International HR Adviser Spring 2020

SPRING 2020

ISSUE 80

FREE SUBSCRIPTION OFFER INSIDE

International HR Adviser The Leading Magazine For International HR Professionals Worldwide

FEATURES INCLUDE: The Future Of Work – A Perfect Opportunity For Global Mobility UK – Off-Payroll And Cross-Border Issues • Risk And Compliance In Global Mobility: Key Issues Global Immigration • Duty Of Care And Assignments In Hostile Environments Service Models For Business Traveller Management – Which One Suits Your Company Culture?

Temporary Accommodation • How HR Leaders Can Help Their Workforce Deal With The Fear And Anxiety Around COVID-19 Simplifying Global Mobility Data And Payments Is Key To Global Success • Global Tax • Saving Jobs From Coronavirus/COVID-19

ADVISORY PANEL FOR THIS ISSUE:

The 2020 Expatriate’s Guide to Living in the UK

IS OUT NOW!

WWW.EXPATSGUIDETOTHEUK.COM A free copy of this Guide has been placed in this issue of International

HR Adviser

Living and working in the UK can provide a fantastic opportunity to any employee. The UK offers a diverse range of cultures, and if you have staff who have relocated with your organisation, then the useful information covered in this Guide will prove to be an invaluable resource.

18th Ann

The 2020 Expatriate 's Guide to L iving in th e UK

ual Editio

The 2020 Guide contains content covering:

Banking • Clothing Conversion Chart Driving: UK Rules And Regulations How Motor Insurance Works In The UK Education & Schooling Embassies & High Commissions Consular Reports Of Births Abroad Expatriate Clubs • Family Law Renting A Property In The UK Serviced Apartments Tax • Travel

Banking, Cloth To Embassies ing Conversion, C pics include: ar In & Hgh Com missions, surance, Driving, Expa Educ Serviced A partments triate Clubs, Family ation & Schooling, , Taxation and Travel Law, Property,

www.exp

atsguidet

A product

otheuk.co

m

of

Supporting Internation al HR Pro fessionals Worldwide

To order more FREE copies of this Guide for your UK bound employees, please email: damian@expatsguidetotheuk.com, providing the mailing address you would like them sent to, and the quantity required.

The 2020 Guide has been uploaded to the home page of our website www.expatsguidetotheuk.com which enables you to share the Guide and the information published within to your employees digitally.

Please share the website with colleagues or employees relocating to the UK.

VISIT WWW.EXPATSGUIDETOTHEUK.COM TODAY!

n

CONTENTS

In This Issue 2

6

9

13

16

19

23

25

26

28

31

33

International HR Strategy: The Future Of Work – A Perfect Opportunity For Global Mobility Rumi Das, Danny Taggart, Chiara Palmisano, Deloitte LLP

UK: Off-Payroll Labour And Cross-Border Issues Andrew Bailey, BDO LLP

Global Taxation Update Andrew Bailey, BDO LLP

Risk And Compliance In Global Mobility: Key Issues John Rason & Peter Ferrigno, Santa Fe Relocation

Expecting the Unexpected: Keeping Employees Safe Across A Global Workforce Ann Ellis, Mauve Group

Global Immigration Fragomen LLP

Service Models For Business Traveller Management – Which One Suits Your Company Culture?

Liam Brennan, Tracker Software Technologies

Recruitment In Global Mobility Louise Neal, Easy Tiger Executive Search

Temporary Accommodation Melanie Degand, The Apartment Service

The Future Of (Global) Work: Duty Of Care And Assignments In Hostile Environments Dr. Benjamin Bader/The RES Forum

Simplifying Global Mobility Data And Payments Is Key To Global Success David McAlister, Global Expat Pay

Saving Jobs From Coronavirus/COVID-19: Looking At Approaches Employers Might Adopt To Reduce The Impact Of Our Response To The Global Pandemic On Jobs Juliet Carp, Keystone Law

35

How HR Leaders Can Help Their Workforce Deal With The Fear And Anxiety Around COVID-19 Dr Alan Watkins, Complete

38

Diary Dates

39

Directory www.internationalhradviser.com HELEN ELLIOTT • Publisher • T: +44 (0) 20 8661 0186 • E: helen@internationalhradviser.com DAMIAN PORTER • Publishing Director • T: +44 (0) 1737 551506 • E: damian@internationalhradviser.com International HR Adviser, PO Box 921, Sutton, SM1 2WB, UK Cover Design by Chris Duggan In Loving Memory of Assunta Mondello While every effort has been made to ensure accuracy of information contained in this issue of “International HR Adviser”, the publishers and Directors of Inkspell Ltd cannot accept responsibility for errors or omissions. Neither the publishers of “International HR Adviser” nor any third parties who provide information for “Expatriate Adviser” magazine, shall have any responsibility for or be liable in respect of the content or the accuracy of the information so provided, or for any errors or omissions therein. “International HR Adviser” does not endorse any products, services or company listings featured in this issue.

1

INTERNATIONAL HR ADVISER SPRING

The Future Of Work - A Perfect Opportunity For Global Mobility The term ‘Future of Work’ can be a little misleading. It isn’t about some far distant change to the work we undertake, it’s actually something that is happening now.

What Do We Mean By Future Of Work?

Future of Work (FoW) describes the rapidly changing environment, underpinned by exponential advances in technology, demographic and economic shifts, resulting in the need for businesses to better engage with their workers to truly understand their motivations and expectations at work.

Typically when we consider the Future of Work, we do so through three dimensions – work (what work is and how this is delivered), the workforce (who performs the work), and the workplace (where it is executed) (Figure 1).

Only by understanding the connections and interdependencies between these dimensions can we fully know how best to navigate the Future of Work. Organisations need to zoom out to analyse the impact to their organisation across all three dimensions in order to identify the ‘art of the possible’, before they zoom in to align their business strategy and define what they should do to move the conversation away from focusing on cost efficiency, towards increasing workforce value. Addressing the FoW isn’t simply about tweaking talent strategies, or changing a few job roles. Ultimately, it is about fundamentally reimagining work.

Fig 1

2

Global mobility programmes are becoming aware of the strategic impact to their business that can be achieved by addressing these three dimensions and are setting this as a priority item. In a recent survey of over 40 organisations, programme leaders reported that changes in work, workforce or the workplace were having the greatest impact on the design and delivery of their global mobility programmes(1).

The FoW is an exciting opportunity for global mobility to play a strategic role in supporting the wider organisation in terms of how work is delivered, how work is enabled, and how the workforce experience is curated.

Let’s consider each dimension in turn.

Re-Defining Work

Our perspective at Deloitte(2) is that the concept of work will be redefined in the future. Jobs are expected to become increasingly machine-powered and datadriven, however, as the half-life of skills continues to decrease, particularly in highly technical skills such as coding, it will be the human skills in the workforce, such as problem solving, communicating, listening, interpretation and design, that will drive value for the organisation. As organisations focus their intelligent automation investment in reducing and removing repeatable tasks, they need to refine the work their workforce will undertake. By redefining work at the same time as redesigning roles, organisations will be able to marry technology with human skills, and our advanced expertise in interpretation and service.

To deliver this successfully, we will need to change the way we think about developing our workforce. Understanding the role of training in specific skills, whilst encouraging learning in the flow of work by increasing enterprise-wide talent mobility.

Organisations need to develop people internally to thrive, and mobility needs to be perceived as a natural progression of the individual’s career. Deloitte’s 2019 Human Capital Survey(3) (of over 10,000 business and HR leaders), identified that whilst 76% of leaders considered talent mobility important or very important, 56% reported it was easier for people to find a new job at an outside organisation than within their own. Global mobility teams are already proven experts at teaming with cross-functional partners to move talent across borders. As FoW evolves, business needs change and critical skill gaps across geographies may occur. Now is the time to harness this expertise to create effective internal mobility programmes across business groups. Integrated digital technologies and new data analytics methodologies have enabled a deeper collaboration between global mobility, talent acquisition and broader HR teams who collectively now have access to a greater pool of talent for secondments, as well as the benefit of operational expertise and vendor relationships that are the hallmark of an effective global mobility programme.

The Future Of The Workforce

Workforce demographics have changed over the last 30 years (4), resulting in a workforce with longer and more diverse careers. In addition, the social contract between employers and employees has altered dramatically; there is now a broad continuum of options for engaging your workforce, from hiring traditional full-time employees, to availing oneself of managed outsourced services, contractors, gig workers, and crowdsourcing talent.

This leads to an opportunity to optimise the organisational benefits for each talent type, whilst also providing meaningful and engaging options for a wide variety of worker needs and motivations. This also requires a rethink of talent models in a way that allows organisations to carefully align these skills, needs and motivations – and the use of digital disruption - in a truly agile way, with business need (Figure 2 on next page).

INTERNATIONAL HR STRATEGY

Fig 2

Influenced by these changes, global mobility also now encompasses a broader array of employee/mobility types than ever before.

This has driven the need for closer alignment between these move types and support levels, as well as more flexible and agile service delivery models that meet the requirements of a changing, diverse population.

Due to their experience in handling complex talent and compliance considerations, mobility teams are increasingly tasked with solving the needs of this wider, alternative workforce – effective infrastructure, processes and policies that meet both the needs of this workforce segment and the business. Some mobility functions are also beginning to consider how mobility policies and operations may apply to this wider group.

To really gear for FoW, global mobility also needs to continue to focus on a human-centric (5) approach, with a push towards creating positive employee experiences. Central to this is providing a personalised experience for the workforce using human-centred design and the recognition that employee experience encompasses all business interactions. In our view, organisations who wish to address and improve employee experience successfully should design by looking through four experiential spheres: (i) Personal – the focus on opportunities to deliver personal connections and create a high-level of connected-ness between the workforce and the organisation, (ii) Digital – using technology that enables individuals to work and learn with the aim of increasing productivity and fostering collaboration and creativity, (iii) Physical – creating an environment that enables individuals to collaborate with others physically and virtually, increasing their sense of purpose, and (iv) Organisational – driving a positive and engaging work environment throughout their ecosystem in which individuals can thrive.

Enhancing the employee experience remains critical to success in this area, being voted the top strategic priority by mobility professionals (6), with over 80% of executives rating employee experience as ‘important’ or ‘very important’.

The Paradox Of The Workplace

The advent of digital communication and collaboration platforms, immersive digital experiences, and societal and marketplace changes, have enabled the opportunity for more distributed teams to flourish.

Organisations are now able to orchestrate a range of options as they reimagine workplaces, from the more traditional co-located workplaces to those that are completely distributed and dependent on virtual interactions. This implies a need

for more explicit attention to creating connections and community, as workplaces become more virtual and increasingly resourced by contingent workers.(7) Global mobility today encompasses an increasing multitude of locations, with numerous talent traffic lanes. This, in turn, has prompted an increase in assignment diversity, including an uptick in shorter-term assignments, project work placements, inter-country commuters and business travel. As teams become more distributed, global mobility can play a critical

Fig 3

Fig 4

3

INTERNATIONAL HR ADVISER SPRING

role in supporting organisational strategy on how to foster cultural connectivity, whilst also navigating the complexity of global compliance requirements resulting from this diversity of move types and new locations.

What Next?

The role of global mobility is evolving from an operational service, with somewhat limited advisory opportunity, to a truly integrated strategic partner delivering business-aligned, data-driven, insight.

Global mobility functions are undergoing a rapid and profound change and need to adopt an agile mind-set for continuous experimentation and innovation.

Technology typically plays a critical role in this shift, supporting the evolutionary journey – from the existing, often operational, state towards the nirvana of an iconic digitally-enabled function (Figure 3).

Staying close to business strategy and asking key questions will enable global mobility to ascertain what the FoW means within their organisation, and allow them to determine the specific actions required to support this ambition, strategically and operationally (Figure 4).

The Future of Work will ultimately have a significant impact on mobility.

Greater flexibility and agility will be required, and digital platforms will be prerequisite as the importance and use of robotics, AI and immersive virtual realities become standard.

We will witness seismic changes over time, but this change will evolve organically around us step-by-step. The landscape in one sense will become ever more complex, but also ever more fluid and interesting. It provides a unique opportunity for global mobility leaders to truly lead from the front, using innovative digital, personalised technologies to support their employees, promoting engagement, enhanced collaboration and communication, and encouraging and monitoring employee wellbeing.

The Future of Work is now. Embrace it!

References: (1) Deloitte Global Mobility Survey, June 2019 (2) Deloitte Insights, What is the future of work? Redefining work, workforce, and workplaces (3) Deloitte Human Capital Survey, 2019 (4) Deloitte Insights, What is the future of work? Redefining work, workforce, and workplaces (5) Deloitte Back to the Future, Global Mobility trends, January 2019 (6) Deloitte Global Mobility Survey, June 2019 (7) Deloitte Insights, What is the future of work? Redefining work, workforce, and workplaces.

4

We will witness seismic changes over time, but this change will evolve organically around us step-by-step.

The landscape in one sense will become ever more complex, but also ever more fluid and interesting. It provides a unique opportunity for global mobility leaders to truly lead from the front, using innovative digital, personalised technologies to support their employees, promoting engagement, enhanced collaboration and communication, and encouraging and monitoring employee wellbeing

RUMI DAS

Director, Global Workforce, Deloitte LLP 2 New Street Square, London, EC4A 3BZ D: +44 20 7007 0433 rudas@deloitte.co.uk www.deloitte.co.uk/globalworkforce

DANNY TAGGART

Director, Global Workforce, Deloitte LLP 2 New Street Square, London, EC4A 3BZ D: +44 (0)20 7007 1447 dtaggart@deloitte.co.uk www.deloitte.co.uk/globalworkforce

CHIARA PALMISANO

Analyst, Global Workforce, Deloitte LLP 2 New Street Square, London, EC4A 3BZ D: +44 20 7303 8141 cpalmisano@deloitte.co.uk www.deloitte.co.uk/globalworkforce

DELOITTE’S GLOBAL WORKFORCE PRACTICE

Deloitte’s Global Workforce team partners with organisations to establish future-proof global workforce strategies, tailored to client specific business and talent objectives. We embrace design thinking and are data driven to help clients reimagine and transform their approach to talent mobility, focusing on areas including policy and process design, strategic and operational transformation, global talent strategies, digital innovation, planning and deployment, and workforce analytics. Find out more here www.deloitte.co.uk/globalworkforce

INTERNATIONAL HR ADVISER SPRING

UK - Off-Payroll Labour And Cross-Border Issues Why The Off-Payroll Rules Matter

The UK Government will introduce new legislation from April 2020, to help tackle the perceived abuse of tax and national insurance contributions (NIC) relating to off-payroll labour in the private sector (extending the rules in place for the public sector since April 2017).

HR teams must get to grips with the new rules to manage the impact on their businesses.

In the short-term, businesses that use large numbers of contractors could face difficulties in sourcing the right workers, and there are potentially large NIC costs arising from the new rules. There are significant new administrative responsibilities and, in time, potential penalties and interest charges (not to mention reputational risks) from getting things wrong.

Summary Of Off-Payroll Rules

Commonly referred to as the ‘IR35 Reforms’, the changes will affect medium and large private sector businesses that use workers operating through an intermediary. An intermediary is usually a worker’s personal service company (PSC), but could also be a partnership, an LLP, a managed service company or even an individual. The rules are designed to ensure that where the individual works like an employee, but provides services through their PSC, they broadly pay the same tax and NIC as they would if they were a direct employee.

Currently, the responsibility lies wholly with the PSC (in effect, the worker) to ensure the IR35 rules are considered and applied as necessary (i.e. full employer’s and employee’s NIC is paid). From April 2020, it will be the responsibility of the organisation receiving the worker’s services (the end user) to determine whether the IR35 rules apply.

HMRC has recently confirmed that the rules will only apply to payments made for services provided on or after 6 April 2020 – it is assumed that contracts straddling this start date will effectively need to be split for the purposes of the new rules.

It is important to remember that there have not been any changes to the tax rules governing employment status: workers should be regarded as a deemed employee if they are providing services that, but the existence of an intermediary, would constitute fulfilling a contract of service for the end user.

Where the end user carries out a status determination on the contract with ‘reasonable care’ and determines

6

For example, an individual supplies IT services to A Ltd through their PSC. In this case A Ltd is the client as they are receiving the individual’s IT services. As the party responsible for paying the individual’s PSC, A Ltd is also the fee-payer.

As the end user, A Ltd is responsible for reviewing the individual’s engagement status and determining whether the individual falls within the IR35 rules. If A Ltd decides that the IR35 rules apply, it will then be liable, as the fee-payer, for secondary Class 1 NIC and, where applicable, the Apprenticeship Levy. It will also be responsible for deducting tax and NIC from the payments made to the PSC. As the deemed employer, A Ltd must remit payments to HMRC and submit information about the payments using Real Time Information.

