Managing a Global Workforce

international assignee

An employee who is being reassigned to an international jurisdiction

"expatriate"

An expatriate, or expat, was an employee from an organization's home country assigned to relocate to an international jurisdiction for an extended period of time, generally two or more years.

Strategic-Systematic

Approach global assignments as long-term investments. Develop future executives with essential global perspectives and experiences to formulate and implement competitive strategies. Increase the effectiveness of critical coordination and control functions between and among the home office and foreign operations. Effectively disseminate information, technology, and values throughout the worldwide organization.

Tactical-Reactive

Approach global assignments as short-term expenses. Focus on a quick-fix approach to a short-term problem in a foreign operation. Randomly and haphazardly perform some functions of assignments and focus attention as problems arise. Fail to systematically integrate the worldwide organization in terms of values, technology, products, and brand.

HR Support During an International Assignment

Assist assignees in obtaining a host-country tax ID number. Assist assignees in obtaining a driver's license. Coordinate assistance with bank accounts and credit cards in the host country. Perform host-country orientation. Review and approve host-country housing leases and issue security deposits. Update allowances and deductions as conditions change in the host country. Process and track required tax payments. Collect compensation and tax data that is needed for home-country reports. Coordinate emergency leaves and visits to the home country. Communicate regularly with the assignee's home-country mentor(s). Begin active repatriation efforts at least six months before the assignment ends. Process visa and work permit renewals and extensions.

Automation

Automation has been a factor in business for decades, but as technology advances, the opportunities for automation grow. Advances in artificial intelligence and machine learning technology also have made certain aspects of work more efficient and effective. These advances have allowed organizations to be more nimble in the face of changing requirements and/or crises.

Outsourcing

(sometimes referred to as "contracting out") is a practice where a company transfers portions of work (for example, processes or production) to outside suppliers rather than completing it internally.

Stage 2: Management and Assignee Decision

- Analysis of the costs and benefits of the assignment: Global assignments, like other major organizational investments, must produce specific and quantifiable benefits to justify their funding and execution. - Preparation of the assignment plan: The global assignment plan guides the assignment process and clarifies both the organization's and the assignee's expectations of the assignment situation. The global letter of assignment is a key document that evolves from the assignment plan. - Candidate acceptance or rejection of the assignment offer

Strategic Approaches to Globalization

-Create a new entity -Acquisitions & Mergers -Use alliance or partnership -Outsourcing (send tasks to supplier abroad) -Offshoring (move existing capability to new location)

The Role of Global HR

-Help create the organization's global strategy. -Align HR processes and activities with that strategy. -Enhance communication between the organization and its stakeholders. -Ensure that HR can fulfill its role and demonstrate its value. -Adapt to the cultural and legal contexts of each area of the global organization.

Stage 3: Pre-Departure Preparation

-visas and work permits: Time is a critical factor in two senses—first, the organization must plan for how long it will take to obtain the necessary documents; second, the organization must be aware of any time restrictions (expiration dates) on the visa and/or permit. -security briefings: There are two important aspects of a security briefing: (1) personal and family safety abroad and (2) business aspects of security, including physical and intangible threats to the organization's employees, assets, and intellectual property. -cross-cultural counseling: A preliminary situation and needs assessment. A country overview and information on everyday life. A business overview. Personal cultural awareness activities. Discussion of family and international relocation issues. Country-specific case studies. A customized and detailed support and settling-in program.

Global Assignment Process

1) Assessment & Selection 2) Mgmt & Assignee Decision 3) Pre-Departure Preparation 4) On Assignment 5) Completing the Assignment

Centers of Excellence

A COE is a team made up of individuals with specialized skills, expertise, and knowledge. They are tasked with developing strategic services and capabilities. They do this by providing leadership, disseminating their specialized knowledge across the organization, and gathering information and feedback to improve processes and capabilities.

Globalization Time Line: 1944

Bretton Woods Agreement: The first fully negotiated multilateral trade accord; considered the start of modern global commerce.

