EMPLOYEE BENEFITS
INTERNATIONAL PAY AND BENEFITS:
Responsible rewards
Tighter legislation, corporate governance and public scrutiny are putting international and executive pay and benefi ts under the spotlight as never before. Ruth Holmes spoke to experts from the 2015 Executive Compensation & Benefi ts Summit in Rome to fi nd out more.
A
s well absorbing legislative developments, such as April 2015’s changes to the treatment of share options for internationally mobile employees, remuneration professionals are innovating
to deal with arguably less tangible, but equally important, issues. So, while international pay and benefits play a key part in attracting
and retaining a more diverse expatriate population, there is also demand for more robust corporate governance and responsibility, stronger links to return on investment, and fairness. “The increase in regulations and scrutiny from society at large for
executives has significantly increased the potential reputational and legal implications for both the executives and the company,” comments Janet Visbeen, a PwC partner for executive reward and speaker at the European Networking Group’s (ENG) September 2015 Executive Compensation & Benefits Summit in Rome, focusing on innovation in executive compensation for talent recruitment and retention. “Traditionally, the increased risk profile provides pressure to increase
the reward packages offered to executives. In the current environment, this is a too-simplistic approach that only fuels the debate on executive pay. “Companies are taking the opportunity to reconsider what the
required competencies are of executives and executive teams to minimise these risks, for both the executive and the company, in their search for new leadership. We are moving more to collaborative
management styles and clarity on corporate values. “For leadership, this means that more focus is placed on
accountability, simplicity and discipline in the company’s working practices. This requires companies to be more globally aligned on strategy and vision, with more empowerment at the business level – think global, act local.”
International policies – the direction of travel Simon Patterson, managing director of executive compensation
consulting firm Pearl Meyer, London, and speaker on the realities of pay governance, remarks, “One of the most important trends in remuneration governance today is the sharing of best-practice ideas between countries and cultures. Some countries, including Sweden and the UK, may be focused on transparency, while others, like Switzerland, are less so, but most countries think about the linkage of performance to corporate strategy in the same manner.” Indeed, on the ground, Mercer’s 2012 Worldwide Survey of
International Assignment Policies and Practices reported that 57 per cent of employers surveyed had a single global assignment policy. Mercer also found that the number of companies introducing at least some policy tiers continued to increase, reflecting the balance between local and global.
18 | Re:locate | Autumn 2015
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