Awards | Global mobility | Magazine Article

Excellence in technology or analytics

by Editorial Team | Jun 25, 2024

Winner: Work From Anywhere

Flexibility and choice is the overarching theme of the awards this year. This winner of this category – Work From Anywhere – showcases both attributes brilliantly for people looking to work across borders and addresses the perennial considerations of cost-effectiveness and compliance for their employers.

Global mobility functions and HR expertise in companies from small enterprises to the world’s largest employers are increasingly being asked by their employees if they can work from anywhere: whether to extend a business trip, combine work with family responsibilities, or perhaps a personal development opportunity. At the same time, tax authorities are deploying much more sophisticated methods, including AI, to identify non-compliance with immigration and visa requirements.

Supporting employee choice and flexibility

The Work From Anywhere platform, developed by co-founders Dónal Brady and John Lee and the company’s cross-border team of six, offers a service that encompasses all these needs. The Ireland-based company is on a mission to make compliant working and hiring from anywhere a possibility – and for as many people as possible.

The mission is certainly possible. Runners-up last year in this category, the company has responded to client feedback and posted sales growth of 65% in the first quarter of 2024. It has now secured the top honours in the 2024 awards.

The judges praised Work From Anywhere for its provision of an “outstanding service” that enables clients to build and deliver work-from-anywhere policies efficiently and cost-effectively. “This small but specialist firm has responded to the feedback given from its community to provide a user-friendly, innovative and comprehensive platform. This is an excellent service that most definitely fills a gap in the marketplace.”

Decisions in seconds

Work From Anywhere technology empowers companies to decide where and how they hire with pre-trip risk assessments for international work-from-anywhere requests. The platform means companies can elevate their global mobility policies and offer international remote work as a highly valued employee benefit. In some companies, the option to work from anywhere has been shown to help reduce attrition by 15%, making it a cost-effective addition to the HR and GM policy suite.

Developed internally over the past three years, the algorithm enables Work From Anywhere customers in a matter of seconds to understand the tax, employment law and immigration risks and solutions for any international remote work scenario, both temporary and structural, in 84 different countries. The company also shares its knowledge with a free policy builder, e-books and webinars so more employers can create a work-from-anywhere policy and improve the employee experience of their global people.

Speaking during the awards evening at Two Temple Place, London, CEO John Lee said: “For me, this is a wonderful recognition of the companies that have supported us along the journey. It is a hugely proud moment for us to recognise we’ve gotten this far and the support of the wider community. We came to the world with a different type of solution for the 78% of companies in a Mercer survey that said they are doing this. It was a bold bet when we started building this many years ago, but thankfully we’ve been proven right.”