Remote Teams challenges

Communication: Dispersed teams present a number of challenges when it comes to planning communications—most commonly, languages, technological constraints, and time zones. Engagement: Remote team members can feel disconnected from the work and the wider team. Building trust: Trust is essential to the proper and effective functioning of any team, but it can be difficult to build trust between geographically scattered teams. Alignment: Team members need to be on the same page with regard to understanding their individual and organizational goals, their roles within the team, the resources available to them, and the organization's expectations in relation to personal interactions.

Buisness travel plans common components:

Communication: The plan should include procedures for communicating the necessary contents of the plan and procedures to all relevant stakeholders. Legal considerations: The plan should include information on the legal considerations related to business travel. Duty of care: This duty begins before the travel takes place and can be incorporated into the orientation procedures. HR has to ensure that proper care is taken of traveling employees, ensuring that they have access to the resources they need to facilitate comfortable, productive, and safe business trips. Compliance checks: The plan should include checks to ensure that the traveling employee is adhering to the organization's travel policies, visa obligations, and local laws. Travel reviews: The plan should include post-travel reviews to confirm that travel policies and requirements were followed and also to assess whether the employee was provided with appropriate and relevant resources and information.

HR Due Diligence for Moving Work

Cost and quality: - Wage structure relative to other options, Tax structure, Real estate, Infrastructure (examples include telecommunications networks, transportation, energy) Sociopolitical environment: Government receptivity, amount of regulation, Ethical environment of political and business communities, Quality of life, Accessibility Risk levels: Political and labor unrest, Natural disasters, IT security, Personal and property security, intellectual property rights, Economic stability, including fluctuations in currency exchange value, Regulatory stability Talent pool: Language and cultural differences, Size of labor force with required skills, Size of offshore sector and share of exports, Availability of vendors for specific services, such as IT

Offshoring Risks and Challenges

Cultural differences. Distance issues (for example, different time zones and getting remote teams to work together). High turnover rates. Problems in quality control. Technical degrees that do not reliably indicate actual technical skills. Language issues. Intellectual property loss. Impaired productivity due to political instability. Loss of reputation from unethical behavior or practices of local management.

Global Assignee Assessment and Selection

Develop the selection criteria: - Develop specific selection criteria for the assignment. - Create a potential global assignee talent pool. Involve the right people: - Identify and contact candidates from the pool. - Involve the candidates' spouses, significant others, and family members, as appropriate and legally permissible. Choose the best selection methods and tools: - Develop multiple data-gathering instruments: - Conduct interviews and ensure that surveys are completed. Complete the assessment/ make a recommendation: - Analyze data. - Schedule subsequent rounds of interviews and assessment sessions, as required. - Make the final recommendation and selection.

Global Crises affected parts

Economics: Although the recession of 2009 began in the U.S. financial industry (in 2008), by 2009 it had become a sharp global economic downturn that affected developed and, to an even stronger degree, developing economies. Climate change: Changes due to rising levels of carbon dioxide and other gases do not recognize political borders. The trend has been toward recognition of climate change and acceptance of some of its causes. Economies have been acting individually and as groups to respond. Pandemics: Like epidemic, pandemic refers to a contagious infectious or viral illness that spreads. Unlike an epidemic, a pandemic is not limited to one specific geographic region. Changes in governmental power: When the controlling party of a government changes, the new party may work to enact new policies concerning things like economics, trade, and immigration.

Global integration (GI)

Emphasizes consistency of approach, standardization of processes, and a common corporate culture across global operations

Perlmutter's Four Multinational Corporation Orientations

Ethnocentric - Headquarters maintains tight control over subsidiaries, who are expected to follow the strategic pattern, values, policies, and practices expressed by headquarters. - There is "one best way." - Management will usually share a common ethnic background, different from the ethnic make-up of subsidiaries. Polycentric - Subsidiaries are allowed a large measure of independence as long as they are profitable. - They may plot their own paths based on the business and cultural contexts of their countries - .There are "many best ways." Regiocentric - Subsidiaries are grouped into regions (such as Europe, North America, or Asia-Pacific). - Strategic coordination is high within the region but not as high between the region and headquarters. Geocentric - Subsidiaries are neither satellites taking orders nor independent bodies setting their own course. Headquarters and subsidiaries are participants in a network, each contributing its unique expertise. - There is essentiall

2002

Euro: Euro replaces most European Union (EU) member currencies.

