Debbie Millin, Chief Operating Officer, Globalization Partners talks about the need of a centralized platform for effect cost and time management of global employeesDebbie Millin, Chief Operating Officer, Globalization Partners talks about the need of a centralized platform for effect cost and time management of global employees
1. Tell us about your role at Globalization Partners
As Chief Operating Officer and founding member of our executive team, my role is always evolving. I constantly strive to find new and better ways to drive operational efficiency and strategic approaches for improving our employee and customer experience. If this last year has taught us anything, it’s that business-as-usual no longer works.
2. Can you tell us about your journey into this market?
After more than 10 years in telecommunications, I made the move into global expansion and helped my previous company achieve the distinction of being the number one fastest-growing private company in Massachusetts. It was there I met Nicole Sahin, our CEO, and when she told me she was starting Globalization Partners, I immediately saw the potential for this model to disrupt how the world does business. This market is so innovative; I knew we could make an incredible impact and build a company focused on a triple bottom line, maintaining happy customers, employees, and shareholders. I helped Globalization Partners grow to not only the number one fastest-growing private company in Massachusetts but also the number 6 fastest growing company in America.
3. How do you think technology is revamping the HR Sector?
We are seeing a surge of HR technology powered in part by the pandemic but also by the wider trend of moving the HR professional out of administration and into a key decision maker. The data-driven technology advances in automation and digitization have helped free up HR departments, allowing them to have a broader impact.
4. How has digitalization eased the process of talent acquisition, especially during times such as these?
With remote work still a major focus for companies, technology has been key in keeping talent acquisition moving forward.
Companies are no longer restricted to searching for talent in the same city as their office; they can look anywhere in the world for the best talent that fits their needs. Video call applications and other communication tools give companies the flexibility to keep their teams united and working together even if they are hundreds or thousands of miles apart.
5. What is the significance of locally compliant employment contracts for global expansion?
As companies look to international expansion, they must be aware of the complex and dynamic labyrinth of global compliance. Failing to do so can result in astronomical fees, costing the company hundreds of thousands of dollars–if not more. When it comes to employment contracts, every country has its own laws and regulations, which is why it’s so important to make the investment in working with a trusted partner like Globalization Partners, who will help you understand the country-specific laws around everything. This includes regular working hours and required rest breaks, limitations on and compensation for overtime work, entitlement to paid vacation and sick leave, allowances for maternity and parental leave, and more.
6. Why are flexible payment options a highly sought-after feature for modern organizations?
Getting paid correctly and on time is a top priority for every employee. That’s why we put such an emphasis on providing flexible payment options. Traditional payment processes like handing an employee a paper check won’t cut it anymore. At the bare minimum, every company must offer employees direct deposit, but modern companies should have more options than that. Globalization Partners’ customers can pay their employees in 187 different countries, through Venmo, and even in cryptocurrencies. One of the best ways to build trust with your employees is to deliver payments on time, free of errors, and in the format of their choice.
7. What is the role of competitive benefits in enhancement of employee experience?
Even after a company has identified the perfect candidate, convincing them to come aboard might not be straightforward. Offering competitive benefits is key to getting the best talent, but when hiring internationally, you need to ensure your capability to provide compliant and country-appropriate benefits packages. It’s essential to do considerable on-the-ground research to learn about competitive benefits in other countries, but it can also be time consuming. To save your HR team this task when hiring internationally, Globalization Partners can ensure you make an employment offer to the right person for the job in minutes and offer competitive benefits packages.
8. How can a centralized platform for expenses help the finance teams with global employees’ time and cost management?
A centralized platform—like the one Globalization Partners provides—allows for automated and country-compliant controls for time and expenses. This means clients can grow freely without worrying about often-convoluted local regulations or compliance mandates. It also enhances accessibility through the use of the company’s web and mobile app, improves data security for customers and professionals by implementing Single Sign-On (SSO), and self-service features for transparency in time-off and expense data management.
9. Globalization Partners recently teamed up with ADP TotalSource. How is this partnership helping with decomplexifying payroll and HCM-associated difficulties?
The integration will manage lifecycle and billing expenses using an automated workflow that minimizes overhead in processing accruals, reporting, and incoming queries. Customers can now more easily review and authorize time and expense requests from global employees in either web or mobile-responsive environments. Both time and expense offerings will continue to be built with country specifics in mind and all expense report details are centralized to ease the finance team’s workload.
10. How do you prepare for an AI-centric World?
I think in many ways we are already living in an AI-centric world. We all interact a dozen or more times a day with AI-driven platforms from Netflix recommending what to watch to Instacart reminding us to add milk before we check out. I think it’s important to remember that AI is driven by humans, and its integration into our lives has been an innovation not an upheaval.
11. What are the major developments you are planning, in recent times?
What aren’t we planning? We have been growing so rapidly that it is almost a whirlwind. We are on track to reach $1 billion dollars in annual recurring revenue by the end of the year.
12. How does your team empower and support you?
No one can lead the operations of a company successfully without the best people filling every role. In a place that is growing so rapidly, we must have a team of people who can grow with us, evolving their skills as the company evolves—not only keeping up but also moving in front of the growth to help make it as smooth as possible for the company, its employees, and clients. We have that group and are hiring 100 people a month to support demand for our solution.
13. What movie inspires you the most?
Remember the Titans – if you work together as a team, anything is possible.
14. We have heard that you have a very joyful work culture, we won’t mind having a look at some of the pictures?
We are incredibly proud that we have kept our amazing culture as we grow so rapidly around the world!
15. Can you give us a glance of the applications you use on your phone?
My most used applications are Slack (to stay in touch with my colleagues), Instagram (to stay in touch with my family and friends), OneNote (to keep myself organized), and a couple of puzzle-games when I need to pause and let my mind work a little differently.
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Debbie Millin Chief Operating Officer, Globalization Partners
Debbie Millin is Chief Operating Officer and a founding member of the executive team of Globalization Partners. She helped build the company into the leading Employer of Record platform, that eliminates the traditional HR, legal, and tax hurdles companies otherwise face when building global remote teams in what is now being called a trillion-dollar industry in the new era of global remote work. With over 20 years of operational, project management, and client relationship experience in a variety of industries, Debbie’s specialization is supporting companies experiencing rapid growth to scale their systems and processes.