For example, an individual supplies IT services to A Ltd through their PSC and via an agency.

A Ltd is the end user and makes payment to the agency. As the end user, A Ltd is responsible for assessing if the IR35 rules apply and determining the IT worker’s employment status. If A Ltd determines that the worker is a deemed employee, it will fall on the fee-payer to make the necessary tax and NIC deductions. It is the agency that pays PSC Ltd for the work undertaken by the individual, and the agency is therefore the fee-payer in this arrangement. the worker falls within the new rules, the responsibility for then applying the correct tax treatment to payments made to the PSC will lie with the organisation paying the PSC, defined as the ‘fee payer’. The end user business and the fee payer may or may not be the same organisation.

There is an exemption for small businesses using contractors, and here the responsibility for applying the IR35 rules remains with the PSC. While the definition of small for these purposes follows the Companies Act definition of ‘small’ it is not identical, nor is it straightforward for businesses on the cusp of the turnover, balance sheet value and staff number limits. HMRC has just confirmed that there will be a new duty on businesses to confirm whether or not they are ‘small’ if a prospective contractor asks them.

Who Is The ‘End User’ And Who Is The ‘Fee-Payer’?

The end user is the organisation in the

supply chain that is ultimately receiving the individual’s personal services. The end user is responsible for determining whether the individual would have been regarded as an employee if they were engaged directly.

If the end user determines the IR35 rules apply, the fee-payer is treated as the employer for the purposes of income tax and NIC. The fee-payer is the organisation paying the PSC for the worker’s services.

Where there are numerous parties involved, it is important to determine who the client and fee-payer are; they may not always be the same organisation. Where the worker is engaged via an agency, the obligation to deduct income tax and NIC would fall on the agency or organisation in the labour supply chain making the payment to the PSC. However, where one or more agencies is involved in the labour supply chain there is a potential overlap with the existing rules offshore intermediaries in labour supply chains (see on next page).

TAXATION Responsibility For Communicating The Status Determination

When a business has reviewed a worker’s status, regardless of whether the business concludes that a deemed employment exists, it must give the worker a Status Determination Statement (SDS) confirming its conclusion and the reasons behind that conclusion.

If there is a labour supply chain involved, the determination must be passed down each stage of the chain by each party until it reaches the fee-payer. The fee-payer is the entity which pays the intermediary through which the worker supplies their services. It is wise to document this clearly as, if a party receives the SDS but does not communicate it down the labour supply chain, that party becomes the fee-payer. As the fee-payer, they will then be responsible for deducting tax and NIC (and paying it to HMRC) until the determination is passed on to the ultimate fee-payer.

In the below diagram, the black arrows mark who is responsible for passing the SDS to which party.

Reasonable Care

The status of a worker is not always straightforward, and a number of factors will need to be considered. Having a transparent process within the business will reassure workers that their status has been fairly reviewed. It is important that businesses do not make any blanket determinations; the business has an obligation to review each worker’s position

on a case-by-case basis, and must be able to demonstrate that ‘reasonable care’ has been taken in making a determination.

Disagreement Process

There will be a right of appeal, and although there is no formal appeal mechanism, an end user will be required to introduce a process to consider any appeals. Where the worker contests the determination, the end user must respond to the worker within 45 days. If the end user concludes that the original determination is correct, it must provide reasons for its conclusion and reissue the SDS. If the end user concludes that its initial determination was incorrect, it must issue a new SDS (and withdraw the original SDS). Failure to respond to the worker with the 45 days may result in the client being treated as the fee-payer and becoming liable for tax and NIC.

Who Is Doing What, And Where Are They Doing It?

When it comes to cross-border working, it is important to note that the off-payroll rules do not always apply to a UK end user business (but other rules may). Whether or not they apply depends on whether or not the end-user and contractor are UK resident for tax purposes, and where the work is carried out: if the answer to two out of these three criteria is ‘outside the UK’ then the off-payroll rules will not apply. It is vital to know the status of all parties and the location in which work is carried out.

Overlap With The Offshore Intermediary Rules

The offshore intermediary rules were introduced in 2014 to address arrangements involving offshore labour agencies that sought to avoid income tax and NIC. The basic mechanism is that when there is a labour supply chain that involves offshore companies providing workers, and the end user business is in the UK and the work is carried out in the UK, HMRC will seek PAYE and NIC from the intermediary closest to the end user if it is unable to pursue the offshore intermediary. However, if the offshore intermediary contracts directly with the end user, it is the end user that will be held responsible for any PAYE and NIC.

Where Supplier Not A PSC Or LLP - Don’t Forget The Host Employer Rules

Of course, the new off-payroll labour rules are not the only complication for international HR advisers to grapple with. The off-payroll rules will not apply if a contract worker is supplied by a company that is not a PSC or staff agency.

However, where an individual is carrying out duties in the UK and his or her overseas employer does not have a UK permanent establishment, but the employees are working at or under the control of another UK business, that business may be regarded as a host employer, and PAYE may have to be applied by the engager anyway under the host employer rules. Of course, the UK’s Short-Term Business Visitor rules can simplify the administration duties in such cases.

Whether UK NIC is also payable depends on the worker’s normal country of residence: for example, EU/EEA workers may be able to provide an A1 certificate to prove they pay social security contributions in their home country, so no UK deductions should apply. Similar certificates of contributions may be available where the worker is resident in a country which has a reciprocal social security agreement with the UK.

Directors And Non-Executive Directors (NEDs)

1. A non-UK PSC is deemed to have a place of business in the UK if the worker is resident in the UK and carries out the work in the UK (S56(7) ITEPA 2003).

2. Assuming the group has no permanent establishment in the UK. 3 Not all LLPs are relevant (see below).

Note: if worker is resident in the UK, their PSC is always likely to be UK resident, but this may not be the case for an LLP comprised of many partners.

Overlaying the special rules for directors onto the new off-payroll rules creates more complexities.

Broadly, UK companies have to look at who the office holder is, who the payment is made to, and where the board meetings and other duties are carried out. Board meetings in the UK generally mean tax in the UK, but not always under PAYE, and not always within new off-payroll rules.

The starting point is that HMRC will treat a director or NED as an ‘office holder’ who is liable to PAYE on their UK duties. However, many more complex arrangements exist in practice, and a company can hold the office of director.

For example, Company B (not a PSC) is an office holder in company A but delegates its

7

INTERNATIONAL HR ADVISER SPRING

NED role to an individual. Company A pays company B for the duties of the NED, and company B pays corporation tax on those fees. While the individual is working in the UK and resident in the UK because they are supplied by another company that is not a PCS, then the off-payroll rules do not apply and no status determination need be carried out by company A. Conversely, a professional service firm (an LLP) may provide an individual to take an office holder role at board meetings in the UK, but the fees are paid to the LLP. Where the fees go into the general profit pool of the LLP (not ring-fenced for the individual) there is no employment income under S6(5) ITEPA 2003. However, under the off-payroll rules, the Company would be prudent to carry out a status determination and document an SDS to confirm that no deductions were necessary, so that it can demonstrate that it has taken reasonable care.

Where an individual is not UK-resident but carries out board duties in the UK, the NIC concession for short visits to the UK to attend board meeting may apply – even if there is PAYE due on the fees paid under normal employment or the off-payroll worker rules.

International Groups

It is clear that the UK-based companies of international groups must now put comprehensive processes in place to manage

8

their UK tax exposure when assessing roles from a procurement, HR and line management perspective. While HMRC will take a ‘light touch’ approach to enforcement penalties for the new rules in the first year end, users (and fee-payers where a different entity) will still be expected to deduct and pay over the correct amounts of PAYE, employee’s and employer’s NIC. Equally, the use of contractors in the UK business will need to be carefully managed and documented to show that the business is taking reasonable care from April 2020 onwards.

In some circumstances, HR managers working across an international group may be able to reduce the impact of the new rules in the UK by considering where contracted out work is carried out. For example, it may be possible to delegate the task to an overseas subsidiary to carry out the task through a local contractor (although this may raise transfer pricing issues!).

Alternatively, for specific types of work (e.g.

IT design) a UK company may use its group contacts overseas to identify a non-UK resident contractor who can fulfil a contract with the UK company by working remotely overseas.

Conclusion

In a recent report reviewing its implementation of the off-payroll rules, HMRC has acknowledged businesses’ concerns over how they will apply where there is a crossborder dimension to a labour contract. It

has promised to publish more guidance on cross-border issues and I hope this article has illustrated why it is sorely needed!

ANDREW BAILEY

Head of Global Employer Services at BDO LLP. He has over 30 years’ experience in the field of expatriate taxation. Andrew is indebted to Graham Yeatman for his major contribution to this article. BDO is able to provide global assistance for all your international assignments. If you would like to discuss any of the issues raised in this article or any other expatriate matters, please do not hesitate to contact Andrew Bailey on +44 (0) 20 7893 2946, email Andrew.bailey@bdo.co.uk

GLOBAL TAXATION

Global Tax Update FRANCE

A round up of the main 2020 Finance measures Income Tax Reduction From 2020 Last Spring, the French Government announced an income tax reduction on 2020 income. This has now been voted as part of the 2020 Budget measures. This tax break mainly benefits households whose taxable income sits within the first income band as its rate was reduced from 14% to 11%. Other taxpayers will also benefit, but to a lesser degree.

As a result, individuals should have already received a reduction notification for the 2020 “pay as you go” rate applicable from January 2020. This way, the tax benefit is immediate and taxpayers will not have to wait until their 2020 return has been processed.

Changes to the décote will also benefit lower income taxpayers. It is a tax reduction for households with a gross income tax liability up to €1,717 (single) or €2,841 (couples) for 2020. This was previously fixed at €1,611 and €2,653 respectively for 2019.

The 10% pension allowance cap has been updated to €3,850 with a minimum deduction of €393.

The capping of the 10% deduction on salaries is now set at €12,627 with a minimum of €441.

Taxpayers who house a dependant aged over 75 benefit from an allowance of €3,535.

Mandatory taxation based on “unexplained” external signs of wealth is means-tested using deemed income streams for each “sign of wealth”. If these exceed a total annual “deemed income” of €47,109 it triggers a mandatory assessment.

The tax abatement for households with one taxpayer who is over 65 years old or disabled has been increased to €2,442 if their total taxable income is below €15,300, and to €1,221 where the income is between €15,300 and €24,640. This is doubled for couples.

The monthly “pay as you go” (“PAS”) payments for January to August 2020 are established on the basis of the reported 2018 income and assessment thereof. Payments for September to December 2020 will be adjusted based on the taxpayers’ 2019 income and assessed in Summer 2020 and based on the returns filed in May 2020.

The “pay as you go” system now allows the tax authorities to treat certain taxpayers as having tacitly approved the tax information disclosed by their employers or pension providers, if they have no other sources of income. Taxpayers in this situation will receive a notification of the tax information that will be processed by the authorities. In

the absence of any corrections or any reply, the authorities will automatically accept and process these details. The taxpayers will be deemed to have thus fulfilled their reporting obligations. All other taxpayers must continue to report their taxable income and gains before the filing deadline, which is usually around mid-May every year.

The 20% minimum income tax rate applicable to French source income or property gains received by non-residents of France is set at 20% up to €27,794 and 30% thereafter.

The net taxable income is determined according to the French tax computations rules applicable to each type of income.

Nevertheless, non-residents do not benefit from certain tax deductions allowed for residents at the level of their global taxable income (such as reductions for dependants, employment of home help and certain principal residence equipment) except certain alimonies as from 2018. The tax liability cannot be lower than the above minimum rates. However, non-resident taxpayers may claim a lower taxation rate but only if they can demonstrate that the average tax rate would be lower if assessed in France on a worldwide basis. This requires full annual disclosure of worldwide income and gains to the French Tax Authorities, so this option is rarely taken up.

Households which include married children, or children with dependants, may benefit from an annual tax-free allowance of €5,947. The same amount is awarded as a tax deduction if a taxpayer provides support (food allowance) to a child over 18. The deduction is doubled, i.e. €11,894 where the child is married or a single parent.

Protection Universelle Maladie The PUMA is compulsory for any French taxresident who is not affiliated to any other French or EEA social security system. PostBrexit, this may affect anyone who can no longer be registered to continued UK health cover under form S1 or any other means.

This is quite significant since it can lead to compulsory PUMA contributions assessed on the taxpayer’s income and gains generated from private assets.

Computations of the PUMA contributions apply by reference to the “Plafond Annuel de la Sécurité Sociale” known as PASS, and fixed at €41,136 for 2020 (updated every year).

In summary, the PUMA health cover is compulsory for: • Anyone who resides habitually in France, and • Who is not covered under an EEA NI regime (which may include any British

citizens living in France post-Brexit), and • Whose total 2020 annual professional earnings are below €8,227 (limited to €20% of the “PASS”).

Exposure to the PUMA triggers the application of the CSG and CRDS at 9.7% on non-French investments income and gains. In the absence of any other health cover, the PUMA contributions are deductible from the taxable income.

IRELAND

Short-term business visitors to Ireland The Irish tax authorities issued updated guidance in December 2019 with respect to the PAYE treatment of short-term business travellers to Ireland.

With effect from 1 January 2020, for the purposes of determining whether an automatic exemption from PAYE applies to temporary assignees carrying on duties in Ireland, employers are now required only to consider the number of work days spent in Ireland in the current tax year. There is no longer a requirement to consider work days spent in Ireland over multiple tax years.

The effect of the updated guidance is that there will be no requirement to operate PAYE in respect of short-term business visitors to Ireland where the following conditions are satisfied: • The assignee is resident in a country with which Ireland has a Double Tax Agreement (DTA) and is not tax resident in Ireland • The assignee has no more than 60 Irish workdays in the current tax year; and • The assignee is not on the payroll of an Irish employer.

Where a business traveller from a DTA country spends more than 60 workdays but less than 183 days in Ireland in a tax year, there is still a requirement to apply for a release from the obligation to operate PAYE. BDO Comment Ireland continues to develop its STBV rules and to be one of the leading countries focused on STBV compliance.

NETHERLANDS

Reporting obligation for employment work in the Netherlands as of 1 March 2020 A new reporting obligation will apply to foreign employers and self-employed persons from the European Economic Area (EEA) and Switzerland who are going to work temporarily in the Netherlands.

Foreign employers and self-employed persons within the European Economic Area (EEA) and Switzerland with a temporary assignment to the Netherlands should report

9

INTERNATIONAL HR ADVISER SPRING

this as of 1 March 2020 via the Dutch online reporting system of the SVB (Dutch Social Security Bank). This new reporting obligation stems from the Posted Workers Directive (in Dutch: WagwEU). The WagwEU is intended to protect employees working conditions and to eliminate unfair competition. For example, the right to be paid a minimum wage, the right to a minimum number of paid vacation days and the right to health, safety and hygiene at work. Other administrative obligations are also included in this Act. In light of the above, monitoring compliance with employment conditions in the Netherlands is required. This obligation was already included in the WagwEU but had not yet been introduced because as the online reporting system was not available.

With regards to the Aliens Employment Act Implementation Decree you will no longer have to notify the UWV with respect to secondments of employees from third countries who normally work legally in another Member State; from 1 March 2020 this will now be reported via the SVB’s online reporting desk.

Obliged to notify are: • Employers who come to the Netherlands with their own staff • Multinational companies that second employees to their own branch in the Netherlands • Temporary employment agencies that make temporary workers available in the Netherlands • Self-employed persons working in one of the designated sectors.

The transport sector has a few exceptions to the reporting rules. For example, the majority of transport is excluded from the notification obligation.

Failure to comply with this new obligation can result in a penalty for both the foreign employer/self-employed person and the customer/client (service recipient). The service recipient therefore also has obligations in this context. The SZW inspection will carry out the check on the notification obligation.

Work that starts on or after 1 March 2020 in the Netherlands must be reported via the online reporting system. Any ongoing employment work on that date does not have to be reported. The notification consists of information about the activities that will be performed, where these activities will take place and for which service recipient.

It must also indicate how long the work will take and which employees will be seconded.

If it is not yet known what the exact location of the work will be in the Netherlands, the report can be submitted with the available information. The details of the report can be supplemented at a later time.

BDO Comment Expect similar changes across the EU as the Posted Workers Directive is implemented.

