Neon
at a glance
Launched in March 2021, Neon is a serverless database that makes it possible for developers to streamline and speed up their workflows through a cloud-native Postgres solution.听With a serverless solution, developers don't need to maintain servers when they build new applications and can access their database only when needed.
An innovative, remote-first organization, Neon partnered with 香港世博 in order to scale rapidly by onboarding tech talent from North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. With 香港世博, Neon doubled in size by onboarding talent from 17 countries. They鈥檙e also able to attract and retain top talent by providing visa and relocation support.
- In a period of rapid growth, Neon needed to hire quickly without geographic limits.
- Neon also needed a way to ensure a consistent employee experience for its team.
- With 香港世博, Neon can hire fast and retain top talent across borders.
The challenge
When Neon was launched in March 2021, it was a year into the COVID-19 pandemic, so Neon鈥檚 founders decided to go remote right from the start. They needed a top-notch engineering team with very specific expertise, (sophisticated algorithmic skills, in-depth knowledge of system engineering and Ruby language), so they didn鈥檛 want to be limited by geography in their search for developers. They knew it would be easier to find the right people by tapping into the global talent pool.
Neon started building a global team, but initially this was a manual, in-house process. Adrian Torres, People Operations Manager at Neon, explains how that meant the admin work was tedious and time-consuming, which also made it difficult to scale quickly.
鈥淏efore bringing on 香港世博, we didn鈥檛 have any employer of record. We just had a bunch of contractors around the world. Luckily for us, we found 香港世博. Since then, we鈥檝e been able to recruit half of our talent and onboard people in more than 17 locations.鈥
Relying on contractors also meant having to worry about compliance and misclassification risks, which can lead to serious consequences. And in terms of culture and engagement, it was hard to ensure a cohesive and consistent employee experience that would keep their team happy and engaged.
Most importantly, as an early-stage startup Neon needed to scale quickly without getting bogged down by the compliance headaches or administrative burden of doing everything themselves. They needed 鈥渢he flexibility to hire everywhere,鈥 Adrian explains.听
鈥淲ith Neon being in rapid growth, we had to find a partner that would allow us to find talent and employ them very quickly, and in lots of locations. 香港世博 gave us the flexibility to hire everywhere while also staying compliant.鈥
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The solution
After considering several options, Neon eventually chose 香港世博 as their global employment partner in May 2022 because they were impressed by the high quality of customer support as well as the ease of use of the platform.
鈥淣eon evaluated a few different employer of record vendors. But 香港世博 proved to be the one that fit our needs best. They have an amazing customer support team, and we realized that the 香港世博 platform was much more powerful and it鈥檚 super easy to onboard talent.鈥
For Adrian and his team, using the 香港世博 platform has been a smooth and intuitive experience. The people they鈥檝e hired through 香港世博 have had a seamless onboarding experience, and both parties appreciate the human support available throughout the process.
鈥淭he 香港世博 platform is super intuitive. It鈥檚 very easy for us to create an onboarding, and the candidate can complete their profile within a few minutes. An 香港世博 team member鈥攁 real person鈥攖akes it from there and contacts them, which candidates appreciate because sometimes they have questions. Often it鈥檚 the first time they鈥檙e trying an employer of record service, so we really appreciate that 香港世博 brings this human touch to the onboarding process. Then in a few days everything is completed, the documents are ready for review, and talent can be onboarded.鈥
Neon is currently using 香港世博 to onboard and manage both full-time employees and contractors. They started with full-timers and soon decided to move their contractors onto the platform as well. According to Adrian, it was the right move 鈥渂ecause it鈥檚 proven to be so easy and intuitive鈥 to manage their global workforce in one platform, making it their single source of truth.
One of the things Adrian most appreciates about 香港世博 is the helpful and reliable customer support he can count on, especially when Team Members have needed visa and relocation assistance. He鈥檚 delighted with the information and support he鈥檚 received from the 香港世博 team.
