Corp! Magazine
Repost from: Corpmagazine.com September/ October, 2010
Read what advice Tom Hanson, Global LT Senior Vice President of Sales, gives to companies in the September/October issue of Corp! Magazine about preparing their employees for a global move.
The word “difficult” doesn’t do justice to the intense planning, training, education, paperwork and every one of at least 500 details involved in relocating employees — and oftentimes their family — from one country to another.
Planning should be at least six months in advance when the relocation of employees is in place. One such company many businesses call on for help is Global LT in Troy. It provides training programs to the employee and his or her family to learn the language and culture so they are most prepared when they arrive at the new location.
Tom Hanson, a senior vice president of sales at Global LT, says it’s a very involved process to train an employee and his or her family in a new language and culture.
When a company plans to send employees to another country, it should complete an assessment or selection process to create a pool of potential candidates to run or manage the overseas operation.
Depending on how many employees need to be relocated, the selection process can take several days or weeks. Not all employees will be qualified for the specific overseas position, and some who are qualified may not be interested in relocating.
“But once the final list of employees is finished, we meet with them at their home or office to begin a one- or two-day culture-training program, helping them become aware of the differences in home and business,” Hanson says “We provide as many hours of language training here, and because we’re in over 60 countries, we are able to meet up with them again in their new location and provide more training.”
Global LT has worked with Ford Motor Co., Coca-Cola, Chrysler, Lear, American Axle, Team Detroit (formerly J. Walter Thompson Advertising) and other national and international companies.
“There definitely are unique challenges to this process when you combine the personality of the participants moving, the stress of relocating from one country to another and the differences in culture and communication styles,” Hanson says.
Doug Krizanic, a senior partner at the Detroit office of Deloitte Tax LLP, in the Global Employers Services Group, provides international tax and compensation consulting to multinational companies and their employees on international assignment.
He also teaches a seminar at the University of Michigan that makes students aware of what’s involved in managing a global work force. But it boils down to needed skill sets and structuring compensation packages for those employees going abroad or coming to the U.S.
“In the old days, a Detroit company would hire people from the area, but some companies now are doing global searches. Additionally, when they want to send someone abroad, there are housing issues to sort out. Apartment rental prices vary from country to country, and the matter of base income with goods and services added to that make an entirely different income package,” Krizanic says.
Aside from learning language, culture and complying with the many tax codes, the matter of immigration laws must be strictly followed.
“No expatriate assignment can start if the employee can't enter the host country. The process is becoming far more complex on a global basis,” says Scott F. Cooper, a partner with the Troy office of global immigration law firm Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy LLP.
“Immigration compliance is critical not only for the employee and dependents but also for the employer to avoid penalties ranging from fines to prosecution or debarment from visa programs.”
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