10

UK

Earlier capital gains tax filing and payment dates for UK residential property disposals The government has passed legislation which will have a major impact on the filing and payment obligations of UK resident taxpayers who sell UK residential property from 6 April 2020. This measure applies to individuals and trusts. The legislation applies to capital gains tax only and does not apply to UK resident companies (and from 6 April 2020, non-resident companies) which are subject to corporation tax on capital gains.

The April 2020 changes represent an extension of provisions which have applied to the disposal of UK property by nonresident persons from 6 April 2019.

Disposals before 6 April 2020 (UK resident individuals and trusts) Currently, a UK resident individual or trust disposing of UK property that results in a taxable gain is required to report that gain on their annual UK self-assessment tax return. The deadline for reporting the gain and paying the tax due is the 31 January following the year of the disposal.

Disposals from 6 April 2020 onwards (UK resident individuals and trusts) From 6 April 2020, a UK resident individual or trust disposing of UK residential property will be required to file a “residential property return” within 30 days of the completion date of the disposal. Penalties will apply if the return is filed late.

The vendor will be required to pay an estimate of the capital gains tax within 30 days of the completion date. This will be treated as a “payment on account” against their total income tax and CGT liability for that year when the annual self-assessment tax return is submitted.

The individual or trust will, therefore, be required to estimate how much tax is payable which may depend on several factors. If additional tax is due when the annual return is filed, then interest will be payable at the standard rates set by HMRC. Exceptions Some common examples of where a return will not be required are (although this list is not exhaustive): • Where the gain is covered by principal private residence relief for the duration of the taxpayer’s ownership • If a loss arises on the sale of the property • The gain is sheltered by capital losses crystallised before the sale takes place • The gain is small enough to be covered by the individual’s annual exemption for the year of disposal.

NB: The return and payment on account will not be required where the property disposed of is not residential property or where the property is situated outside the UK.

From a practical perspective, the taxpayer will need to rapidly determine whether (or to what extent) their gain is sheltered through principal private residence relief and, if it is not fully sheltered, what the gain will be and to what extent it will be sheltered by crystallised capital losses or their annual exemption. As these can take time to assess/calculate, it will often before worthwhile to start to assess them before the sale has completed.

Non-UK Residents Non-UK residents have already been required to file returns within 30 days when they have disposed of UK property, both residential and non-residential, since 6 April 2015, and 6 April 2019 respectively. There are no changes for disposals by non-UK resident individuals or trusts from 6 April 2020.

BDO Comment The application of this legislation to UK residents is a significant shift in the sense that the tax filing and payment obligations need to be considered immediately on completion of the sale rather than left until after the end of the tax year.

It will be common for individuals to not know precisely what their CGT liability will be at the time of the sale and indeed, some of the relevant information may not be known until after the end of the tax year. It would therefore be prudent to contact your tax advisor much sooner (ideally before completing the transaction) when making residential property disposals in order to submit the returns on time and to determine an appropriate estimate of the CGT liability. Companies will need to determine what, if any assistance/notification they provide to assignees in this regard.

National Minimum Wage As part of an overhaul aimed to reduce the burden of the legislation on businesses, there have been big announcements recently for National Minimum Wage (NMW) following the review of the naming/shaming policy. As well as changes to the naming scheme the announcement included changes to salaried work, salary sacrifice and deductions from pay.

BEIS Naming & Shaming The policy of naming and shaming was quietly suspended towards the end of 2018, following a number of high profile complaints from businesses that had inadvertently fallen foul of the complex rules.

The reformed regulations will now reinstate the naming of businesses that fail to pay their workers the NMW with the following changes, • Increase the arrears threshold over which employers will be considered from naming from over £100 to over £500 • Provide more information about reasons for breaches

GLOBAL TAXATION • Publish an educational bulletin for employers, highlighting common reasons for underpayment and • Name employers more frequently than previously.

This new approach will mean that some businesses falling foul of the rules by minimal sums will not be named, provided they correct any errors. It will also mean some underpayments arising from certain salary sacrifice arrangements and deductions will not be subject to naming.

Salary Sacrifice & Deductions A direction has been issued relating to cases where NMW underpayments have arisen as a consequence of certain employer deductions from pay. This direction addresses some specific instances where the design of a salary sacrifice or deduction scheme is associated with NMW underpayments, despite delivering benefits to participating workers and the worker in practical terms suffers little or no detriment.

The intention of the direction is to ensure that historical liabilities are repaid to workers, whilst providing employers with an opportunity to ensure their practices going forward are compliant with the law. The circumstances in which the direction will apply are tightly limited to ensure the continued protection of workers.

The direction has broadly the following effect. If, following an HMRC investigation, the only reason minimum wage was underpaid was because the employer made a deduction from a worker’s pay/enrolled them in a salary sacrifice scheme with the worker’s consent and the worker has received the correct good/benefit as a result of that deduction (e.g. childcare vouchers, savings club, season ticket), the employer will not face a penalty (or be named).

This direction does not apply to deductions for items in connection with employment (e.g. uniform), expenses or accommodation.

Salaried Work Finally, changes to regulations for salaried hours work will widen the range of pay arrangements available to businesses where workers receive an annual salary in equal instalments for a set number of contracted hours.

These changes include: • Permitting additional payment cycles for salaried workers, including fortnightly and 4-weekly cycles, providing choice and flexibility to employers and workers • Allowing employers to choose the ‘calculation year’ fit for their workers, helping them to better monitor the hours worked by salaried workers and identify potential underpayment of wages

• Ensuring salaried workers can receive premium pay, for example, for working on Bank Holidays, without losing their entitlement to equal and regular instalments in pay.

The changes will provide more flexibility in how salaried workers are paid without reducing protections for workers.

Although businesses employing salaried workers are now less likely to be caught out by the NMW legislation due to the differences in their hours from one month to the next, there is still complex calculations that will be required to ensure NMW is being paid.

These changes are expected to come into force on 6 April 2020, subject to normal parliamentary approvals.

More information can be found in the NMW enforcement policy document; www.assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/ government/uploads/system/uploads/ attachment_data/file/864801/nationalminimum-wage-enforcement-policyfebruary-2020.pdf.

Prepared by BDO LLP. For further information please contact Andrew Bailey on 0207 893 2946 or at andrew.bailey@bdo.co.uk

11

RISK AND COMPLIANCE IN GLOBAL MOBILITY

Risk And Compliance In Global Mobility: Key Issues How can Global Mobility teams mitigate against risk and ensure compliance while pursuing their objectives and growth opportunities?

risks in its own right, this can be exacerbated by weak or siloed management of business travel programmes.

payroll and taxes are correct. And failure to prevent tax evasion, even if it is in another country, is also an offense.

Achieving Compliance

Fluid Mobility Creating More Compliance Complexity, Not Less

Organisational Structure Has An Impact

It’s fairly common for organisations with functional structures to segment their risk and compliance profiles. In our view, that approach will create silos of knowledge, prioritisation, and potentially restrict the necessary investments to ensure there is an overarching, connected framework for internationally mobile employees.

Mobility is without doubt more and more fluid, as talent pools, customers and clients have become truly global. Short-term assignments, commuter roles, regional roles and business travel are now common features of the workforce in many organisations.

Whilst organisations generally recognise that long-term assignments and local-to-local moves require consideration of immigration, labour law and related compliance, it’s often the case that the issues are missed when no physical relocation takes place. The truth is, the more fluid types of employee mobility give rise to more complexity rather than less.

Changes in technology, cheap air travel, and the comparative low number of countries ‘opening up’ to foreign investment are some of the reasons for a shift in the nature of mobility.

International Business Travel Risks

The risks are increasing with managing employees that travel on business around the world.

Many more organisations use extended business travel or commuter assignments as a replacement for more traditional assignments. Relatively open borders can mean that this is not usually as well tracked as assignment models are, and this can create compliance risks at an organisational level. Where business travellers are not assignees, there remain a significant number of organisations where unclear processes run the risk of evading compliance; examples include where a business believes that the Global Mobility department is tracking business travellers, but hasn’t informed Global Mobility that it should be doing this, nor provided an appropriate budget.

We often see responsibility for business travellers sitting with different departments such as finance, legal, travel or elsewhere in HR. Some organisations allow business travellers to manage their own travel with little or no control exercised. So not only does business travel raise many non-compliance

It’s not about waiting for an audit and then dealing with it compliance must be front of mind, always The Burden Is Shifting The Onus Is On Employers

Regulators and fiscal authorities have shifted the onus for compliance to employers. It’s not about waiting for an audit and then dealing with it - compliance must be front of mind, always. The introduction of realtime reporting in payrolls gives the tax authorities extra data to spot and police compliance month by month. The tax authorities have agreed common reporting standards and are exchanging information from financial institutions - nudge letters then follow asking taxpayers to reconsider their reporting because the tax authority has some visibility already that the tax filings may not be fully accurate or complete.

Many countries now have rules requiring key employees to personally confirm that

Technical expertise is a must, but this can usually be sourced externally. The real challenges invariably occur with data, process, technology and roles and responsibilities.

Compliance can’t be proactively managed if someone in an organisation isn’t aware of the employee mobility that is going on.

There is a need to source good timely data on employee movements in both the formal and fluid types of mobility. Sourcing the right information in a timely way usually requires the leverage of technology. Good process is then needed to link employee mobility data to the right people and expertise in the organisation who can then review and manage the compliance. It’s often a joint effort between HR/Mobility, tax, finance and legal departments. Some organisations have started to industrialise and automate these processes, but the right data remains absolutely key –to enable tax, payroll, social security compliance.

In-House Expertise Is Key

In-house expertise is key to understanding and managing employee mobility risk.

Mobility professionals are not employed by every organisation that probably needs them. The issues and process can sit with Reward and/or HR instead, who may not have a detailed understanding of the obligations and requirements, or not enough of the available roles allocated to this area. As a result, non-compliance becomes a possibility and with that comes significant extra unbudgeted costs in the form of taxes, penalties and interest. Often the allocating budget for resources to this area can seem like an avoidable cost.

Thinking this way would be a false economy.

One crude but effective way to think about it is to consider the total costs of globally mobile employees (which can run easily into multiples of millions) and then use a global payroll rate of say 35% to estimate the payroll obligations. That number can be easily double to 70% when you then take account of potential interest and penalties.

In very simple terms, not allocating resource or specialists to this area could be opening organisations up to 70% of the total cost of globally mobile employees.

13

INTERNATIONAL HR ADVISER SPRING

It’s not all doom and gloom though, as there are also opportunities in this area. There are a number of tax and social security planning options that can significantly reduce the cost of mobile employees–a resource that can ensure these are being correctly implemented can save many multiples of their own annual cost for the organisation.

Key Considerations And Questions

1. Do Business Leaders fully understand the implications of not following agreed internal protocols to ensure external compliance in all its dimensions?

2. How well do Business Leaders and other corporate function leaders understand the role of the Global Mobility team - even HR business partners?

3. How does the Global Mobility team demonstrate their value, communicate and educate the key decision makers to involve them at the earliest stage?

4. Are policy exceptions documented and managed through a governance process?

5. What protocols are in place to minimise not only organisation risks but also people risks?

6. In many ways, the acid-test of an effective, risk mitigated Global Mobility programme is how well issues are resolved after a breach and not just prevention, since no Global Mobility programme can be 100% secure.

Conclusion

The critical factor in managing risk and compliance must be to ensure leadership understand the full impact of risks in an informed way and to seek their engagement with the various stakeholders to put in place a robust Global Mobility programme, both internally and externally with your Global Mobility supply-chain.

In conclusion, the reality for Global Mobility professionals is that, while they need to maintain control and internal governance of their programme, a holistic approach is required rather than silo thinking and trust in specialist partners, to secure the governance of your Global Mobility programme.

Global Mobility and HR teams are at the epicentre of activities impacting internationally mobile employees. Being the last ones to know there is an issue and then being expected to take accountability for addressing it, does not seem to be a well thought through sustainable situation.

Given the complexities of managing Global Mobility programmes, investments in creating an assured environment for internal and potential external talent can only be viewed as enabling the organisation to be even more competitive.

14

Given the complexities of managing Global Mobility programmes, investments in creating an assured environment for internal and potential external talent can only be viewed as enabling the organisation to be even more competitive A strategy based on ‘saving your way to growth’ can only be achieved where the organisation is the dominant player or who operate in markets with limited competition.

Ensuring that the debate for risk and compliance is heard must be a better option than waiting for a critical incident to occur and constantly having to react in crisis mode.

Are you ready for that debate?

References and extracts from: • Santa Fe Relocation’s research report: ‘Global Mobility Survey 2019 ‘REVISION: Mobility through the looking glass’ Download: www.santaferelo.com/en/ mobility-insights/global-mobility-survey/ • Santa Fe Relocation’s white paper: ‘Risk and compliance in Global Mobility: Navigating the maze’. Download: https://www. santaferelo.com/en/mobility-insights/ white-papers/risk-and-compliance-inglobal-mobility-navigating-the-maze/ Visit www.santaferelo.com for more information.

JOHN RASON

Group Head of Consulting, Santa Fe Relocation, is recognised as a thought leader and speaker on strategic international HR, talent management and Global Mobility, John has 15 years of global consultancy experience, having previously held senior HR leadership roles in numerous global businesses across a range of industry sectors. He now works with global organisations to create value and improve the structure of Global Mobility programmes, focusing on aligning strategic objectives with operational delivery. John is a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (FCIPD) and won Highly Commended in the ‘Global Mobility Professional of the Year’ category at the 2019 FEM EMEA EMMAs awards. If you would like to discuss any of the themes or issues raised in this article, please do not hesitate to contact John Rason Email: John.Rason@Santaferelo.com

PETER FERRIGNO

Global Practice Leader, Immigration and People Director, Santa Fe Relocation. As a highly experienced Global Mobility consulting practitioner, Peter has more than 25 years’ experience working for the big four, establishing and building Global Mobility practices across Europe. He has worked as a senior advisor to many FTSE 100 and Fortune 500 companies and, in his current role, aligns people and business strategies that support customer satisfaction and overall process improvement initiatives. His advisory expertise spans across Global Mobility, tax, immigration and HR. He is a chartered tax advisor and is a chartered accountant. If you would like to discuss any of the themes or issues raised in this article, please do not hesitate to contact Peter Ferrigno.

Email: peter.ferrigno@Santaferelo.com

INTERNATIONAL HR ADVISER SPRING

Expecting The Unexpected: Keeping Employees Safe Across A Global Workforce For global HR professionals, the last few months spent navigating the response to the COVID19 outbreak have been a challenging and occasionally worrying experience. As more and more companies expand beyond their home markets, HR responsibilities and management of employees have become spread over a wider network of regions and when unexpected challenges compromise the safety of remote teams, a dynamic response is needed.

Although the decentralisation of employees from main office locations has also been a benefit to stop the spread of the virus through close contact, companies have been tested by the implementation of worker protections and informationsharing amongst expatriate or remote staff.

Employer duty-of-care stretches beyond emergency scenarios – in any circumstance where workers are not on home soil, HR and operational teams are rightly wary of potential local risks and threats to the security of their employees.

In today’s global economy, the percentage of workforces heading on global assignments or working remotely is increasing year-on-year; a survey by the CIPD in 2019(1) found that 54% of workers in the UK had some option of remote work, while the Global Business Travel Association predicted increased spending on business travel of up to 1.7 million USD by 2022 (2), signalling an upward trend.

So how do we as global HR professionals set in place the right measures to ensure our decentralised staff are protected overseas?

Safeguarding Workers: Our Experiences

In the early days of Mauve, our clients were predominantly based in the telecommunications, energy and engineering sectors – often, their projects entailed sending large quantities of workers out to overseas locations to implement new technologies, develop local infrastructure or train local staff to carry out their role.

16

These locations were at times undeveloped, unstable or hazardous. As the employer of record for these workers, we retained a duty-of-care to safeguard employee wellbeing. With multiple parties involved in the hire and management of workers, this took detailed planning. The idea is not to stifle the worker on what can be an already stressful assignment, but to rigorously prepare involved parties for all eventualities so that unwelcome surprises are at a minimum.

Over the years as differing threats have come and gone, and as remote work has grown, we have learnt considerable amounts about the protection of our internal and external workers. We have built this knowledge into a framework of robust processes, identifying 5 key areas of focus.

1. Open Lines Of Communication

Communication is the foremost component of the worker support and security mechanism. Any company responsible for managing remote workers should build a contact plan into their early stage preparation.

Regular check-ins are a must to ensure wellbeing and effective communication.

Schedule verbal or face-to-face contact at routine intervals – ensure you have staff available to respond in that time zone to avoid the worker feeling isolated. Know when and how to escalate any concerns so you can provide solutions quickly – leaving employees waiting for responses will impact morale.

