Tag Archives: Global HR

Africa Compensation and Benefits Event – Feb 7th

Posted on January 30, 2013 by | Comments Off on Africa Compensation and Benefits Event – Feb 7th

Author:
Warren Heaps – Birches Group LLC

Are you interested in Compensation and Benefits in Africa?  If you are nearby to Johannesburg, you should plan to attend the Employer Roundtable sponsored by Birches Group, Emergence Growth and Aon Hewitt on February 7, 2013.

The event will be held at Aon Hewitt South Africa offices in Sandton.  You must register in order to attend.  Click here for more information and to reserve your seat.

I look forward to meeting you!

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Posted in Africa, Benefits, Compensation, Developing Markets, International Employment Law

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Salary Scales – Why Can’t We Have Just One?

Posted on August 27, 2012 by | Comments Off on Salary Scales – Why Can’t We Have Just One?

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.

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Posted in Compensation, Global HR Expertise

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Seven Characteristics of Highly Effective International HR Professionals

Posted on August 12, 2012 by | 7 comments

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 →

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Posted in Cross Cultural Insights, Global HR Expertise, Leadership Development, Professional Development

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Excel Resources for Compensation Professionals

Posted on June 26, 2012 by | 7 comments

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 →

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Posted in Compensation, General, Global HR Expertise

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Two Surveys Are Better Than One

Posted on June 11, 2012 by | 9 comments

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.

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9 Comments

Posted in Compensation, Developing Markets, Global HR Expertise, International Benefits

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Expatriate Orientation – Why, What, When?

Posted on May 30, 2012 by | 5 comments

Author:
Jennifer Stein – Global Tax Network

When individuals relocate, they are bombarded with many changes at once. You may hear the phrase: So much to do, so little time. They may be tempted to skip part or all of the relocation process. Here we’ll discuss three questions related to orientation meetings.

  • Why do we need to provide international assignees with orientation meetings?
  • What should be covered during the orientation meetings with an international assignee?
  • When should this information be provided to the international assignee?

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Posted in Cross Cultural Insights, Expatriate Taxation, Expatriates, Global Mobility Services, Relocation, Talent Management

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Expatriate Assignment Checklist Part 2 – Assignment Planning

Posted on April 26, 2012 by | 3 comments

Author:
Warren Heaps – Birches Group LLC

This is the second part of a five-part series, where we present checklists to help international HR professionals plan and manage long-term international assignments. There are five stages we identified for long-term assignment management:

International Assignment Stages

Click to Enlarge

In part one of this series, we looked at candidate assessment, selection and approval. In this installment, we will examine Assignment Planning.

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Posted in Expatriate Taxation, Global Mobility Services, Immigration

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Salary Survey Insanity in Small Markets – Are You Looking for the Wrong Data?

Posted on March 22, 2012 by | 6 comments

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:

  • Not enough employers in my sector
  • Insufficient job matches for my company
  • Volatile results from year to year
  • Gaps in coverage, with a lack of information for specific levels

There are lots more, but you get the idea.

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6 Comments

Posted in Compensation, Developing Markets, Global HR Expertise

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How to Make Cross-Cultural Training Effective

Posted on February 16, 2012 by | 5 comments

Guest Author:
Nathalie-Michèle Sylvain – Transitaré

[Editor’s Note:  It is with pleasure we welcome Nathalie-Michèle Sylvain as a Guest Author. Nathalie-Michèle is based in Montreal, Canada, where she specializes in candidate and family assessment, expatriate support and intercultural management training. She regularly participates in global conferences and has been an invited speaker for cross-cultural topics at some of these conferences as well as at Canadian universities.]

A lot is said about cross-cultural training for international assignments. Some argue that it is very important and should be done prior to departure, others claim in should be done at the host country and others still doubt the value of cross-cultural training all together. But we tend to forget that the effectiveness of a cross-cultural training depends more on its content than on its timing. So what makes a good and effective cross-cultural training program?

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Posted in Cross Cultural Insights, Expatriate Recruitment, Expatriate Selection, Expatriates, International Assignee Recruitment, International Assignee Selection, Repatriation

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Permanent Establishment and the International Assignee

Posted on February 3, 2012 by | 4 comments

Chris HallGuest 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.

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4 Comments

Posted in Expatriate Taxation, Expatriates, Global HR Expertise, International Employment Law, International Payroll

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