By Mercer Human Resource Consulting
Assigning employees to posts outside their home countries raises both strategic and tactical issues for global firms.
At the strategic level, global firms need to ask:
- Are overseas assignments right for our business?
- How can we contain or reduce the related costs?
- Would an expatriate be a better choice than a local hire?
- If assignments are critical to meeting global business demands, how can we facilitate mobility and ensure equitable treatment among similarly situated employees?
At the tactical level, firms must consider how to select the right people for the assignment, manage performance and communication issues and ensure that expatriates are successfully repatriated or reassigned when their assignments are done.
Here are some of the areas firms should investigate before sending an employee overseas:
- Cost of Living:
-
Food at home
-
Food away from home
- Household supplies
- Healthcare
- Clothing
- Domestic services
- Utilities
- Transportation
- Sports and leisure
- Personal tax structure and laws
- Employee benefits
- Quality of Life
- Political and social environment
- Economics
- Cultural environment
- Working conditions
- Medical/healthcare
- Housing
- Education
- Public services and transport
- Recreation
- Consumer goods
- Natural environment
- Business travel expenses
- Hotels
- Meals
- Taxis
- Entertainment
Additional information concerning posting employees abroad can be found at: www.mercerhr.com
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