International Employee Relocations – How To Make Them Painless

1. International Employee Relocations – How To Make Them Painless Rather than hiring new staff, many businesses prefer to move their employees internally because of the many advantages the strategy offers. Some of the benefits include reduced training costs, proven loyalty and dedication, and the assurance that the worker has the relevant skills and experience for the job. Although the benefits of internal relocations are numerous, these moves have their disadvantages as well. The major one being that the responsibility of moving and settling the employee falls on your shoulders. Domestically, this is challenging; for international moves, however, the implications can be daunting for both the HR and the employee. To ensure an international employee relocation is smooth and successful, you need to provide adequate support to the employee before, during and after the move. Here are some tips to help you ensure your international employee relocations are smooth. 1. Establish the terms. To effectively arrange and manage an international employee relocation, you need to define the terms of the relocation. This can be done by addressing the following questions: • Which country will the employee be moving to? •What’s the duration of the assignment? • Will the employee bring their family members? • Which expat benefits will the employee receive? •Will the relocation change the employee’s contract terms?

2. • What costs are the responsibility of the employee? • What will happen when the assignment is completed? Establishing the terms of an employee move creates the foundation for a successful international relocation. Any uncertainty in these terms will most likely cause problems or mistakes later on. 2. Create a relocation plan. Planning and logistics are crucial to successful international relocations because of the complexity of the undertaking. Having a well laid out plan ensures that you don’t miss anything along the way. The best way of making a relocation plan for an employee is via a combination of a timeline and checklist. Outline all the deadlines from the day the relocation process begins to the date of the actual relocation. Then, come up with a checklist that’s parallel to your timeline. This will ensure that important tasks are spread out well to give each one enough time for completion. An international removal company can assist with this as they are specialised in this field. 3. Coordinate with the overseas office. Moving an employee to a new workplace means that they need to be slotted into the current dynamic. For this to be done successfully, a clear line of communication needs to be maintained with the overseas office so that any concerns or questions are addressed, and information about timelines and deadlines is relayed. The overseas office might also be required to complete some tasks to facilitate the relocation – especially in the later stages – making effective communication all the more necessary. 4. Make arrangements for any benefits included with the relocation. The kind of benefits offered by companies for international relocations will vary depending on a number of factors such as the country in question and the size of the company. Benefits might include a house, private education for the employee’s children, a car or a living allowance. If you promised any benefits as part of the move, you will need to make sure that arrangements are made early enough to guarantee that they are available when the relocation happens.

3. 5. Secure immigration. This is perhaps the most difficult part of moving an employee from one country to another. Even if you’ve already established a presence in the nation the employee will be moving to, securing immigration rights can still be a complex process. Because the process could take a long time to complete (up to several months) and require a lot of input from both your HR and employee, it is necessary that you start early and allocate ample time to get it done. Failure to do this can result in errors that could potentially have the application fall through. 6. Look into the personal aspect of the move. Moving an employee abroad is not all about business, it involves moving the employee’s entire life as well. While this is not necessarily a big deal for single employees on short-term assignments, it’s a serious undertaking for long-term assignments that require family members to be relocated as well. For the later kind of relocations, you need to ensure that adequate support is provided to facilitate the move. The best way to go about it is by offering an open-door policy where the employee (and their family) can talk to you or with HR about their needs and concerns and how best they can be supported. Relocating an employee to an overseas office is a delicate undertaking that requires extensive planning and careful execution to ensure it goes smoothly. When done well, the employee will be less stressed and more likely to complete their assignment successfully. Advertise job vacancies, leading UK job board | Staff Advert Article source: https://www.staffadvert.co.uk