Global Mobility Policies for International Assignees

This article discusses the strategies and factors organizations consider while planning global mobility policies for international assignees. It explores the different approaches organizations use, such as the balance sheet approach, multinational approach, and nationality-specific approach. The article also highlights the importance of international training and development activities and the role of global mobility policy benchmarking. Additionally, it examines the theoretical aspects related to the link between global mobility and global talent management.

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Introduction
Several multinational corporations (MNCs) have been requiring employees who have the
ability to perform efficiently across various geographical borders. These extremely proficient
mobile professionals primarily comprise of a significant part of organization’s global talent pool.
However, reports of McNulty and De Cieri (2016) have revealed that attraction,
development in addition to preservation of mobile professional such as expatriates have faced
inherent challenges especially with their ROI (Return of Investment) thus resulting to a major
cause of destabilized ROI. Expatriates have been defined as workers of business enterprises who
tend to be located in temporarily in a nation where there do not possess citizenship intended for
effective accomplishing an organizational goal. Thus expatriates have been undergoing process
of relocation either execute by their company to a nation recruited as an Assigned Expatriate
(AE) or directly hired from the local or transnational labour market to work in a specific country
as a self-regulated expatriate (Collings 2014). The global mobility and transportation of
employees have been playing a decisive role in MNCs’ global operations for several causes.
McNulty and De Cieri (2016) have stated that corporations have three major drives for using
emigration process, primarily to fill vacant global positions due to lack of local skills and
manpower; secondly, intended for management expansion and thirdly to facilitate regulation,
organization and provide assistance in the shift of the organizations cultural patterns. The
following paper will evaluate transfer process of international assignees by focusing on global
mobility policies to facilitate the transfer international assignees. Additionally, the paper will
focus on the ways in which organizations can navigate the barriers to global mobility.

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Discussion
Expatriates or the transfer of international assignees have been fundamentally used as
corporate culture related to the enduring use of expatriates; functional requirements on the basis
of project-based workers mobility where clients demands establishing consultation platform staff
on-site, along with financial reasons which includes bottom-line determined objectives or the
cost returns related to the use of expatriates from specific developing nations such as India in
comparison to the USA (Vaiman, Haslberger and Vance 2015). Furthermore, factors related to
convenience and expediency reasons have also been taken into account for employees who have
been demanding self-initiated transfers for their individual benefit. Farndale et al. (2014) have
stated that while global organizations primarily comprise of varied grounds for using expatriates
along the motive for transportation which often fails to be restricted. These factors however have
resulted scholars to find more than one grounds for using expatriates further resulting to the
increase of more than one advantages or various possible failures in addition to lost
opportunities.
Global Assignment Policies and Practices Used by Organizations
Modern organizations through well-structured and managed global mobility program,
have been improving its cultural patterns by offering significant prospects and openings to
talented employees for working in other nation and further expand their knowledge, acquire new
skills and proficiently institute an individual global network. Moreover, McNulty and De Cieri
(2016) have noted that for business development purposes, globally proficient employees have
offered in-depth visions and skill sets then further show incomparable value to local clients as
well as targets by following speed-to-market goals while aiming to reduce business jeopardy.
Reports of Al Ariss (2014) have revealed that major expatriate assignees expect an increase in

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the rate of emigrants arrival in the following 5 years which include traditional assignment nations
such as the United States with 58% in addition to the legacy Western European countries such an
the United Kingdom with 35%, Germany with around 22% in addition to Switzerland
comprising over 10% of assignees. Reports of Baruch, Altman and Tung (2016) have revealed
that KPMG UK has been continuing to expect improvement in the transfer of employees
between business purposes, expatriate policy types along with selection of assignee. Currently,
several business enterprises have been offering high resilience in their global assignment strategy
approaches such as establishing policy agendas with core along with voluntary provisions and
intensifying the range of options for either the organization or the assignee that is through menu
focused or points systems. Furthermore, growing incorporation of global assignments with
employee expansion initiatives has been showing greater alignment of policy types and
associated offerings that are customized to drive capacity and corporate value (KPMG 2019).
Strategies like this exhibit a distinct development in using more customized programs which
purpose to accomplish assignee demands while keeping expenses in consideration.
Pre-global assignment consultations along with tax briefings have been significantly
serving as core policy benefits to systematically evaluate the use of expatriate and conditions
before relocation. Moreover, while proactively arranging for a potential expatriate around 90%
of organizations have been offering official pre-assignment visit to the host country site, with
over 60% of authorizing both the assignees and the partner for the transfer (Beaverstock 2017).
Moreover, language and multicultural training has been encompassed under majority of
organizations’ standard strategies with a recognizable development of these trainings, which
commence from post-arrival in the host nation in order to maintain organizational shift as well as
integration.

