A lot of people are still unsure exactly what global mobility services are or what employee relocation entails. It is actually becoming a very common practice and as companies diversify and move internationally, more people are open to the opportunity of working abroad. This is where global mobility services comes in and provides a service to help people relocate within an organisation or its subsidiaries. We provide an easy to follow guide to relocating employees and their families that explains our global mobility services.
How Does Relocating Employees Work?
There are a number of reasons that an employee might choose to relocate or a business might want to move an employee. It is common practice for high performing employees, especially in management positions, to relocate to another office or store. This is often done to help boost performance in underperforming locations and help train the other staff. But there are a number of ways that an employee can relocate, either domestically or internationally. For this reason we discuss the main global mobility services below.
Domestic or International Relocation
An organisation might wish to relocate an employee to another city within the same country or region to help improve performance, known as domestic relocation. However, with an international organisation, they may wish to promote from within and send an employee to work at a branch in another country. Although these two situations will require some different approaches, there are a number of factors that are the same. Some things you will need to consider when relocating employees are;
- Temporary or Permanent – if you are only relocating an employee for 12 to 24 months, then you will need to sort out rented accommodation and work visas.
- Residence – if you are relocating an employee permanently and it is outside of a reasonable commute, you will need to help sort a new permanent residence for them.
- Salary – consider whether living costs will rise for your employee living in a new region and if you will need to adjust their salary.
What Are the Benefits of Relocating Employees?
You might be wondering what the benefits of relocating employees include and why you wouldn’t hire somebody already located in that country. But there are in fact a number of different reasons as to why you would relocate employees that are massively beneficial for your business. If you are recruiting for a high level senior position, then it is possible that there aren’t many applicants in the host country with the correct qualifications. It could be the right decision to relocate employees to share knowledge and utilise the experience of a high performing employee in a new country. They might also be moving to help provide training and set up a completely new branch to ensure things run smoothly.
Can An Employee Remain On Their Home Country Contract and Benefits?
One question that people might often be concerned about when moving to another country for work is if this will affect their benefits on return. If the relocation is not permanent and is intended for a few years to help establish a new organisation, employees will often want to return to their host country. An important question they will have is whether they are still entitled to their pensions and health benefits while working in another country. It is often possible to keep your employees on the same contract and allow payroll to be paid into their home bank accounts. But you should consider how this affects tax contributions and any laws around this in the host country.
This offers a great overview of global mobility and relocating employees but you should make sure you consider everything before the move. Gerson Relocation is an international relocation specialist and we provide global mobility services that can help you make sure you have everything you need when relocating employees. Learn more about our core services.
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