articleIcon-icon

Article

12 min read

Nonprofits and NGOs: Global Workforce Management Best Practices

Employer of record

Global hiring

Global HR

Global payroll

Image

Author

Jemima Owen-Jones

Published

October 14, 2024

Last Update

January 31, 2025

Table of Contents

1. Unlock global hiring potential with modern tech

2. Offer fair, competitive compensation that meets legal requirements

3. Optimize the management of remote and hybrid workers

4. Simplify payroll management on a global scale

5. Enhance and adapt employee skills to meet evolving demands

6. Create a cohesive team experience

7. Align with global compliance requirements

Master global workforce management and streamline processes with Deel

  1. Nonprofits and NGOs have distinct missions, but their workforce management challenges are even more pronounced. Stakeholder expectations, increased regulatory scrutiny, and financial limitations are largely the cause.
  2. Modern HR tech for workforce management helps nonprofits and NGOs drive employee innovation while staying true to their missions. It also helps navigate resource limitations without sacrificing compliance with regulatory standards.
  3. Nonprofits and NGOs can enhance global operations and amplify local impact by adopting Deel-powered flexible workforce management strategies.

Global workforce management for NGOs and nonprofits is a delicate balancing act. Organizations must navigate talent shortages and upskill their workforce while ensuring a positive experience for remote, globally dispersed teams. At the same time, they face pressure from stakeholder expectations, stricter compliance requirements, and uncertain funding sources.

However, within these challenges lie opportunities. These obstacles present the opportunity to build a mission-driven, inclusive, and resilient workforce that advances organizational goals.

To harness this potential, the right technology for recruitment and workforce management is essential. As an all-in-one global people platform, Deel simplifies hiring and workforce management for nonprofits and NGOs. It optimizes resource allocation and enhances the employee experience—all while ensuring full compliance.

We’ll analyze how you can transform your approach to global hiring and workforce management with Deel.

1. Unlock global hiring potential with modern tech

Hiring presents a significant challenge in the non-profit and NGO sectors. A 2023 National Council of Nonprofits (NCN) survey found that 74.6% of non-profits had job vacancies. As a result, many organizations are facing longer waiting lists for their services.

Although the hiring process resembles that of other industries, mission-driven challenges, regulatory requirements, and stakeholder expectations complicate finding a good fit.

Expanding your search to the global market offers a solution. However, setting up entities in each target country can be costly and time-consuming.

By using an EOR, you can broaden your talent pool globally while keeping expenses manageable. Deel’s Employer of Record and Contractor of Record services help you hire and onboard workers in over 150 countries without local entities.

Deel also ensures that you maintain a high standard of workforce integrity by conducting thorough background checks. If necessary, we assist you in smoothly relocating workers through our visa processing and immigration services.

International hiring through Deel does more than just fill vacant positions with top talent. It supports your diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) goals. These are key values in the nonprofit and NGO sector.

Global hiring also allows you to tap into talent with local cultural understanding, crucial for building strong community partnerships. As a result, you can improve global operations and ensure your initiatives connect with diverse populations.

Discover how FEMSA expanded its talent search globally, hiring over 40 professionals from nine countries with Deel. By leveraging Deel's services, FEMSA saved over $270,000 in local entity setup costs.

In our search for talent, especially in fields like the digital sector, we’ve found the right skills often lie in countries where we don’t operate. Fortunately, with Deel EOR, we can hire exceptional talent from anywhere, all while following the necessary legal and labor laws.

David Holguín,

Benefits & Mobility Manager at FEMSA

Deel Employer of Record
Hire employees globally with the #1 Employer of Record
Deel provides safe and secure EOR services in 100+ countries. We’ll quickly hire and onboard employees on your behalf—with payroll, tax, and compliance solutions built into the same, all-in-one platform.

See also: Employer of Record for Global Expansion and Market Testing

Workers in NGOs and nonprofits have a strong desire to make a positive impact and contribute to social change. However, this commitment does not mean they are willing to accept unfair pay or inadequate benefits. In fact, the NCN survey showed that 72.2% of respondents believe salary competition affects their ability to recruit and retain talent.

A competitive compensation strategy aligned with local market standards can attract top talent, even in mission-driven sectors.

Furthermore, NGOs and nonprofits must follow laws governing compensation, including minimum wage and benefits. Salaries must also be reasonable. Excessively high salaries for executives or key employees can threaten your tax-exempt status.

Achieving this delicate balance demands thorough market research.

Using Deel for global hiring provides access to experts with local knowledge of compensation, labor laws, and industry compliance. This ensures that your NGO or non-profit can offer competitive salaries aligned with market standards while remaining compliant.

You can also conduct your own research using Deel’s global hiring toolkit. It provides real-time market rates for different roles and seniority levels. You gain insights into statutory, common, and competitive benefits, along with take-home salaries after tax deductions.

Be sure to include attractive perks in your compensation strategy. They will make your nonprofit more attractive to top talent, even with salary budget constraints.

When designing your perks, assess the specific risks your workers face in different locations. Consider factors such as political unrest, security concerns, and disparities in healthcare access. Tailoring your perks to address these challenges can enhance employee satisfaction.

