GLOBAL MOBILITY SOLUTIONS
CONTENTS
HOW TO APPROACH MOBILITY 3
BUILDING EXPATRIATE PACKAGES 4
COST-OF-LIVING INDICES, ALLOWANCES AND REPORTS 5
QUALITY-OF-LIVING AND LOCATION PREMIUMS 6
HOUSING DATA 7
DAILY ALLOWANCES FOR SHORT-TERM ASSIGNMENTS 8
BUSINESS TRAVEL ALLOWANCES 9
OTHER GLOBAL PUBLICATIONS 10
GLOBAL MOBILITY SOFTWARE TOOLS 11
MOBILITY CONSULTING SERVICES 12
BENCHMARKING AND BEST PRACTICES 13
GLOBAL MOBILITY EVENTS 14-15
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In light of these challenges, your talent mobility strategy needs to:
• Support your corporate global business objectives and broader HR strategies
• Attract and retain the right global pool of talent
• Provide appropriate expatriate remuneration
• Maximize your international assignment investment
It has become vital for companies to constantly re-evaluate and evolve their approach to global mobility. With
insights from our worldwide surveys and expertise from across the globe, Mercer can help you with all of these
needs. Mercer’s robust mobility solutions can help you successfully manage globally mobile employees - from
your talent mobility strategy to compensation, benefits, and all the way through to repatriation or localization.
Mercer has developed a variety of information and web-based tools that can help you perform calculations,
generate reports, gather reference information and generally support you in all aspects of managing your
expatriate employees. Utilizing methods that are transparent, globally consistent and financially sound, Mercer’s
data and tools will enable you to design and implement consistent and equitable expatriate compensation
packages. Furthermore, Mercer’s expatriate consulting services and reliable, up-to-date benchmarking data can
help you manage your human resources globally. It will also assist in guiding your remuneration policies to
ensure your organization’s competitiveness in the marketplace.
Mercer is the unsurpassed leader in global mobility across six continents. Working with the world’s
leading organizations, Mercer has offices in 42 countries and territories and more than 25,000 clients
worldwide – making it the only provider of expatriate compensation data with a truly global footprint,
with broader human capital and benefits consulting capabilities. Mercer provides the resources needed
for our clients and our consultants to improve their strategic decision-making capabilities around the
human capital assets of an organization and is the only consulting firm offering clients cross-functional
international mobility expertise in fields such as HR strategy, talent management, international
mobility policies, expatriate compensation, mobility organization and operational management
processes, and international retirement.
HOW TO APPROACH MOBILITY
The face of employee mobility is changing. Economic challenges in the West are putting greater pressure
on Asian markets. There is an increasing presence of foreign talent in Asia, including traditional
expatriates and many on non-traditional packages. At the same time, Asian multinationals are globalizing
rapidly, and forming their own mobility policies and practices which require solid data, information and
insights. Businesses now must deal with increasingly complex issues, such as a new generation of
professionals with different motivators, the need to find ways of reducing costs, and developing more
flexible and aligned international mobility policies.
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BUILDING EXPATRIATE PACKAGES
BALANCE SHEET
The balance sheet approach, originally commercialized by Mercer, retains the expatriate in the home-country salary
program and provides allowances and offsets to enable the expatriate to maintain a standard of living broadly
similar to that enjoyed at home. Salary is analyzed in four main expenditure categories – income taxes, housing,
goods and services, and reserve (savings, investments, etc.).
The goal of the balance sheet comparison is the establishment of compensation while on international assignment
that preserves an individual’s home-country purchasing power. Due to the often significant differences in tax rates,
social security contributions, housing costs and general cost of living between countries, a simple exchange-rate
conversion of gross salary would be meaningless. Therefore, under the balance sheet system, the individual’s
remuneration in the home location is adjusted for any cost-of-living, taxation, and housing cost differences in the
host location.
GLOBAL MOBILITY INFORMATION
MOBILITYGLOBAL
INDICES
EVALUATION
METRICS
LOCATION
MULTINATIONAL
HOME TO HOST
PO
LIT
ICA
L
CALCULATOR
HARDSHIP
DIF
FE
RE
NT
IAL
S
EXPATRIATIONCOMPENSATION
MERCERPASSPORT
QUALITY OF LIVING
COST OF LIVING
ALLOWANCES
PRACTICES
COUNTRY
ASSIGNMENT
APPROACH
BENCHMARK
SU
RV
EY
SFAIRNESS
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COST-OF-LIVING INDICES,ALLOWANCES AND REPORTSTo encourage mobility and to manage your international assignment costs, you need precise information
to calculate fair and objective expatriate compensation packages. Based on more than 200 goods and
services, our semi-annual surveys are conducted by professional researchers in over 400 locations. We
research multiple brands at multiple outlets in each location, where your expatriates can buy goods and
services of international quality.
