International HRM: Impact of Offshore Employee Movement

This report delves into the realm of International Human Resource Management (HRM), specifically examining the implications of offshoring employees. It highlights crucial factors influencing employee effectiveness in foreign locations, including performance management, spousal support, repatri...Read More

Running head: INTERNATIONAL HRM
International HRM
Name of the Student
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Executive Summary
The HR practices that are carried out by companies determine the effectiveness of operations of
the employees while they operate regardless of the location. This, must be especially taken into
consideration when some employees are being moved offshore, for the purpose of their job.
There are various factors that contribute to the effectiveness of operations of employees
operating out of their national border. The organisation must have the ability to assess factors
such as Performance Management, Spousal Support, Repatriation, Cost of Living, Illness,
language readiness, industrial relations, personal risks, training and various other factors that
contribute to the success of the employee while operating in the country where they are being
offshored. The countries that are being assessed in the following sections are Malaysia and
Belgium. Hence, evaluation and judgement of the said factors according to the norms prevalent
in the said countries determine the effectiveness of operations of the employees in the said
locations.

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Discussion........................................................................................................................................2
Performance Management...............................................................................................................3
Spousal Support...............................................................................................................................3
Repatriation......................................................................................................................................3
Cost of Living Implications.............................................................................................................4
Sudden Illness..................................................................................................................................4
Language Readiness........................................................................................................................5
Industrial relations...........................................................................................................................5
Personal risk.....................................................................................................................................6
Preparation and induction training required....................................................................................6
Mentoring and Development...........................................................................................................6
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

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Introduction
In the modern business environment, companies have to move outside their national
geographic location. According to the expansion needs of the company, there is a need for
incorporation of the HRM practices into the operations of the company that is aiming to expand
its territories (Gomes et al. 2015). As a result of the need to expand to out of the domestic
territory, companies need to ensure that they have human resources to satiate the needs that will
ensure that the operations are running smoothly while the company operates in the said country.
Hence, on various occasions, companies need to send employees off-shore. There are various
implications that the said move of the companies are subject to while catering to operations in an
international setting. The paper aims to identify and highlight the changes that are associated
with the rationale of the companies in moving employees. The HR policies present in the
destination country determines the efficacy of operations of the employees. Thus, the paper aims
to critically evaluate the conditions in Malaysia and Belgium as the destination countries for
employee’s offshore activity. The assessment will be made in accordance with the offshore
transition being incorporated into operations by Air Asia and Air Belgium, into Malaysia and
Belgium respectively.
Discussion
There are various implications that employees might be subject to when they have to
move to a foreign location (Silveira 2014). There are various roles in the modern business
environment that might require the transition of the workforce from one location to the other.
The employee who is subject to change of location not only have to cope with the change of the
physical place of operations, and they have to comply with various other aspects that determine

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the position of employees in the places that they are operating in. Factors such as Performance
Management, Spousal Support, Repatriation, Cost of Living, Illness, language readiness,
industrial relations, personal risks, training and various other factors are aspects that might be
highlighted and effectively planned and catered to by HR Managers while employees are being
moved offshore. Companies that operate in the aviation industry need to comply with offshoring
employees. Offshoring is a major requirement of companies such as Air Asia. The following
sections will discuss the implications of the aforementioned factors;
Performance Management
Performance management refers to an activity through which organisations can
effectively identify the level of performance output from the part of an employee (Noe et al.
2017). It is a process that helps in determining whether the employees are performing effectively
or not. While offshoring employees, organisations must ensure that the performance of the
employees is being monitored constantly. It is found that managing the performance outcomes of
the employees becomes difficult when employees are offshored. This would be applicable in
both cases, regardless of the fact whether the employees are being moved to Belgium or
Malaysia.
Spousal Support
Spousal support refers to support that the spouse of an employee is subject to if the latter
is associated with a role that requires him or her to work offshore (Heikkinen, Lämsä and Hiillos
2014). Furthermore, it is an allowance that should be paid to the spouse if the latter has low
earned or is unemployed. In Malaysia, the LRA section 77 has included spousal support
applicable for both men and women who are required to comply with spousal support charges

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while a divorce or if the spouse of the couple who is placed higher in the financial table (Hamid
and Kamaruddin 2018). However, there is no allowance related to offshoring of employee to and
from Malaysia. In terms of employees being moved to or from Belgium are not subject to
allowances such as Spousal support (Maertens et al. 2016). However, it can be said that divorced
couple in the country are subject to Alimony. This is an aspect that has been incorporated into
the Family Laws of Belgium. The laws calls for the division of common property into two
halves, provided that there exists no prenuptial agreements that exist between the divorces
couple.
Repatriation
Repatriation refers to the transportation of an individual to their home country on the
advent of their demise (Long 2013). It is an expense that needs to be carried out by health
insurance companies that the individual was associated to. Medical Repatriation is present in the
governing framework of Malaysia. It should be noted that the latter depends on the relations that
the country has with the home country of the individual. As a result of the multicultural policies
of the country, the same treatment is associated with the transportation of refugees from the
country to the home country of the individual. While repatriation is available through the legal
framework of Belgium, there has been instances as a result of which the country cannot be
considered favourable in terms of Repatriation.
Cost of Living Implications
Cost of Living is one of the most crucial factors that must be catered to following the
move of an employee from one country to another (Li, Zhou and Ouyang 2013). The cost of
living in Malaysia or any country depends on the number of individuals in the family of the

