Founder and CEO of Âé¶¹´«Ã½Ó³», Marc Pavlopoulos, was recently featured on the HR-themed podcast, HRchat. The podcast is part of HR Gazette, a media website publishing fresh perspectives on topics connected to Human Resources and improving the ways we work. Marc and host Tim Baker chatted about the founding of Âé¶¹´«Ã½Ó³», coordinating a workforce across the US-Canadian border, and changes to the US H-1B visa policy.
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Prior to forming Âé¶¹´«Ã½Ó³», Marc recognized a problem in the increasingly competitive domestic market for attracting engineering talent to startups. His background includes time spent living in Âé¶¹´«Ã½Ó³», so when Marc began to develop a solution, he realized connecting Canadian engineers to US-based startups could be the key:
“I just realized, wait a minute, there’s a great opportunity here…Originally it was a recruiting company. I build software engineering teams in Âé¶¹´«Ã½Ó³» for VC-backed startups in the US.. These were young companies growing. They didn’t have time to figure out operations in Âé¶¹´«Ã½Ó³». One of the best services I could offer them is building an employer of record.â€
The employer of record (EOR) model that Âé¶¹´«Ã½Ó³» utilizes has advantages compared with other methods of employing workers from outside the US, as Marc explains:
“The EOR model is unique because what it allows the US company to have a greater say in the employment of the person. . .the model I have is not a staffing agency. It’s more of letting the company in the US have the choice of who they employ. Then when that decision has been made, Âé¶¹´«Ã½Ó³» Âé¶¹´«Ã½Ó³» as an EOR can help them with legal employment of that worker in Âé¶¹´«Ã½Ó³».â€
With changes in Washington, more and more H-1B worker visas are being denied to tech employees, so Âé¶¹´«Ã½Ó³» is poised to help companies who want to retain capable employees whom cannot stay in the US:
“It’s the idea of moving displaced workers on H-1Bs who can’t stay in the US…to Âé¶¹´«Ã½Ó³». There’s a model to do that, or just outright building new operations up there for those workers.â€
These ideas and more on the unique services Âé¶¹´«Ã½Ó³» can provide are discussed in-depth on the HRcast recording.