A separate contact procedure should be established for the worker in emergency situations. A one-size-fits-all approach may not be appropriate; in the planning phases of an international assignment, it is worth assessing potential local risks and mapping these to your emergency procedure to ensure there are no gaps when it needs to be implemented.

Technological tools including tracking apps can be utilised if the worker will be very mobile during an overseas assignment or in a particularly volatile location. These can only be activated with the worker’s consent but can provide peace-of-mind of a fast response in the event of an emergency.

2. Set Processes And Responsibilities

Before the worker sets off on any global assignment, responsibilities should be set for a number of different functions. Accountability for phases such as planning, onboarding, monitoring, on-the-ground contact and offboarding should be established – departmentally, this could fall to HR, Operations teams or line managers depending on the size or scope of the business.

A logical team of responsible staff with decision-making capabilities should be established for emergency situations, meeting regularly to monitor situations as they evolve and to form responses. All parties should understand where to report and escalate potential issues.

Once duties have been established, the responsible personnel can prepare in advance of the assignment with professional risk assessments and efficient processes to ensure the team and worker are on the same page.

This could include setting policies such as: • Business Travel policies • Business Continuity policies • Remote Working policies • Worker Ground Rules • Health and Safety guidelines • Emergency Procedures • Employee Handbooks • Country Factsheets If the level of threat in a country is unknown, it is worth carrying out a risk assessment.

These can be useful in assessing the individual, current circumstances of the company’s operations in their chosen country, and will shed light on operational red flags and recommendations.

Ensure policies and processes adhere to any rules or requirements of the country of work – falling foul of legislation can lead to penalties and blacklisting.

3. Educate Staff

Education of remote or mobile staff is valuable to safeguarding practices.

Language and cultural training before an assignment starts can be extremely valuable in the support and security of expatriates. A threat such as the coronavirus outbreak can be made more distressing if the worker has not yet

KEEPING EMPLOYEES SAFE They can also provide local points of contact for the worker in country if you do not have internal staff available in the worker’s time zone, and in the event of a severe threat, safely evacuate staff as needed.

To protect internal and external staff, Mauve works with two internationallyrenowned organisations with a combined reach of 100 locations worldwide; this gives us the peace of mind that all deployed personnel are protected from harm and supported in the event of an emergency, providing a safe, secure and healthy working environment.

Preparation Is Key

If we have learnt anything from the recent virus outbreak, a prepared company is a protected company. The outbreak has been a marker of preparedness and those with policies and processes already in place have been able to react swiftly in implementing emergency protocols to protect workforces.

New learnings will arise with every new threat or challenge that arises in the wake of COVID19, and there will be inevitable surprises thrown at us as we navigate the changing face of employee management across borders.

However, we can soften the impact by readying ourselves through the above framework – creating a happy, safe work environment for staff, wherever in the world they are situated. familiarised with the linguistic and cultural nuances of their host country’s response.

Staff should be trained on remote or global protocol and kept updated through internal communications of any situations impacting their country of work. Although some threats may take us by surprise, training should be set in place at the earliest opportunity and maintained on an ongoing basis, where possible – being proactive rather than reactive will help to avoid a hastily-scrambled or panicked response from workers and leadership alike.

Relevant global assignment policies and processes should be made accessible to workers; these should be stored somewhere the worker can access at all times, from anywhere. Some companies utilise apps, worker portals or collaboration platforms for this purpose.

4. Check Insurances And Repatriation Cover

An unfortunate but unavoidable fact of managing vast numbers of worldwide employees is that, on occasion, a worker is injured, suffers illness or dies whilst on an international assignment. Mauve experienced this in Kenya where a client’s worker passed away unexpectedly in his sleep following the Avian Flu outbreak and had to be quickly repatriated back to his loved ones - a situation that required very careful and sensitive management.

Employers must ensure their workers have adequate healthcare insurance in place that covers the country of work and assignment activities. It is also imperative that insurance covers seemingly unlikely eventualities – during the recent COVID19 outbreak, many companies realised their insurances did not cover pandemic or epidemic situations, leaving them uncomfortably exposed.

Without insurance, employers can be saddled with the responsibility for escalating medical and repatriation costs as an unwelcome addition to an already distressing situation. Remote workers who are local nationals without the need for insurances should equally feel that they are medically supported by their company, knowing how and when to report health issues.

5. Seek External Support

Another step towards improved worker wellbeing and peace of mind in a volatile work location is to contract with an international security management company.

This is particularly useful in cases where you do not have resources to spare in the worker’s time zone.

Security management companies offer education and training on potential travel risks before the worker has entered the country of assignment, and then supply trained 24/7 overseas security and assistance in the event of accidents, safety threats, natural disasters and so on.

References: 1. CIPD, UK Working Lives Survey, 2019 - https://www.cipd.co.uk/knowledge/ work/trends/uk-working-lives.

2. GBTA, Annual Spending Report and Forecast, 2018 - https://www.gbta.org / research-and-tools.

ANN ELLIS

Chief Executive Officer As one of Mauve’s founders, Ann was the first and only “back-office” employee in the early days, providing services and support to telecoms projects. Today, Ann’s role as CEO is just as energetic and she is profoundly involved in the business at every level. Ann is multi-lingual and enjoys experiencing new cultures as she travels the world expanding the organisation’s infrastructure.

Visit www.mauvegroup.com for further information.

17

GLOBAL IMMIGRATION

Global Immigration AZERBAIJAN

Details of the Labour Market Test for Oil and Gas Sector Released The government has released details of the labour market test which is now required for employers seeking to send foreign workers to Azerbaijan for employment in the oil and gas sector. Employers in the oil and gas sector will have to post job vacancies online at the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR)’s new website, which will list the job title, role and description for the vacancy.

The job posting will remain on the website for 30 days, after which time the post will automatically be taken off the website. During the recruitment process, if a local worker is not found, employers can interview foreign workers by applying for an Endorsement Letter and Work Permit. After the recruitment process is complete, the employer must provide documents detailing the process to SOCAR, without which SOCAR may reject the Endorsement Letter application. Affected employers should work with their immigration provider to ensure compliance with other recruitment timing rules.

BELGIUM

Single Permit Processing Times to be Reduced In an effort to reduce the prolonged processing times for Single Permit applications, following our memorandum to the Belgian authorities outlining the current issues, the Federal Immigration Office has added 20 additional staff members and simplified the internal procedures to process such applications in the Immigration Office. Single Permit processing times are at best expected to be one to two months.

Additionally, a new online system expected to be implemented in the second quarter of 2020 may further reduce processing times by allowing document sharing across government agencies, among other improvements.

BELGIUM

Flanders Switches to Electronic Filing Since March 1, the Flanders immigration authorities are allowing all Work Permit and Single Permit applications to be submitted by email instead of by regular mail. Renewal applications via an electronic platform and online access to and correction of pending applications will be allowed in the next few weeks. The authorities have set strict requirements on application and email format. Applications that do not meet the requirements will be refused. The new process applies to applicants whose

primary work location is in Flanders. During a transition period until June 30, applicants will still be able to submit documents by registered mail, though mailed applications may take longer to process. Applications submitted by mail will require justifying why an online application cannot be filed.

Email applications should expedite the application process by removing post and scan wait times. However, expect delays and additional document requirements during a transitional phase of several weeks. An online immigration platform including federal immigration and social security services, as well as other Belgian regions, is scheduled to launch in January 2021.

CANADA

Online Labour Market Impact Assessment Pilot Programme Expanded The Situation The Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) is expanding the launch of LMIA Online, an online pilot programme that allows employers and third parties to submit Labour Market Impact Assessments (LMIA) electronically. Previously, the online pilot project was only available to a small number of employers in the agricultural industry.

A Closer Look Details of the online LMIA system include the following: • Purpose. The online system is meant to provide employers participating in the Temporary Foreign Worker (TFW) programme with integrated online access on a single platform where they can register, manage online accounts and conduct online transactions • Potential Users. Any employer with a Job Bank account may register to use LMIA Online. In addition, the ESDC has sent invitations to employers with existing Job Bank accounts to use the new system or employers who had previously used the non-electronic LMIA system. Use of the new system is voluntary at this time.

• Process. To use the system, employers and third parties must complete the below steps: • Employers and third parties must have an account with the Job Bank for employers, as the same login credentials will be used in LMIA Online • Once in the LMIA system, users will be able to create an LMIA application, continue current LMIA applications, upload documents and find out the

status of ongoing applications. However, pending LMIA applications which were filed under the non-electronic system will not be transferred to the new system • Employers will be able to pay the filing fee of CAD 1,000 (approximately USD 752.89) per application online, unless they are exempt from the filing fee requirement (such as when filing Agricultural Stream LMIAs) • Once the application has been adjudicated, the employer will receive an email notification to log into the LMIA Online system where they can access and review their decision letter from their inbox.

Impact For Employers • Processing times. Employers are expected to see a decrease in LMIA processing times. For approved LMIAs, this will result in foreign nationals being able to start work more quickly • Streamlined system. Employers and third parties will have access to a more userfriendly system that will allow them to save and retrieve LMIA applications and return to complete them at any time prior to submission, increasing the transparency of the process.

Background The LMIA online pilot project began in August 2019, with a small number of employers in the Season Agricultural Workers Programme and Agriculture streams.

The project was expected to expand as the system stabilised.

Looking Ahead The TFW Programme has launched an outreach programme to promote the LMIA Online system and will continue to invite employers with a Job Bank account to apply using the system. However, employers do not require an invitation to use the online portal. Eventually, the online option is expected to become the only option for submitting LMIAs.

EUROPEAN UNION

New EU Visa Rule - Exciting Times for ShortTerm Travellers The European Union (EU) has laid out new regulations for short-term travellers effective 2 February 2020. This move has been in discussion with the European Parliament since June 2019, and it essentially encourages more travellers to visit the region, which will help to support the EU economy.

19

INTERNATIONAL HR ADVISER SPRING

The changes apply to travellers who need visas to travel to the EU from their home countries. No visa policy changes will be applied to travellers from countries benefitting from visa-free travel to the EU, as the new rules do not apply to citizens of those countries.

The new rules cover short-stay visas for the 22 EU countries that are part of the region— Austria, Belgium, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden —as well as for four associated countries: Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland. A uniform short-stay visa issued by one of these countries covers travel throughout the 26 Schengen countries for up to 90 days in a 180-day period.

Under the new rules, travellers can now enjoy a simpler and more user-friendly visa application process, where: • Visa applications can be submitted up to six months prior to the intended date of travel (nine months for seafarers), instead of three months previously, enabling travellers to better plan their trips • Multiple-entry visas with a long validity from one to five years are now easier to obtain, saving money and efforts of those who travel frequently • Frequent travellers with an uneventful visa history (without incidences of overstays, fines, etc.) can be granted multiple-entry visas with a gradually increasing validity period from one year to a maximum of five years • Applicants may only need to appear in person when fingerprints are to be collected (i.e., once every 59 months).

The rest of the requirements remain unchanged in terms of processing times, that is, it can take up to 15 working days for processing applications in regular cases and up to 45 working days for processing applications in cases of “consultation country nationals” (Schengen States require that they be consulted on visa applications submitted to other Schengen States by citizens of certain countries). All the other related documentation such as medical insurance requirements, photographs and related documentation remain unchanged. However, there is an increase in the visa fee which will vary by country, which travellers must review before submitting their applications.

Further, UK nationals can continue to travel visa-free to the EU post-Brexit, so when it comes to short-term stays in the Schengen region, the revised rules will not affect UK nationals.

INDIA

Deadline Extended for Persons of India Card Holders to Convert to Overseas Citizen of India Card The deadline for all Person of India (POI) cardholders (machine and non-machine-

20

readable) to obtain Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) cards has been further extended to September 30, 2020, from March 31, 2020. It is likely that those who fail to convert their POI cards by March 31, 2020, will be denied entry/exit while travelling to and from India. The extension of the revised deadline until September 20, 2020, is subject to the condition that the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) does not notify a new deadline in the meantime. This is in continuation of the deadline set by the ICAO for mandatory machine-readable documents for entry into India. All POI cardholders (machine and nonmachine-readable) are advised to convert their POI cards to OCI cards by the deadline.

NETHERLANDS

Application Details Can No Longer be Changed After Decision In a change of policy, the Dutch Immigration Authority (IND) now requires a new application if application details change after a decision has been made, for all application and permit types. Relevant details include visa pickup location, preferred in-country immigration office, employment/assignment start and end dates, and cancelling a de-registration. Previously, such changes were typically allowed both during application processing and after approval. As before, changes can be notified to the IND while the application is being processed. Employers and foreign nationals are advised to plan visa pickup locations and IND office locations in advance, and scrutinise applications to minimise the need for corrections.

PERU

Delays in Adjudication of In-country Initial and Renewed Resident Worker Visa Applications Foreign nationals applying for an in-country initial or renewed Resident Worker Visa are currently experiencing application adjudication delays due to an increase in immigration applications received by the National Superintendence of Immigration. Processing time is currently 3.5 months for initial in-country applications (which in practice has been 1.5 months on average, though the legal standard processing time is three months), and one month for renewal applications (up from the usual seven days).

Foreign nationals and employers should expect delayed work start dates during the next several months. As a reminder, foreign nationals need to obtain an Exit and Re-Entry Permit for each trip outside Peru during the processing of their in-country initial or renewed Resident Worker Visa application.

PHILIPPINES

Special Work Permit Regulations for Consultants/Specialists Clarified Further to last week's clarification for experts applying for a Special Work Permit (SWP),

new guidelines were released by the Bureau of Immigration for foreign nationals applying for a SWP as a consultant or specialist. Such foreign nationals must submit a certified copy of their diploma or certificate of completion attested by the appropriate company representative and a certificate of training, course completion or resume attested by the appropriate company representative.

Applicants must be at least 25 years old at the time of filing of the application.

POLAND

EU Blue Card Salary Level Increased The Situation Effective February 11, 2020, the minimum monthly salary for EU Blue Card applicants in Poland has increased to PLN 7,378, up 7.3 percent from 2019.

The exchange rate at the time of publication of this alert is 1 PLN to 0.25 USD. A closer look • Existing employees. Employers of foreign nationals currently under an EU Blue Card need not increase foreign nationals’ salaries to comply with the new rule • Initial and renewal applications.

Employers of foreign nationals seeking to obtain or renew an EU Blue Card on or after February 11, 2020, must increase foreign nationals’ salaries to comply with the new rule. Immigration applications that do not meet the minimum salary will be refused • Pending applications. Employers of foreign nationals with pending EU Blue Card applications as of February 11, 2020, must increase foreign nationals’ salaries to comply with the new rule. Immigration applications that do not meet the minimum salary will be refused. Employers should submit confirmation on the salary increase (e.g., amended employment contract or contract addendum) to the authorities • Unaffected categories. As before, local hires must receive a salary similar to local workers and intracompany transfers must receive 70% of the average provincial salary (new quarterly figures are not yet published).

Reminders On Other Requirements • Sufficient salary to support dependents.

As before, the salary must be sufficient to support the foreign national and any dependents during their stay • Benefits and allowances. As before, benefits and allowances may not be included in the minimum salary calculation • Currency. As before, EU Blue Card applicants must be on local payroll and paid in PLN. Background Poland’s salary requirements are quite complex, with a mixture of national and provincial thresholds, annual and quarterly

GLOBAL IMMIGRATION updates. Employers are advised to maintain a safe margin above these thresholds to anticipate quarterly fluctuations. Poland is in the middle range for EU Blue Card minimum salary amounts in Europe. See the below map for a representation of EU Blue Card salary amounts in Europe: Looking Ahead Fragomen expects Polish authorities to develop measures to streamline immigration processing, following persistent workload issues and negative immigration audit results in 2019.

RUSSIA

Eligible Professions Expanded for Early Citizenship Qualification The Russian government has expanded the list of professions foreign nationals must be in to qualify for Russian citizenship sooner. Permanent residence permit holders who have worked for at least one year in a profession on this list qualify for citizenship immediately, instead of after five years of residence under a permanent residence permit, which is the standard.

RUSSIA/QATAR

Visa Waiver in Effect Effective February 23, 2020, Qatari nationals can enter Russia with a visa for 90 days in a 180-day period for tourism and business.

Qatari nationals must apply for a work permit to conduct any work activities in Russia.