Expatriated employees will find the prices of goods and services in their host location to be different
from – and often higher than – those in their home location. Mobility managers must be able to take into
consideration continually changing cost-of-living and currency differences among diverse locations and
integrate them into fair, workable, transparent, cost-efficient compensation packages.
THE BENEFIT OF TWO APPROACHES
To help you find the optimal solution, Mercer offers two distinct ways to compare costs:
NATIONALITY-SPECIFIC APPROACH The Mercer ORC nationality-specific cost-of-living
approach develops cost-of-living indices and
differentials based on the unique spending patterns in
a base home country. By using a different weighting for
each market basket item based on the unique cultural
aspects of each home country, it ensures that
expatriates can maintain their home country
expenditure patterns in their host locations.
This approach compares prices in the home country
from a local-national perspective to prices in the host
city from an expatriate perspective.
MULTINATIONAL APPROACHThe Mercer multinational cost-of-living approach
develops cost-of-living indices and differentials based
on a blended international spending pattern. This
methodology assumes a convergence of spending
patterns among expatriates of companies employing a
variety of expatriates with complex assignment
patterns and from many different nationalities. With
weighting of goods and services the same for all
nationalities, this approach results in allowances based
solely on a comparison of prices in the home and host
location, while eliminating differences in allowances
that may occur for assignees of different nationalities
due to unique cultural preferences and nationality-
specific expenditure patterns.
Mercer can help you decide which approach works
best for both your company and your expatriates.
With price information collected twice a year, Mercer’s
Cost of Living reports include:
• Location-to-location index comparison
• Home country spendable income
• Cost-of-living allowances by income level and family
size
HOME COUNTRY SPENDABLE INCOMESpendable Income represents the typical
amount an employee spends on goods and
services in his/her home country. Used in
conjunction with our Cost of Living indices, they
are the basis of appropriate cost-of-living
allowances. Spendable income data are based
on national consumer expenditure statistics for
major countries. The data is broken down by
income level and family size, from single
employees to couples with four children.
GLOBAL MOBILITY INFORMATION
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QUALITY-OF-LIVING AND LOCATION PREMIUMSFactors such as climate, disease and sanitation standards, ease of communications, and physical
remoteness can often affect the success of a foreign assignment. Moreover, the local political and social
environment, political violence and repression, and crime may give rise to potentially uncomfortable,
inconvenient or even dangerous situations.
Mercer offers two approaches to objectively compensate mobile employees going to difficult assignment
locations. The qualitative and quantitative methods involved in Mercer’s products – the Quality of Living
Report and the Location Evaluation Report – result in a recommended financial incentive that compensates
them for adverse conditions in the host location.
THE BENEFIT OF TWO APPROACHESYour company’s decision to compensate expatriates for difficult conditions can be based on an assessment of
generally accepted standards of living or on an assessment of differences in living conditions between two locations.
LOCATION EVALUATION REPORTS (LER) These reports assess more than 130 locations
worldwide on 14 categories that make up daily life for
expatriates and their families. LERs recommend a
premium for a given location compared to generally
accepted high living standards. Analysts rate the living
conditions in the location and calculate an overall
score, which is then translated into a location-specific
premium as a percentage of salary. The LER results in a
single recommendation for all assignees in the host
location, independent of the assignee’s home location.
QUALITY-OF-LIVING REPORTS (QOL) These reports also rate quality-of-living factors, but
they provide a recommended allowance based on a
comparison to a specific home location. The QOL
calculator lets you compare the quality of living in two
locations, determine a quality-of-living index between
them and translate that index into a premium
expressed as a percentage of salary. The QOL for a
given host city varies, based on the assignee’s home
location.
Customization of reports is also available upon
request, as are reports for nonstandard locations.
Mercer’s global mobility specialists are available
to advise you with further information on Location
Evaluation Reports and Quality of Living Reports.
