International Foreign Hires Survey

The COVID-19 pandemic has reshaped the way we work, and we can observe a resulting shift in how organizations approach and manage globally mobile employees.

A number of factors arising from the global health crisis, such as new compliance regulations, corporate cost cutting and restrictions in travel on the one hand, and the need to maintain company performance notwithstanding the unprecedented disruption on the other hand, have led to rethinking global mobility and caused an increased interest in international foreign hires.

First launched as a short spot survey in 2020, the study soon showed that the topic was highly relevant for employers around the globe. We have, therefore, launched an in-depth edition of the International Foreign Hires – Allowances, Entitlements and Benefits Survey that continues our research into the industry trends, policies and practices guiding the management of international foreign hires in multinational companies.

Topics covered

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Compensation and benefits
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Immigration and tax services
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Relocation and destination services
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Family support
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Other services, allowances, and entitlements

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Participate in the survey to gain a unique overview of the current industry trends, and benchmark your policies and practices against those of your peers. Completing this survey should take no more than 30 minutes! Participate now to receive exclusive participant benefits:

  • A free executive summary of the report
  • A 66% discount to buy the full report
  • Participant-only access to custom cut reports at preferential rates

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2021 International Foreign Hires Survey Report

Covering data gathered from 100+ multinational companies in spring 2021, the report offers detailed insights into how multinational organizations manage international foreign hires, focusing on aspects such as allowances, entitlements and benefits.

Report highlights

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47% of organizations pay their international foreign hire employees as per local market data, while the remaining 53% use other compensation approaches.
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70% of companies contribute to tax filing services only in the first year of the transition, while 30% of companies provide tax returns on an ongoing bases.
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16% of survey participants provide international schooling to all their international foreign hires, while 20% differentiate services based on various criteria.

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Managing international hires Mercer's mobility experts discuss managing international hires in this on-demand webcast.

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Alternative International Assignments Mercer's Alternative International Assignments takes an in-depth look at short-term assignments, commuter assignments, and permanent one-way transfers.

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Policy benchmarking Mercer offers comprehensive benchmarking on international assignment policies and practices.

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