SAUDI ARABIA

Revised Employment Visa Quota Mechanism Introduced for Newly-Established Companies Companies that have obtained their Commercial Registration in Saudi Arabia in the last six months are now assigned an employment visa quota based on their location and business activities instead of the requirement to submit a formal quota request to the Ministry of Labour and Social Development (MLSD). The quota will be granted based on the company’s commercial activities, location and overall readiness to recruit workers. Specifically, a minimum quota will be granted instantly; a medium quota will be granted after the MLSD has assessed the employer’s location and business activities; and a maximum quota will be granted after the MLSD has conducted a site inspection and assessed the employer’s business activities and premises. It is not yet clear how many visas will be granted at each quota level or how this number will be determined. Additionally, according to an initial announcement, these employers may be exempt from complying with certain Saudisation requirements for up to one year, but no further information has been provided on this exemption.

SWITZERLAND

Reminder:2021 Plans for UK Nationals As a reminder, UK national residents in Switzerland and their family members seeking to continue to reside and work in Switzerland after December 31, 2020, should obtain an appropriate national residence and work permit before December 31, 2020. Since Switzerland is not an EU member state, EU nationals require

residence and work authorisation for stays over 90 days. As a result, obtaining residence authorisation - which UK nationals must complete as an additional step to account for Brexit in most EU countries - is standard for eligible UK residents in Switzerland. The status of UK national residents in Switzerland is regulated by a separate bilateral agreement, and no further national measures are required (or will be published) to account for the current 'deal' Brexit.

TURKEY/CROATIA/IRELAND/ MALTA/NORWAY/PORTUGAL

Unilateral Visa Waiver Expanded Turkey has expanded a unilateral visa waiver to nationals of Croatia, Ireland, Malta, Norway and Portugal, for tourist and business trips to Turkey for up to 90 days in a 180-day period. The visa waiver took effect March 2, 2020. Previously, these nationals had to apply for an e-visa and pay the corresponding fee.

UKRAINE/NORTH MACEDONIA

Visa Waiver Extended Indefinitely Ukraine and North Macedonia concluded a visa waiver agreement which removes the annual expiry date from a mutual visa waiver.

Previously, a mutual visa waiver expired March 15 each year and had to be extended annually. Under the new agreement, nationals of North Macedonia with biometric passports can travel to the Ukraine visa-free for tourist and business trips, among other types of trips, for up to 90 days in a 180-day period; and vice versa. No expiry date applies to the current agreement. Notably, the new agreement also exempts North Macedonian nationals from having to obtain a D visa for stays over 90 days for employment, study, family reunion or immigration in the Ukraine.

For other purposes of stay, no fees apply to D visa applications.

UNITED KINGDOM

Bill Introduced to End Free Movement and Pave Way for Single Immigration System The Situation The UK government has introduced a bill that is intended to end free movement from the European Economic Area (EEA) after 2020 and pave the way for a single immigration system applicable to EEA and non-EEA nationals starting January 1, 2021.

The legislation would clear the way for the United Kingdom to end its involvement in European free movement on January 1, 2021, after which a new immigration system would be introduced for all European and nonEuropean nationals.

A Closer Look The immigration bill contains powers to end the United Kingdom’s involvement in European free movement. While it does not

21

INTERNATIONAL HR ADVISER SPRING

set out in any detail how UK immigration will work from 2021, it will enable the UK government to introduce new stringent immigration controls for Europeans while loosening existing controls for non-Europeans.

•

Impact The bill is an important legislative vehicle, but in practical terms will make less difference to employers than the plans published by the government in February.

•

UNITED STATES/YEMEN

Yemen TPS Re-Registration Period Opens The Issue The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has extended Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Yemen for 18 months, from March 4, 2020, through September 3, 2021. Starting today, current Yemen TPS beneficiaries will have 60 days, or until May 1, 2020, to request an 18-month extension of status and work authorisation while they seek another immigration status or prepare to depart the country, according to a notice published in today’s Federal Register.

Re-Registering For TPS • Who may re-register: Re-registration is limited to those who previously registered

•

•

for and were granted TPS under the designation of Yemen When to re-register: To obtain an 18-month extension of status, current Yemen TPS beneficiaries must submit Form I-821 with US Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) by May 1, 2020. Though applicants need not pay the filing fee, a Biometrics Services fee will be required from those 14 years of age and older, unless eligible for a fee waiver Extending employment authorisation: Beneficiaries who wish to extend their employment authorisation for 18 months must also submit a timely Form I-765 application for an employment authorisation document (EAD) and the applicable fees (or a fee waiver application) Automatic EAD extensions: DHS recognises that not all re-registrants will be able to file and receive new EADs by March 3, 2020. Accordingly, DHS is providing an automatic 180-day extension, through August 30, 2020, for EADs bearing an expiration date of March 3, 2020 or September 3, 2018 (where an extension from the last re-registration period remains pending) and an A-12 or C-19 category Beneficiaries with pending TPS applications: Beneficiaries who have a

Form I-821 or a Form I-765 pending as of March 2, 2020, need not re-file the pending form. Approved applications will be granted validity dates through September 3, 2021.

I-9 Eligibility Verification For Form I-9 employment eligibility verification purposes, through August 30, 2020, employers may accept a TPS-related EAD with an expiration date of March 3, 2020, or September 3, 2018, (for those who applied for a new EAD during the last re-registration period but have not yet received a new EAD), along with a copy of the March 2, 2020 Federal Register notice or a USCIS Form I-797C receipt notice indicating that the TPS-related EAD is automatically extended through August 30, 2020.

FRAGOMEN

This article is for informational purposes only, and is correct at the time of going to print. If you have any questions, or would like further information, please contact www.Fragomen.com

The 2020 Global HR Conference FOR IN-HOUSE GLOBAL HR PROFESSIONALS ONLY

SAVE THE DATE

Monday 12th October 2020 at Smith & Wollensky, London To reserve a place for you and your colleagues please email: helen@internationalhradviser.com

22

BUSINESS TRAVELLER MANAGEMENT

Service Models For Business Traveller Management - Which One Suits Your Company Culture As companies start to take action on managing the compliance risks of business travellers they will invariably during the business case preparation phase, determine how the programme will actually work in practice and what service model should they implement.

There are several factors that determine the eventual position – amongst them 1. Company Culture and Risk Profile 2. Traveller Culture 3. Availability of internal resources 4. Tax, Immigration, Payroll & Duty of Care 5. Change management procedures in the company.

Lets look at these in turn:

Company Culture and Risk Profile

There are many anecdotal stories about Mobility professionals raising compliance concerns internally and are rebuffed by senior management about the scale or importance of non-compliance. The culture of the company will usually dictate if they are prepared to ‘take the risk’ or apply the compliant action. For many years this has been an acceptable practice in the prevailing geopolitical environment.

That environment has changed however, and there is now increased protectionism in global economies as they look to protect local employment and local conditions against a wave of business travellers that are not contributing to local tax revenues or satisfying ‘right to work’ obligations. The US ‘Hire American, Buy American’ Executive order was simple but far reaching, and has allowed US Customs and Border Control officers to ask more and more detailed questions to inbound business travellers – questioning if that task could in fact be carried out by an American worker.

Many countries are applying similar policies and the EU Posted Worker Directive has increased scrutiny on mobile workers in the European Economic Area. With the looming deadline for transposition of the Directive in July of this year, the ability to ‘wing it’ on a simple EU business trip is becoming more difficult.

Dutch Posted Worker information As these new political environments take place, companies are looking again at a practice that in the past the ‘Risk of Penalty’ was balanced against the ‘Cost of Compliance’. The cost of compliance has now increased particularly with the Posted Worker Directive.

In addition to this single process ( Posted Worker ) we are now also seeing greater sharing of data between Government agencies that in the past acted as siloed organisations – a policy that companies benefitted from.

In launching the new Registration Portal for the Netherland’s Posted Worker there was a small snippet at the bottom of the FAQ section indicating how the Government would share data. In a GDPR world, organisations are now obliged to inform data subjects how their data will be used and who it will be shared with (see above).

So the net impact here is that a ‘registration’ of a Dutch Posted Worker will mean that the salary data (obligatory in PW registration), hours worked and duration of trip, will be transferred to the Dutch Tax and Customs authorities who may from there calculate whether there is a Tax withholding or Economic Employer obligation.

The ability to ‘wing it ‘has now become more difficult should the company have significant business in the country. On leaving the Schengen zone the traveller’s passport is scanned, and now the authorities have a second source of data from the Schengen Information System to corroborate time spent in the country.

Mobility professionals should revisit the business problem in light of this re-balancing of the increase now in not only the ‘risk of penalty’ but the simple day to day withholding issues.

Traveller Culture

Business travel has changed significantly over the last number of years and the whole process of booking and delivering travel products has changed immeasurably. In this context, business travel managers have revamped their service delivery and the traveller has adapted to the changing processes.

Who would have thought that several years ago when booking via a travel agent or travel manager internal to a company, that most travellers would now be booking their own travel on smartphones, and then when at the airport they either check in online or use self-service kiosks – even tagging their own bags and lifting them onto conveyors.

23

INTERNATIONAL HR ADVISER SPRING

When self booking tools first came on the market in the mid 2000s, there was resistance from business travellers to change, and by a series of coercive policies – usually linking compliance to expense reimbursement – the behaviour of the business travellers changed. Once travellers got to grips with self-service travel they have embraced it and now couldn’t countenance not being able to check in at 8am in the morning from their hotel room – viewing this as 30 minutes saved at the airport later that day.

Mobility teams need to replicate this phenomenon and harness the most human resource they have to ensure mobility compliance. A resistance to involving travellers in compliance programmes seems not to take into account the ever-changing nature of business travel and the business traveller. A recent survey by Travelport – a global travel technology supplier powering most of the world’s travel agencies and online travel suppliers - found that travellers will use on average 16 apps while on a business trip – from travel suppliers, expense management providers, taxi firms and accommodation suppliers. A mobility team looking to implement a technology solution would have a receptive audience.

Some of the biggest drains on a Mobility team can be processes, such as A1 or Certificate of Coverage applications, Letters of Invite for Immigration, or Posted Worker registration could all be devolved to the traveller via technology and then approved or submitted by the mobility teams. As mobility teams scramble for resources they are not utilising the first level of resource available to them – the business traveller themselves.

The business traveller is the one with most information about the upcoming trip and to accurately complete a Posted Worker registration or A1 application they invariably have to ask the traveller for the information anyhow – why not have the traveller complete the information online and then submit to the relevant service provider or regulatory body.

If companies can’t make this leap then they can still manage the compliance activities by harnessing the data from existing data

sources in the company – travel data, time sheets, or service engineer despatch data.

Understanding the culture of the traveller is an early step in helping you determine the service model you ultimately will employ.

system in one place allows you to manage all vendors in one process and not jump between multiple systems to request service.

Availability Of Internal Resource

As every company has a different culture the ability to have a successful project roll out is dependent on that culture and the availability of change management project workers.

Secure this resource early and from there you can map out whether you go in a piecemeal roll out or ‘Big Bang’. We have had best success with ‘Big Bang’ rollouts where the entire company goes live on Day 1. Business travel is one of the main topics of conversation amongst business travellers – from enquiring about what loyalty programme their fellow travellers are in to discussing the latest requirement from Tax, Immigration, Finance or Safety to allow them to travel. Rolling out a single robust policy means it is discussed more quickly amongst the constituency, and as we saw above business travellers do conform to the ‘new normal’.

Another potential stumbling block is the availability of internal resource. ‘I am a team of one’ is a common saying when talking to mobility professionals. Time consuming and tedious talks such as A1 applications and producing letters of invite can make each day seem like an unending administrative treadmill, blocking the ability of a mobility professional to do what they are really there to do – provide strategic mobility advice.

In the same way the airlines have managed to change the behaviour of travellers to a self-service model, mobility teams need to develop a strategy to involve the traveller more in producing the documentation necessary to make a trip compliant.

When self-booking tools for travel first came on the scene there was a similar level of scepticism amongst airline staff – but how that has changed over time is immense.

Availability Of External Vendor Resource In Tax And Immigration

Knowing when to call in third party support for a difficult case can be a toss up between work overload in a mobility department and an available budget for such third party involvement. Some tasks however, do need specialist involvement and can fragment processes depending on the technological capability of the provider. If you have a tech aware vendor, the ability to link systems to ensure data does not have to be entered on multiple systems is an important feature of the service model you look to implement.

Using algorithms to manage the ‘easy cases’ for pre-trip approval for instance, can reduce the need for a mobility professional to review every single trip – the more difficult cases are held firstly for internal resolution and then when required for transfer across to a tax or immigration vendor. Having this

Change Management Procedures In The Company

Summary

Every company is different – but for every culture there is a way to implement a strong business traveller management programme.

Whether you only manage the ‘hard cases’, or manage data in the background or push some of the administrative tasks to the traveller – you can come up with a service model to help you manage your business travellers. Come talk to us and we can help you.

Who knew that you would eventually be tagging your own bag?

LIAM BRENNAN

Chief Executive Officer of Tracker Software Technologies – powering many of the industry’s business traveller management programmes such as Weichert Global Organizer, BDO Quicktrip, Santa Fe Business Travel Tool, Altair Orbit, Baker Tilly Travel Mapp, Blick Rothenberg International Trips, Anderson Anderson & Brown, tpa & Aires – with more on the way.

Get in touch with us: www.gtglobaltracker.com liam@gtglobaltracker.com Call +353 868 108 156

24

RECRUITMENT IN GLOBAL MOBILITY

Recruitment In Global Mobility There are several existing and emerging trends in Global Mobility that mean the overall industry is rapidly changing. Companies are now looking to globalise their business which results in a considerable amount of merger and acquisition activity that ultimately will end in fewer players but with higher international footprints. These businesses are also undergoing a digital transformation of their businesses with software-based processes, social media integrations and electronic communications replacing manual processes that are not linked. 80% of companies now using social media to advertise available roles, and candidates typically use their mobile devices to search and interact with the recruitment process. We are also seeing a rise in headhunting for lower grade roles and in addition to this, we are seeing a collaborative approach to selection and interviewing of candidates.

When hiring new team members, workforce diversity is also a rising trend within businesses. Companies are celebrating what makes everyone unique such as age, gender and sexual identity, religion, education and ethnicity (national origin).

All these considered a company values a person's cultural fit within itself as it has a big impact on their performance, additionally it impacts the company.

The current state of recruitment in the global market is stable with a steady pace of recruitment across all levels and most geographic areas. However, Brexit has had a huge impact, as services are cheaper due to the devalued pound. Foreign businesses are therefore unsure if they want to invest due to so many plans being on hold to see what the outcome of Brexit is, and how much the impact of the reduced value of the British pound has on the economy. This is likely to result in some companies bolstering their UK workforce and others reducing theirs, but overall, we expect there to be a neutral headcount in Global Mobility in the UK by the end of 2020. More worrying is the potential impact of the Coronavirus on the

sector. The outbreak has already impacted the Global Mobility, Immigration, Business Visa Travellers and Removals, and depending on the severity and duration of the outbreak, this could potentially have a significant impact on the sector for the remainder of 2020. Both have created restrictions on the movement of people.

Many changes are already taking place in recruitment companies, in recent months’ smaller businesses are facing stricter policies and processes when putting candidates forward, whilst larger recruitment consultancies are working to reduce costs e.g. by not having the face to face time with clients and not investing in attending industry events. These could impact the company’s chances of new business and building client relationships.

With Generation Z on the horizon ready to storm the business world, many companies are already preparing new ways to accommodate them; Pay transparency, becoming more smartphone literate, adapt to short attention span, promoting the use of videos and consider how they can be more environmentally friendly. With this in mind, companies are offering items such as flexible working, electric car purchase options, cycle to work schemes, gym memberships, reward vouchers, childcare vouchers and other benefits to make employees work-life balance easier to manage.

Whilst accommodating to the employees needs employers are also paying attention to their own needs to ensure employees are meeting their requirements. HR is now looking into their soft skills like communication, listening and empathy skills, their personal interests and not just their experience. Alongside this they are also becoming much more thorough when doing background checks of employees for criminal records, candidates are to undertake psychometric testing and various forms of interviews to guarantee they are meeting the companies demands of understanding company culture business ethic and strategy.

They are also looking to seek more characterbased references for new employees as company references often only confirm they work(ed) for the company and not indicate their performance.

There are some difficult roles to fill in the global market, in particular the talent in countries that have restrictive work permit policies that preclude the recruitment of external resources and with the advent of the digitalisation of the industry then people with digital and more traditional Global Mobility

skills are in short supply, consequently the rates for these roles are rising. We are thus finding that the Japanese Market is now also trying to attract talent from outside the country but they are struggling to find the right resources as they still want to meet all of the job description elements including a high level of local language proficiency which is very difficult to find.

