ABOUT THE SPEAKERS:  

Demetra Tofarides - Marketing and Events Specialist  

Originally from Paphos, Cyprus, Demetra’s studies brought her to the UK where she achieved a Masters in Events Management. Demetra worked as a production assistant following graduation, creating largescale events for clients such as EasyJet and Toyota. Now based in Mauve’s Dubai office, Demetra brings her events expertise to the marketing department.  

Alane Boyd – Workflow automation expert 

Alane is a serial entrepreneur and a workflow automation expert with two decades of tech experience. She is a passionate leader and a three-time high growth founder with two successful SaaS exits, growing them into 8-figure ventures. As Co-Founder of Workday Ninja, she focuses on AI and automation to streamline processes and automate manual tasks in various industries, including global mobility and relocation services. Alane is also the the co-founder of Arvo, a platform that helps businesses manage workflows, systems, and processes.

OVERVIEW: 

In this podcast, we explore how AI and automation are revolutionising the management of remote and global teams. Alane shares her insights on streamlining processes, enhancing productivity, and staying ahead in the evolving world of global workforces. 

KEY TAKEAWAYS: 

1. Reducing Human Error: By automating repetitive and routine tasks, companies can improve accuracy, consistency and speed in operations.
2. Untapped Potential: Many seasoned entrepreneurs may overlook the wide range of areas where automation can drive efficiency and growth, revealing opportunities they hadn’t previously considered. 
3. Phases of Automation: The automation journey unfolds in three key phases: research, development, and implementation—each critical to ensuring successful integration and long-term results. 
4. Change Management: Successful automation requires robust change management strategies. Employees need clear communication about the purpose and benefits of automation to reduce resistance and foster adoption. 
5. Continuous Improvement: Automation isn’t a “set it and forget it” solution. Regular evaluations and updates are essential to ensure systems remain efficient and aligned with business goals as technology and company needs evolve. 
6. Integration with Existing Systems: Ensuring that automation integrates smoothly with existing systems is crucial to avoid disruptions and streamline processes across departments. 

ADDITIONAL TOOLS AND INFO:

Alane’s Playbook:  https://app.askarvo.com/page/308c9a97-e385-4123-88bb-a8ac4f37dd24 

Alane’s blog: https://medium.com/@AlaneBoyd

Alane’s website: https://www.workdayninja.com/ 

Alane’s Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alaneboyd/ 

Free tools:
1. Best tool for your company: https://form.typeform.com/to/pdwhka7L 
2. 25 automation ideas: https://form.typeform.com/to/IiX7bCVX  

About the Speakers:

Host: Demetra Tofarides - Marketing and Events Specialist
Originally from Paphos, Cyprus, Demetra’s studies brought her to the UK where she achieved a Masters in Events Management. Demetra worked as a production assistant following graduation, creating largescale events for clients such as EasyJet and Toyota. Now based in Mauve’s Dubai office, Demetra brings her events expertise to the marketing department. 

Expert Speaker 1: Tam Ellerington – Global Business Development Manager
Tamalyn joined Mauve in 2016 as a Channel Partner Executive and is now our Global Business Development Manager. With a background in education and business support, Tamalyn, who is based in York, UK, brings a wide range of skills to this dynamic role to drive our company's growth initiatives. 

Expert Speaker 2: Karolina Zachara – Global Benefits Manager
Karolina, our seasoned Global Benefits Manager, brings over a decade of industry expertise to our company since joining in 2023. With a rich background in the field, she infuses our team with invaluable insights while also offering a fresh perspective. Karo is dedicated to optimising our global benefits strategy, ensuring our employees receive comprehensive and competitive packages tailored to their needs.


Overview:
In this podcast, our experts unravel the intricacies of global expansion, focusing on the challenges surrounding global salaries and benefits. Delving into the complexities of managing talent on a global scale, they address pressing questions and offer insightful solutions to navigate the ever-evolving landscape of international workforce management. Emphasising the importance of remaining compliant, they stress the necessity of engaging a salary benchmarking service to ensure alignment with industry standards and regulations.


Key Takeaways:
1. Experts experts like Mauve Group for their salary benchmarking service to ensure compliance, staff retention, and competitiveness in the market.

2. Regularly reassess global salaries and benefits, ideally annually or bi-annually, to adapt to market changes, evolving employee needs and ever-changing rules and regulations.

3. Distinguish between mandatory benefits and standard industry practices; while employers are obligated to provide mandatory benefits, adhering to industry standards can enhance attractiveness and competitiveness as an employer.

4. Salaries and benefits exhibit variability across countries, and even within regions, necessitating tailored approaches to compensation strategies.

5. Align benefits for employees in foreign locations with their local requirements rather than those of the parent company's country.