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Factors Organizations have been considering while planning designing global mobility policies
Organizations like KPMG while planning a flexible structure of global policies have been
considering a range of factors in order to facilitate the transfer or movement of international
assignees (Cole and Nesbeth 2014).
Building Emigrant Packages-Balance Sheet
Organizations must use Balance Sheet Approach in order to retain the emigrants in the
home-nation remuneration assembly and further offer payments to empower the expatriate in
successfully maintaining a standard of living comparable at their home country. King (2015) has
noted that Balance Sheet worksheets efficiently shows all constituents of an individual emigrant
compensation package such as basic pay, variances, levy, bonuses, rewards as well as payments.
Furthermore, the primary goal of the Balance sheet has relied on establishing host-country
salary, which successfully upholds an individual’s standard of living in the home country.
Moreover, KPMG should focus on major differentials such as variations in taxation rates, social
security assistance, housing expenses in addition to common living expenses between nations; a
simple exchange rate exchange of gross income would be insignificant. Consequently, Festing
and Schäfer (2014) have stated that in the Balance Sheet system, gross package of the the
deportees in the home nation has been adjusted for cost-of-living disparity in the host country
and then earned up for the host-country levy in addition to accommodation expenses.
Multinational Approach
Baruch, Altman and Tung (2016) have stated that transnational living expense approach
have developed living expense indices along with variances based on a combined global
expenditure pattern. These patterns primarily have assumed that emigrants of several diverse
populations spend in the same way. Furthermore, with rise of goods and services the equivalent

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for all countries, the multinational strategy tends to compare costs of comparable brands and
from similar retail channels in both the home as well as host nation locations.
Nationality-Specific Approach
The Nationality-specific with Cost-of-Living approach primarily improves cost-of-living
indicators along with the differentials which significantly rely on spending patterns in a base
country which typically has been identified as home or host country. Cerdin and Brewster (2014)
have stated that KPMG through applying different loads for each home nation will guarantee that
emigrants can preserve their expenses styles in their host locations. Such an approach will help in
evaluating expenses in the home-nation from a local perspective to costs in the host-nation from
an emigrant point of view.
Localisation and Local Plus
Reports of Baruch, Altman and Tung (2016) have revealed that several global
organizations have adopted localised or primarily host-based compensation to successfully
accomplish companies’ global staffing demands and needs. KPMG with utilization of local plus
expatriate assignments in addition to localisation can efficiently provide considerable cost
investments. On the other hand, Vaiman, Haslberger and Vance (2015) have noted that such
proficient and wide-ranging compensation data on global assignments and local wages would
essentially aid organizations to structure effective global policies and further contribute to
equitable compensation packages. At this juncture, McNulty and De Cieri (2016) have noted that
temporary expatriate projects offer companies like KPMG with important resolution for the
successful relocation of manpower, proficiency as well as resources. As organizations have been
strategically operating in a global world with radical shifts in know-how, expertise in addition to
communication networks along with critical challenges such as dual professional career and

