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Beginning work in a new country can be very exciting and a great way to further your organization’s goals and mission. Whether your organization provides educational opportunities or medical care or aid after an emergency, providing services in another country can open the door to a variety of new opportunities and challenges. When determining whether to expand your nonprofit’s offerings to a new country, there are many important things to review and consider. Major factors that will play into your decision will include the amount of resources (money, supplies, people) your nonprofit has available, the needs of the target country, and the legal landscape for employment and charity services in the target country.
Once you have decided to start working in a new country, two of the biggest decisions you will need to make are what type of employment arrangement to use, and who to hire to further your mission. It is important to understand that an employee hired to work in a foreign country will be subject to the local employment laws of that country. This means that a full understanding of the intricacies of the country’s laws is necessary. Some of the potential options for utilizing workers for your operations overseas include:
Many United States-based NGOs will end up choosing a combination of the above to fulfill their employment needs and ensure that the mission and goals of the organization are the focus for the work done in the new country. For the purposes of this article, the primary focus will be on hiring local workers to fill open positions for your nonprofit.
Once your organization has decided to recruit new workers internationally, the first thing you’ll need to do is figure out whether there are specific rules and requirements for the recruiting process that are different from those that are typical in the United States. Some of the areas where laws may differ in the early phases of recruiting include:
The primary thing to remember when hiring abroad is that each country will require a different approach. Trying to design and implement a single approach to use in every country where your organization does work (or is considering doing work) is not practical.
Once you have appropriately hired new employees compliant with the recruiting laws in the country where you are working, there will be numerous additional laws with which your nonprofit will need to comply regarding human resources decisions, including:
Several areas of the law are frequently divergent from the laws of the United States. Some of the more common areas that you will want to consider include:
Time-off Laws — Many foreign countries are more generous than the United States in providing time off benefits to their employees. Understanding the differences and expectations of workers in a new country is important prior to hiring. The United States has no statutory minimum paid vacation or paid public holidays; therefore, employers are free to set these benefits. Conversely, many countries in Africa require employers to provide their workers with a specific amount of paid leave and paid holidays.
Union Power — There are several countries where unions have quite a bit of power, and working conditions are guided by the power of the unions. Understanding the differences from law in the United States, and the parameters of decision-making your nonprofit as an employer can make are essential. Unions are especially complex in some countries, such as China, where the All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU) is the only lawful trade union nationwide.and is also government controlled.
Employee Privacy — Some laws are incredibly strict about protecting the privacy of employees and even the publication of something as innocuous as an employee directory may run afoul of the law. For example, some European countries prohibit ongoing monitoring of employee communications unless the employer has concrete suspicions of wrongdoing.
Thoroughly understanding and complying with international employment laws is only one piece of the larger puzzle of undertaking operations in a new country. Taking a thoughtful and deliberate approach to considering expanding operations is a good way to make sure that you are thinking through all the possible new areas of exposure that your nonprofit may face in a new country. A careful analysis of the potential costs and benefits associated with expanding into each new country you consider will help your nonprofit plot the way forward, and make compliance a priority.
Emily Stumhofer is Staff Attorney at the Nonprofit Risk Management Center. She can be reached at 703.777.3504 or Emily@nonprofitrisk.org.
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