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GLOBAL MOBILITY INFORMATION
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HOUSING DATA
HOME COUNTRY HOUSING NORMS Mercer has developed Home Country Housing Norm data to enable companies to assess housing cost differentials
between a home and a host location when sending employees on international assignments. Our research involves
gathering and analyzing data based on the latest national statistics on family expenditure patterns in each of the
countries covered. This data provides the normative amounts that employees typically spend on housing in their
home country and can help you determine any employee contribution toward housing costs in the host country.
Data is broken down by income level and family size.
GLOBAL MOBILITY INFORMATION
Housing decisions are emotional and costly. Determining how to compensate and provide for comfortable, safe
accommodations for expatriates and their families can be a complicated process.
EXPATRIATE ACCOMMODATION COST DATAMercer’s Host City Accommodation data helps you determine the housing allowance/budget for your employees
when they are transferred abroad. Monthly rental housing costs are provided for each host location by:
• Type of housing unit (house/apartment, furnished/unfurnished and number of bedrooms)
• Price category of expatriate-preferred neighborhoods
The data can also be supplied in customized formats.
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DAILY ALLOWANCES FOR SHORT-TERM ASSIGNMENTS
Short-term Assignments provide companies with an alternative to long-term assignments for the transfer of skills,
know-how and resources. Changes in technology, travel and communication networks, and other issues, such as
dual career and family concerns, often make Short-term Assignments more attractive.
However Short-term Assignments present new challenges. Employees on short-term assignments are usually not
accompanied by their family, therefore their living costs are different and they cannot be compensated in the same
manner as for long-term assignments. On the other hand, short-term assignments last longer than business trips
and require expenses of a wider nature, such as personal care products, laundry and entertainment.
Mercer provides Short-term Assignment Allowance data that allows your company to grant a daily allowance in a fair
and consistent manner. The data are available for each city covered by our worldwide Cost-of-Living reports, and
are updated twice a year.
The Short-term Assignment Allowance data is designed to provide your company with reliable information relating
to daily living costs on Short-term Assignments.
The Short-term Assignment Allowance includes the following categories with three prices reported (low, medium
and high):
• Meals – food at home and in restaurants
• Laundry and dry cleaning
• Personal care
• Entertainment – cinema, sport club and newspaper
• Transportation
Mercer’s specialists are available for any advice on expatriate compensation and for any assistance you
might need when using Mercer Short-term Assignment Allowances.
GLOBAL MOBILITY INFORMATION
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BUSINESS TRAVEL ALLOWANCEThe Mercer Business Travel Allowance reports provide data to determine daily allowances for international business
travelers in 334 destinations and four key regions: Africa-Middle East, Americas, Asia Pacific and Europe. The
reports contain information on actual hotel and meal rates plus miscellaneous expenses at three budget levels:
high, medium and low.
The reports help:
• Determine daily per diem rates
• Provide reasonable expenditure caps
• Estimate budgets more accurately
• Control costs
The reports provide cost data in the destination currency and the home currency or in any other currencies
required. Reports can be purchased individually or through an annual subscription. Subscribers benefit from
access to the data for all destinations and quarterly updates.
GLOBAL MOBILITY INFORMATION
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OTHER GLOBAL PUBLICATIONSWORLDWIDE BENEFIT & EMPLOYMENT GUIDELINES (WBEG)Keeping track of constant changes in laws and
regulations in every country is time-consuming and
expensive, but you can be confident using this top-
selling, trusted resource. WBEG contains the most
comprehensive and reliable information on
employment conditions, statutory employee benefits
and typical employer benefit practices.
With extensive analysis and narrative reports, WBEG
offers unparalleled quality and is the ultimate reference
for worldwide benefits and employment information.
Offering in-depth benefit updates for 62 countries,
WBEG is available in five easy-to-use volumes for the
major economic regions of the world.
To give you immediate access to benefits information
wherever you have an internet connection, Mercer now
offers the entire set of WBEG benefits reports in an
online version. Your subscription gets you one year of
access to WBEG-Online, where you can quickly access
specific benefits information.
PERSONAL TAX REPORTS
The Mercer Personal Tax Reports are authoritative guides
on income tax and social security requirements in 90
countries worldwide. The reports outline, in simple-to-
easy terms, the country’s tax system and the
implications for both local and expatriate employees.
These reports summarize individual income tax and
social securty liabilities for tax and social charges. The
reports include comprehensive tax tables that show the
effective tax burden on a wide range of salaries for
single persons, married couples and married couples
with more than two children.
GLOBAL MOBILITY HANDBOOKThere is more to an effective international assignment
than just moving an employee from one city to another.