At Deel, we partner with over 150 service providers to create Deel Perks. This feature offers a variety of discounts and vouchers for services that benefit your workforce, including:

  • Personal and professional growth and development
  • Fitness and well-being
  • Work efficiency and productivity
  • Travel
  • Mental well-being
  • Comprehensive insurance from top insurance providers
  • Remote work

Discover how LiquidX hires over 70 global employees, ensuring competitive, market-aligned salaries with Deel.

Our favorite feature has to be the salary tool. When we're looking to hire someone, we are able to benchmark salary ranges with Deel. This has proven to be incredibly valuable because, in the past, we often relied on crowd-sourced data, which wasn't always accurate.

Rilla Amrullah,

Director People Operations at LiquidX

Deel Employer of Record
Hire employees globally with the #1 Employer of Record
Deel provides safe and secure EOR services in 100+ countries. We’ll quickly hire and onboard employees on your behalf—with payroll, tax, and compliance solutions built into the same, all-in-one platform.

3. Optimize the management of remote and hybrid workers

About 59% of workers would quit, feel unhappy, or start looking for other jobs if their current flexible work setups changed.

Providing flexible work options is not only valuable for your workers, but it benefits you too. Recent research on global NGOs in Jordan shows that remote work significantly boosts the innovation performance of teams.

Flexible work arrangements also make your organization appealing to workers seeking work-life balance, increasing your ability to attract and retain top talent.

Simply offering the option to work from home is not enough. You need a strategic plan to turn it into a positive experience. With Deel, you can achieve this through:

  • Accurate tracking of employee time and attendance. Deel's built-in HRIS features enable efficient time-tracking that minimizes the risks of inaccurate payroll calculations
  • Equipping workers with the necessary tools. Through Deel Equipment, you can ship devices to your workers’ locations and manage them without the associated administrative burden
  • Providing fully-equipped workspaces. Use Deel’s Workspaces to create a collaborative environment or a quiet space for focused work as needed
  • Providing a self-service platform for employees. It allows them to access documents, update personal information, request time off, and more without relying on an HR staff member

With Deel, we have an easy remote work solution powered by a user-friendly platform and a seamless process. This has been helpful in ensuring we didn’t lose key staff and the deep corporate knowledge and skills that are hugely beneficial to our business,

Lysette Randall,

Executive, HR Performance & Partnering at Quantium

See also: Compliance Issues When Providing Equipment for Remote Workers

4. Simplify payroll management on a global scale

Managing a global workforce involves navigating local tax liabilities, different currencies, and various banking systems. All these factors can complicate the payroll process and disrupt the timely disbursement of salaries.

Moreover, HR and accounting teams must manage these complexities while handling other responsibilities, increasing the risk of payroll errors. Consequences include low employee engagement and potential legal issues related to compliance.

The solution lies in outsourcing payroll to a full-service provider. Deel Global Payroll handles payroll processing, including tax deductions and filings across all locations. You can pay direct employees, EOR employees, and contractors with a single click and even process off-cycle payments.

Deel ensures timely and accurate payments while focusing on employee experience to enhance overall satisfaction. This includes:

  • On-demand payments through Deel Advance
  • Easy access to their earnings through the Deel Card and multiple withdrawal options
  • Enterprise-grade data security to protect sensitive employee information and provide peace of mind
  • Multiple currency options to meet the diverse preferences of your global workforce
  • A point of contact for each country to offer localized support to workers

For your HR staff, Deel reduces the administrative burden by integrating payroll with built-in HRIS features. It facilitates easier reporting and employee data management.

Discover how Family Care incorporated a compliant payroll system with Deel in just three months.

The new payroll system is straightforward to use, so the transition for staff was smooth […] It’s easy for staff to put in timesheets and leave applications, and easy for supervisors to approve them [...] There’s no question about the integrity and accuracy of the data or reporting [...] We have no doubt that we’re compliant with our requirements for superannuation, reporting, PAYG and so on.

Heather Hall,

Director of Business Services, Family Care

See also: Your Expert Guide to Payroll Management

5. Enhance and adapt employee skills to meet evolving demands

As rapid tech changes reshape fundraising, outreach, data management, and service delivery, training your workforce becomes important. Learning and development keeps staff up-to-date on best practices and introduces innovative approaches to advancing your mission.

Create a culture of continuous learning through upskilling and reskilling programs that:

  • Align with organizational goals
  • Provide a positive and engaging learning experience
  • Reflect employees’ values and career ambitions

Deel Engage empowers you to cultivate this culture while effectively training your workforce through a suite of tools, including:

  • 360° performance reviews to identify areas for development
  • Competency-based career progression frameworks to support personalized growth
  • Internal and external training courses that leverage both internal expertise and external resources offered by vendors and fundraising partners
  • OKRs and other goal-setting frameworks to align employee development efforts with overarching organizational objectives
  • Slack HR plugins that facilitate real-time communication and collaboration on training materials

Discover how Freeletics saves $15,000 annually by creating leadership training programs with Deel.

