CapRelo Blog

CapRelo's digital transformation initiative for both internal and outward, client-facing technology allows us to remain agile to support our clients' needs and requirements. Find out more in our video below!

We will be attending and/or sponsoring the following upcoming events. If you’re attending, look for us and say hi, because it's a great opportunity for us to stay abreast of the latest global mobility trends, as well as develop and strengthen trusted partnerships. 

Greater Washington Employee Relocation Council Membership Meeting

Date: September 11

Location: US Navy Memorial, Washington, DC

Attendee: Pete Larkin

The GWERC membership meeting will include industry and association updates and a discussion on staying motivated during times of change. Additional discussion topics will be added at a later date.

Click here to learn more and register.

Portland Relocation Council Member Appreciation & Networking Night

Date: September 12

Location: Top Golf, Millsboro, OR

Attendee: Patrick Cacho

PRC's Member Appreciation Night will include a "Summer, Summer, Summertime" panel of industry updates as well as golf, food and networking.

Learn more and register here.

Wisconsin Employee Relocation Council & Corporate Relocation Council of Chicago Joint Meeting

Date: September 13

Location: Grand Geneva Resort & Spa, Lake Geneva, WI

Attendee: Christopher Bloedel

The joint WiERC and CRC Chicago meeting will include educational sessions in the morning that focus on leadership strategy and changes in the HHG industry and their impact on mobility, as well as a Wisconsin and Illinois real estate update. In the afternoon, attendees can choose from a variety of networking events, including a cooking class, nine hole golf outing, spa services or round robin art with mixology. 

For more information about the event and to register, you can visit either the CRC Chicago or WiERC websites.

Charlotte Metro Area Relocation council Meeting

Date: September 13

Location: Ingersoll Rand, Davidson, NC

Attendee: Pete Larkin

The CMARC educational meeting will focus on national real estate market trends.

To learn more and register, click here.

New York Council of Relocation Professionals Fall Event

Date: September 18

Location: TBD

Attendee: Pete Larkin

Details for the NYCoRP fall event are not yet available.

Click here to check for updated information and to register for the event.

Bay Area Mobility Management Fall Meeting

Date: September 21

Location: Merchants Exchange Club, San Francisco, CA

Attendee: Patrick Cacho

Details for the BAMM fall meeting are not yet available.

Click here to check for updated information and to register for the meeting.

rocky Mountain Relocation Council Fall Conference

Date: September 25

Location: Coors Field, Denver, CO

Attendee: Patrick Cacho

The RMRC annual fall conference will feature a keynote speaker, TED-style speakers and a social networking event, followed by the Colorado Rockies baseball game.

Learn more about the conference and register here.

Arizona Relocation Alliance Fall Meeting

Date: September 26

Location: Top Golf Scottsdale at Riverwalk, Scottsdale, AZ

Attendee: Patrick Cacho

The ARA fall meeting will include educational sessions on cybersecurity and an update on the transportation industry, with the opportunity to earn CRP and GMS credits. After the educational portion, attendees can enjoy golf and a networking happy hour.

Register for and find out more about the fall meeting here.

Great Lakes Relocation Council Annual Conference

Date: September 27 and 28

Location: The Westin Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH

Attendee: Christopher Bloedel and Pete Larkin

The 2018 Great Lakes Relocation Conference will include concurrent educational sessions and networking opportunities for industry professionals in the Great Lakes Region. Look for CapRelo in the exhibit hall!

Click here to learn more about the conference and to register.

If you can’t attend, please be sure to follow CapRelo on Facebook and Twitter for updates.

“It’s a tough job, but somebody’s gotta do it.”

This phrase has become a cliché over the years, but like most clichés it endures because there is truth in it. All around the world there are jobs that need to be done, and people that are willing to do them, even if the work is hard and the compensation is sometimes lacking.

As experts in global relocation services, here at CapRelo we strive to better understand the global workforce in any number of industries. To that end, we recently took a look at how salaries differ for a number of common jobs from country to country around the world and found some very interesting results that we just had to share.

For the specific jobs we researched, we relied on self-reported salary information supplied by workers from around the globe. Before we get to those graphics, however, we wanted to supply some additional context and perspective by finding out what the average annual salary would be in the countries we examined if workers were paid their nation’s federal minimum wage, regardless of job title. Several countries such as Norway and Sweden do not have federally mandated minimum wages, instead relying on other processes such as union negotiations within each industry to set standards. In those cases we have listed a minimum wage as “n/a.”

One of the jobs we were most interested to look at in this study was the nursing field. While it’s doctors that are known for making lots of money and are the ones glorified on medical television shows and in the popular conscience at large, anyone working in the medical field in the real world knows that nurses are a truly indispensable part of any good medical team, without whom countless doctors and patients would be much worse off.

Our analysis found that pay for nurses varies wildly across the globe from $3,556 annually in India to $63,000 in the United States, the best of any nation in the study. The average nursing salary in the USA is over twice the global average for the profession, showing that the American medical industry recognizes just how important nurses are. Along those lines, it is worth noting that while the amount paid to nurses in India is a pittance compared to the United States and other countries, that $3,556 figure represents an annual salary over 4 times higher than the annual minimum wage in that country, showing that nurses are highly valued highly even in poorer countries.

Another profession with a reputation for being underappreciated and underpaid is education. Many teachers around the United States have been fighting for better pay and better job support in recent years, and it’s easy to see why once you dive into the salary data from around the world.