6. Health insurance stands out as the most sought-after benefit among candidates and employees globally.

7. Discrepancies between desired employee benefits and employer offerings persist, although recent trends indicate a narrowing gap between the two. 

About the Speakers: 

Demetra Tofarides - Marketing and Events Specialist 

Originally from Paphos, Cyprus, Demetra’s studies brought her to the UK where she achieved a Masters in Events Management. Demetra worked as a production assistant following graduation, creating largescale events for clients such as EasyJet and Toyota. Now based in Mauve’s Dubai office, Demetra brings her events expertise to the marketing department and assists our Channel Partner team to develop the referral scheme. 

Nick Gan  - Business Development Team Manager in Singapore

Originally from Singapore and having spent his life living and working in Asia, Nick Gan represents Mauve Group as its Business Development Team Manager in the region. Nick started his career in hospitality before moving into the global mobility industry where his roles focused on business development and supply chain growth.

With both local and international clients, Nick has vast experience helping companies develop their business in the APAC market. At Mauve, he educates companies on the potential of the region and supports their international expansion whilst simultaneously developing partnership initiatives to build Mauve’s presence in the region.

Overview: 

As Mauve Group’s representative in Singapore and the Asian market, Nick Gan discusses everything a company should be aware of when considering expanding its operations into Asia. He talks about the fastest-growing industries in the region, the new working trends that hit the market post Covid, the standard of living for expats and their dependents, and more. Nick explains why companies are missing out on a huge market of potential customers by not establishing themselves in Asia, either through Mauve’s Employer of Record or entity set-up solutions. Finally, he highlights key considerations for global expansion, including staying up to date with the ever-changing rules and regulations that differ from country to country and explains why his clients prefer to engage an Employer of Record to ensure compliance and adherence to local laws.

About the Speakers: 

Demetra Tofarides - Marketing and Events Specialist 

Originally from Paphos, Cyprus, Demetra’s studies brought her to the UK where she achieved a Masters in Events Management. Demetra worked as a production assistant following graduation, creating largescale events for clients such as EasyJet and Toyota. Now based in Mauve’s Dubai office, Demetra brings her events expertise to the marketing department and assists our Channel Partner team to develop the referral scheme. 

Britt Little - Business Development Executive in Australia and New Zealand

Originally from New Zealand, Britt Little represents Mauve Group as its Business Development Executive in Australia and New Zealand. She supports companies based in these locations to expand their operations into new international markets, as well as helping companies outside this region recognise the benefits and new opportunities that Australia and New Zealand have to offer.

In addition to her role at Mauve Group, Britt is also a Goal Coaching & Systems Thinker at Generation Thrive. Her many hats allow her to have strong knowledge across multiple industries and see opportunities and challenges others may not see.

Overview: 

As Mauve Group’s leading expert in Australia and New Zealand, Britt Little discusses everything a company should be aware of when considering expanding its operations into these two countries. From the benefits this region has to offer to the challenges that should not be ignored, Britt explains why Australia and New Zealand attract highly skilled workers and present great opportunities for corporate expansion to companies from all markets. She recommends that companies use an Employer of Record solution to reduce the burden, ‘test the waters’ and see for themselves the type of growth that these two countries could bring.

About the Speakers: 

Demetra Tofarides - Marketing and Events Specialist 

Originally from Paphos, Cyprus, Demetra’s studies brought her to the UK where she achieved a Masters in Events Management. Demetra worked as a production assistant following graduation, creating largescale events for clients such as EasyJet and Toyota. Now based in Mauve’s Dubai office, Demetra brings her events expertise to the marketing department and assists our Channel Partner team to develop the referral scheme. 

Rebecca Seeley Harris 

Rebecca Seeley Harris is a lawyer and leading expert in ‘employment status’ and IR35 and the law involving independent contractors and the self-employed. Rebecca has run her own consultancy business for almost 25 years covering all employment status issues and has been an integral part in the development of the rules and regulations regarding employment law in the UK. 

In her book, ‘CEST Explained’, Rebecca guides readers on how to use HMRC’s tool, CEST (Check Employment Status for Tax). This is the only tool that produces an IR35 status result which HMRC says it will stand by.

Also, in 2023, Rebecca won the award for Best Contractor Industry Influencer.

“Part of what I do and part of what I’ve done for the last 25 years is to try to educate people … Unfortunately, what happens a lot in employment status, the employment tribunal will get it wrong … Nobody, not even the judges understand … Businesses are trying to get on with business … and this is one process in the UK economy that is causing a lot of problems….”

Overview: 

As the UK's most prominent thought leader and leading expert on employment status, IR35 and off-payroll, Rebecca addresses and explains each concept from both the perspective of taxation and employment rights. Having specialised in this area since the inception of the tax initiative IR35 over 20 years ago and having worked with both the government and the end client, Rebecca shares her unique insights and vast knowledge to try to help companies and individuals understand these complex working arrangements and remain compliant under UK employment laws. 

