Helping Businesses Expand Globally

Elements Global Services (EGS) is a direct Employer of Record service provider with international reach. It has offices in Chicago, London, Delhi, Barcelona, and Hong Kong, but its team of 50 employees can cover 135 countries worldwide. We spoke to Dany Rastelli from Elements Global Services, as we looked to discover more about this innovative firm.

Elements Global Services (EGS) work with large and small companies alike: from start-ups and SMEs looking to make their first forays into international markets, to global corporations embarking on the next stage of their global expansion strategy.

The firm’s main offerings are: Employer of Record (EOR) services. If a business isn’t a registered entity in a country that it operates in, EGS serves as the legal employer in their stead. The team takes care of all international fees, regulations, and other requirements, while ensuring that companies maintain full control over hiring policy, salary payments, and benefits. With their EOR service, businesses can focus on their international strategy – free of any unnecessary bureaucracy or red tape.

EGS are one of a very few companies operating in their space offering a direct EOR model. All specialist knowledge is kept in-house, meaning the client receives a completely cohesive experience without having to worry about how we manage any third parties. They also receive their own dedicated account manager to collaborate on strategy, and ensure that everything’s ticking along as it should be.

If a client is looking for a more a la carte offering, EGS offers an Administrative Services Outsourcing (ASO) – which allows clients to select what they want EGS to manage and what they want to keep in-house – and Global Human Resources Organisation (HRO), a general consultancy solution ideal for managing difficult situations and ensuring business continuity. Client satisfaction is EGS’ top priority, and the team takes a number of steps to ensure it, as Dany explains.

“Firstly, our direct model is designed to guarantee that everything we do is kept strictly in-house. We have lawyers to handle regulatory issues; finance experts to take care of payroll and accounts; and HR specialists to maintain the satisfaction and wellbeing of a business’ global workforce.

“At EGS, we take great pride in our end-to-end service. Companies may outsource certain functions to us, but we’ll never outsource anything to any other entity. You can’t guarantee client and employee satisfaction if you’re not fully responsible for the service you provide. A direct model keeps us accountable and compels us to continuously improve our offering.

“To that end, we also provide comprehensive account management to take care of the evolving needs of each client – and to make them feel valued on an ongoing basis.”

When discussing the company’s overall mission, Dany informs us of the steps the team at EGS takes to achieve their goals.

“Here at EGS, our mission is to help our global clients grow as quickly and as cost-efficiently as possible. It’s a task that requires us to communicate the value of our services as clearly and effectively as possible – and to clarify the different ways in which they can support each business’ international objectives.

“Long-term, we want to expand our global client roster across the 135 countries we serve, and a significant part of this is working to ensure that our current clients are as happy as possible. When they become advocates for our services, we’re better placed to attract new customers.

“In terms of our more immediate goals, we’re looking to build our presence in European countries such as Spain and the UK, and send more in-house staff to different countries around the world”

It is no secret that behind every successful company, is a team of dedicated individuals who work tirelessly to ensure that the firm reach their goals. As for EGS, Dany takes time to tell us more about the internal culture at the company, as well as highlighting how they ensure all team members are equipped to provide the best possible service to its clients.

“Maintaining a uniform company culture across our multiple locations is certainly difficult, but we manage it. It requires discipline, commitment, and – of course – hiring the right people.

“In fact, all staff are directly hired by or through Rick Hammell, our CEO. From the moment they join, they all have his full support, and because of that, they’re all on the same page. Also, we make sure to maintain a scrupulous awareness of our strengths and weaknesses: we want to know where we’re doing well so we can build on it, and we want to know where we’re falling short, so we can correct it. It’s not all rigorous process improvement, of course: a keen sense of fun is essential to any company culture, and we try to ensure that employees enjoy our workplace environments.

“Although we’re now an international business, we know how important it is to think globally, but act locally. We’re an American business, but we don’t want to be an Americanised one when we’re operating in the UK, Spain, or Hong Kong.”

Staying on the topic of the staff, Dany shares EGS’ approach to hiring new team members, and how they attract the very best talent in the industry to their company.

“The first rule of creating a global business is simple: hire local. It might make sense to parachute in high-fliers from a different office at first, but if they don’t understand the region they’re operating in, they won’t get the best results. Hiring people who speak the cultural language is allimportant – as is attracting them by highlighting the company’s potential to disrupt its field. You want to offer good salaries and a positive culture, but you also want to present the company as an intellectually exciting environment.

“Also, of course, we make sure not to hire anyone who doesn’t have the full support of our CEO. Rick’s been involved in the interview process for every one of our hires, and that isn’t going to change soon.”

Bringing the interview to a close, Dany reveals the developments within the industry that he foresees, and the firm will adapt around these.

“More players in our space will adopt the EOR model. As previously mentioned, we’re currently one of the only providers who offer this, but we don’t expect to be for very long: the challenge is to keep innovating and keep providing superior service even as competitors attempt to muscle in on our territory. We’re more than up to it. Plenty of companies that pretend to provide full end-to-end EOR will be weeded out by the rise of genuine EOR businesses. The quality of service across the industry will therefore rise.

“It’ll come just in time, as well: rising geopolitical volatility will serve as a real barrier to companies looking to explore new markets – and EOR services will allow them to avoid setting up registered entities in potentially fraught regions. This will considerably mitigate their risks.”

Moving forward, the future for EGS looks bright, as Dany explains how the firm will have doubled their workforce, as well as starting to branch out and establishing themselves an international brand.

“By the end of 2018, we intend to double our global workforce from 50 to 100 employees. What’s more, these employees are going to be very busy because EGS fully intends to make a significant impact across each region of the world we operate in. Lastly, we’re perceived in some quarters as a primarily American company, and we intend to move further and further away from that. In future, we’d like to be thought of as a truly international brand.”

Company: Elements Global Services,

Contact: Dany Rastelli

Address: 42 Corsham Street, London, N1 6DR, UK

Telephone: 0203 405 8282

Website: www.elementsgs.com