AIRINC (Associates for International Research, Inc.)

Below is a selection of government tax responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. These highlights are part of AIRINC's recent Data Points publication and are only a few of the many global changes that we are tracking on a daily basis.

Despite the current restrictions on travel, the shift of responsibility for business travellers into the domain of Global Mobility is continuing unabated.

The impact of COVID-19 on the Beijing and Guangzhou rental markets is somewhat similar. When new international assignees were restricted from entering the cities, the demand for expatriate-quality housing dropped and rents became more negotiable, like many other large business hubs across Asia.

I’ve been thinking a lot about connectivity lately as the world adapts to online meetings, doctor appointments, family gatherings, and every other life event.

The scenarios are eerily similar: Onlookers filming an initial explosion and fire, before a more severe explosion and shockwave sends them running and knocks them off their feet. Ammonium nitrate. Dangerous storage at an industrial port.

Warning: Links in this story contain graphic images and video. On August 4th around 6pm local time, Lebanon’s capital city of Beirut was rocked by a series of explosions in the port area of the city. The shaking from the second and largest explosion was equivalent to a 3.3-magnitude earthquake, and there are reports that it was heard and felt as far away as Cyprus, 240km away.

Did you know 57% of companies pay a per diem to cover meals & incidentals for commuters? AIRINC recently published its 2020 Commuter Assignments Benchmark Survey, which found these other interesting facts:

Prior to the current pandemic, a 2018 study by GlobalWorkplaceAnalytics.com highlighted that just 3.6% of the United States labor force worked remotely 50% or more of the time. 

Martin is a dislocated assignee, working for the German government on sustainable agriculture projects onsite in Addis Ababa. In late March, fearing civil unrest and a medical system unable to cope with COVID-19, he returned to his home in Kent two days before the U.K. lock-down went into effect. Now, three months later, he is preparing for his return to Ethiopia.

For many, remote work has proven to be sustainable and successful. This has resulted in companies looking to position a distributed workforce as part of their employee value proposition. These organizations offer a combination of: