How does a UK HR generalist become an international HR expert? Alan Marshall, managing director of Global HR Consultants, explains that while the world continues to shrink as businesses expand into Europe via the EU expansion or globally as India and China become increasingly attractive and competitive, HR will be faced with many new challenges.

This includes managing employees and particularly expatriates who tend to be the pioneers of a new start up or joint venture overseas.

Alan Marshall, managing director, Global HR Consultants

A recent client is expanding internationally and like many others sees the Far East as an attractive proposition and is sending out a general manager to start up the business there.

When this HR manager asked for a typical checklist and narrative of what is entailed, an eight page response was produced highlighting the areas for consideration, some mandatory such as immigration and taxation, and some softer items such as cultural training and language skills.

The checklist actually has 43 individual items and shocked the HR manager concerned who suddenly had to become an international HR manager overnight. 

Summary of expatriate factors to consider:

• Search and selection: a failed assignment is very expensive so selecting the right candidate is essential
• The candidate’s family is just as important so it goes much further than technical job skills - you need to consider the suitability of a family unit to cross cultures and abiity to adapt
• Immigration approval is the most important aspect and may take time
• What do you pay an expatriate? A whole range of compensation items need to be considered such as base salary, bonuses, cost of living, hardship, danger pay, assignment incentives
• Taxation is a complex element with both countries concerned requiring various filing of returns etc
• Getting an employee and their family to the host location requires air freight and sea freight shipments, storage, housing implications both at home and in the host country
• At the host location vehicles and maybe a driver will be required, educational and medical facilities will be very important - cultural familiarisation training is money well spent
• Home country pensions needs to be maintained
• Repatriation – reversing everything has its complications too

Starting point

The start point of all this is a company philosophy and policy that lays out clearly the organisation's intentions and commitments to its expatriate employees. Vendor selection is also very important and provides the HR generalist with the expertise required, but only when they need it, thus managing the cost.

The solution

Use an international HR specialist who has:

• the knowledge and experience to be able to write policies to suits individual business needs
• to counsel and advise employees and their families
• to source and manage appropriate vendors in this highly specialised area of Human Resources Management.

For more information:
Contact Alan Marshall

Further reading:
Management guide: Search & Selection | expatriates