international remote working. There is also a very mixed picture with regard to when and where remote working is supported. International experience is highly
valued by employees. It is seen as a tool to achieve career development as well as broadening professional and personal skills. Gaining international experience is therefore a key motivator for the most talented individuals. If organisations are able to offer international remote work or facilitate those volunteering for international experience, it is likely to improve employee engagement and act as an attractive prospect for employees looking to join an organisation by offering career growth. Organisations therefore need
“ If organisations wish to use international remote working as a means to attract, retain and motivate, some employer support will be necessary.”
(although the percentage of firms providing this support is limited to 27% and 18% respectively). AirInc. finds that 44% of firms state that the employee is responsible for paying any additional tax costs and 40% say similarly for immigration costs/documentation. It is also very clear from the survey that very few companies meet any other costs associated with remote working internationally – for example 79% do not pay for flights, 89% do not pay per diems, 85% do not pay for housing, and 76% do not pay for medical costs.
TALENT IMPLICATIONS These statistics are somewhat surprising. Organisations appear to be saying that they wish to encourage the attraction, retention and motivation of talent and know that this can
* Download the ‘International Remote Work Benchmark Survey, AirInc., 2023’ here.
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be achieved through providing international
remote work
opportunities and yet very little support is given in policy for those who do wish to undertake
to balance out employee requests to live in locations that differ from their employment base and the compliance ramifications that flow from this with their desire to offer a competitive talent strategy to attract and retain skilled individuals. Looking ahead, this raises a
conundrum for organisations. On the one hand, organisations wish to grow and develop career opportunities for their employees and they want to be seen as an employer of choice to attract the best talent from across the world. On the other hand, there appears currently to be very little in the way of a trend developing as to how organisations can best facilitate this talent strategy.
GLOBAL MOBILITY’S ROLE The Global Mobility function lies at the heart of international working. It stands to reason that Global Mobility needs to consider how best to devise policies that provide the best balance between supporting employees’ desire to benefit from international remote work and meeting business needs in a cost effective and compliant manner. In order to consider how best to
do this, Global Mobility might turn to its existing international assignment policy suite to decide if anything that it currently holds on the stocks is suitable to support international remote working. Options might include using the volunteer assignment policy or potentially elements from the international one- way move policy. Such approaches
though are likely to present only a piecemeal approach, which might not provide equity among the group of individuals wishing to take part in international remote work. A better solution is to devise a formal policy for international remote work, reflecting the voluntary nature of such requests. In any such policy, it makes
sense to ensure that compliance issues are covered and, if employees are to be productive and successful in their assignments, consideration might also be given to appropriate training as well as health and wellbeing issues. Consideration should also be given to other aspects of the assignment policy, including travel and housing. Care needs to be taken to ensure that any benefits given reflect the fact that such international remote work is undertaken on a voluntary basis. Organisations tend to view
volunteers undertaking international assignments as having less bargaining power to demand full relocation packages. This is likely to be the approach taken in devising any policy to support voluntary international remote work. Yet, if organisations wish to use international remote working as a means to attract, retain and motivate, some employer support will be necessary, formalised via policy provision, to demonstrate the organisation’s commitment to providing career opportunities via this form of international experience.
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