AIRINC (Associates for International Research, Inc.)

During the recent APAC Online Summit hosted by FEM, AIRINC's Vice President Asia Pacific, Fred Schlomann, provided a wide-ranging interview on Virtual Assignments. 

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.

We get a lot of inquiries about how to localize expats that have been on assignment for several years. We define localizing as the process of moving an employee from an assignment package to local pay, terms, and conditions. Ideally, the localized employee’s package matches what local employees receive.

With the prospect of “working from anywhere” increasingly becoming a reality, a key question to answer for many people will be: “If I can do my job from anywhere in the world, where is the best place for me to live?”

In these challenging times, companies are being faced with exceptional circumstances. One of these exceptional circumstances is when the assignee is packed to go on assignment but the assignment is cancelled last minute. Companies will typically pay for the costs directly linked to the relocation, such as shipment and medical expenses, but what about incidental costs?

With some basic employee information, and a few clicks, you can create a real-time cost estimate quickly and easily! No need to spend days waiting on an estimate!

Accurately forecasting the cost of all your assignments for the upcoming year can be a stressful task, especially when finance and the executive committee pushes back on large variances between your budget and reality.

As you seek to reduce administration and increase employee flexibility through cash allowances you need a way to calculate those allowances.

Are you being challenged to cut costs while maintaining a global workforce? Are you accurately estimating your costs, budgeting, and accrual to meet your budget goals for the upcoming year?