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family issues, make short-term assignments high lucrative. Vaiman, Haslberger and Vance
(2015) have noted that temporary expatriate assignments tend to pose new challenges. Thus,
employees involved in temporary transfer have been typically not accompanied by their family
thus resulting to different living expenses and incompetence in raising their package, as they
would be for continuing assignments. Meanwhile, temporary assignments tend to last longer than
business trips thus necessitate costs of a broader nature related to individual products and
resources needed for recreational purposes.
International Training and Development Activities (ITAs and IDAs)
Organizations in recent times have recognized the value of training and improvement
activities and proficiently implementing them in order to arrange emigrants for the tasks and
opportunities related to the living as well as functioning in new cultural settings with varied
teams across nation-wide or international boundaries. Baruch, Altman and Tung (2016) have
mentioned that the particular goals of cultural trainings show significant divergences. On one
hand, when ITAs primarily emphasize on the skills required to execute more effectually on
individuals’ present job. ITAs meanwhile have focused to be strategically leaning towards
explaining temporary emigrant performance concerns. Cerdin and Brewster (2014) have revealed
that a well structured cross-cultural training program will efficiently improve the learning
procedure of the global expatriate assignees and further aid effectual cross-cultural
communications and cross-cultural changes among emigrants.
Global Mobility Policy Benchmarking
Newly developed benchmarking options can efficiently optimise company’s expatriate
policies. Reports have noted that as companies in recent times have developed in order to act
responsive to a dynamic workforce along with regulatory environment modifications along with

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the increase in employee demands and expectations. These factors however have been relevant to
issues and challenges related to expatriate or employee transferring in addition to relocation
policies. Thus, the use of technology will involve employees throughout their relocation process,
which will increase the speed of communications (Cole and Nesbeth 2014). Furthermore, Global
Mobility Policy Benchmarking must be taken into consideration for companies like KPMG to
offer valuable information and assistance and further aided transferees obtain payments and
reimbursements in well-timed method. Thus, a methodical policy benchmarking would aid
companies to obtain knowledge related to new ideas along with innovative solutions to employee
relocation issues.
Theoretical aspects related to the link between Global Mobility and Global Talent management
GTM as a program has aided several employees to distinguish their global career
aspirations and aims as expatriates. Considering GTM as an effective program, theoretical
factors related to psychological contract theory in relation to expatriates’ potentials can be taken
into account. Through this theory, Festing and Schäfer (2014) have shed light on the processes
through which global mobility benefits their careers and provide valuable perspectives. McNulty
and Vance (2017) have suggested that psychological contract theory as a vital framework
through where use of expatriation can be viewed. Such psychological contracts have been
playing as a decisive predictor related to expatriates’ assurance to the organization while
planning to leave the company as well as their adjustments. However, studies of (Carr et al.
(2016) have identified contents to be either transactional primarily based on extraordinary
compensation, tax equalization, paid leave primarily focusing on beliefs upon deportation in
addition to set up social relations with co-workers as an informal means of family support.
Furthermore, McNulty and Vance (2017) have stated that expatriate assignees have been

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showing high inclination towards interpersonal psychological contracts while deportee workers
possessing self-initiated orientation have higher propensity to have psychological contracts of a
transactional temperament.
Moreover, Cole and Nesbeth (2014) have claimed that from a GTM perspective, a vital
consideration relies on the development of different types of global recruitment resulting MNCs
to set up dynamic talent pools, which no more base it dependence exclusively on expatriate
assignees. Meanwhile, with the advancement of highly dynamic employment systems MNCs
have been able to identify adequate number of proficient workers from a series of assignee types,
which includes AEs along with local foreign hires (LFHs) and self-initiated corporate expatriates
(SICE). While decisions of MNCs to employ economical types of SIEs (self-initiated corporate
expatriates) have been typically determined as per the rate of expenses, the constructive control
on GTM initiatives has been highly evident (Cerdin and Brewster 2014). Furthermore, as
alternative types of assignees has been identified as an established factors, certain implications
emerging from MNCs perceived opportunistic behaviour as an outcome of applying highly
dynamic employment systems.
Conclusion
Hence, to conclude, the basic to uplift the success of individuals on global deployment
assignments is to recognize the interaction of selection along with knowledge development, that
is, to control who profits the most from global cultural training and skill development activities.
Additionally, international mobility managers have assumed process-driven international
mobility activities as vital. In generalized view, expatriate employees shed light on the
accomplishment of their ROI career objectives, which has been known to be of greater
importance than any mobility-related profits, which can increase MNCs. Additionally,

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accomplishment of the psychological contract in relation to the process through which
relationship intensifying activities such as effective communication and supporting accepted
possibilities. The implementation of ROI improving actions such as career ambitions clearly is
essential to be driven by relationship improving rather than process motivated purposes.
Moreover, while preservation of emigrants have accepted by mobility chiefs as a peculiar
concern during deportation, emigrant employees analyse retention as immensely serious during
the use of expatriate.

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