Leaders drive our organization. With Deel Engage, we’ve introduced innovative learning tools to enhance their effectiveness and success.

Daniel Sobhani,

CEO at Freeletics

See also: Your 2024 Guide To Remote Employee Training

6. Create a cohesive team experience

Managing a global workforce presents unique challenges for NGOs and nonprofits—keeping team members emotionally connected to the mission. In a remote, globally dispersed workforce, several factors can weaken these connections to the mission:

  • Poor reinforcement: In a physical office, employees get reminders of their mission from day-to-day interactions. Remote work lacks these reminders, leading to a disconnect from the main goal
  • Diminished sense of urgency: Remote work can isolate employees from frontline realities. This can reduce their drive to advance projects
  • Limited opportunities for shared experiences: Without in-person interactions, employees miss bonding experiences that build community and shared purpose
  • Communication gaps: In remote settings, communication can become transactional, emphasizing tasks over the mission. This may make employees feel like mere parts of the system instead of vital contributors to a greater cause
  • Burnout and fatigue: The emotional toll of working in the NGO sector intensifies for global remote employees. They may experience increased stress and fatigue caused by isolation from their teams

These factors create a fragmented employee experience while threatening emotional engagement and mission alignment. To address them, Deel offers innovative global workforce management solutions that strengthen team cohesion:

Unified management tools for consistent worker experiences across locations

Deel consolidates payroll, benefits, performance management, and learning and development. From a single platform, you can manage EOR employees, contractors, and direct employees across all locations.

Standardizing HR processes and communication ensures every worker has access to the same resources and information. It reinforces the NGO’s or nonprofit’s mission and values, helping everyone feel connected to the cause.

Discover how Change.org automated compliance, payroll, and hiring with Deel.

Other providers are stuck in the past in the way their platforms are built and the way their customer service works. We wanted the elevated experience Deel provides.

Allie Shulman,

Director of People Operations at Change.org

Integration with collaboration and communication tools

Deel integrates seamlessly with tools like Slack, enhancing real-time collaboration and keeping the mission at the forefront.

You can use interactive channels for virtual social interactions, celebrating milestones, and mission-driven updates that unite the team. Polls and feedback initiatives can make employees feel heard, strengthening their emotional connection to the mission.

7. Align with global compliance requirements

Extensive compliance requirements place a significant burden on organizations in the non-profit and NGO sectors. They face heightened regulatory scrutiny caused by varied funding sources and cross-border operations.

Adding to these challenges, global labor laws and regulations are constantly evolving and can vary between jurisdictions. Keeping up with these changes can strain already limited resources.

Deel eases the HR compliance burden by ensuring your payroll, hiring processes, and employee documentation meet all regulatory requirements. A user-friendly Compliance Hub further simplifies compliance management. It offers localized, personalized, and automated features that make ongoing compliance effortless through:

  • Monthly Workforce Insights: Alerts you to expiring visas, misclassification risks, and non-compliance with regulations. These notifications come through email and the Deel platform
  • Compliance Monitor: Informs you, in simple language, of the latest global regulatory changes relevant to your organization
  • AI-based Worker Classifier: Ensures accurate worker classification during onboarding and throughout their contracts, minimizing the risk of misclassification

Discover how Lloyd's List Intelligence increased its global presence by 33% while maintaining compliance in each jurisdiction.

With just me covering seven different countries, it would be very challenging to keep track of every regulation change. Having the Deel Compliance Hub updates is incredibly helpful.

Hetty Townsend,

APAC People and Culture Business Partner at Lloyd's List Intelligence

See also: More Than a Service: EOR as a Strategic Partner in Business Growth

Master global workforce management and streamline processes with Deel

Global workforce management for NGOs and nonprofits can be demanding. It requires tools that adapt to unique challenges and enhance organizational efficiency without driving costs up.

When you get it right, it unlocks new avenues for long-term growth and elevates your mission.

Deel is a cost-effective all-in-one global workforce management tool. It enhances your operations in several key areas:

  • Hiring: Hire from over 150 countries and achieve your DEI goals while tapping into local expertise
  • Employee growth: Upskill your workforce, offer professional development opportunities, and cultivate a culture of excellence and innovation
  • Employee experience: Manage remote, hybrid, and full-time workers with Deel to create a unified experience that boosts performance
  • Compensation and payroll: Utilize Deel’s research tools and expert guidance to provide competitive, compliant, and timely compensation packages
  • Compliance: Stay ahead of changing regulations, ensuring your NGO remains compliant across multiple regions

“Deel is hands-down the most compatible all-in-one solution for modern organizations. With everything you need to hire and pay workers in one platform, no other provider comes close to the level of partnership they offer.”Lindsay Ross, CHRO, Bitpanda

Book a demo today to see how Deel can simplify your global workforce management.

Image

About the author

Jemima is a nomadic writer, journalist, and digital marketer with a decade of experience crafting compelling B2B content for a global audience. She is a strong advocate for equal opportunities and is dedicated to shaping the future of work. At Deel, she specializes in thought-leadership content covering global mobility, cross-border compliance, and workplace culture topics.

Related resources