Category: Global Mobility

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Global Mobility Solutions Recognized as a Leader

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Leader Recognition – For the past 34 years, the LEAD Awards have identified and recognized organizations with the top leadership programs, strategies, and solutions with regard to global leadership development. These prestigious leadership awards salute the world’s top leadership practitioners and programs and highlight their roles in developing their most important asset – their people.

Global Mobility Solutions (GMS) was recognized as a leader for its excellence in leadership training and education. GMS placed in the top 10 of 100 companies for Best Sales Leadership Program and Top 18 of 200 for the Best Global Leadership Program.

 

Global Mobility Solutions a winner of Best Sales Leadership Program

Global Mobility Solutions a winner of Best Global Leadership Program

 

The competition was strong as GMS went up against such household names as 3M, Boston Scientific, Cisco, Dell, Microsoft, and many others. In fact, the other winners have a combined average annual revenue 453% larger than GMS and an average of 383% more employees. It is an honor and accomplishment to be recognized amongst such giants of industry.

 

Learn how GMS can help your transferees become leaders in their new destinations

Is your relocation program the best it can be? Receive your free relocation policy review.

 

About LEAD2017 LEAD2017 is a 2-day leadership forum, February 7th and 8th, 2017 in Nashville, Tennessee, at the Music City Center. Designed to inspire leadership in people from all walks of life in person at the conference as well as live simulcast to hundreds of remote host sites internationally. The event brings together top thought leaders and the world’s best leadership practices that can be shared by attendees to develop leadership programs in their own organizations and communities http://www.lead2017.com/ February 8th will be broadcasted globally with the goal of touching 1 million lives to choose leadership.

About HR.com and the LEAD Awards HR.com, the largest global social networking and resource site for HR Professionals is committed to providing a deeper understanding of the HR function for over 290,000+ members by offering an annual global leadership annual event – LEAD, the LEAD Awards, HR Certification Exam Prep Courses, certification programs, a personal development app, monthly themed HR e-publications, 4,500+ webcasts, 1,200+ eLearning credits, 230+ virtual conferences, blogs, community networks, industry news and advisory boards. See www.hr.com for more information.

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Corporate Relocation Corporate relocation tips Domestic Relocation Domestic Relocation Challenges Domestic Relocation Tips Global Mobility Global Relocation Global Relocation Challenges Global Relocation Tips Relocation Best Practices Relocation Challenges Relocation Management

Managing Mobility Costs

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Department heads all over the globe are constantly asked to identify cost-saving opportunities within their departments. Human resources, employee mobility, talent acquisition, and procurement are no exceptions. As you scrutinize your budget, try utilizing these three steps to help better manage and ultimately reduce your relocation expenses:

Cost Estimates

Managing mobility costs starts with understanding what those expenses are. First estimate what costs should be involved with your vision of a successful mobility program. A cost estimate will provide you with a clear picture of the potential costs of individual relocation assignments. You can then use these cost estimates to correctly establish a budget prior to initiating any relocations.

One effective way to determine your cost estimates is by utilizing cost estimate technology. There are many software programs that by using the latest upgrades will help you:

  • Save time
  • Reduce human error
  • Ensure compliance

Policy Reviews

By reviewing your relocation policies, either internally or with an outside relocation management company (RMC), you will be able to identify cost-saving opportunities and eliminate expensive exceptions. When reviewing your mobility management policies, you should:

  • Do so in conjunction with cost
  • Benchmark against other companies within your industry
  • Leverage technology for key services (i.e. Virtual destination tours, online school reports, etc.)

Example:

Using online language tools can reduce relocation costs by roughly $5,000 - $20,000.

Tracking and Reporting

Lastly, you want to ensure that you are continuously tracking all expenses and reporting any overages or savings. Get a detailed account of how your cost estimates match up with your actual spending. Then the whole process repeats itself. Once you have your data:

  • Take action – Make any necessary adjustments to your budget, policy, or both
  • Review – Go over the detailed reports to identify more cost-saving opportunities
  • Incorporate technology – Save time and money by offering key services online

Global Mobility Solutions (GMS) is an award-winning RMC and, since 1987, has been helping companies save time and money with regard to their corporate relocations. As a courtesy service, GMS will review your current relocation policies and provide expert feedback to ensure that your policies are competitive within your industry and to identify any cost-saving opportunities, so you can focus on managing mobility costs.

