Author:
Warren Heaps – Birches Group LLC
Organizations operating in dozens of international locations have a lot of work to do to maintain separate salary scales in each country. Every once in a while a client suggests they are considering using just one scale for all their countries globally, or in a region. Then they ask me what I think. I tell them it’s a bad idea.
Comments Off on Salary Scales – Why Can’t We Have Just One?
Posted in Compensation, Global HR Expertise
Tagged Compensation, Global HR, international hr, salary structures, salary surveys
Author:
Warren Heaps – Birches Group LLC
Working as an international HR professional is a challenge in so many ways. How can you best prepare for success in your role? Here are some tips which I refer to (with apologies to the late Dr. Steven Covey) as the “Seven Characteristics of Highly Effective International HR Professionals.” Continue reading
Author:
Warren Heaps – Birches Group LLC
Calling all compensation professionals! OK, some of you prefer the term “comp geek” but either way, I want to share a great resource.
Recently, I discovered a great new website called XLCalibre. It’s hosted by a chap in the north of England, who prefers to keep his identity a secret for now. I can confirm, however, that the author is male, hence I shall continue to use the male gender for references to him. Continue reading
Posted in Compensation, General, Global HR Expertise
Tagged Compensation, compensation analysis, Global HR, hr dashboards, payroll
Author:
Warren Heaps – Birches Group LLC
If you work in international HR, you know how important market data is for the management of your international operations. Finding reliable data in all of your countries is undoubtedly a challenge. Each country has different survey suppliers, different employers participating in the surveys, and variable levels of quality. So naturally, when you find a survey you trust, the tendency is to stick with it. But is one survey enough? I don’t think so.
Author:
Warren Heaps – Birches Group LLC
One of the most challenging situations that compensation professionals face is how to respond to unexpected or unusual external events such as maxi-devaluation, civil unrest, or natural disasters.
Flag of Malawi
On Monday May 7, the new government of Malawi agreed to the demands of the IMF and other donors, and floated the Kwacha, resulting in a 47% devaluation versus the US dollar. The new exchange rate, 246.26 Kwacha per US Dollar as of May 13, is fairly close to the parallel rate that has been in effect for the last several months, so in many ways, this move just makes official a rate that has been operational already in many parts of the economy. Continue reading
Comments Off on Maxi-Devaluation in Malawi – HR Response
Posted in Africa, Compensation, Developing Markets, Global HR Expertise
Tagged Africa, Compensation, devaluation, Developing Markets, emerging markets
Author:
Warren Heaps – Birches Group LLC
If you are an international HR practitioner, then you have probably had to deal with long-term international assignments. They can be complex, with many different people involved, both internal resources and external suppliers and vendors.
One of the best ways to ensure all the necessary steps are followed is to use checklists. These are simple yet extremely useful devices that will help you stay on track with your international assignees. A recommended approach is to develop a checklist for each of the common assignment stages or events that occur, including:
Author:
Warren Heaps – Birches Group LLC
Benchmarking compensation in smaller countries is challenging. The usual approaches often do not work well, mostly because the market is small! If the country is developing (most small ones are), then economic and social instability and immature labor market conditions contribute to the problem, too.
Some of the most common problems expressed by our clients include:
There are lots more, but you get the idea.
Guest Author:
Chris Hall – Global Tax Network, LLC
We are delighted to welcome Chris Hall as a Guest Author. Chris is the Managing Director for Global Tax Network in New York. GTN is an award-winning firm that assists clients with expatriate tax matters headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He is a Chartered Tax Advisor with over twelve years of experience. Chris has worked in the UK, Canada and the US. Before joining GTN, he held positions with Arthur Andersen and Deloitte.
The concept of Permanent Establishment (PE) is one of the fundamental principles used by taxing authorities to claim jurisdiction over a corporate entity deemed to be doing business in their location. When sending people to work in overseas locations it is important to consider the impact the PE concept might have on the company as a whole.
Author:
Warren Heaps – Birches Group LLC
I am delighted to announce today an exciting new partnership between Aon Hewitt and Birches Group. Under the partnership, Aon Hewitt will make Birches Group surveys in developing country markets available to their clients, expanding their survey coverage to over 170 countries globally.
The two firms will also collaborate closely on consulting projects and promotional activities.
Here is a link to the full Press Release.
Guest Author:
Dean Foster – DFA Intercultural Global Solutions
[Editor’s Note: We are happy to welcome Dean Foster as a Guest Author. Dean is a well-known expert on culture in business, is a frequent lecturer at various universities and conferences, and is the author of many books on the topic of culture in business. He is the Director of his own firm, DFA Intercultural Global Solutions.]
Gift giving can be a little tricky when giving gifts to
international colleagues. 
Cultural differences can make a terrific gift at home into a terrible no-no abroad. With the holiday season soon upon us, here are some important cross-cultural gift-giving considerations when sending gifts to your international friends and business associates.
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