Global workforces: Breaking down barriers

Having a global workforce can bring benefits and barriers. Here’s how using Workplace helps you communicate and collaborate more effectively across borders.

Companies are becoming increasingly international. In a survey by Culture Wizard, 48% of executives from 80 countries said over half their teams were made up of citizens of other countries.

Internationalization is a boon for organizations. It means they can pick from a much wider talent pool and benefit from the various different perspectives this brings — better innovation, new ideas, opening up new markets.

However, there are stumbling blocks that all international organizations need to get over in order for global workforces to work well together.

Work across different time zones

How do you coordinate work if your teams are spread across time zones? Does getting things done mean people have to stay up all night? It shouldn’t.

Using communication and collaboration tools like Workplace can help can help focus communication and make cross-border working run more smoothly.

You can set up task-based Groups that include members in different global locations.

Share your latest version of a document as a file from your computer — or with an integration with a tool like Dropbox. Tag a colleague in a different part of the world and add a little note.

Your colleague will find your message at the beginning of their day as soon as they come online to pick up right where you left off.

Work across the language barrier

Language differences don’t need to be a problem with Auto Translate. People can post in their groups as normal in their own language.

When News Feed sees a post in a different language, it’ll offer to translate it there and then. No extra steps and no time wasted. Auto Translate uses machine learning to translate so you don’t need any other translation software.

Work across different cultures

Cultural differences enrich an organization, but it’s also important to create a culture that you can all share. With a familiar interface that speaks to everyone, using Workplace can help you do this.

Workplace News Feed keeps everyone in the loop, no matter where they are. Your colleagues from different countries can connect with and learn more from each other with the help of Profiles.

For example, you can call out birthdays and work anniversaries by marking them with GIFs and stickers. And of course, emojis are a language everyone understands.

And with features like Live video bridging cultural and geographical gaps at the click of a button, you can bring everyone closer together no matter where they are in the world. And by doing so, help turn your company into a community.

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Originally published at www.workplace.com.