As a global executive search business, we ourselves are looking forward to facing new challenges and embracing the upcoming changes to the Global Mobility industry over the course of 2020. Like any global business, we are learning to adapt to the generations in business and employer requirements, whilst getting through the issues we are all facing, such as Brexit and the Coronavirus.

LOUISE NEAL

Managing Director, Easy Tiger Executive Search With more than 25 years’ recruitment experience both within the UK and globally, Easy Tiger Executive Search know a thing or two about hunting down the right people for the right roles. Our industry knowledge is diverse covering IT, Banking, Art Logistics, Global Mobility, HR, Immigration and Relocation.

Easy Tiger Executive search will continue to invest in Industry events and attend global conferences to ensure trends and the requirements of a changing industry are understood. We will go on to provide a personal service to our customers and will ensure the services we offer are tailored to our customer base.

Office: + 44 (0) 1245 939188 Mob: +44 (0)7786 714 756 Email: louise@etesearch.com Website: www.etesearch.com

25

INTERNATIONAL HR ADVISER SPRING

Temporary Accommodation The need for temporary accommodation is an ever-growing one regardless of the continual changing landscape within the Global Mobility arena, and remains unchartered territory for many bookers and assignees. With questions being asked such as “what product is out there?”, “what are the benefits?” and “how do I book?” - the need for education, clarity and ease of booking continues. The utilisation of temporary accommodation feeds the differing objectives of both assignees and companies. The assignee focus is on finding a solution that will enable them to settle into a temporary home suitable for them, and sometimes their families, whilst carrying out an assignment. The location, facilities and amenities remain at the top of an assignee’s agenda, more so than the budget, unless their company is one of many now that operates a “lump sum” programme whereby the assignee will receive an amount of money in order for them to source and settle their own temporary accommodation. A company’s focus, however, is one of compliance, cost savings and data.

With increased focus and responsibility surrounding the importance of the mental health and wellbeing of assignees having to relocate for business, Serviced Apartments, Corporate Housing and Extended Stay properties continue to demonstrate their alignment around the supporting of this.

Through the offering of these solutions all falling under the banner of temporary accommodation, it enables a space conducive for individuals to be able to work, live and operate their lives as authentically as possible whilst being away from home on an assignment or secondment. Having happy and settled assignees means higher productivity and for the companies who have instigated the assignment this can only be a good thing. However, there isn’t a one size fits all ‘process’ or ‘product’ in which to procure the most appropriate accommodation for both companies’ and their assignees’ needs, and many things need to be considered and not compromised. An example of this is the suitability of the type of accommodation booked, i.e. an extended stay product which offers a bedroom with

26

A newer concept recently introduced to the temporary accommodation landscape aimed at the single assignee and the upcoming generations is co living spaces a kitchenette and the on-site facilities of a hotel for an assignee relocating with his family for 6 months would not be considered a conducive living environment for a family for the length of time required for this assignment, or a cost-effective solution for the company.

Sourcing the wrong type of accommodation can have detrimental effects and could potentially contribute to an unhappy assignee or spouse, putting the assignment itself at risk of early termination. In this example, a serviced apartment or corporate housing product would be deemed more suitable, offering the family the freedom, autonomy and space to live for a substantial period of time away from home with the least compromise to their well-being as both family and individuals. It is a minefield out there with lots of choice, rogue operators and variations of product resulting in many considerations that must be looked at when companies or assignees are deciding to book temporary accommodation. In these situations, to seek the help the help of an agnostic agent who has the experience and knowledge of the 360o view of temporary accommodation landscape and the product available globally would be an advantage. We have successfully been assisting companies and assignees alike

for over 35 years and can guarantee the task does not get any easier.

A newer concept recently introduced to the temporary accommodation landscape aimed at the single assignee and the upcoming generations is co-living spaces. These spaces encourage community living within the complex, usually offering a bedroom with en-suite bathroom and shared kitchen facilities, but with some properties including private kitchenettes. In terms of mental health and wellbeing this concept supports the opportunity for assignees to network and feel included and live within a community. The good news is that this is also a cost-effective solution for those companies, however, it should only be considered for a workforce that would be aligned to this type of product.

So how does one go about accessing the plethora of temporary accommodation available suitable for the needs of assignment they have been faced with? With instant gratification being prevalent in the busy world that we live in, along with the freedom of choice, it is important that the expectation and need for these considerations does not compromise the other factors that are important for an assignee and their family if they too are part of the relocation process.

Extended stay products are easily accessible via online booking platforms however, can be both costly and inappropriate for the longer stay requirement of an assignee. It is important that the product offered to the assignee is the right product, at the right cost and commercial terms (i.e. leasing and cancellation policies) and falls within the health and safety and compliance expectation of the company facilitating the assignment. This requirement, usually the first part of the assignment process, is an important factor in terms of how quickly an assignee settles and with the least amount of stress to them or their family when embarking on a new project or assignment.

Compliancy remains a “non-negotiable“ for companies and a difficult task when dealing with operators of temporary accommodation across the globe, particularly those that fall out of the mainstream cities and locations into tertiary locations. Here the portfolio of serviced apartments can be limited or in some cases non-existent. There is an abundance of sources of temporary accommodation that will profess to offer compliant accommodation in these dense areas, however, it is advisable that before considering the service of these providers some form of vetting and onboarding process is carried out in order to ensure that they are indeed of the standard required by the company facilitating the assignment. There

TEMPORARY ACCOMMODATION are many components to consider in relation to whether a provider is deemed compliant and of an acceptable standard to welcome the global assignee and can have heavy implications if not reached. It is often a challenge to source accommodation within reducing budgets in a company’s efforts to reduce costs, however, the long-term cost that could be incurred as a result of compromising compliancy would be far more costly and stressful for all parties involved.

This leads us to the question around health, safety and compliance in the case of “lump sum” buyers of temporary accommodation which has been on the increase in the recent years. To give the assignee the choice to make a decision around the temporary accommodation they use enabling them to shop and make the choice that is right for them has benefits for both company and assignee. However, for companies offering this, there still remains a question around who holds the responsibility of the assignee from a duty of care standpoint. Having visibility and knowledge that the assignee’s choice is of a standard in line with a company’s compliancy expectation helps to support any responsibility of duty of care by the company to the assignee whilst giving their assignees the freedom to make their own bookings.

To support this, we ensure that all areas are covered by providing a booking process offering a varied choice of property available

to “Lump sum” programmes and “Managed” programmes which is delivered though a compliant and vetted supply chain only.

Data is knowledge and something that is required more and more by companies, and quickly. Data enables companies to gain a deeper understanding of their booking trends and spends within the temporary accommodation arena. To have access to data through the push of a button, particularly in relation to the whereabouts of their assignees in the event of global disasters, adds value to any company. We deliver data to companies in various forms, from raw data through to strategic reporting templates to make it easier for them to continue to book autonomously.

So, in summary, with the use of temporary accommodation on the increase, the ever-evolving landscape of temporary accommodation products globally, the assignee needs, and mental well-being, along with companies’ need for cost savings, the task of procuring the right solution within the banner of short-term accommodation still remains a complex one. The education and support required in order to intelligently source accommodation for assignees or complex temporary accommodation programmes is available through the pulling on resources such as The Apartment Service who are able to work with companies or individuals to achieve their objectives.

MELANIE DEGAND

Managing Director, The Apartment Service Melanie’s in-depth knowledge of the serviced apartment sector as agent and provider has been developed over more than 16 years with The Apartment Service.

She has spent her working career in client-facing roles, focusing primarily on service delivery, solutions and developing strong relationships.

Melanie has recently been promoted to Managing Director of The Apartment Service, overseeing the strategic growth of the company and continuing to develop the strong client relationships with existing and new clients. Prior to this she has spent her time within the roles of Director of Sales and Account Management.

Visit www.apartmentservice.com for further information.

27

INTERNATIONAL HR ADVISER SPRING

The Future Of (Global) Work: Duty Of Care And Assignments In Hostile Environments An employer’s duty of care towards their workforce is complex in itself, but, when this also includes sending employees abroad on international assignments, the requirement by the employer to appropriately manage their duty of care obligations towards their employees is even more critical.

From a legal perspective, in a nutshell, duty of care requires employers to take all reasonable and necessary steps to protect their employees’ health, safety and wellbeing. This applies both in domestic as well as international contexts. In the RES Forum’s recent research entitled “Duty of Care and Global Mobility -The Role of the Employer” we analysed the status quo regarding duty of care in multinational companies. A key finding of the research is that well-crafted duty of care programmes can be a true differentiator in the “war for talent”.

Companies who pay particular attention to their employees’ needs regarding duty of care, report that there is a direct relationship between their duty of care offering and the willingness of employees to accept international assignments.

From War To Disease

The global mobility component around duty of care is particularly interesting as today’s business environment is changing rapidly, and international assignments are still on the increase. Regulatory frameworks, economic and political situations change at unprecedented rates and the Future of Work is increasingly ‘VUCA’ (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous). The recent developments in Russia, the spread of the coronavirus in early 2020, and the war in Syria with millions of refugees and the position of the Turkish government in this regard are just a few examples. However, such global

28

Mental Wellbeing

Ideally, duty of care and risk management go hand in hand, integrating the safety/security practices into the whole duty of care programme developments do not prevent companies from assigning employees globally and, of course, organisations have a duty of care obligation to their employees in all locations and environments, including those that are hostile.

To shed light on duty of care practices in global mobility, our research investigated the practices of more than 50 global organisations, studying how their duty of care programmes are designed and what they perceive as particularly successful. Duty of care programmes for assignments in hostile environments were of particular importance, because we were interested in the design beyond mere physical safety/security practices. Indeed, the major component of duty of care in hostile environments deals with protection and safety. However, often this is done from a pure risk assessment perspective outside of HR, which can be problematic. Ideally, duty of care and risk management go hand in hand, integrating the safety/security practices into the whole duty of care programme.

Being assigned to a hostile environment can have a significant impact on an employee’s mental health. Research has shown that living and working in a country with high levels of terrorist activity creates significant levels of stress for the individual. This, in turn causes negative work attitudes and leads towards a level of alienation between expatriates and host country nationals, impeding work relationships in the expatriate’s host country. Our study very much confirms this, with 45% of all respondents reporting that a feeling of fear due to security concerns has a very high impact on expatriates’ mental wellbeing.

Similarly, concerns over political insecurity were rated as having a significant impact by 21%. In contrast, the general challenges in adapting to foreign cultures, and the challenges of being in an unfamiliar environment were rated as having a significant impact on mental health by just 12% and 2%, respectively. In other words, expatriation is challenging for the mental health of employees in any country, but in hostile environments the impact is much more severe.

As such, mental health and wellbeing should be a top priority for companies when designing their duty of care programmes.

66% of the global mobility managers surveyed believe that a comprehensive duty of care programme can improve security in foreign countries, whilst 78% state that a solid duty of care programme can improve employee wellbeing. We analysed a variety of duty of care elements to try to find out to what extent these elements were in place within the surveyed organisations. We found that while the role of duty of care is becoming increasingly important in a more and more VUCA environment, programmes within the responding organisations only provide a basic level of support for those working in hostile environments. For instance, only 17% of the surveyed global mobility managers report that their company has fully implemented an individual risk assessment for every single assignment, while 37% have not implemented this at all. In contrast to this, almost nine out of ten (89%) of these managers state that the mitigation of risks is of (very) significant importance and 67% argue that every single assignment should have an individual risk assessment. In other words, the actual design of the programmes with regard to risk is lagging behind the perceived need assessed by global mobility managers.

DUTY OF CARE What’s Missing?

Our research shows that companies are genuinely concerned about workforce wellbeing and that they take their duty of care obligations seriously

When asking global mobility managers what was missing in their companies’ duty of care programmes, things that were regularly noted were a lack of comprehensive support in particular with regard to providing duty of care in hostile environments. One respondent, for instance, pointed out that there is no global approach to contingency/safety planning after terror attacks and criticised that there was “not much appetite at HQ for a global central approach”. Others highlighted that more predeparture training is needed and that duty of care should incorporate more elements of preparation in general. When people are assigned to hostile environments, global mobility managers are particularly aware of the importance of a solid duty of care programme yet, at the same time, they understand the shortcomings in the design of such programmes within their own organisations.

We do not imply that our findings suggest that companies are taking their responsibilities regarding duty of care too lightly. In fact, our research shows that companies are genuinely concerned about workforce wellbeing and that they take their duty of care obligations seriously. However, the design of duty of care provision in hostile environments can certainly be improved. This can and should be done and can be achieved by choosing a data-driven,

strategic approach integrating the perspectives of risk management and international Human Resource Management, in order to formulate a solid duty of care programme that delivers the best possible support for the employee.

DR. BENJAMIN BADER

This article is based on recent research for the RES Forum carried out by Dr. Benjamin Bader. Benjamin is an academic partner and strategic adviser to the RES Forum, a global mobility forum and community, and Senior Lecturer in International Human Resource Management at the Newcastle University Business School, England. For further information visit www.theresforum.com

29

GLOBAL EXPAT PAY

Simplifying Global Mobility Data And Payments Is Key To Global Success Research has proven that organisations with a global mindset are likely to be more profitable and successful. Yet, as mobility evolves with new trends emerging, so do the challenges. These trends bring a greater volume and variety of data to interpret, more payments to make and costs to reconcile, all adding to the complexity of Global Mobility operations. For businesses to succeed globally, Global Mobility operations need to be able to cut through this complexity.

For organisations with limited infrastructure or lacking support from the right technology, unifying and simplifying data and payment aspects of the mobility programme is the key to improving efficiency. It frees up resource to allow Global Mobility operations to support the business strategically, cut costs and better support assignees.

Trends In Global Mobility Operations

Over the past two decades, how organisations operate within the international marketplace, payment and fiscal factors, not to mention assignee expectations, have changed significantly.

Looking back 20 to 30 years ago, Multinationals typically operated from a global HQ, which assignees were expatriated from and returned to. Organisations are now more likely to have multiple home-host combinations and policy types, all adding to the complexity of managing the mobility programme and business processes.

Changing external factors are also having a significant impact on how Global Mobility teams operate. Digitisation of tax processes by fiscal authorities brings a new level of compliance that international organisations must adhere to, while the shakeup of employee payment methodology looks set to change the way salaries are paid. As new generations become more accustomed to alternative payment methods – such as open banking, mobile banking and digital wallets – so is the expectation that employer payment methods will follow suit.

Gone are the days of assignees taking on international roles purely for financial reward. The assignee experience is an area of growing importance. Now it presents them with the opportunity for personal and career development, putting an even greater onus on a seamless transition to their new place of work and home. And it pays dividends for organisations to do this well. Research shows businesses that deliver a great assignee experience, generate four times the profit per employee compared to organisations that do not invest significantly in the employee experience, despite paying 50% more in terms of salaries.1 Part of this involves supporting them with accurate and timely payments, especially at the start of the assignment, allowing them to focus solely on settling into their new role and home.

Vendor Reliance Can Add Complexity

As Global Mobility has continued to grow in scale and complexity, mobility functions have become increasingly dependent on specialist Global Mobility vendors, with each vendor requiring its own data set to perform its service. This data is often shared in a manual and inefficient way or not at all.

Vendor reliance may seem like the obvious and immediate solution but long-term it becomes a costly exercise. It can be challenging to manage, leading to inefficiencies that cost more in the long run than investing in a scalable, comprehensive solution upfront. Here’s why: • With data dispersed across vendors it’s difficult to achieve a global view of mobility data required by payroll and compliance. e.g. each country payroll team providing separate formats of data for tax return compliance • The siloed approach between vendors inevitably leads to the duplication of data and tasks, resulting in unnecessary cost and inefficiency. e.g. multiple relocation vendors making payments on behalf of the organisation/assignee • Under significant profit pressure to reduce cost-of-delivery, vendors begin to charge additional fees for out-of-scope work or additional requests. e.g. additional data collection or data validation to file a tax return • Lack of bigger-picture data makes it impossible for organisations to assess the actual cost of their Global Mobility programme and return on investment of international assignments. e.g. manually amalgamating multiple excel files for management reporting.

31

INTERNATIONAL HR ADVISER SPRING

Reference 1. Learnlight, “How Can Global Mobility Enhance the Assignee Experience” by Daniel McInnes https://insights.learnlight. co m /e n /a r t i c l e s /g l o b a l - m o b i l i t y enhance-assignee-experience/.

In Global Expat Pay’s experience support costs alone are 25-40% higher than necessary with a significant proportion of each vendor’s costs related to data collection and validation or correcting the impact of late or inaccurate data.

