Four Steps in Revisiting Mobile Talent Compensation Download the full white paper, including a summary of major trends, practical suggestions, and checklists to help you set competitive compensation policies. By Olivier Meier and Narcisa Chelaru, Mercer The scope of global mobility is rapidly shifting from expatriate management to a more comprehensive vision of talent mobility. Expatriate compensation management needs to follow this evolution. Here are four simple steps in moving towards revisiting compensation approaches for mobile assignees, integrating new trends, and realigning your policies with business priorities. Step 1 – The Business Case: Why Revisit Compensation Models? Explore the trends that are leading companies to revisit compensation models and assess to what extent they can justify a change. People trends – We are seeing the rise of the free agent, flexible offerings, instant recognition, and talent scarcity. Talent management trends – These include the shift from relocation management to talent mobility, combining centralization with local differentiation, transparency, segmentation 2.0, and the diversity imperative. Global salary trends – the fast changing compensation landscape, differentiated salary approaches, and communication focused on total reward. Step 2 – Defining the Core Logic and Principles There is not a perfect answer in the world of mobility and solutions that is applicable in all cases. Clear logic and principles are required to navigate the meanders and grey areas of mobile talent compensation. Understanding the company’s constraints is a precondition to define a strong compensation logic – Consider talent pool sourcing issues, costs, ease of administration, and the need to link assignee compensation with the company’s overall reward philosophy. Setting the company’s compensation philosophy and main principles – Answer questions about the underlying core logic, minimum requirements, internal equity considerations, the type of differentiation used, and the level of internal control required. Connecting with people’s unique needs and desire – Use personas to identify the specific requirements of each employee group and having a clear story to tell. Step 3 – Revisiting the Mobility Compensation Toolbox Companies are increasingly exploring new solutions and looking at multiple compensation options. Making sense of the multiple compensation options – This implies understanding what hides behind labels, understanding the multiple types of local approaches, and the distinction between the main and secondary approaches used. Assessing the balance sheet approach – Despite rumors, the balance sheet is not quite dead yet. The balance sheet remains the most commonly used approach worldwide and the most consistent compensation concept to remove barriers to mobility. However, its application may be selective. Assessing local and local plus approach – The risk with local plus is adopting it for the wrong reasons. Checking the drivers behind a local plus approach is useful. Local plus cannot just be about costs. Step 4 – Complementing your Approach Checking if anything is missing – Look for items that are not part of the expatriate package itself but impacted by international moves such as Long-term Incentives (LTI). Connecting with the bigger picture – Organizations also need to put compensation into context and understand the total value (not just financial) that they are offering compared to the expectations of their employees. The capacity to connect jobs with a bigger purpose and provide a differentiated experience relieves pressure on compensation as main incentive to retain top talent.