Process Alignment

Extent to which underlying operations such as IT, finance, or HR integrate across locations. Example: Business where units have a common platform: - Single technology used in all locales. - Same business performance metrics in all locales. - Unified HR systems in place in all locales Businesses built through acquisitions often have separate processes; tendency is for each unit to operate independently and retain many of its original practices.

Identity Alignment

Extent to which: - diversity is embraced in management of people, products/services, and branding. - Differences among locations are embraced. - Product/service offerings and brand identity may be adjusted to accommodate local cultures. Example: Global fast-food chains offer localized menu options in addition to standard menu items. Unless corporate brand is well-established, localized offerings may dilute brand. Local approaches may diffuse core identity.

1989

Fall of the Berlin Wall: Free market economics flourishes as communism and Soviet-style economic systems collapse.

1990

First web page posted on Internet: Marks the start of today's hyperconnected global community.

Global Forces considerations

Global forces require careful analysis: HR should strive to understand which globalization events, forces, and trends are significant for a given organization and for HR responsibilities within that organization. Global forces should be viewed in terms of their connections: HR should understand the unique ways in which each significant global force, event, or trend is affecting: - The parent organization's home office and its various subsidiary or host countries. - Its industry and competitive landscape. Global forces have unique cultural connections: While the effects of a given globalization force are global, their impact may be uniquely felt by different cultures, industries, and organizations.

2012

Global shift in FDI: Foreign direct investment flows into developing economies exceed flows to developed countries for first time.

Types of Global Assignments

Globalists: Spend their entire careers in international assignments, moving from one locale to another. Local hires: Hired locally in subsidiary countries (and are also known as HCs, host-country nationals). Short-term assignees: On assignment for less than a year but more than a few weeks, often without moving the family. International assignees: Traditional expatriates on full relocation assignments lasting from one to three years. Commuters: Travel across a country border for work regularly. Just-in-time expatriates: Ad hoc or contract workers hired for a single assignment.

2005

Google Maps launched: Provides readily accessible and interactive maps and other information to both individuals and organizations.

2006

Google Translate launched: Helps break down language barriers, allowing for some growth in collaboration and greater culture sharing and understanding.

Stage 4: On Assignment

Honeymoon Culture shock Adjustment Mastery

Understanding the level and type of allegiance of a potential assignee may help the organization:

Identify and recruit the individual who will be most successful in a particular type of global assignment. Acquaint the assignee with the ways their allegiance may be challenged and the stresses they may encounter. Anticipate repatriation and support any unique needs the assignee may have.

Competition

Increased competition can have both positive and negative impacts on peoples' lives. On the one hand, it can offer access to new markets, ideas, and products as well as greater mobility for workers and capital. On the other hand, it can lead to greater outsourcing, which can have downward pressure on wages in an organization's home country.

1984

Introduction of Apple Macintosh: Turning point in the popularization of the personal computer (and in the merging of work life and personal life).

Common reasons for offshoring include:

Lower costs (for example, lower wages, less expensive facilities). Closer proximity to necessary production resources. More favorable economic climate for corporate taxation. Financial incentives (for example, direct cash payments, low-interest loans).

Schell and Solomon's Management Knowledge Guidelines

Managers should know as much as possible about: - The country or countries to which they are sending assignees. - Essential developmental assignments and experiences. - The specific job function and assignment objectives and what effects the assignment location will have on these factors. - The process of cross-cultural adjustment to anticipate the feelings the assignee may experience. - Cultural dimensions and the effect these dimensions have on the way different cultures look at life. - Potential problem areas associated with the assignment.

Push Factors

New markets - When domestic market opportunities are exhausted, organizations look overseas for new customers and opportunities. Cost pressures and competition - Globalization has become a way to cut costs and maintain profitability—for example, through offshoring for labor or to move production closer to markets. Natural resources and talent supply - Sometimes it is more economical to relocate operations closer to new sources of necessary resources. Government policies - Relocation may be due to burdensome laws or regulations or may exploit opportunities only available in other markets/regions. Trade agreements - When foreign competitors gain access to domestic markets, local firms are compelled to expand their markets elsewhere. Globalized supply chain - Organizations might discover that following a client or customer overseas makes more business sense than maintaining domestic or existing production/facilities.

