INSIGHT: GLOBAL MOBILITY
GLOBAL MOBILITY through the PANDEMIC
T
he COVID-19 global crisis has shined a spotlight on just how mission-critical the mobility function is to business success. Here, Sterling Lexicon’s Stuart Jackson offers some key insights to ensuring that organisations continue to support their globally mobile employees. With many new assignments temporarily on hold and economic pressures mounting, global mobility teams have been at the forefront of supporting their organisation’s globally mobile employees, accidental assignees and finding new ways to do the proverbial “more with less” in this incredibly challenging environment. Getting the right people into the right roles has always been a business imperative, and it’s what global mobility professionals do best. A pandemic hasn’t changed either of those facts. What has changed is the way we’re thinking about and defining mobility. Here are some of the ways we’ve seen mobility professionals building on and enhancing their relevance to the organisation.
Identifying where existing assignees are and managing assignments
are contracted. This potentially creates immigration, personal and corporate tax risks. Global mobility professionals have been busy working cross-departmentally not only to establish who is where but also to develop policies and processes to minimise risk to the individual and to the organisation. Communication with business managers and employees has been a key component of executing a robust strategy around cross-border remote working.
Planning for the Future Whilst the pandemic has slowed the pace of international assignments, business hasn’t come to a complete standstill. Mobility professionals are continually fielding questions from the business about when they can get employees back into locations or start new assignments (sometimes virtually!). There’s a lot of scenario planning going on. Sterling Lexicon has been supporting organisations in anticipating costs for new assignments so that they can make effective return on investment decisions for strategic assignments in a period of economic slowdown.
Supporting the business in being Brexit ready As if a global pandemic weren’t enough, mobility has to contend with the end of freedom of movement for UK and European citizens as the end of the transition period approaches. In addition to being tax experts, mobility professionals are supporting the business and managing expectations around post-Brexit visa requirements and business travel.
As the virus initially spread across the globe individuals and organisations reacted in differing ways. Some assignees stayed put, some turned up where they weren’t expected and some organisations chartered flights to evacuate. Global mobility had the unenviable challenge of establishing where everyone was and what the compliance issues might be. Some assignments were terminated prematurely, whilst others were put on hold. Sterling Lexicon supported organisations with terminating leases for empty apartments and packing shipments for assignees that had already returned home.
Identifying and managing compliance for accidental assignees Remote working has become the norm for many but not everyone is working from the country to which they
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