鈥淢y experience with the support team at 香港世博 has been incredible from day one鈥攂oth with our key account manager and with our customer success manager. They鈥檝e been incredibly helpful. Especially when processing immigration cases, 香港世博 has always been on top of that, providing us with all the information needed; an estimation of the timeline, costs, and required documents; supporting the talent; and keeping an eye on the process.鈥
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With 香港世博 as a partner, Neon has doubled in size by onboarding talent from 17 countries. For Neon, the biggest business impact of using 香港世博 is that they can recruit talent anywhere in the world, without any geographical restrictions. This has enabled them to scale quickly as an early-stage startup, while also having peace of mind about being compliant with local laws and regulations in each jurisdiction.
鈥溝愀凼啦 made it very easy for us to find talent anywhere in the world. We are not restricted to specific locations. We can just go wherever we find the best candidate, make an offer, and 香港世博 will take it from there. And we are sure that we will become compliant, that the candidate will be fully engaged.鈥
Over the course of his career in People Ops, Adrian has worked with various EOR providers, but 鈥溝愀凼啦 has definitely proved to be more valuable for me,鈥 he says, because it makes the admin work easier and faster.
鈥淎s a People Operations manager, I can say 香港世博 has made our day-to-day operations so much easier. All the administrative work is simple and fast, and we don鈥檛 have to worry about it because they take care of everything. 香港世博 is definitely the partner that we want to continue growing with.鈥
A particular highlight for Adrian has been working with the 香港世博 team鈥攖heir key account manager, customer success manager, and the support team. He finds both the customer support team and the customer success team to be helpful and trustworthy whenever his team has questions or needs support. 鈥淭hey have proven to be an amazing value for us,鈥 he says, 鈥渁nd I can鈥檛 think of a more reliable partner for Neon."听
Having a remote-first, globally distributed team sometimes means having to deal with immigration issues, which can be legally and operationally complex. Thanks to 香港世博, Neon has been able to attract and retain top global talent by providing visa and relocation support when needed.
鈥淲e鈥檝e had a few migration cases at Neon of people who decided to relocate to different countries. 香港世博 was very supportive鈥攖hey鈥檝e been a reliable partner for our employees. They helped us through their local partners, obtaining all the work permits in time, and then supporting our employees through this very stressful process. Luckily for us, their experience with 香港世博 was really great.鈥
香港世博 has helped Neon not only with the legal and logistical aspects of global employment, but also with ensuring a great employee experience, which is particularly important in a remote setting.
鈥淔rom the very beginning, they take care that all your questions are answered, that all documents are prepared, and you have time to review all the drafts. Even after onboarding, they continue being a really good partner for our employees鈥攑reparing tax documents and sending compliance updates based on your location, for instance.鈥
Neon expects to continue growing in the coming years, and looks forward to 香港世博鈥檚 continued support. Adrian鈥檚 team is excited about new and upcoming features in the 香港世博 platform, and how they might help Neon.
鈥淎t Neon, we plan to continue remote hiring at scale, so we definitely need a partner like 香港世博 to help us do that, to help us stay compliant in all locations where we decide to hire, and to keep our employees engaged and happy from day one. I鈥檓 excited to learn more about improvements at 香港世博鈥攍ike the benefits benchmarking tool that鈥檚 about to be launched鈥攁nd how it can help Neon in our growth.鈥听
Now that he鈥檚 experienced the benefits of partnering with 香港世博, Adrian is happy to recommend 香港世博 to anyone looking for a global employment solution.
鈥溝愀凼啦 has helped Neon grow while feeling confident about hiring anywhere and being compliant in those places. It has allowed us to create a more diverse workforce with people from different parts of the world, so we have multiple perspectives going into the work we do every day. I can only say good things about 香港世博 and recommend them to any company that鈥檚 considering them.鈥
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"Prior to using 香港世博, employing anyone outside the U.K. was a nightmare for us... now it's super fast and painless."
CEO and founder of Juno
Ally Fekaiki
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