Creating A Single Source Of Truth

Associated functions, such as Reward, HR, Finance and Tax and their operational needs in areas such as cost recharging, budget-toactual reconciliations, total cost reporting or performance management are rarely efficiently supported or enabled in Global Mobility operations, largely due to the vast spread and volume of data. This makes it challenging for organisations to assess the true cost of global assignments or evaluate return on investment, particularly when volatile exchange rates add an incremental layer of cost to businesses, with international salaries costing more from one month to the next.

Establishing a solid foundation for data management is key to removing these inefficiencies and cutting the associated costs. Clear identification of data ownership, validation and controls not to mention attaching to the relevant business process (for example recharging reports, payroll instructions or management reporting) throughout the data's life cycle is vital in maximising the usefulness of data and bringing down costs.

This will cut back the time commitment currently invested in data collection, payment accuracy and managing compliance, creating a more holistic approach.

Traditionally, there has been little other option for organisations lacking the infrastructure and support but to rely on specialist Global Mobility vendors to manage the process for them. Particularly when technologies in the Global Mobility space have focused on serving a specific outcome. This has resulted in some vendors supporting non-core services, such as payments, to supplement the organisation’s internal capabilities.

Global Expat Pay has developed a unique technology-enabled Global Mobility data

32

and payment service that helps organisations seamlessly manage their Global Mobility operations through one platform. Using a combination of smart technologies, mobility data management expertise and Western Union Business Solutions leading global foreign exchange payment capabilities, it’s a one-stop solution for organisations that lack the internal infrastructure or face challenges in fully managing the Global Mobility operation’s complexity.

The Right Technology Can Help

Investment in the right technology will help organisations to rework the traditional Global Mobility operations model. Creating a coherent, single view will eliminate many of the challenges currently faced by Global Mobility teams. By enabling Global Mobility operations to combine all data and payment management into one single-source of truth the process becomes simple, efficient, accurate and secure. It will reduce internal efforts, reduce external costs and help make the assignee’s experience frictionless. The right technology can help to automate, even eliminate, many labour-intensive business processes, freeing up resource to ensure Global Mobility supports the business as a strategic partner.

With access to valuable business insights, mobility teams can shape the Global Mobility strategy with a bigger-picture view of what is and isn’t working for the business and the assignee, where costs can be saved and what investment is required to achieve integration of business processes. All factors high on the agenda for global organisations, particularly as they look to branch out into new markets.

With the volume and variety of data looking only set to grow, now is the time for organisations to consider how they futureproof Global Mobility operations through the right technology. A platform that aids the consolidation of this data is the key to continued success in an increasingly competitive market. Organisations need to rethink how they drive outcomes, by streamlining business processes and removing the financial and operational complexity behind Global Mobility.

DAVID MCALISTER

Chief Customer Officer, Global Expat Pay David has a wealth of experience in the Global Mobility sector, having worked for in-house mobility teams, Big 4 service providers and having been an assignee himself multiple times.

He believes simplification of Global Mobility data and payment is key to eliminating the large operational inefficiencies and duplication of mobility costs most organisations face.

David is responsible for overseeing customer success for Global Expat Pay. His emphasis is on bringing in the voice of the customer and aligning the delivery of Global Expat Pay’s solution to remove complexity and operational barriers of Global Mobility programmes.

Email: David@GlobalExpatPay.com

About Global Expat Pay

Global Expat Pay was formed by industry-leading experts to tackle the challenges faced by Global Mobility teams. Its sole purpose is to reduce the time, cost and complexity in delivering effective Global Mobility operations, and help businesses develop a strategic Global Mobility strategy through insightful reporting and analytics.

Want to find out more?

Visit www.globalexpatpay.com or call +44 (0)1753 944 785. Follow Global Expat Pay on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/ company/global-expat-pay

SAVING JOBS FROM CORONAVIRUS/COVID-19

Looking At Approaches Employers Might Adopt To Reduce The Impact Of Our Response To The Global Pandemic On Jobs This is new ground for all of us, and we are learning on the job, as we adapt to new methods of social interaction and new ways to work. From an employment law perspective, though, many of the challenges we face now, are not so much ‘new’ as difficult to implement all at once: there is too much to do, too fast.

Flexible Working

Flexible working has evolved from exception to norm. Practical challenges are being overcome daily, from purchase of scanners, shredders, cameras, faster broadband and better furniture, to reorganisation of the working day, ‘normal’ practices and family life. Even the form of emails is evolving: a quick direction comes across very differently when sent by someone you have not seen for a week. There is more warmth in the communications being shared, along with more personal information (with all the attendant privacy risks). One silver lining is that we are in it together. Flexible working is no longer the preserve of globally mobile executives, business disrupters and working parents - and once we have all learned how to do it, it seems unlikely that the clock will turn back.

Flexible Working May Not Be Possible For Some

Of course, simply adapting to homeworking is not an option for many. How do you give your customer a haircut while staying distant, or run a pub when the pubs are closed? Some businesses have adapted, by applying the skills of existing employees in a different way, others have suspended work or implemented redundancies.

Redundancies, Pay Cuts And Changes To Terms

Across the World, implementation of redundancies and changes to contract terms is subject to ‘mandatory’ employment laws, including, typically, rules on consultation,

Flexible working is no longer the preserve of globally mobile executives, business disrupters and working parents - and once we have all learned how to do it, it seems unlikely that the clock will turn back giving notice, redundancy pay etc. These might be varied by local rules and/or emergency legislation but the challenges remain fairly familiar. Those operating crossborder will be aware of the risks of applying ‘home’ rules to people working in other places, for example: • Consultation may be mandatory, with unexpectedly severe, potentially criminal, penalties for failing to comply – and penalties may apply to leaders personally, not just the business

• Consultation might be required at more than one level, e.g. individual, workplace, industry, regional or cross-border, and there may be a need to take care with the timing of each process • Different rules may apply to different categories of worker (e.g. different rules may apply to company directors, senior managers, blue or white-collar workers) • Laws may be applied by mandatory collective agreement, even where no trade union is recognised • Sometimes dismissal may not be effective at all, e.g. where there are restrictions on dismissing particularly vulnerable employees, or in the absence of compliance with consultation rules – void dismissals can be very expensive • The real costs of redundancies may not be apparent if enquiries are not made thoroughly – sometimes apparently high costs are covered by central funds or earlier contributions, in other cases there may be unexpected requirements for very substantial payments • There may be restrictions on who or how dismissals can be implemented and/ or on rehiring • There may be a requirement to negotiate a ‘social plan’ beyond the bare minimum of legal payments, and the cost of failing to do so may not be immediately apparent • In many places ‘mandatory’ means just that – and there is no easy option of paying ‘extra’ to avoid time-consuming processes.

The key here is not only to check the local rules but to make sure the up-to-date rules are checked, and re-checked, and that questions are asked about local practices and expectations, as well as the law.

Alternatives To Redundancy

Many of the strategies that are adopted to avoid redundancies (and reduce costs that might otherwise lead to redundancies) are ‘common-sense’ or frequently adopted.

These might include, e.g.: • Withdrawing job offers • ‘Freezing’ recruitment

33

INTERNATIONAL HR ADVISER SPRING

• Offering early retirement/pension or an opportunity for employees to volunteer for redundancy • Reducing, pausing accrual or deferring payment of remuneration, either by individual or collective agreement • Taking holiday or allowing ‘purchase’ of additional holiday • Changing hours or changing terms (e.g. duties or where an employee works) • Job-sharing • Introducing annualised, banked or other flexible hours schemes so that the work can be done at another time for the same pay • Lay-off, short-term or ‘furlough’ arrangements • Temporary release to other employers.

Many of these arrangements are subject to complex employment laws that have historically sought to protect employees from ‘abuse’. For example, typically, express individual consent is required for a pay-cut to be effective.

Public Support And Insurance Cover

In addition to these options, there may be various, direct or indirect, financial support options to consider, e.g. public funding of wages and incentives to retain staff who might otherwise be made redundant. The support offered may be very substantial indeed.

Discrimination, Communication And Common Decency

Whatever the processes that must be followed and decisions that may be made, there are some common principles that can make navigation of the legal minefield easier. Discrimination laws apply to all sorts of protected status that may be relevant in this context, e.g. age, disability, sex, family circumstances. Employers would do well to think hard about the potential disadvantages that established processes may create for particular categories of staff in our new World – assumptions (and prejudice) are evolving.

Public relations, impact on colleagues and a natural human desire to ‘do the right thing’, all have a potentially bigger part to play in current redundancy-related communications Communication is also a challenge, where employees are at home communicating primarily by social media and live streaming, and there is limited scope for feedback.

Public relations, impact on colleagues and a natural human desire to ‘do the right thing’, all have a potentially bigger part to play in current redundancy-related communications.

Employers who do find themselves implementing redundancies would do well to go the extra mile to do the decent thing, not only because they might want to, but because legal and commercial consequences are likely to be far less severe if they do. At a time when employers need to trust and rely on the cooperation and support of staff, treating former colleagues well could be critical.

JULIET CARP

Juliet is an experienced UK employment lawyer, with a particular interest in international employment law and global mobility with Keystone Law. Juliet’s UK work includes advice on hiring, discipline and dismissal, employment contracts and policies, corporate transactions, TUPE, financial servicesrelated issues, dispute resolution, whistleblowing, family-related laws and a wide range of discrimination issues.

Her international work includes advising businesses new to the UK and advice on cross-border relocation, international commuter arrangements, international assignment and mobility policy documents, cross-border employment dispute resolution, mobility training and specialist advice on a broad range of Brexit-related mobility issues.

Juliet is author of the leading textbook Drafting Employment Documents for Expatriates. Email Juliet at: Juliet.Carp@keystonelaw.co.uk or visit www.keystonelaw.com

Helen Elliott & Damian Porter wish all our readers and clients the very best over the next few weeks, and hope you all stay safe and well.

34

COVID-19 PHYSICIAN/IMMUNOLOGIST

How HR Leaders Can Help Their Workforce Deal With The Fear And Anxiety Around COVID-19 In efforts to safeguard their employees, clients and customers, many businesses have moved to remote working a response to the COVID-19 global crisis. As a medical doctor, with a degree in psychology and a PhD in immunology, I know that working from home isn’t enough, and that helping staff manage their fear and anxiety will be an essential challenge for HR teams as we move through the COVID-19 pandemic.

Most organisations have recognised their legal and moral responsibility towards their employees. Most have directed employees towards practical advice – hopefully from reputable sources, such as those provided by the World Health Organisation.

The focus to date has been on physical measures - things like hand washing, social distancing and making plans to work virtually for as many people as possible. But given the profound interaction between a human being’s psychology and immunology, such guidance is not enough. In fact, organisations and their HR teams in particular should do much more if they care seriously for their employees.

Fear Damages Immunity

The thing that impairs human immunity more than anything else is the stress hormone cortisol. And what determines the level of cortisol we have flowing around our body is the level of fear and anxiety we experience. The more we panic the worse our immune system becomes and the more likely we are to become infected if we are exposed to the virus. In addition, how well we cope with the virus if we do become infected is also significantly influenced by our cortisol levels. The more anxious we feel the more likely the virus will replicate and the more likely we could experience complications such as pneumonia and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), which is the thing that is killing people. Furthermore, the more anxious we are, the more likely the virus will linger and replicate in our bodies and this may actually make us more contagious to others.

the more anxious we are the more likely the virus will linger and replicate in our bodies and this may actually make us more contagious to others Emotions Matter

It's worth remembering that some of the practical advice might even directly increase fears and anxieties. Where they are able, many employees are being encouraged to work from home. They might also be asked to self-isolate if they have been in contact with someone who has COVID-19. While absolutely necessary from a physical health perspective, this social distancing is likely to affect our mental health too. It can create feelings of isolation which can increase anxiety levels.

Without those social support networks in your office, you may feel less able to deal with the anxieties you face.

All of this means, that the priority for HR right now is to find ways to help reduce the fear and anxieties of employees and help them self-regulate. In other words, help them move away from a state of fear and anxiety towards a state of positive determination.

Effectively embrace the classic mantra “keep calm and carry on”. Get the message out that panic will not help you. It will reduce your immunity and make you more likely to make the wrong choices for your situation.

FEEL Positive

Encourage staff to practice effective emotional regulation. They can do this by stabilising their breathing - breathing

So responsible organisations need to not only offer practical guidance, they need to offer emotional guidance too. They have a responsibility not to fuel the panic and anxiety. In fact, reducing fear and anxiety for employees must be a top priority for all HR teams.

Employees are being bombarded by scary stories on mainstream and social media.

Their anxieties are being fed by this stream of news, rumour and speculation. While there is little control, organisations can exert over the news reaching their employees from outside, they should take care not to amplify employee fears in their own internal communications.

Social Distancing And Mental Health

The right information helps reduce anxieties, and good internal communication is a start when it comes to addressing this emotional aspect of the current pandemic.

35

INTERNATIONAL HR ADVISER SPRING

rhythmically and evenly through the heart area. Not deep breathing and not abdominal breathing. Such a breathing pattern stabilises your biology. Then they should try and deliberately experience a state of optimism or resolve or patience. They need to really try and feel this emotion in their

body rather than just thinking it. Positive thinking won’t cut it. Positive feeling is what will increase the levels of the vitality hormone DHEA in your system. DHEA is the body’s main antidote to cortisol.

Enabling employees to become masters of their own emotional state is critical to

reducing fear and anxiety. It’s clearly very relevant to the current pandemic crisis and it’s my strongest piece of advice for organisations right now, but it’s something that will soon be seen as central to any effective employee wellbeing programme once this present crisis has passed.

DR ALAN WATKINS

Enabling employees to become masters of their own emotional state is critical to reducing fear and anxiety

36

Dr Alan Watkins is the CEO and Founder of Complete, a consultancy specialising in developing enlightened leaders, teams, and organisations. He is also a physician (with a PhD in immunology), neuroscientist, psychologist and TEDx Speaker.

His latest book The HR (R)Evolution: Change the Workplace, Change the World warns that we are at a critical junction and sets out a radical new vision for the future of the workplace. This title can be ordered on www.routledge.com.

Alan’s other books include: • Coherence: The Secret Science of Brilliant Leadership • 4D Leadership: Competitive Advantage through Vertical Leadership Development • Wicked and Wise: How to Solve the World’s Toughest Problems, co-authored with Ken Wilber • Crowdocracy: The End of Politics, co-authored with Iman Stratenus.

Visit complete-coherence.com

FREE SUBSCRIPTION TO

The Leading Magazine for International HR Professionals Worldwide 0

SPRING 202

ISSUE 80

Ma The Leading

WINTER 201

The Leading

e

ls Worldwid

fessiona onal HR Pro

ati

Internatio nal HR Advise r 9/2020

nal Internatio viser HR Ad Intern gazine For

FER INSIDE

IPTION OF

FREE SUBSCR

LUDE:

INC bility FEATURES Global Mo y: Key Issues portunity For bal Mobilit A Perfect Op pliance In Glo Of Work – The Future ironments Risk And Com Hostile Env er Issues • In s ord ent ss-B Culture? ignm roll And Cro r Company Care And Ass You COVID-19 s Of y Suit Dut UK – Off-Pay iety Around ich One igration • ment – Wh Fear And Anx OVID-19 Global Imm eller Manage l With The onavirus/C rkforce Dea s From Cor Business Trav Wo Job For ir ing The dels Sav p • Hel Service Mo Global Tax Leaders Can • HR cess How • bal Suc Key To Glo ommodation Is ts Acc ary men Tempor And Pay bility Data UE: Global Mo R THIS ISS Simplifying Y PANEL FO

ADVISOR

Magazine

For Intern

ational HR

Professiona

ISSUE 79

FREE SUBSCR

IPTION OF

FER INSIDE

ls Worldwid

e

Business Trav FEATURES el – Is It Tim INCLUDE: e To Redefin Leaving The e Duty Of Car UK? Tax Issu e? • Global Managed Hou es To Conside Mobility Com How Multin r When Wo sing Program ing Of Age ationals Buy rking Outside mes: The Mo Internationa Of The UK bilit y Solution l Relocation You Didn’t Services • Bridging The Why Mental Know You Talent: Eme Health Sho Gap: Importa Needed rging Trends uld Be A Top nt Que Technology stions Abo In Internationa Priority For : Case Study ut Global Cos Expats And l Work Arra – Implement t Of Living Their Employe ngements ing A Busines Allowances es • Global s Traveller Man Mobility Pro agement Solu fessional Insig tion • Bringing ht: Seriously…W Innovative Tale hat’s The Poin ADVISORY nt t?

Mobility Solu PANEL FOR tions To Fran THIS ISSUE: kfurt

COURTESY OF:

Visit our website www.internationalhradviser.com and complete the online registration.

