Articles and news

Trends in costs associated with international assignments, ways spending can be reduced, employee expectation managed, but effectiveness maintained.

Allowing employees on international assignments to decide the percentage of the salary to be paid in the host currency can solve a lot of headaches.

International Pay Structures (IPS) are becoming increasingly popular for mobile talent and may be extended to certain cadres of executive jobs too.

Anne Rossier-Renaud, Mercer's international assignment policies and practices surveys manager, explains how assignment types have evolved in recent years.

Highlights how global mobility professionals can help find the best candidate for positions, regardless of age, gender, and sexual orientation.

Firms need help in two areas: the creation of sound policies and establishing appropriate, affordable levels of financial assistance to enable relocation.

The challenge is to deal with individual assignment complexity, envisage greater policy segmentation, and map each compensation approach to assignment types.

An issue that often confuses expatriates is that of “host-location spendable income.” Here we illustrate it through practical examples.

A longstanding approach to expatriate compensation is the home-based balance sheet methodology. Here we describe the approach and variables that affect it.

As the size of a household increases, so does money spent on goods and services – but at a decreasing rate. See how that affects spendable income calculations.

As expatriate tax matters become increasingly complex, with home and host locations expanding into developing countries, HR professionals face a difficult task.

When expatriates face sell/keep and rent/buy decisions for housing, consider the pros and cons within the parameters of the relocation policy.

How can you know how successful your communication efforts have been? And how can you avoid problems with future communications with expatriates?

Analyzing and monitoring assignment expenditures can help HR balance budget requirements and expatriate needs, while arming them with data for future planning.

Identify service providers that have the right knowledge and expertise, interview them, then get detailed proposals outlining services and fees.

An increasing number of assignments means higher costs, so ensure that the short-term allowances you provide to your employees are calculated smartly.

Local plus packages have grown ever more prevalent. Learn the key characteristics of successful local plus policies and some of the implementation challenges.