Mercer’s new Global Mobility Handbook gives you the
practical information you need to consider before,
during and after deploying staff around the world.
Available in two volumes, both reports provide insights
into various aspects involved in expatriation, such as
the human resources/administration function, pre-
assignment preparation and moving, pay packages,
budget, cost control and taxes, communication
pointers, family issues, and repatriation.
INTERNATIONAL CAR POLICIESInternational Car Policies is a valuable reference guide
that can help you define new strategies and manage
your company car policy in the most effective way,
making it easy to:
• Highlight differences in car policy practices across key
markets
• Identify cost-saving measures
• Compare your car policy with others in the market
Based on responses from thousands of employers
around the world, the Mercer International Car Policies
guide provides information on typical company car
policies and associated tax regulations.
GLOBAL MOBILITY INFORMATION
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Technology is the cornerstone of an effective employee mobility program. Expatriates represent a
large investment and a source of future leadership. Mercer is able to support businesses by providing
a total assignment cost management tool and support service. Mercer offers an easy-to-use, online
software tool, implemented by our specialists, which is designed to be simple and functional while
providing clarity on all costs associated with performing expatriate compensation calculations.
• Cost-of-Living Index
• Cost-of-Living Allowance
• Expatriate Accommodation Costs
• Balance Sheet Calculator
• Hypothetical Tax Calculator
• Location Premiums
• Short-Term Assignment Allowance
• Spendable Income, Home Housing Norm and
Reserve
WEB-BASED DATA SOLUTIONSMercer’s web-based applications are designed to support you in all aspects of managing your expatriate
employees worldwide. With instant access to data, reports and calculators, you will have the most
sophisticated and easy-to-use global mobility database on the market. Online calculators let users customize
data and expedite delivery of quality information to meet the needs of HR programs, administrators and
employees.
Mercer’s global mobility calculators include:
GLOBAL MOBILITY SOFTWARE TOOLS
GLOBAL MOBILITY TOOLS
EXPATRIATE ADMINISTRATION SOFTWAREMercer, in partnership with Equus Software, a leader in state-of-the-art technology solutions, provides
AssignmentPro™, an international assignment management software system that uses best-in-class
technology to streamline expatriate administration. AssignmentPro™ provides end-to-end automation to
effectively manage all aspects of international assignments. The system houses assignee-related information
in a single easy-to-use format, eliminating the need to outsource expatriate administration.
Some of AssignmentPro’s key features include:
• Easy integration with many HRIS platforms allowing for complete automation of payroll and email systems as
well as employee communications.
• The ability to manage and store documents, such as contracts, securely in a single database.
• Around-the-clock communication with assignees, suppliers and HR staff worldwide via web portals.
• The ability to manage business processes via an automated workflow system.
• Simple calculating and reporting of cost projections, expenses and compensation in multiple currencies.
• Online expense management allowing for automatic notifications of approved expense reports.
MERCERPASSPORT®The MercerPassport® suite of web-based services is a valuable source of reference information that will help
expatriates learn what it’s really like to live in another country. Besides covering the fundamentals of foreign
living, MercerPassport provides insights on costs and availability of essential goods and services in the host
country. It also provides the whole family with a clear understanding of how to appreciate and adapt to life in a
new location, as well as essential, practical guidance about moving abroad and acclimating to a new home.
MercerPassport now also offers Start Guides outlining procedures and requirements for visiting or relocating
to up-and-coming locations in Central Asia, the Middle East and Africa.
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MOBILITY CONSULTING SERVICESInternational assignments are part of a process to create change, improve understanding and develop the
global presence that is needed in the present competitive business climate. Expatriation is synonymous
with new business opportunities, expansion and growth. In order to manage expatriate assignments
successfully in a highly competitive and cost-conscious business environment, Mercer consultants are
able to support you with the services described below.
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CONSULTING & BENCHMARKING
MOBILITY POLICY CONSULTINGWhether your company is creating its first global mobility policy or realigning its program to changing business
needs, talent objectives or industry trends, Mercer can offer complete solutions to ensure your mobility practices
are effective.
First, Mercer clarifies the purpose of the expatriation program within your company and determines whether it is
fulfilling that purpose. Then, Mercer identifies how you can achieve strategic objectives, specifically addressing the
following areas:
RELATED CONSULTING SERVICES Mercer provides a wide range of capabilities relating to mobility, including talent strategy, global leadership
development, labor market analysis and workforce planning, segmentation of the mobile workforce, mobility
training and education, as well as technology and data-related support.
