Global Mobility Excellence: Planning, Implementation, and Risk Management

Pre-Assignment Planning

Before you begin sending employees out on assignment, assemble a legal support team.

Immigration lawyers and other labor consultants can ensure that your company complies with local immigration and employment laws in the areas where you seek expansion. They may help with a range of tasks from filing visa applications to handling discrimination cases.

To build a legal support team for your business, assess which areas you need help with. Work with more than one consultant as needed, and evaluate their credentials closely to make sure all your bases are covered.

Assembling your legal team is often one of the first steps in creating a global mobility plan. They can often help determine the timeline for the next steps.

An entry timeline for employees outlines all the steps for assignment management. Pre-assignment planning can take several months, and deadlines may vary depending on a specific country’s immigration procedures.

After you secure your legal team, you can start selecting employees and gathering documents. Then, you’ll move on to visa processing. Next, you can secure travel and housing, while preparing the employees for cultural changes. Finally, your company will continue to provide support as your employees and their families adapt to a new environment.

Tax and Financial Planning

In addition to immigration compliance, your company also has a duty to comply with regional tax laws. Tax advisory specialists can help you track various cross-border considerations, such as reporting income, managing retirement accounts, and organizing tax liabilities.

Tax issues can arise for employers and employees who do not plan properly. If employers don’t confirm legal requirements, both the company and employees can be held accountable for tax liabilities.

For example, many countries have taxes similar to Social Security taxes in the United States. Some countries have made totalization agreements to avoid double taxation for these programs. You must take these into account during planning to ensure taxes are withheld correctly.

Some organizations and employees may also benefit from tax equalization, which ensures that the employee sees little change in their tax liabilities.

Employers must also offer fair compensation packages for global employees. Research local market conditions to understand the cost of living and other factors that affect pay. Local employment laws may dictate requirements for minimum compensation or benefits packages.

An international HR department should be responsible for maintaining compliance with labor laws and providing adequate compensation.

Role and Responsibility Framework

Similar to general workforce planning, global employers must have complete outlines for every employee’s role and responsibilities. The role should include a detailed explanation of all duties.

Your business should also integrate multiple chains of command to create a smooth reporting structure. The organization of your business will depend on the types of assignments. If your company has permanent or semi-permanent institutions in multiple countries, they may operate more independently than a few employees traveling for short periods.

Make sure that each employee meets their direct supervisor, can contact higher levels of management as needed, and understands any cultural differences pertaining to authority and hierarchy.

Assignment types can also affect other expatriate management details. For example, long-term assignments may require consideration for family relocation support, cultural intelligence, and language training. Short-term assignments typically require less intensive planning and support.

Employees may also need repatriation support to re-integrate them into the workforce at the end of their assignments. This might include family relocation or time to readjust to the culture. Make a clear plan for how they will be integrated back into the home organization to make full use of their new skills or knowledge.

Risk Management and Contingency Planning

Global mobility planning requires awareness of potential risks. Some common challenges and risks facing companies and employees include digital transformation, health and safety concerns, financial and workforce compliance, and the environment.

In addition to regional issues like conflict or humanitarian issues, these risks can easily affect your global mobility plan if you’re unprepared. Researching risks specific to each assignment is crucial in building a crisis response plan.

Your plans should include early departure procedures in case of emergency. This might require contacting the employee, securing travel, assisting with documents, and providing family support. Consultants, such as international tax advisors and other specialists, can help evaluate the requirements and risks specific to each location.

Other types of contingency plans can ensure employee retention and knowledge transfer. Employees may need additional support to manage the mental and financial stress of relocation, and these plans should offer them reassurance.

As employees travel between locations, give them the right tools for sharing their skills and knowledge, showcasing their expertise and benefiting the company.

Market Analysis and Compensation

Job market assessments are an essential part of planning assignment locations, potential cross-border employees, and compensation packages. You must deeply understand the local market conditions, industry standards, and competition.

A complete job market assessment can help you identify opportunities based on job demand or skills gaps, as well as challenges like high competition or salary limitations. This data provides the basis for informed decision-making about recruitment and training for global assignment management.

You can use a variety of sources to analyze a location’s job market, such as job postings, government statistics, industry reports, competitor websites, and networking.

Compliance and Legal Considerations

When sending employees across borders, you must meet immigration requirements for that specific location. Your global mobility policy should include ample time for immigration document processing.

Your employees may need varying types of visas and work permits, depending on the country of origin and destination country, as well as how long they plan to stay. While the visa allows the employee to enter the country, the work permit will allow them to work and earn income.

You and the employee will likely need to furnish documentation that proves their identity and professional qualifications. Many countries also require proof of residency in the country of origin to prove that the employee plans to return after the work assignment.

Employment contracts must meet local employment laws. This is true even if you have employees conducting remote work independent of your organization’s primary operations.

Implementation and Support

Initial support for expatriates may include housing assistance, family support, tax and financial assistance, and cultural integration.

Employers should help the traveling employee secure housing, moving services, and transportation. If the employee travels with family for a long-term assignment, employers may provide additional support by helping to find schools or employment opportunities for spouses.

Cultural adaptation support may include education on the destination country’s customs and etiquette. The employee may also need help learning the language.

You may provide ongoing support for both continuing workplace performance and emergencies. Similar to onboarding a new employee, build policies for monitoring the employee’s performance abroad, optimizing communication and organizational structure, and resolving conflicts.

Cross-border employees should feel connected to their organization and know how to get additional support if necessary.

Program Evaluation and Adjustment

Evaluate your global mobility program consistently to ensure success.

Tracking key performance indicators (KPIs) can help you manage costs and employee satisfaction. Some KPIs include cost per relocation, budget adherence, long-term career success, and employee feedback.

Use cost management strategies to make the most of your budget. Your organization will need to track expenses associated with travel and housing, compensation packages, taxes, and more. Global mobility technology can help you analyze your budget efficiency, along with other reporting tasks.

While return on investment (ROI) can be difficult to measure for global mobility, it’s helpful to understand how much these assignments benefit your company. ROI might consider revenue from new markets, talent retention, and savings from filled skills gaps.

Employee feedback is another valuable metric for making improvements. If patterns arise in employee feedback, you’ll know it’s time to reconsider some of your global mobility policies.

Andrea Fantozzi is a Partner and Director of the Italian Group in the International Department of Prager Metis CPAs, a member of Prager Metis International.