While the number of Best Companies with more than 50% of their employees outside of the United States has remained steady over the last decade, there has been a significant shift in the industries with the most global employees.  In 2004, manufacturing and pharmaceutical companies on the list were more likely to use global employees, versus financial and professional services firms today. 

The nature of global work has shifted dramatically in the last decade.  While in 2004, the model was “outsourcing,” today’s Best Companies see cross-cultural, cross-functional teams collaborating across time zones, language barriers and cultural differences to achieve a singular goal.

Interesting Practices

• Cisco relies heavily on their own products to achieve global collaboration, employing Cisco’s TelePresence and other remote work tools like WebEx, to engage the global workforce in meetings without the expense or inconvenience of travel. 
• The Remote Worker Program at AutoDesk provides job swap opportunities, where employees from the same team swap homes, vehicles, and jobs for a set period of time. 
• American Express’ Global Rotation Program provides high potential leaders with six month overseas assignments working with a local team on a strategic initiative.
• Last year, FactSet hosted a global Hackathon, where teams from around the world simultaneously spent 24 hours designing an innovation, functional improvement, or tool that would enhance the business.