For further information please call Helen Elliott on +44 (0) 208 661 0186 Email: helen@internationalhradviser.com Website: www.internationalhradviser.com By signing up for the free subscription we will keep your details in our database to enable us to send you the magazine each quarter, and relevant email communications. Your data will not be shared with any third parties, except for aires, who are the current sponsors of this free subscription.

38

2020 DIARY DATES

INTERNATIONAL HR ADVISER SPRING

APRIL 2020

Expat Academy Global Mobility Function Training Course

27 April 2020; 10:00 until 16:00 London, £600 + VAT For Global Mobility Service Providers. The aim of the course is to expand your understanding of an in-house Global Mobility professional’s role. Learn how to empathise and build mutually beneficial working relationships with your clients.

To book your place e: bookings@expat-academy.com.

Global Mobility And The Employee Value Proposition – Reshaping International Work For The Future - The RES Forum Annual Report Launch

29 April; 1.30pm - 5.00pm 10-11 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1Y 5AH, United Kingdom This year’s RES Forum Annual Report Launch “The Global Mobility Employee Value Proposition – Reshaping International Work for the Future” is being held in London on Wednesday, 29th April in association with Harmony Relocation Network, Ineo and SilverDoor Apartments.

Michael Dickmann, Professor of International HRM at Cranfield University Faculty of Management will present the ‘SAFE Global Mobility Model’ of Smart Global Talent Management, Agile Strategic Advisory, Flawless Programme Design and Efficient Global People Effectiveness and how to use these insights to create a Global Mobility Employee Value Proposition.

Then enjoy a wide variety of presentations from GM experts before joining us for a celebratory drink and the chance to network with industry peers.

Admission is free and places are strictly limited to RES Forum Members and those working in-house as GM practitioners within organisations, managing or part of a team with responsibility for any and all aspects of expat assignment management.

Reserve your place today theresforum.com/ events/annual-report-launch-2020

MAY 2020

Worldwide ERC® Advance 2020

13-15 May 2020 Houston, Texas, United States of America The strategic importance and definitions of talent mobility are expanding. Collaboration is the key to advancing our industry – and the global workforce as a whole – to the next level.

Worldwide ERC®’s Advance 2020 recognises the need for change and provides the forum to accelerate it. It is an opportunity for uniquely collaborative ideation and action. It brings senior-level strategic talent and mobility corporate leaders together and executivelevel mobility service company leaders in a think-tank atmosphere to learn, develop and create. It connects mobility service providers with one another to hone and expand business offerings by identifying the right partners to complement their strengths.

Most importantly, it showcases and celebrates what’s possible by amplifying the voices of industry innovators and disruptors.

Join us for this exciting inaugural event in Houston, Texas this May, and get ready for Advance 2021 to move to San Francisco, California.

Learn more and register: www.worldwideerc.org/ events-directory/advance-2020/home.

JUNE 2020

Worldwide ERC® Hill Day, Spring 2020

10 June 2020 The Cannon House Office Building, Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C., United States of America • Meet with your US Senators and Representatives • Participate in Congressional training workshops to learn more about the state, federal and regulatory issues facing our industry and determine the three issues collectively we will take to the Hill • Learn first-hand from congressional staff, administration liaisons and political analysts about issues that directly affect relocation/global mobility • Network with leaders from Worldwide ERC® and colleagues from around the country.

As a Worldwide ERC® member, you have the experience, knowledge and ideas to inform Congress before they craft and vote on business immigration policy and other issues to maintain productive and effective workforce mobility.

Speak with one voice in Washington, D.C. at the Spring 2020 Semi-Annual Hill Day! • Registration Fee: $125 • Registration open to current Worldwide ERC® Members • Travel expenses to be handled by the individual • Participation limited to first 50 registrants Learn more and register: www.worldwideerc.org/ pages/worldwide-erc-hill-day-spring-2020.

Expat Academy Bite Size Briefing

12 June; 09.30 until 16.00 London, UK - Expat Academy Members Only A training day for the Expat Academy community.

A chance to listen and learn about the latest trends, get technical updates and industry insights from the team and their technical training partners. The main aim of the day is to provide intellectually challenging content which will enhance your professional development and maintain your specialist GM knowledge. To book your place e-mail: bookings@expat-academy.com.

Worldwide ERC® Singapore Mobility Summit

19 June Raffles City Convention Centre, 80 Bras Basah Road, Singapore 189560 As business leaders seek to redefine the value of their organisations against a challenging backdrop of disruptive technologies, regulatory uncertainties, changing employee and customer demographics and a shortage of skills, you can be at the centre of the solutions. From attracting and retaining talent with digital capabilities, to fostering diverse and innovative global teams, and building the paths to develop agile, entrepreneurial leaders, global mobility is a critical part of the future workforce.

Come together with your industry peers in the multicultural metropolis of Singapore – ranked by the World Bank as among the top countries for ease of doing business – for a full-day of exploring smart solutions and innovative ideas that will shape the next generation of talent.

Corporate HR practitioners are invited to attend with a complimentary registration.

Learn more and register: www.worldwideerc. org/events-directory/singapore-summit/home

International HR Adviser’s Global HR Conference*

Save The Date: Monday 12th October 2020 Smith & Wollensky, London, United Kingdom To reserve a place for you and your colleagues please email: helen@internationalhradviser.com *This event is for In-House Global HR Professionals Only.

If you would like to advertise on our Diary Dates and on www.internationalhradviser.com please email damian@internationalhradviser.com

The Leading Magazine for International HR Professionals Worldwide

International HR Adviser’s Free Monthly Email Newsletters If you haven’t already signed up to receive our free monthly email newsletters, and invitations to the free Global HR Conferences we organise, please email helen@internationalhradviser.com who will happily register you.

Please note your details are confidential and aren’t shared with any third parties.

www.internationalhradviser.com 38

DIRECTORY

INSURANCE AND FINANCIAL SERVICES ZURICH INTERNATIONAL CORPORATE SOLUTIONS

Tricentre One, New Bridge Square, Swindon SN1 1HN Contact: Adele Cox Telephone: +44 (0) 1793 506775 E-mail: adele.cox@zurich.com Website: www.zurich.com Zurich International Life is a global provider of life insurance, investment and protection products. Our corporate range offers flexible, portable solutions, designed to suit multinational organisations with an internationally mobile workforce. The International pension plan offers a cost effective, bundled retirement benefits solution comprising of trust services, investment funds and online administration.

International group protection is designed to protect an employers’ most important asset – their employees – and offers a range of life and disability protection.

With a local presence in key global business hubs and over 30 years experience of implementing and administering plans world wide, we’ve developed our knowledge and understanding of key markets to meet the needs of our customers and business partners.

INTERNATIONAL HR CONSULTANTS DELOITTE LLP

Stonecutter Court, 1 Stonecutter Street, London, EC4A 4TR Contact: Robert Hodkinson, Partner Telephone: +44 (0) 20 7007 1832 Fax: +44 (0) 20 7007 1060 E-mail: rhodkinson@deloitte.co.uk Website: www.deloitte.co.uk Whether you are creating your first international mobility programme for employees or addressing fundamental changes to an existing programme, our International Human Resources team can help. Deloitte provides consulting support that has an appreciation for each company’s size, background and unique cultural environment, aligning your international programme goals with corporate business strategies. Our consultants have developed deep expertise in many fields based on first hand experience with many of the world’s leading organisations: international assignment policy and process design, benchmarking, service delivery modelling, improving vendor management and helping our clients become more compliant and their administration more cost-effective.

INTERNATIONAL MOVING GOSSELIN

49 Wates Way, Mitcham, Greater London, CR4 4HR Contact: Tim Daniells

Telephone: +44 (0) 20 7622 4393 Email: london@gosselin-moving.co.uk Website: www.gosselin-moving.co.uk Gosselin is a world-leading provider, serving corporate customers all over the globe with an award-winning* move management and destination services programme.

Through our London headquarters and unrivalled footprint of 56 global offices we help clients achieve their workforce mobility goals.

Every employee we relocate is appointed a dedicated move manager, who is a central point of coordination, support and advice to ensure every part of the relocation runs smoothly. Our goal is your complete satisfaction, and with a 97% customer satisfaction rating for 2019, we offer unrivalled quality at competitive rates. *Awarded 14 global awards since 2010.

RELOCATION SANTA FE RELOCATION SERVICES

Central Way, Park Royal, London, NW10 7XW Telephone: +44 (0)208 961 4141 Website: www.santaferelo.com Santa Fe Relocation Services is a global mobility company specialising in managing and delivering high-quality relocation services worldwide.

We enable people and organisations to work, live and thrive around the world.

With ‘enabling people and organisations’, we want to make it possible for people to be where they need or want to be - enabling people and organisations.

Our core competence is relocation services that support corporations and their employees relocate and settle in a new country, assisting them with immigration, home and school, language and cultural training, managing property rentals, delivering domestic and international moving of household goods.

We provide these services to a consistent high standard, locally and globally. A key aspect is being able to manage our service delivery through Santa Fe operations across six continents.

RELOCATION ASSOCIATIONS ASSOCIATION OF RELOCATION PROFESSIONALS (ARP)

9&10 Diss Business Centre, Dark Lane, Diss, Norfolk, IP21 4ND Contact: Tad Zurlinden Telephone: +44 (0)1379 651 671 Fax: +44 (0)1379 641 940 Email: enquiries@arp-relocation.com Website: www.arp-relocation.com The ARP is the professional association for the relocation industry in the UK. The ARP’s activities include seminars throughout the year, an annual conference, the publication of an annual Directory of Members and a website, which is updated regularly.

THE EUROPEAN RELOCATION ASSOCIATION (EuRA)

9&10 Diss Business Centre, Dark Lane, Diss, Norfolk, IP21 4ND Telephone +44 (0)1379 651 671 Fax: +44(0)1379 641 940 E-mail: enquiries@eura-relocation.com Website: www.eura-relocation.com EuRA is an industry body for Relocation Professionals in both Europe and Worldwide.

EuRa have launched The EuRA Quality Seal, the world’s first accreditation programme for relocation providers. This pioneering initiative provides a straight forward, cost effective audit to reflect your company’s excellence in providing relocation services.

SCHOOLS ACS INTERNATIONAL SCHOOLS ACS International School Cobham Heywood, Portsmouth Road, Cobham Surrey, KT11 1BL, England ACS International School Egham London Road (A30) Egham, Surrey, TW20 0HS, England ACS International School Hillingdon Hillingdon Court, 108 Vine Lane Hillingdon, Middlesex UB10 0BE, England ACS International School Doha Al Oyoun Street, Al Gharrafa PO Box 200568, Doha, Qatar Telephone: 01932 869 744 Email: cobhamadmissions@acs-schools.com Website: www.acs-schools.com Contact: Dean of Admissions ACS International Schools were founded in 1967 to serve international and local communities. The schools are non-sectarian and co-educational (day and boarding), enrolling students aged 2 to 18 years. The UK based schools have over 30 years’ experience of teaching the International Baccalaureate, and ACS Doha offers an international and American curriculum.

TASIS THE AMERICAN SCHOOL IN ENGLAND

Coldharbour Lane, Thorpe, Surrey TW20 8TE Contact: Sarah Travis Telephone: 01932 582316 Email: ukadmissions@tasisengland.org Website www.tasisengland.org TASIS England's diverse student body includes over 50 nationalities and many in the school community have experienced the challenges of relocation. Along with well-established welcoming programs, families receive ongoing support as they cope with the practical and emotional aspects of their transition to life in the UK. Taught in small classes, students (ages 3–18) benefit from a balance of academics, arts, athletics, activities, and service leadership. Excellent exam results and oneto-one college counselling enable 97% of TASIS graduates to gain acceptance to their first- or second-choice university in the UK, the US, and worldwide.

39

40

INTERNATIONAL HR ADVISER SPRING

SERVICED APARTMENTS THE ASSOCIATION OF SERVICED APARTMENT PROVIDERS (ASAP)

Suite 3, The Business Centre, Innsworth Tech Park, Innsworth Lane, Gloucestershire GL3 1DL Contact: ASAP Office Telephone: +44 (0)1452 730452 Email: admin@theasap.org.uk Website: www.theasap.org.uk Twitter: @ASAPThe LinkedIn: The Association of Serviced Apartment Providers ASAP is in the industry association representing, promoting and improving the serviced apartment sector. Our 124 members including serviced apartment operators and agents represent in excess of 25,000 serviced apartments in the UK, Europe, USA and Canada.

When booking your serviced apartment, look for our Quality Accreditation kitemark which confirms the operator is fully compliant with all the core legal, health and safety practices and means you can book with confidence.

TAXATION AMERICAN TAX PARTNERS

Website: Amtaxpartners.com Telephone: +44 330 808 7539 Contact: John Carlos Sabates Email: john@amtaxpartners.com American Tax Partners provides bespoke tax compliance services to American expats, US

investors, and global entrepreneurs with US activities. The company offers transparent, flatrate pricing while delivering unique solutions that address the filing obligations you face as a global taxpayer.

for American expatriates and foreign nationals with financial interests in the United States. We leverage a suite of modern technology solutions that enable us to bring our international expertise directly to you no matter where in the world you might be living.

BDO LLP

GLOBAL TAX NETWORK LTD

55 Baker Street, London, W1U 7EU Contact: Andrew Bailey Telephone: 020 7893 2946 Fax: 020 7893 2418 E-mail: andrew.bailey@bdo.co.uk Website: www.bdo.co.uk BDO LLP is the award-winning, UK Member Firm of BDO International, the world’s fifth largest accountancy network with more than 1500 offices in 162 countries.

We have a partner-led approach, which delivers the highest quality of service by using short, functional chains of communication to aid decision-making. Clients benefit from our fresh thinking, constructive challenge and practical understanding of the issues they face. Developing strong, personal relationships with our clients is at the forefront of our service approach.

Tax advice is just one of our award-winning services and our expatriate team give practical and direct advice, delivering solutions which suit your needs.

EXPAT LEGAL SERVICES GROUP

Website: Expatlegal.com Telephone: 1.888.502.8579 Contact: Roland Sabates Email: roland@expatlegal.com Expat Legal Services Group, with its background in international taxation, offers unique legal services

FREE ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION TO

AMERICAN IN BRITAIN

for Your American Employees in Britain

Norwich House, 14-15 North Street, Guildford, GU1 4AF Contact: Richard Watts-Joyce CTA Telephone: +44(0)20 7100 2126 Email: rwattsjoyce@gtn.uk Website: www.GTN.uk Twitter: @GTN_Tax LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/globaltax-network Global Tax Network Ltd is the UK member of Global Tax Network (GTN), an international affiliation of professional firms in over 100 countries specialising in global mobility tax consulting. We provide assistance to employers with the tax administration of international assignment programs and private client services to high net worth individuals, non-domiciles, professional sportspersons and entertainers. Our consultants include members of the Association of Taxation Technicians, Chartered Institute of Taxation, and US Enrolled Agents.

To advertise your services to our Global HR readers in this Directory please email damian@internationalhradviser.com for further information.

SPRING 2020

AMERICAN IN BRITAIN ican Community

Serving the Amer

in the UK

WINTER 2019/20

AMERICAN IN BRITAIN Serving the Amer

ican Community

in the UK

FEATURES INCLU DE Eating Out • Theatre • Hotel DE Reader’s Lives Review • Legal • Arts & FEATURES INCLU Antiques • Taxing es • Eating Out Issues • Arts & Antiqu Issues • Americ • Take FiveLady Astor Story • an Expatriate iate Club News • Property Wealth Manag Clubs News American Expatr ement • Embas • Hotel Review • Elections ement sy Corner • Wealth Manag Embassy Corner • Theatre Taxing Issues

Our quarterly, glossy magazine is for American expatriates living and working in Britain, and features a number of regular articles including Tax Advice, Wealth Management, Travel, Theatre, Healthcare, Restaurant Reviews, Arts & Antiques, Legal Matters, Days Out With The Family, Sports, Hotel Reviews, International Schools & Education, Expatriate & Women’s Clubs News, US Embassy Corner and other specialist features relevant to this community.

We offer Americans a free annual subscription, or we can deliver a bulk quantity to your office for you to distribute to your American employees as part of a benefits package. For information, please email helen@theamericanhour.com, or ask your American employees to email Helen directly.

We also send out a monthly email newsletter and organise events and parties for Americans living in the UK. If you would like further information, please email helen@theamericanhour.com, and feel free to ask your employees to contact Helen directly.

Help your American expatriate employees in the UK, by sharing information about these services now!

40

20