often is though- most 'wtf?' moment of my time in HR was a regularly absent Nigerian guy, called into a disciplinary who said it was in the Nigerian culture to be absent/late and we were discriminating on the basis of national characteristics. Only three disciplinaries I had to walk out of to laugh- that was one
Massive over assumption there I'm afraid. Worked with a lot of staff flown in from all ends of the earth and the majority are 'middling'.
nah, you do a regional differential. So you pay him in his own currency at home at the same rate, then pay him an allowance to cover differential in the cost of living- so he can afford to eat here but you aren't exporting UK wages to the rest of the world
Yes, as a woman I know there are certain parts of the world where I would have difficulty working due to cultural differences, and I know that if I were to go to some countries I would have to dress very modestly for example. It works both ways.
interestingly, less than you'd think. I worked in Dubai for a bit and have attended a workshop in Saudi, and they never noticed what I wore, ignored my comments etc- they just seemed to regard me as a third gender, or a different species or something. Obv I didn't wear a super mini, but just ordinary work clothes
but when he goes back he won't stay on the UK rate will he? That's what I mean. You pay someone an expat allowance so it is ringfenced and can be taken back when they go home- and usually keep paying in local currency in home jurisdiction for tax/continuity of benefits/covering commitments people have there reasonswhilst he is working for the UK company he is paid the UK rate - not fair to have him doing the same work as one of our own people and be paid less. in the past we have done what Manter said but that's not the way I work. if you are doing the job.. you get paid the rate for that job.
he has been with us here for 3 weeks.
yeah I know our disciplinary regs well - I wrote them
HR support will be there but tbh they are based in Poland and don't understand UK regs. I have access to legal advice and will most certainly be taking advantage of their opinion before initiating any disciplinary proceedings.
Don't projecting your shite on me young man!!
See my later post- it is just as unfair if an overseas assignment gets him a salary increase- you can't take that off him and when he goes home he earns more than the rest of the team combined (though not entirely true for india as their wages in IT aren't *that* low any more). So most international firms use a series of allowances to equalise income but keep fixed costs stable and stop international assignments distorting their international structures. There are a couple of ways to do it- usually by regional differential (so you take his standard of living in India and basically scale it up by a numerator provided by a firm that does such things), by comp ratio- so it he is at 82% of the M3 ratio in india, that is what you give him in the host country (advantage being that historical performance etc is reflected, year end process can go ahead as usual and you can do back to back assignments easily), and by living allowance, where a 'reasonable' amount is given to the transferee- that's the old fashioned way as it has no structure and opens more questions than it closes. regional differential is cleaner in terms of tax and benefits, comp ratio is better if you are developing a hipo and expect to move them a lot.
That makes sense- but it how that salary is made up- and I bet it isn't called salary, as that causes legal issues when you withdraw it. Expat management is a nightmare....
give him his bfh
I don't think people realise how much work HR put into getting expats in the right place, on the right income etc- the invoicing mechanism makes sense from a finance pov, but where is he paid? in what currency? what are the tax and exchange rate implications? How is he using a UK bank account without UK history etc- all I mean is that as a line manager, you get a warm body fresh off the plane, and an invoice.... you don't see the amount of heavy lifting that goes on in the background to make sure the employee and the company remain compliant and functional