Click here for your free relocation policy review

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Corporate Relocation Domestic Relocation Domestic Relocation Tips Domestic Relocation Trends Global Mobility Global Relocation Global Relocation Tips Global Relocation Trends Relocation Best Practices

Pre-Decision and Best Practices for Global Mobility

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Pre-decision Best Practices: Why do many companies have a 50% rate for assignment rejection? It is primarily because the potential transferees do not have a clear understanding of the destination location and the support available for their families.

The top 3 reasons cited for rejecting relocation assignments are housing/mortgage concerns, trailing spouse/partner employment concerns, and overall family concerns. Pre-Decision Best Practices

Assignment rejection and failure can be very costly to a company. Firms spend an average of half a year’s salary in recruiting and training when onboarding a new employee. For high-level executives, the expense can be six to nine months of their salaries. However, according to the ERC, it can be as high as three-times an annual salary for international executives. If assignments are rejected, or fail after a move – which adds much more to the financial loss – companies must go through the expense of onboarding and training new staff.

 

How can companies ensure that they get the right people in the right place at the right time and for the right price?

The answer is to use pre-decision programs. Global Mobility Solutions (GMS) is the pre-decision pioneer and we continue to develop new, innovative features for pre-decision programs.

Although the number is growing, currently only 22 percent of companies around the world are utilizing pre-decision programs. However, when working with an RMC, nearly 60 percent choose to incorporate pre-decision into their mobility management solutions.

Employees decline relocation assignments due to housing, family, and spousal/partner employment concerns. Many firms had a 50% rate for assignment rejection. 32% housing/mortgage, 55% spouse/partner employment, 69% family issues. By using pre-decision, companies increase assignment acceptance, reduce failed relocations, save money, and project a progressive and employee-friendly image.

Going back to the reasons cited for assignment rejection, let’s see how the in-depth questioning and available services of pre-decision can address each of those concerns.

 

Housing

Candidates are interviewed to learn about community and lifestyle preferences. Candidates are presented with destination spotlights that highlight the cost of living and attractions of the assignment location. Area tours are arranged. Candidates are pre-approved by participating mortgage lenders. Candidates are provided with home selling and home buying assistance.

Spouse/Partner Employment

The pre-decision interview includes an employee’s spouse or partner. Pre-decision best practices programs offer a career assessment to develop an action plan that will help the spouse or partner adjust to the new location. This can include resume services, aggressive job searching, and more.

Family

Through the pre-decision interview process, the specific needs of the family are determined. To help candidates better understand the new location before moving, they are presented with school reports and detailed community information. Community tours are arranged so that transferees and their families can see schools, hospitals, and centers of culture and entertainment prior to moving.

 

The talent acquisition program manager of a large healthcare company said, “By using pre-decision to initiate relocations prior to the face-to-face interview, we know that transferees have arrived more quickly, have settled better, and stayed longer.”

Benefits of utilizing pre-decision programs include reduced time to acceptance, reduced overall costs to the company, an increased acceptance rate, and an increase in successful assignments.

Because of how it engages relocation candidates and their families, increases assignment acceptance and success, and saves companies time and money, pre-decision best practices should be utilized when it comes to mobility management.

Learn more about how pre-decision programs can benefit both you and your transferees.

 

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Strategic Tax Reimbursement and Best Practices for Global Mobility

There are five steps you should employ when developing a global program for strategic tax reimbursement that balances the needs of both the company and employees with regard to managing tax costs:

  1. Strategically Align Company Objectives and Employee Values
  1. Consider Tax Impacts of Likely Host Locations
  1. Choose a Tax Reimbursement Method that Best Fits, for example:
  1. Tax Reimbursement Policy Design
  1. Tax Reimbursement Policy Launch & Implementation

By following the five-step process outlined, you can develop a global mobility program that keeps your company compliant, reduces tax burdens, and, by saving them money, demonstrates to your relocating employees how much you appreciate them. At Global Mobility Solution (GMS), we like to think that there is a sixth step – contacting an expert for help. Outsourcing your workforce mobility program provides an expert partner in relocation.

