Recruiting games talent from overseas

gamesindustry.biz:

Nick Allan, Lee Nair, Kayleigh Williams

Thursday 14th July 2022

With summer time upon us and remote/hybrid working established in the games industry, are you starting to receive requests from employees at your games studio who want to work somewhere sunny for the next few months?

Are you struggling to find the talent you need, especially if you're in the UK with staff shortages exacerbated by Brexit? Have you been considering using an employer of record or other solution advertised to employ people abroad permanently, but not sure of the legal position?

Recruiting talent from overseas is growing in popularity amongst games studios and others in the entertainment industry. Much of the great success of the games industry relies on the ability to access highly skilled workers. We are writing in the UK and here, in a post-Brexit world of UK skill shortages, and a (not quite) post-COVID-19 world of remote and hybrid working, that talent pool is increasingly found overseas.

The UK games industry is suffering from a real labour shortage with many studios' job advertisements continuing to go unfilled. We understand that the same is true in many other jurisdictions around the world.

The UK games industry is suffering from a real labour shortage with many studios' job advertisements continuing to go unfilled

But the laws around your company hiring overseas aren't always straightforward. Some studios engage with overseas workers as freelancers, but this can be problematic -- especially where the individual is a de facto employee. Employer-of-record organizations and others are also increasingly popping up and advertising that they offer a one-stop-shop solution, but their offering is not without legal risk either.

In the light of this,