How HR Outsourcing for Remote Teams Helps Solve Problems

Remote teams are groups of employees who work together on common goals while they are in different physical locations. Team members may be spread across town or work in different states or different countries, sometimes across multiple time zones. They are connected by technology.

The freedom to work remotely can be a big draw for top talent, even as many employers want workers to return to the office. While fewer people work at home now compared to a few years ago, hybrid solutions, where employees work some days at home and some on site, remain common.

Remote working technology has also enabled employers to hire employees and engage with independent contractors from anywhere in the world without having to build or lease physical offices in each location. This helps companies grow and gives them access to the skilled employees they may need, no matter where those employees may be found in the talent pool.

The arrangement can pose logistical, technological, and psychological challenges for human resources, but outsourcing solutions can provide value in many ways for managing distributed teams. Let's look at how HR outsourcing for remote teams can help address some common challenges.

The Remote Work HR Challenge

A Pew Research Center survey conducted in October 2024 found that 32% of workers who had a job that could be done at home were working at home all of the time. Another 42% of this group worked at home most or some of the time. Only 25% said they rarely or never worked at home.

With the value of remote work options comes common pain points for HR departments managing remote teams. These include:

• Multi-state compliance concerns. Some businesses must deal with different employment-related laws and payroll tax requirements in each jurisdiction.
• Inconsistent onboarding. The onboarding process is especially important for remote workers to help them feel like they are a part of the company.
• Building company culture. It’s challenging to create a sense of shared values and inclusion in people who are working alone.
• Managing payroll. Pay requirements  may differ from one location to the next.
• Employee engagement. Workers need to feel motivated without having face-to-face interactions with colleagues and supervisors, as well as direct support.

Key HR Functions Transformed Through Outsourcing

Let's look at how HR outsourcing can help.

Digital onboarding and employee lifecycle management

Employees’ engagement directly affects their productivity. Their sense of belonging is a major influence on how likely they are to stay. Both of these are challenging when you have remote workers. HR outsourcing providers can help boost employees’ motivation and loyalty by getting them off to a great start and then keeping the momentum going throughout their time at your company. Solutions that outsourcing providers may offer include:

• Paperless, efficient onboarding tools
• Virtual orientation training
• Digital document management and e-signature solutions
• Remote employee lifecycle tracking and administration

Multi-state compliance

If you have or plan to hire employees or engage with independent contractors in other states, an HR outsourcing provider may offer best practice guidance on employment-related laws and payroll tax requirements, helping you navigate compliance. There’s a lot to keep track of, such as paid leave requirements and workplace accommodation. Your outsourcing provider may also provide risk mitigation support for distributed teams.

Centralized payroll management

When you have employees or contractors in different states, that can complicate pay processing. HR outsourcing experts can streamline the process. With their knowledge of pay laws in the jurisdictions where you have employees, they can help support with:

• Pay processing
• Payroll tax administration

Their technology platform may also integrate time tracking for your remote workers and generally simplify the process of processing of pay in multiple locations.

Benefits administration for distributed teams

When your workforce lives in different locations, you need to provide benefits that are available for them where they are. You’ll also need to give them an easy way to learn about and enroll in benefit packages. HR outsourcing providers may be able to help. They may provide:

• Access to competitive benefit packages that work across locations
• Virtual benefits enrollment and education
• Counseling support or resources
• Location-independent wellness programs

The Business Case: ROI of HR Outsourcing for Remote Teams

You could conserve internal resources by outsourcing HR tasks and lightening the load for your in-house team. The cost efficiency comes from an outsourcing company's economies of scale and robust technology systems.

HR outsourcing companies also have expertise in a wide range of HR areas. A small or medium-sized company might find it to be prohibitively expensive to hire an equivalent team of experts.

Compliance is one of these areas of expertise. An SMB might find it difficult to keep up with the latest employment-related laws and regulations. One error could result in a costly action, fine or workplace incident. Compliance is not a suitable area for learning by trial and error. An HR outsourcing provider could provide expert best practice guidance to help you navigate and comply.

Outsourcing provider could help your talent acquisition efforts with tools and employee retention by helping you attract the top employees you need and, crucially for a remote workforce, help keep them engaged and motivated.

Real-World Examples: HR Outsourcing Success Stories

Let's look at three examples of how HR outsourcing has helped businesses support their remote workforces.

• LifeLabs Learning teaches skills to professionals in more than 2,500 companies. They have a remote team of more than 100 employees located across the U.S. They found their previous HR provider did not fully align with their needs and were thrilled to make the switch to TriNet. They appreciate TriNet’s variety of services, responsiveness, access to benefits, scalability, and expertise in multi-state HR compliance.
• iMerit, a provider in AI data annotation and solutions, was originally founded overseas. They needed to establish a workforce and facilities in the U.S. They were attracted to TriNet because of its more transparent pricing and quality customer service. TriNet’s services have enabled iMerit to optimize their internal resources.
• Pet Honesty sells supplements for pets online and in 9,000 retail stores. TriNet has helped them support their remote and hybrid workforce as the company continues to grow. Like LifeLabs Learning and iMerit, Pet Honesty’s previous HR provider did not fully align with their needs. TriNet’s expert support and user-friendly technology streamlines their HR and frees up their energy to pursue their business goals.

Is HR Outsourcing Right for Your Remote Team? A Checklist

Here's a checklist to help with decisions on whether HR outsourcing for remote teams might work for your small or medium-sized business. If you find that these difficulties apply to your business, you might need HR outsourcing:

• You're experiencing compliance uncertainties with remote workers
• Remote onboarding feels inconsistent or cumbersome
• You lack specialized knowledge in multi-state employment-related laws
• Your HR team is spending excessive time on administrative tasks
• You want to provide comprehensive benefits regardless of location
• You need scalable HR solutions as your remote team grows

Time to Start Your HR Outsourcing Journey

You don’t have to deal with the complexities of a multi-state workforce on your own. TriNet can do the heavy lifting. You’ll get a user-friendly platform, expert best practice guidance, and access to the kinds of benefit packages that can help you attract and retain great workers.

We'll help you with compliance in the locations where you have employees. If you have independent contractors working for you, TriNet makes it easy to onboard and pay them.

A geographically distributed workforce can be a win-win for your organization. But managing a multistate workforce can also present challenges—and even risks. Get TriNet's free eGuide on navigating the complexities of a multistate workforce.