Mobility of talent is one of the key elements to succeed in a globalised world. Organisations are aware of this, as they increase the number of their mobile employees every year.
Nevertheless, managing talent mobility can be a challenging task for organisations. The traditional expat package includes allowances and benefits that represent a high expense for companies. Also, changes in political climate in many regions affects regulations regarding tax, social security and immigration. These are obstacles affecting talent mobility procedures, which make the process costly and time consuming.
How to minimise expenses related to expat hires and gain more efficiency?
For some years now there is a growing trend amongst companies to look for ways to minimise expenses related to expat hires and to make this process more efficient. One of the alternatives is hiring employees from abroad on the basis of a so called 'local plus' package. Organisations who use the local plus approach do not provide just a local salary, but also offer some additional benefits or allowances. This is done in order to help employees settle into their new environment and make the relocation worthwhile.
How can you be competitive and meet the needs of your employees?
How do you know whether the package that you offer is in line with the market/competitive on the one hand and on the other hand meets the needs and expectations of the individual? A survey that was conducted by Grant Thornton was aiming to answer these questions. The participants were HR departments from a variety of international organisations operating in different industries. The results of the survey in regards to benefits provided is summarised in the report. As can be seen, the most popular benefits are: tax preparation/filling assistance (89%), visa assistance (88%), temporary housing (78%), first flight to the host country (78%) and home finding assistance (75%).
Common reasons for sending employees on international assignments
When examining the reasons for sending employees on international assignments, from the company's perspective, it appeared that the most common reason is to fill in a skill gap (44%). However, when examining the employee's motivation to go on such an assignment, it was found that the common reason is personal development (44%). From these results, it appears that employees who will be offered international opportunities, would be more motivated to do so if it will help them develop further in their careers. Organisations that will be able to offer attractive development opportunities and communicate these opportunities well to their candidates, will be one step closer to winning 'the war for talent'.
Download the results [ 520 kb ]
