Managing a Global IT Workforce

The topic related to managing a global workforce is very interesting, especially in the IT industry. Most of us believe that the world is flat and so is the workforce. There are many individuals sitting all around the world working on the same project/task and only one thing on their mind, how to make it a big success. Can you believe this, people with various backgrounds, sitting at various time zones, speaking different languages, wearing different kind of clothing but still thinking alike. That is ironic. What made them all think alike or focus alike or to have a common goal, global workforce. Of course nobody other than IT goes hand-on-hand with the global workforce.

Let's say for example IBM, its hiring around the globe is shifting to emerging markets in a big way. IBM currently employees 5 digit employees in 10 major countries, of course the 11th country is the US were it employees roughly 127,000 employees. IBM employs hundreds in the customer service in Brazil. According to Business Week the IBM Brazil is a true microcosm of the enterprise. In five years the workforce has grown from 4,000 to 13,000 people, many of them based in Brazil.

What about Nokia, who is setting up shop in Transylvania. According to a source the handset maker is expected to invest about $267 million in the project to build a technology center in the village of Jucu that will employ 15,000 people.

According to an interesting article in the Business Week, dispatching workers around the globe is more than any Human Resource (HR) can handle. So a new industry has sprung
up. This is so true; it can be a difficult job for the HR to place right people at right place with such a various background and culture.

One thing is for sure, in any industry, IT, Manufacturing, Engineering, Business, etc., global hiring means getting handle on how different cultures view important criteria’s such as taxes, salaries, benefits.