Diversity

People are coming into contact with a greater diversity of ideas, cultures, methodologies, and business partners. As global trade relations have become more substantial, so too have cultural exchanges increased and organizational change accelerated. As other countries emerge as major players on the global stage (for example, China and India), they have been able to exert certain pressures and preferences on how organizations operate globally. Greater diversity (and competition) has also increased the need for training and coaching, especially cross- cultural training.

Global integration can be achieved in multiple ways:

People: A focus on alignment helps to ensure that decisions made locally reflect the global perspective. Processes: Standardized processes, supported by technology that enables communication and transparency, support organizational control over strategic parts of the value chain. Performance: Performance targets and rewards are defined from a global perspective. This creates greater control over organizational activity and also helps avoid potential conflicts between individual performance objectives—for example, sales targets in one region that will damage efforts in other regions. Culture: Shared visions and values prepare members of the organization to make everyday decisions in a manner that is consistent with a global identity.

Successful global organization as one that can "effectively leverage and capitalize upon [its] global footprint" by incorporating four structural/strategic components:

Physical dispersion—the organization operates in multiple countries Diversity of thought, people, and culture that is actively leveraged by a strategic objective Unified through a clear single organizational identity Global for a reason; self-aware of their global reach and leveraging geographic and cultural diversity to achieve success as they have defined it

1994

Ratification of NAFTA: North American Free Trade Agreement becomes part of a wave of trade agreements encouraging and simplifying global commerce.

2008

Recession: Global recession begins.

Communications

The Internet in particular but also advances in mobile technology have connected the world as never before. Organizations are no longer bound by national borders or physical proximity when it comes to seeking out top talent or collaboration. Advances in communications have also increased the pace of work.

Stage 5: Completing the Assignment

Repatriation involves reintegrating the employee back into the home country after an international assignment. It includes adjustment to the new job and readjustment to the home culture and conditions (including any potential reverse culture shock). Redeployment does not always involve repatriation. An assignee's next assignment can be back in the home country, in a different global location, or in a new location or new position in the current host country.

1996

Smartphones: First smartphone introduced by Nokia.

General practices that all HR professionals should follow in order to better navigate any immigration requirements they may face:

Stay connected: HR professionals should ensure that they keep abreast of any news, changes, and developments in immigration and global employment regulations. Track employees: It is important for all organizations to have a system for tracking their employees' immigration status and their location. Conduct self-audits: HR should commit to periodically auditing its own processes and practices and also examining the experience of employees who are working with visas, are overseas, and so forth Consider legal advice: In some circumstances, immigration law might be opaque. In these cases, it is worthwhile to hire outside counsel to avoid future costs from complications, mistakes, delays, or other pitfalls.

Pull Factors

Strategic control - A multinational presence can give an organization greater control over its business (production, branding, sector consolidation, etc.). Government policies - National policies that promote economic expansion (for example, China's "Going Out" policy)—could include tax incentives, special financing terms, or investor risk insulation. Trade agreements - These agreements can open markets and promote workforce mobility; they can also lower risks by enforcing laws, regulations, and treaties (for example, intellectual property protections).

2016

TPP: Discussions on the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement cause impacts—even before the agreement is formalized and accepted internationally— and HR departments have to respond and prepare. Brexit: An abbreviation of "British exit"—June 2016 referendum by British voters to exit the EU. The referendum roils global markets and currencies; the British pound falls to its lowest level in decades. At this writing, Brexit continues to unfold.

2018

Tariffs: Following a national election in the United States, tariffs are rapidly announced and begin to be implemented. This causes a chain reaction of tariffs throughout the global trade market, which requires rapid responses by organizations. General Data Protection Regulation (EU privacy law): The enactment of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in the EU, which regulates how user data is stored and used within the EU, causes a cascade effect for organizations with a multinational presence. Even though it is enforced only within the EU, many organizations change their policies in every country to ensure compliance with the law's regulations.