• Defining different types of international assignments
• Relocation policies
• Housing
• Compensation approach
• Expatriation allowances and premiums
• Retirement and healthcare
• Language and cultural training
• Localization and repatriation
• Home leave
• Cost analysis
• Policy implementation and communication
• Dependent education
Our mobility consulting and information solutions are provided as part of Mercer’s Talent, Rewards and
Communication consulting practice, which looks holistically at your organization’s people strategies and
objectives. Only Mercer can provide this in conjunction with mobility data and technology solutions.
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BENCHMARKING AND BEST PRACTICES
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CONSULTING & BENCHMARKING
GLOBAL MOBILITY POLICY BENCHMARKINGCan you prove that your strategy for rewarding and
managing expatriates is working? Are your policies
competitive compared to what your competitors are
doing? Can you document what you need to get
support from other decision makers?
Knowing how other multinational companies are
handling their expatriate workforce around the world is
crucial when designing and building your expatriate
management strategies. It’s important to validate your
company’s competitive position by understanding
evolving trends and improving your market knowledge.
By identifying possible improvements and cost savings,
you will be able to introduce innovative ideas and make
changes to the way your company manages its mobile
workforce in alignment with overall business
objectives.
Mercer is able to help you with comprehensive
benchmarking of your global mobility policy by
providing detailed reports on key expatriate package
elements, allowing you to analyze your existing global
mobility policy and compare against best practices of
global multinational companies representing all
industry sectors.
MERCER SELECT BENCHMARKING
GROUP The Mercer Select Benchmarking Group (SBG) is an
exclusive service offered by invitation only to
companies with the largest and best-run expatriate
assignment programs. The purpose of the SBG is to
provide a comprehensive international assignment
benchmarking resource to companies that recognize
the importance of making data-driven decisions. Over
the past seven years, Mercer’s consulting team has
focused on providing SBG members with the tools to
compare their most critical assignment program
elements with those of other multinationals.
WORLDWIDE SURVEY OF INTERNATIONAL ASSIGNMENT
POLICIES AND PRACTICESAligning your company’s policies and practices with the
marketplace paves the way for successful international
assignment programs for your organization. The
valuable data in this publication, Mercer’s most
encompassing global mobility survey, will help you
develop, modify and customize your expatriate
packages.
• This is the largest survey participant base in the
industry.
• Participants receive a free regional question-by-
question analysis report and executive summary.
• Custom reports are available by industry, by
comparator group and by expatriate population size.
BENEFITS PRACTICES FOR
EXPATRIATES AND GLOBALLY MOBILE
EMPLOYEES This survey, conducted approximately every two
years, offers employers vital information on
benefits practices among multinationals, focused
on health, retirement and life/disability insurance.
Providing these core benefits for globally mobile
talent is difficult due to issues with social security,
disruption of coverage, pre-existing conditions,
funding, regulation and cost issues. Varying
expectations from employees and sensitivity to
local equity make these challenges even more
complex.
This survey addresses these challenges by
highlighting the most prevalent approaches taken
by multinationals and the trends in these practices
over time.
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EXPATRIATE MANAGEMENT TRAINING COURSESMercer has been advising multinational companies on employee mobility issues for more than 30 years. Building
on this knowledge and experience, we have specifically designed expatriate management training courses to assist
HR professionals who have responsibilities in managing expatriates. Mercer offers courses that provide an overview
of the key concepts of international assignment management, as well as further in-depth training and knowledge-
sharing of key trends and challenges in employee mobility. Various dates and locations are available throughout the
year.
LOCAL MOBILITY EVENTSMercer holds global mobility roundtables in various locations throughout the year. These are designed to provide
HR policy-makers and others who manage expatriates an opportunity to network with their peers and learn about
the latest trends and practices. These roundtables vary in duration and cover mobility-related topics. Please contact
your local country consultant for more details.
GLOBAL MOBILITY WEBCASTSJoin Mercer’s global mobility specialists for a series of complimentary webcasts designed to help you optimize your
company’s global workforce while maintaining its competitive advantage. The webcasts will help you stay informed
on topics and trends that directly affect expatriates and global mobility program management.
For further information on upcoming webcasts and details of how to register, please visit www.imercer.com
webcasts.
GLOBAL MOBILITY EVENTS
GLOBAL MOBILITY EVENTS
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