optimization was a top driver (39%) for companies planning global expansion.
Close behind cost optimization, market expansion is the second most common driver of global expansion (38%). The right hires on the ground can help companies establish a local presence, build customer relationships, and grow business networks – all laying the groundwork to accelerate future growth.
To unlock these benefits, companies need a clear hiring strategy, built on a clear understanding of their goals and the markets best suited to meet them.
Choosing the right region: key factors SMBs should consider
Beyond talent availability, these are the top factors companies should consider while determining which regions to hire from:
Business needs: In Atlas’ report, the most targeted regions for future recruitment were North America (45%), the U.K. and Ireland (39%) and the rest of Europe (30%), emphasizing how the business opportunities in both regions outweigh the relatively high hiring costs.
Employment costs: While many countries offer significantly lower employment costs, they may be located far from a company’s headquarters or key markets, posing a trade-off between cost efficiency and strategic alignment. Tools like Atlas’ Employee Cost Calculator can support more informed decision-making by helping organizations compare typical employment costs across target regions and weigh them against broader business priorities.
Infrastructure: Key infrastructure considerations include reliable internet, access to co-working spaces in central cities and a robust legal framework for employment. Companies should be particularly careful about countries that have complex compliance and legal jurisdiction, most pronounced in Europe and Latin America, which can greatly slow expansion.
Time zone: Time zones can impact collaboration and employee wellbeing, with employees sometimes being forced to work unconventional hours to sync with teams or clients – though flexible work schedules can help overcome this hurdle.
It's a challenging balancing act that can leave HR managers unsure whether to prioritize top talent in high-cost markets or opt for cost savings in more remote regions. But gaining insight around local salary benchmarks can help discover the regions that best achieve that equilibrium.
Choosing the right salary: how to be competitive and fair
When building salary packages, 34% of Atlas' respondents plan to match salaries in new regions with those at their headquarters, while 55% intend to align compensation with local market standards.
This reflects a broader trend, with the Financial Times reporting global salary inflation due to companies offering top salaries regardless of where they are hiring. While this strategy helps secure top talent, it can leave gaps in budgets and create inequalities, as different locations will face variable costs of living and taxes.
Instead, companies should factor in taxes, mandatory pensions and other legal expectations to build a holistic picture of global employee costs by using a tool like Atlas' Employee Cost Calculator. Combined with Atlas' Global Salary Calculator, these tools can help organisations pinpoint strategic countries for expansion and establish competitive salary benchmarks to attract top talent.
Factoring in mean salary with expected additional costs across six key countries, these are the average employee costs for three of the most in-demand, remote-friendly roles:
Talent costs fluctuate not only by country, but by industry – underscoring the value of granular, country-specific insights that enable more informed hiring decisions.
Unlocking true borderless hiring with Atlas
As your business expands, the right balance of flexibility and insight is needed to hire top talent and meet new customers where they are. Partnering with Atlas provides both.
As an EOR, Atlas unlocks borderless hiring to support global expansion, taking on all legal liability in 160+ countries. This gives you the flexibility and scope to expand into new markets, with versatile, benefit-driven models of employment that help you stay competitive.
With in-depth, evolving insight on local employment laws, cultural norms and compliance requirements, Atlas empowers HR leaders to build sustainable global strategies.
For a deeper dive into that insight, take a look at The Global Atlas: Challenges, Strategies, and Solutions for HR Leaders in 2025 to see how other HR leaders are responding to labor challenges, including our top 4 trends for 2025.