Workforce mobility consulting at Global Mobility Solutions means our consultants focus on reducing organizational costs and minimizing relocation timelines in order to increase assignment success. Our in depth consultation includes competitor benchmarking, policy analysis, and relocation evaluations.

Global Mobility Solutions will perform a full review of your existing policies, to ensure the goals of your organization are properly aligned with the policy. If necessary, we will write new or change existing relocation policies and coordinate the implementation of the changes. If no policy currently exists, GMS will work with you to determine what your relocation needs are and develop new policies that best fit them. Your dedicated account manager will advise and counsel you throughout the relationship to ensure your relocation policy is the most cost effective.

In order to reach an experienced relocation policy expert who can help your company plan for strategic tax reimbursement and best practices, please contact us now.

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Why Benchmark?

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Relocations can generate a lot of excitement as companies eye the potential for increased revenue, organizational growth, and the development of their employees. It is important for those managing workforce mobility to know if their company’s relocation policies make sense in today’s evolving, global business environment. It is critical for all the stakeholders in employee relocation – talent acquisition, human resources, procurement, finance, legal, etc. – to fully understand the best practices to ensure that their policies are competitive, compliant, and effective.

Here are the top 5 reasons you should be reviewing your relocation program and policies:

  • To ensure competitiveness within your industry in order to attract and retain the best talent
  • To identify enhancement and cost-saving opportunities (i.e. process, service cost, exception reduction, etc.)
  • To maintain alignment with your overall mobility objectives across key disciplines
  • To educate internal stakeholders on current best practices and trends
  • To learn about innovative ideas for managing a changing workforce mobility environment

Policy Benchmarking Options

A best practice across all industries is to conduct program and policy reviews every 12 to 18 months, depending on an individual company’s relocation volume, size, and scale of programming. You can receive expert guidance and award-winning service by submitting a request for contact.

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Corporate Relocation Corporate relocation tips Domestic Relocation Domestic Relocation Challenges Domestic Relocation Tips Global Mobility Global Relocation Global Relocation Challenges Relocation Challenges

5 Steps to a Successful Year-End Process

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While most people are happily preparing for the holidays, you’re scrambling through the year-end reconciliation of all of your relocation expenses. Well, even though it’s only November, here is a gift that will help you not only navigate this year, but help you to have a successful year-end process for years to come.

Though many relocation managers might prefer battling crazed Black Friday crowds to year-end reporting, the process tends to go more smoothly when run by the relocation department. To maximize efficiency, be sure to utilize these five steps:

  1. Create a year-end checklist. A detailed checklist will help identify all of the information you need to accurately report year-end compensation. Your checklist should include due dates, responsible individuals and departments. Establishing the responsibility for reporting all of the relevant compensation data is an important component, and can include wages, imputed income, benefits, equity, taxes, and more. This year-end checklist will help you identify all the resources you will need to create a complete and accurate report. Your itemized checklist needs to include items such as early cutoff dates and all employees who will receive the tax filing services (employees on the tax eligibility list), as well as provide for the time needed for verification, approval and processing. A well-developed checklist will also set firm deadlines for the reporting and tax filings.
  1. Set up a year-end preparation call. When setting due dates, be cognizant of the vacation times made mandatory by some countries around the end of December. During the call, review your year-end checklist with all involved parties to ensure that they are aware of their role and due dates. Use this call as an opportunity to build understanding and develop relationships that will make year-end reporting easier in the future. If you have not already held a year-end preparation call, schedule one as soon as you finish reading the rest of this article!
  1. Verify all of your data! Accuracy is vital, especially when it comes to compensation reporting. Data such as addresses and tax ID numbers/Social Security numbers should be confirmed, as well as wages, benefits, sick and vacation time. Double-checking data prevents backtracking and costly errors down the line.
  1. Finalize your data. Make sure that the final payroll reports of the year have been included, plus any end-of-the-year benefits. Be sure to back up the program data again and be sure to save it in a secure location should it need to be referenced in the future.
  1. Get ready to submit your report. Double-check the deadlines for all the countries on your list and be prepared to provide specific data for each. Tax providers may ask for data for different assignee/transferee populations. Be sure to adhere to your year-end deadlines and, whenever possible, send the data ahead of time. Some international locations may have very tight turnaround times to make that final tax payment of the year.

