Boston Dynamics is a global leader in robotics solutions. For over 30 years, the company has pushed the boundaries of technology. Today, their robots solve real-world problems for customers around the globe.
We sat down with Boston Dynamics to learn more about their path toward global expansion and how the G-P partnership helped them build the workforce to succeed. Here are a few highlights from our discussion.
#1: The benefits of partnering with an experienced employer of record (EOR)
Around 2019, Boston Dynamics started transitioning from a specialized R&D (research and development) center to a global commercial enterprise. They wanted to market their four-legged inspection robot, Spot, and their logistics robot, Stretch, to customers worldwide. To pull this off, Boston Dynamics needed a global team. It didn’t take long to see that G-P was the right partner to handle the heavy lifting of global employment: managing local compliance, payroll, and benefits without the need to set up local entities.
[We first wanted] to access talent in Canada, where we had some former employees that wanted to come back to work for us. It wasn’t enough to justify setting up an entity, but we wanted to facilitate onboarding. So that was our first introduction to G-P. That experience was very positive for both our internal HR people, the managers of these folks, and the employees in Canada. When we started to deploy our products outside of the U.S., it was a natural choice for us to leverage G-P to help us hire employees in other countries that needed to be in close proximity to our customers.”
Rachel Salamone
chief people officer, Boston Dynamics
#2: Hiring specialized talent without the massive costs
The first global hire is often the hardest. For Boston Dynamics, the initial challenge wasn't mass expansion, but securing niche talent without the budget strain of entity setup. The highly specialized nature of robotics meant that candidates were often located outside the U.S. In one case, the team needed a professional with rare expertise in robotics animation. As a global EOR, G-P had the entity infrastructure to help Boston Dynamics hire the candidate in Denmark immediately.
We didn't have entities there [in Denmark], and we also didn't necessarily want to spend the resources to set ourselves up to hire one or two people within a given country. It just doesn't make financial sense to do that when you have to build out an expensive infrastructure to support one or two people. And that's where G-P really comes into play. We are able to piggyback off of their really robust global infrastructure, and we're able to hire our folks through their entities.”
Eduardo Ramos
head of total rewards, Boston Dynamics
Watch the full video for a closer look at Boston Dynamics’ journey to global expansion.
#3: Protecting your brand with a positive employee experience
Boston Dynamics continues to scale their operations across Europe and Asia with G-P. Given their strong name recognition, employee experience is very important to them. It’s a key ingredient for retention that allows them to consistently innovate and produce world-class robotics. G-P makes sure that EOR employees feel part of the Boston Dynamics team.
They [EOR hires] want to be employees of Boston Dynamics. And as we are talking to them about the arrangement we have with our EOR, G-P, we’re able to tell them with confidence that they will have just as good of an experience and probably better being employed through this partner of ours than if we were to employ them directly. They're able to get support in their own time zone, in their own language, with people who really understand the overall context of that country and being an employee in that country.”
Rachel Salamone
chief people officer, Boston Dynamics
#4: Expert support that can respond to high-stakes situations, fast
The support of a highly experienced EOR like G-P provides protection against fast-moving regulations. G-P global employment expertise was vital during a highly sensitive scenario involving a new hire for the robotics giants.
In fact, we had one situation where a new hire through G-P had a medical incident prior to onboarding, and it was a very complicated situation. Were it not for the guidance of G-P, we probably would have made some mistakes along the way. For us, it's not just about that compliance and regulation piece. It's also about the experience of the individuals.”
Rachel Salamone
chief people officer, Boston Dynamics
#5: Access to the latest AI technology
Boston Dynamics uses G-P Gia™, our AI-powered global HR agent, to speed up their compliance processes. The company’s people operations team uses Gia for discovery due diligence before committing to a new country.
Gia has become the de facto first step for me. In my experience, Gia is very trustworthy. What we used to fish for, potentially took hours in the past. Combing through all this documentation now gets spit out in a single sentence with a quick prompt.”
Eduardo Ramos
head of total rewards, Boston Dynamics
How leaders are accelerating HR with AI
Boston Dynamics’ long-term partnership with G-P allowed the company to find specialized talent, confidently manage risk, and use AI for strategic agility.
“Don't wait. The longer you wait, you're just losing out on the opportunity for you to drive your business goals forward.” – Eduardo Ramos, head of total rewards, Boston Dynamics
Boston Dynamics isn't the only leader partnering with G-P to hire globally. Leaders at Rackspace and Workday are also taking action to adapt to the new era of HR and AI. Get an inside look at how these companies are increasing agility and building compliant global teams.
Watch the full webinar series to get expert advice for your company today.