She uses past and current high-profile case studies as examples of misclassification and non-compliance to help listeners understand the severity of these issues and highlight the importance of seeking expert advice in making decisions regarding employment status, employment rights and taxation.

About the Speakers: 

Demetra Tofarides - Marketing and Events Specialist 

Originally from Paphos, Cyprus, Demetra’s studies brought her to the UK where she achieved a Masters in Events Management. Demetra worked as a production assistant following graduation, creating largescale events for clients such as Easyjet and Toyota. Now based in Mauve’s Dubai office, Demetra brings her events expertise to the marketing department and assists our Channel Partner team to develop the referral scheme. 

John Jaques - Business Development Executive 

Originally from the UK, John has been a business developer for many years with specialised experience in employment status. He previously worked for Jaguar in the UK before moving to Cyprus where he now supports Mauve’s clients by providing information about how Mauve’s services can help organisations expand their operations.

“A lot of companies are quick to give advice on independent contractors purely because it’s easier for them, but not necessarily the right advice for the client.”

Overview: 

With many years of experience in employment status, John shares his insights on the gig economy and independent contractors. In recent years and especially following the Covid-19 pandemic, the gig economy has grown in popularity. Unfortunately, this has been accompanied by the spread of misinformation on the topic, resulting in serious consequences for businesses and contractors alike. The recent news of major players facing serious penalties as authorities crack down on cases of misclassification has raised awareness of the issues of this widespread working arrangement. To help companies navigate these intricacies, John addresses 10 crucial myths and misconceptions regarding independent contractors and explains how companies and contractors can ensure they are being compliant with local employment laws. 

 Key Takeaways: 

• The numerous benefits that independent contractors can provide to companies means that the project-based economy is not a passing trend – it is here to stay.
• It is predicated that in the next 5 years approximately 50% of the population will have tried some sort of independent work.
• Competition for talent is currently increasing at a rapid rate and with that the cost of hiring and onboarding employees.
• There is no single test that can evaluate the status of every independent contractor across the globe. As a general rule, the company should analyse the nature of the relationship, meaning the degree of control that it has over the worker and the level of independence the worker has over his/her work. But ultimately, every situation must be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.
• Remote or flexible working arrangements do not automatically classify the worker as an independent contractor.
• The signing of an independent contractor contract does not classify the worker as an independent contractor. Many tests for independent contractor status generally give very little weight to the parties’ characterisations of the relationship, including in written agreements. 

In this episode, I am joined by guest speakers Elaine Zhou - CTO at change.org - and Sarah Williams-Gardener - CEO at Fintech Wales.

Elaine and Sarah are experts in the area of business and technology with a long history of working in this field.

With their unique perspectives on women in both the technology industry as well as the business world in general, they share their experience over the years, including the challenges they've faced and how they've overcome them to reach such senior levels in their fields.

They also reflect on their mistakes and the lessons they learned and give advice to young women in business on how they can be better prepared. 

In this episode, I am joined by guest speakers and global mobility experts, Imilee Buentipo and Osman Hussain, to talk about doing business in the GCC - more specifically relocating staff to Dubai.

Imilee and Osman have not only been in the industry and a part of Mauve's team for many years, but have gone through the expat relocation journey themselves. This allows them to speak both from the knowledge they've accumulated over the years as well as personal experiences.

They talk about the relocation process in Dubai, what companies and workers should look out for and what benefits this city has to offer to business owners and employees alike.

Having begun her journey as an expat at just 18 years old when she left her home in Cyprus and relocated to England, UK, and now, 10 years on, deciding to relocate again to Dubai, UAE, Demetra has experienced what the life on an expat can look like. Her journey as well as the fact that she now works in the field of global mobility has taught her the right steps to take when considering a relocation.

In the first episode she talked about how to choose the best destination to relocate. In episode two, she gave her best advice on how to prepare for the big move. Now, having arrived in her new destination, she talks about the third and final phase of the transition. For the first time, along with the practical considerations, she also shares the personal obstacles every expat will encounter and what she’s been doing to overcome these. And as it turns out, they’re working out for her. 

Whilst highlighting what should be on your priority list in this final stage, Demetra also emphasises what seemingly less important factors should not be neglected as you’ll soon come to find out how equally important they are to building a life in your new home.

In part 1 of this series, seasoned expat, Demetra, shared her top 10 tips on choosing the perfect destination to relocate.

The hardest part is over; you’ve chosen the place that you envisage will best meet your current goals and needs. Now, you must ensure your new beginning isn’t ruined by the chaos and stress of arriving unprepared. You should use this time before your departure to prepare for the big move. How you spend this time will be crucial in determining how stress-free your first few weeks in your new destination will be. In this episode, Demetra shares her best advice on what to keep in mind and how to use this time productively.