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employee. Depending on the size of the family and the part of the city that one is living in the
cost of living determined. Hence, it can be said while offshoring, companies must analyse the
COL of the destination, identify whether the employee has enough salary to live in the particular
location and whether the company can afford to comply by the same. The cost of living in
Belgium is high. Brussels is country that can be considered as an epicentre for the international
councils meeting and various other meetings. The county has high standards of living and thus is
coupled with high costs associated with living. Hence, it can be said that the employee being
moved offshore to Belgium must be able to satiate regular expenses. It should be ensured that the
remuneration supports the extravagant cost of living of the country.
Sudden Illness
Illness can be experienced by an individual on various grounds (Dudas et al. 2013). Since
the advent of illness is unpredictable in nature, the company responsible for offshoring the
employee should ensure that there are medical allowances are offered to the offshore employees.
There are various healthcare organisations in the country which provides such services. Thus, the
same must be incorporated into the offshoring policies of the human resources department of the
company. Be it Malaysia or Belgium, there are medical service providers who provide medical
solutions to people suffering from sudden illness regardless of their citizenship, ethnicity or the
company that they work for. Employers should ensure medical allowances are being provided to
offshore employees.
Language Readiness
Language is a factor that contributes to the lack of efficiency in performing the assigned
job roles when employees are moved offshore. Language barrier has been found that one of the

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major problem that is experienced by employees who are operating in a country that they are
unfamiliar with (Rosse et al. 2016). Communication has been identified as one of the major
aspects contributing to the success of employees working at any level of an organisation
(Broadbent 2013). Thus employees must have the ability to understand and interpret language
properly in order to function effectively. Employees who are being offshored should have
effective compliance with the languages that are spoken and used as a mode of communication
in the country where they are being transferred due to official purposes. A common language
should be identified through which the employee will be able to communicate with necessary
people while they are aiming to operate in a foreign destination. Malaysia is a country that is
characterised by realisation of diversity and inclusion. Furthermore, English is one of the official
languages that are spoken in an area. The languages that are spoken in Belgium include, French,
Dutch and German. Hence, employees being moved to Belgium must have basic ideas and
communication skill in the said languages.
Industrial relations
Industrial relations refers to the relations that an individual has with the organisation and
the industry that they are operating in (Ackers 2014). Industrial relations are bolstered with the
help of the networking competency of the individuals. As far as offshoring is concerned, the
employee being sent offshore should be able to develop industrial relations with peers in the area
that the formers is being transferred to. This not only helps in satiating the affiliation needs of the
individuals, it also helps in catering to the smooth nature of operations while the individual
operates in the location that thy have been transferred to. Hence, it can be said that the individual
who is being offshored for official purposes should have the competency to develop favourable
industrial relations. Furthermore, it can be said that they should possess networking skills that

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would help in realisation of the latter. Belgium has also been recognised as a country that has
favourable relations with various countries and also has been able to been a part of various
international assimilations as a result of which they have been able to gain a stature that is
characterised by favourable industrial relations. Thus, favourable communication skills in the
country would help in terms of developing good industrial relations in the market or the location
that the employee will be placed in.
Personal risk
It has been found that the incidence of personal risks is on the verge of rise. The main
issues that has been causing risk for individuals is the geopolitical factors that exist in a
particular location. Malaysia has favourable geopolitical relations with the other nations and is
part of various international alliances (Carmody 2013). Thus, the geopolitical factor is deemed to
be causing limited risk to the smooth nature of operation of the individual who has been
offshored by the organisation that they are working for.
Preparation and induction training required
Regardless of the nature of operations of the employee who is being offshored by the
company, the company has to invest time and resources in induction training and preparing the
individual. The methods related to work that the individual has to follow while operating in
Malaysia and in Belgium can be different from the method of working that they might be
accustomed to. Hence, there is need for induction training and being prepared for working when
concerned with moving to a foreign country. The norms and value streams existent in both the
countries determines the most important factors associated proper functioning of eth employees
while they are operating on foreign territory.

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Mentoring and Development
At some point while operating and satiating the need of a particular role in a company,
there arises a need for support that an employee expects from their peers of seniors in the
company. Thus, there is a needs for mentoring that helps in bolstering the nature of problem
resolution. The company should cater to this need and ensure that there are individual in the
same location, who are competent enough to act as mentors for offshored employees who might
need support. Furthermore, personal development plans should be maintained by the employees
who have been subject to the aforementioned nature of change.
Conclusion
On a concluding note, it can be said that the modern business environment is dynamic
and offshoring is an organisational need that might arise at any point of the organisational
operational cycle. Thus, there are various needs that must be catered to and planned by
organisation in order to ensure that the activities being carried out by the offshored employees
are favourable in nature. The latter helps in ensuring the employee is motivated and also ensures
that the organisation demands and expected levels of performance is constantly being met.

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