As with anything, practice makes perfect. The more you follow these five steps, the easier year-end reporting will become for you and you can be confident of a successful year-end process.

Learn more about how to save time and money while managing your corporate relocations.

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Corporate Relocation Corporate relocation tips Global Mobility Global Relocation Global Relocation Challenges Global Relocation Tips

Making Global Tax Less Scary for International Relocation

Making Global Tax Less Scary for International Relocation: Relocating across international borders can be a little scary. However, the experts at Global Mobility Tax were kind enough to provide these treats to take the trickiness out of workforce mobility.

When sending employees on assignments, careful planning can minimize overall tax cost.  Each country has its own set of laws that are subject to change.  Employees should seek guidance from their tax advisors, making global tax their specialty.

Social security tax

If there is a totalization agreement in force between the home country and the host (assignment) country, a certificate of coverage should be obtained in order for the assignee to be exempt from social security tax contribution in the host country.

Physical presence

If an employee has regional responsibilities and is required to travel to countries like Singapore (60 days), Taiwan (90 days), Malaysia (60 days), China (90 days) and Hong Kong (60 days), he can arrange his visits in order that the physical presence stays below the de minimis day threshold and be exempt from income tax in these jurisdictions.  In addition to physical presence, other requirements, such as no cross charge of costs, will also have to be met in order to be exempt from income tax.

Japan

Preferential tax treatment on employer provided housing can be achieved if the lease is signed by employer, the employer pays the rent to the landlord directly and the employee pays back “legal rent” to the employer with after-tax money.  If all the conditions are met, the valuation of the taxable benefit is reduced.

Individuals who are residents in Japan on Jan 1st are required to pay local inhabitant tax assessed on income paid in the preceding year.  If the assignment is expected to end in early January, the employee may consider repatriating before Jan 1st so that local inhabitant tax does not apply in the final year of assignment.

China

In order for certain non-cash benefits such as housing, relocation, education, home leave, meals and laundry as well as language training to be treated as non-taxable compensation,  the amounts have to be reasonable and have be paid by the employer directly or reimbursed by the employer upon presentation of official receipts (fapiao).

 

Learn more about global relocation programs and services

 

DISCLAIMER

Although the above information is presented in good faith, it is for general guidance on matters of interest only and is not intended as tax advice.  The information presented herein may not be applicable to or suitable for the individuals’ specific facts and circumstances.

The information should not be used as a substitute for consultation before any actual transaction with a professional tax adviser who is familiar with all the relevant facts making global tax their specialty.

Global Mobility Tax, LLP assumes no obligation to inform any person of any changes in tax law or other factors that could affect the information contained above.

About Global Mobility Tax (www.glomotax.com)

Global Mobility Tax, LLC (GMT) is dedicated exclusively to the tax and HR issues impacted by global mobility. Our quality people and high-touch client service approach enable us to offer world-class service to global organizations.

Their core specialty is tax planning for international assignments and relocations. In concert with our global service partners, we can offer your organization global strategy, planning and compliance.

GMT clients include both public and private companies, ranging from Fortune 500 companies to industry start-ups, based in the US and abroad.

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Corporate Relocation Global Mobility Global Relocation Global Relocation Challenges

Increase the Success of Global Assignments with Language Training

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Global Assignment Success – Moving top talent from one location to another has many hurdles. Global relocation has its own set of unique challenges. Of them, overcoming language and cultural differences are two of the most important. Without an understanding of how to properly communicate with business contacts in a host country, your transferees will not be able to accomplish anything positive and will not be effective ambassadors of your company. Austrian-British philosopher, Ludwig Wittgenstein explained, “The limits of my language means the limits of my world.”

