AIRINC (Associates for International Research, Inc.)

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:

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?”

Are you using engaging videos and digital media to communicate with your assignees and their managers? Videos quickly and clearly communicate expectations and complex concepts like tax or COLA [Cost of Living Allowance].

As indicated in our recent survey on the impact of COVID-19 on global mobility, many companies have repatriated their assignees given work stoppage and/or safety concerns in the host locations. As a result, some of these assignees are now back to their pre-assignment home country arrangement, including their home benefit plans.

WorldatWorld pulished a recent article from AIRINC's President and CEO, Steve Brink. In this article, Brink discusses the changing equation of Total Rewards and the key ways to attract, retain, and enhance talent as our world continues to fasttrack business modernity during the sweeping COVID-19 pandemic. 

The function responsible for moving employees across borders and ensuring that they arrive at their work location safely and legally is mostly called the Global Mobility function. In 2020, is this still the right term? Over the past decade, the function has grown, becoming more strategic and taking on many new or expanded responsibilities, including:

AIRINC is looking forward to exhibiting at the upcoming WorldatWork Virtual Conference & Exhibition: 2020 Total Resilience. The conference will run for nine weeks and starts on Wednesday, July 8th. 

Jeremy Piccoli and I joined a panel discussion during the Leaders in Global Mobility 2020 conference on June 23rd. We were joined by tax specialists Graeme McLean, Group Head of Employment Tax and Global Mobility at Sage and Preetam Kerai, International Employment Tax Lead of Centrica. Our tax panel discussion was moderated by Brian Friedman of Benivo.