2003- 2005

Tech companies: Formation of LinkedIn, YouTube, and Facebook; Google's IPO; and Apple's introduction of the iPhone. Global interconnection increases.

Evans, Pucik, and Björkman have described the strengths of local responsiveness as:

The ability to respond to local customer needs (for example, the tailoring of a global fast-food menu to reflect local tastes) or the demands of local distribution (for example, temperature sensitivity, unit sizes, packaging). Efficiency gained from using local substitutes (for example, a transnational food and beverage company varies the content of its infant cereal products by region: wheat in Europe, soy in Asia). The ability to remain compliant with local laws and regulations (for example, hours of operation, marketing strategies).

The attractiveness of each strategy depends on many factors, including:

The enterprise's core strategic goals. Its capabilities and resources, both economic and organizational. The distances (physical, cultural, legal, sociopolitical) that the enterprise will have to bridge.

Author Thomas L. Friedman views globalization in terms of the extent and accelerating speed of integration, defining it as:

The inevitable integration of markets, nation-states and technologies to a degree never witnessed before—in a way that is enabling individuals, corporations and nation-states to reach around the world farther, faster, deeper and cheaper than ever before and in a way that is enabling the world to reach into individuals, corporations and nation-states farther, faster, and deeper, cheaper than ever before.

Offshoring

The practice of relocating processes or production to another country.

Push and Pull Factors for Globalization

These reasons tend to fall into categories of "pushes" and "pulls." Organizations may have been pushed toward globalization in reaction to changes in the business environment. They may have been pulled toward change through the promise of achieving greater organizational value through globalization.

Upstream and Downstream Strategies

Upstream - Decisions are made at the organization's headquarters level. - Decisions apply to strategy and coordination and focus on standardization of processes and integration of resources. - Strategies for: - Workforce alignment - Organizational development - Sharing of knowledge and experience Downstream - Decisions are made at the local level. - Decisions aim at adapting strategic goals and plans to local realities—in other words, local responsiveness. - Strategies for: - Agreements with local workforce groups - Adjustments to standard policies on working conditions to reflect local cultural practices (for example, holidays and break times) - Adjustments based on local legal requirements

Effective International Assignment Management Checklist

Use additional selection criteria (beyond fluency in the host language and technical skills). Make cultural adaptability training for assignee and spouse part of the selection process. Mandate cross-cultural training for assignees and their families to reduce the risk of failed assignments, to manage expectations, and to facilitate adjustment and performance. Ensure that the international assignment policy is clear and specific. Begin repatriation planning and succession management before the assignee leaves the home country and continue it at least one full year before the end of the assignment. Provide repatriation integration training for the assignee and family. Create policies, counseling, and management systems that span the process from pre- departure planning through on- site management to completion and repatriation. During the international assignment, develop and implement ongoing programs that foster and retain intercultural competencies and global knowledge manageme

Guidelines to Enhance Global Assignment Success

View assignments as a process, not an activity. Recognize and consider all dimensions of the assignment experience. Conduct thorough and professional assessments of candidates. Establish and maintain realistic expectations. Provide training. Provide appropriate health and safety support. Provide well-planned, ongoing training and support. Plan, prepare for, and support repatriation with the same care as expatriation. Address problems quickly, thoroughly, and responsively.

Local responsiveness (LR)

emphasizes adapting to the needs of local markets and allows subsidiaries to develop unique products, structures, and systems.

Globalization Strategies

international: A firm exports a product or service to foreign countries. multidomestic: The organization is a decentralized portfolio of subsidiaries. global: The firm views the world as a single global market and offers global products that have little or no national variation or that have been designed with customizable elements. transnational: The firm locates its value chain activities in the most advantageous geographic locations.

Four Drivers of Globalization Strategy

market, cost, governmental, competitive

Near-Shoring

refers to a company contracting a part of its business processes or production to an external company located in a country that is relatively close (for example, within its own region). For example, U.K. businesses might near-shore to Eastern Europe, or U.S. businesses might near-shore to Mexico or Canada.

Onshoring

refers to the relocation of business processes or production to a lower-cost location inside the same country as the business. Sometimes called "home-shoring," onshoring can also include the situation where businesses allow employees to work from home.