To overcome these obstacles and have global assignment success, companies with global reach enroll their transferees in cultural and language classes. By having talent properly prepared, companies understand that their transferees will be able to immediately communicate with contacts upon arriving in their host countries. This has been proven to reduce limitations for transferees and increase the success of global assignments.

Individualized instruction can range from a self-paced, online class to live, instructor-led, virtual session. Not only can the employee take the course, but the whole family can engage in the training. Group lesson for employees are typically offered on site at a company’s facility or a physical location of the company’s choosing.

Companies value metrics and want to see their employee’s progress. Many programs have trainers who track the student’s progress at regular intervals and report it back to the company. Cultural and language training providers benchmark progress to internationally recognized assessment scales, such as the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) scale. Instructors are trained to administer assessments on the four major language skills: reading, writing, listening and speaking. Evaluations are also a key component to our philosophy of continuous improvement.

As a leader in the corporate relocation industry, Global Mobility Solutions (GMS) offers an array of cultural and language training options. To learn about how GMS can prepare your global transferees for success, please read our PDF.

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Corporate Relocation Corporate relocation tips Global Mobility Global Relocation Visas and International Travel

The Price of Noncompliance

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The Price of Noncompliance – When it comes to relocating employees across international borders, not having the right paperwork can turn an exciting opportunity into a nightmare for not only the travelling employee, but for the sponsoring company, too. Besides just having transferees stuck in travel limbo, errors in work permits, visas, passports, and other work/travel/residency documents can result in heavy fines and penalties for companies.

 

Here is a short list of the punishments doled out by various countries when companies are in noncompliance, such as being caught with non-compliant employees.

 

GMS-Australia-Banner

Company may be refused permission to sponsor future foreign employees; existing 457 status workers and their dependents may have visas removed.

 

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For hiring a foreign worker without authorization, the employer is subject to $50,000 fine and/or two years imprisonment. For misrepresentation or counseling of misrepresentation: $100,000 and/or five years imprisonment. Employee may be deported and/or barred from future entry to Canada.

 

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Fine for company of up to €75,000 per noncompliant employee plus additional penalties including debarment from continuing the business for up to five years.

 

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According to Law §17 “OWIG,” the employee may be fined up to €1000. According to Law §30 “OWIG,” the employer may be fined up to €500,000 for an offense of negligence, or up to €1 million for an offense with intent.

 

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Fines for company of up to 60,000 HKD. The authorities can order the closure of the company for up to five years.

 

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For employer, a fine of up to 3 million yen and/or incarceration for up to three years for illegal entry, overstaying and hiring foreign workers without authorization. For engaging in activities outside those authorized, an employee is subject to a fine of up to 2 million yen and/or incarceration for up to one year, plus barred from future entry to Japan.

 

GMS-Korea-Banner

Fines for company of up to 20 million won or two-year incarceration.

 

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Fines for company of up to €60,000. The authorities can order the closure of the company for up to five years.

 

GMS-United-Kingdom-Banner

Fines for company of up to £10,000 per noncompliant employee.

 

GMS-USA-Banner

The employer is subject to a fine of $110 to $1,100 per employee for technical paperwork violations. The employer may be fined from $375 to $3,200 per employee for an employer’s first intentional violation, and up to $16,000 per employee for repeat offenses, in addition to criminal charges and penalties.

 

Global Mobility Solutions (GMS) will provide organization and collaboration of client documentation and manage the entire visa and immigration process. Upon request, we can track and obtain visa renewals, extensions, and cancellations, as well as assist the employee and family members in obtaining and/or canceling work permits, residency cards, visas, and registrations at appropriate consulates, to ensure there are no issues with noncompliance.

 

Learn more about the myriad of GMS programs designed to ensure that your global relocation efforts go smoothly, with as little stress and costs as possible. Talk with a relocation expert at Global Mobility solutions now: 1-800-617-1904.

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