Tablevibe saves money and streamlines its global HR with Remote

Born from a frustrating dining experience in a Singapore restaurant, Tablevibe is something of a trailblazer in the hospitality industry.

With a commission-free ordering system and a simple customer feedback workflow, the company gives restaurants less work, lower costs, and greater control. 

But to support this growth and accommodate its globally-dispersed team members, Tablevibe requires the support of a global HR partner. Specifically, it needs an experienced provider that can handle global payroll, deliver employer of record (EOR) services, and manage contractors.

Here’s why Tablevibe identified Remote as the perfect growth partner across the Asia-Pacific region — and beyond.

Tablevibe at a glance

• Headquarters: Singapore

• Founded: 2020

• Company size: 14

• Industry: Technology, hospitality

For CEO, Jeroen Rutten, Tablevibe was born out of a simple problem. The former Google product leader was eating in his favored Singapore restaurant one evening, when an inefficient request for feedback piqued his curiosity. 

“I was presented with a long questionnaire at the end of my meal,” explains Rutten. “And I got talking to the manager, who admitted hardly anyone filled it out. They didn’t have a vehicle to capture and analyze the responses.” 

Rutten offered to build an innovative digital solution. Leveraging QR codes and incentives, the level of weekly feedback rose rapidly. Rutten brought on Google colleague, Mathieu Sneep as co-founder and Tablevibe was soon working with 100 businesses. What had started as a side hustle had become serious business.

“We noticed our evenings and weekends were getting shorter as we worked on this new business, so at the start of 2021 we successfully applied for Y Combinator,” says Rutten. “We raised $1.6 million in our first seed round and decided to go full time with Tablevibe.”

The company quickly expanded into international markets, creating a new roadblock: the need to hire a diverse, global workforce. 

The path to global hiring

It wasn’t just new talent that needed to be onboarded, either. As the COVID-19 pandemic tailed off, many of Tablevibe’s existing employees were relocating across the globe — including Rutten himself. To keep the business in stride, the company transitioned to a remote work model.

“This was challenging at first,” says Rutten. “But we quickly realized that this model also has unique benefits, such as allowing us to hire the best developers and salespeople from different markets. We were no longer limited to just one country’s talent pool.”

To navigate the complex legal terrain of international hiring and employee management, the next step was to secure a qualified global employment and HR partner.

We had to be sure that the partner we worked with was established and stable, which meant they should not be susceptible to stock market fluctuations, at risk of going bankrupt, or unable to provide counsel for certain overseas locations.

Choosing an EOR provider

Tablevibe’s search was very much in keeping with the company’s “learning loops” formula: try, learn, and then either keep or discard. As a result, the choice was quickly narrowed down to two providers: Remote and Deel. Rutten decided to test both simultaneously. 

“We evaluated both, and the extra service we got from Remote was impressive,” says Rutten. “We really felt like Remote took us seriously as a business and wanted a long term partnership. That was a real differentiator.”

Having evaluated the full spectrum of services offered by Remote, the results were unequivocal. However, Tablevibe’s employees now needed to be consolidated into one HR system to reduce complexity and scale the team with ease. Normally, such a migration would be an HR nightmare, but with Remote, this wasn’t the case.

“The process to transfer people over was seamless,” Rutten says. “The first day with Remote started right after the last day with Deel, and there was no negative feedback.”

• Remote provides a robust Country Explorer tool to help companies plan their expansion

• Remote offers a flat pricing structure and no hidden fees when hiring new employees

• Remote’s local, on-the-ground employment and compliance experts give Tablevibe the peace of mind to hire talent globally

Saving costs and maintaining “HR hygiene”

Since partnering exclusively with Remote, Rutten knows his people are receiving the best benefits. Feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, with the company’s employees pointing towards an efficient onboarding process, clear contracts, and expertly-handled tax claims. To put it simply, Tablevibe’s hiring and onboarding processes have been streamlined.

As a business owner and operator, having a specialist to settle these HR and compliance processes makes it easier for my team.

“It’s what I call ‘HR hygiene’”, Rutten says. “It means that we don’t need to get distracted by things we don’t know much about. Remote gives us that peace of mind.”

According to Rutten, the partnership has also positively impacted the company’s bottom line. “Remote’s EOR service has helped us reduce our operational costs and uncertainties when it comes to hiring overseas employees,” he adds.

With all of its HR ducks in a row, Tablevibe can focus solely on expanding the business and addressing its clients’ needs.

Meeting Tablevibe’s expanding payroll needs

According to Rutten, Remote provides a perfect all-in-one payroll solution for Tablevibe’s globally scattered team.

“With Global Payroll, we’re able to keep everyone in the same structure within Remote,” he explains. “Everyone manages their holidays from the platform, and has their payslips and other employment details in there. This helps us structure our entire HR function.”

This applies to the company’s Singapore-based employees, too. “Remote provides these benefits even in countries where you have your own legal entity. It’s great to see one provider catering to both needs.”

With a centralized global payroll system, Tablevibe can swiftly address any salary or benefits issues with Remote’s support. The partnership has also eradicated the need for a physical management presence in multiple markets, allowing the team to focus on key growth areas for the business.

By having all employees on a centralized Global Payroll system, our team is able to handle any salary and benefits issues with just a few clicks of a button, as well as address other needs that they may have.

Easy to onboard and pay contractors

Like many employers, Tablevibe also recognizes the value of working with contractors — especially when dipping its toes into new hiring markets.

“With fast growth and testing in different markets, sometimes it helps to begin with a contractor, and not to have to commit to full time employment,” Rutten says. “Remote’s user-friendly interface and easy onboarding simplifies this entire process.”

These contractor management services also include a global payroll situation, which is especially handy for Tablevibe. “It allows us to pay contractors worldwide in their local currencies,” he says.

“This type of flexibility helps us to learn, adapt, and grow our business.”

The future for Tablevibe

Having started life as a feedback solution, the company has since expanded into new product lines. Through its partnerships with delivery companies, Tablevibe now enables restaurants to create their own white label branded shops, and save huge amounts of money along the way. This ability to identify product and service needs — and pivot accordingly — is reflective of the company’s approach to global recruitment.

“We’re able to operate globally in a way that wasn't possible before companies like Remote,” Rutten concludes. “It allows us to build something of value that scales across markets, without being limited by the HR and incorporation elements of business.

“It makes the world a much smaller place for businesses and makes borders a lot less relevant, which is really empowering.”

As the future unfolds for Tablevibe, it will undoubtedly continue to adapt to the needs of its customers. The one constant, however, will be the support it receives from Remote as its trusted EOR, global payroll, and contractor management partner.

We can’t wait to see what tomorrow orders up with Tablevibe.

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