While American teachers were among the top-10 best paid in our analysis, they earn almost $20,000 a year less than the average teacher in Switzerland, the country that compensates their educators the best. Even more interesting is to look at these salaries through a lens of relativity, as teachers in the United States make less than 3 times the national minimum wage, while those in the country with the lowest minimum wage - India - make over 5.5 times their nation’s minimum wage. This is just one instance of other nations prioritizing education higher than the USA, a trend that is driven home by the fact that the global average salary for teachers actually exceeds that of nurses, meaning a number of countries see their educators as worthy of compensation on par with or exceeding that of crucial healthcare providers.

Similar to the educator’s initiatives, there have been many highly public efforts in the United States in recent years to increase pay for people that work in the food service industry. Our analysis found that it’s not just America where food servers are paid very little, as there are only two countries - Switzerland and Turkey - where workers in this industry average more than $30,000 a year in earnings. This was also the job with the lowest average global salary, clocking in at a measly $15,861.

The only other job we evaluated that even came close to matching food servers was retail associates. People who work in this industry keep malls, boutiques, and everything in between running smoothly, and they are not paid very well for it. In the United States they make slightly more money than food servers, a trend that is fairly common around the world.

With all this talk of money and salaries, CapRelo would have been remiss if we didn’t take a look at how those who manage everyone else’s money are compensated. As is true for many jobs we evaluated, Scandinavian countries like Denmark, Sweden, Finland, and Norway paid accountants the best, along with Switzerland. It is worth noting that while those nations pay well for most jobs, they also typically have high tax rates. Of those five nations in our analysis that pay accountants over $60,000 a year, only Switzerland has an income tax rate lower than 27%.

A crucial part of any company is their HR department. When looking at the average salaries for human resources managers around the world, we found that the vast majority of countries we evaluated understood just how important HR is. Salaries for those in this profession are typically paid well above their national minimum wage, with Switzerland even averaging six-figure salaries for top-level human resources managers. In fact, of the nine professions CapRelo looked at for this project, HR managers had the highest average global salary at $46,767.

With technology playing the prominent role it does in modern society, we at CapRelo wanted to make sure we took a look at how those that develop some of that technology are paid. To that end, we evaluated general software engineer salaries. Unsurprisingly, given the prominence of Silicon Valley to the American economy, this was the job with the highest salary in the United States of all the professions we evaluated in this study. In fact, the $85,000 average salary for an American software engineer was the second highest in the world, trailing only Switzerland’s $94,567.

Finally, we wanted to look at a pair of job titles that are incredibly important to so many companies even though their specific duties can differ from industry to industry. First, operations managers, which typically oversee a company’s production process. People in these jobs are crucial to running an efficient and profitable business, and are paid as such in many countries. Almost 20 of the countries we examined pay operations managers over $50,000 a year on average, which helped bring the global average in excess of $45,000 annually.  

The last job we looked at was project managers. People with these titles can have job duties that vary even more than operations managers as different companies have different responsibilities that fall under the purview of project managers. While there is decent variance in day-to-day duties for people in these roles, what is consistent is how well they are compensated. Project managers are one of only two jobs we looked at where all 43 countries we evaluated where workers are paid at least $10,000 annually, the other being operations managers.

This analysis covered just a sliver of the global workforce, but here at CapRelo we found even that little bit to be truly illuminating. The differences in pay from job to job and country to country allow for interesting looks into what different nations value in their workforce, something that is made all the more interesting when viewed through the prism of different national minimum wages.

Whether your job was a part of this analysis or not, we hope it has been interesting and informative. And if you or your company are considering a move to another country (maybe one where they pay better), remember that CapRelo offers world-class global mobility services to simplify any such move!

CapRelo transforms the global HR and employee mobility experience by combining the best in technology, people, resources and human touch experiences. Get to know CapRelo in our video below!

Millions of American workers relocate annually, many taking on international assignments as businesses develop and broaden their global mobility programs to take advantage of the expanding global economy. Here is a snapshot of global mobility in 2018.

Compensation services are so complex that it may make sense for companies to outsource them to a specialist. Global mobility management companies have extensive experience working with the regulatory requirements of different countries, so they know the relevant intricacies of local compliance and reporting. Because they understand the challenges the employer faces, they know how to relieve the employer of the burden of administration so the company can concentrate on more strategic objectives. In addition, they understand the requirements of compensation data collection by country and can assume this laborious task for the employer.

Global mobility management companies that offer compensation services have technology and processes in place that allow for fast, accurate and compliant reporting. This eliminates the need for companies to invest in acquiring these platforms and results in considerable cost savings.

In addition, they provide the required expertise and manpower. This prevents employers from having to invest in acquiring employees with this knowledge, which can be both challenging and expensive when the level of expertise needed to manage compensation services for a number of different global locations is taken into account.

Furthermore, ensuring accurate, timely payroll and reporting prevents companies from running into problems with regulatory and tax agencies at home and host locations. Being compliant and responsible not only prevents problems, it can pave the way for more business opportunities in the host locations.

A global mobility program can offer significant value to a company, not only due to the business opportunities it presents, but also because it facilitates the attraction and retention of quality talent. However, to remain in compliance with the rules and regulations of various countries, a well-run global mobility program needs accurate, timely administration and bookkeeping. Working with a global compensation services provider offers companies a cost-effective way to gain access to the expertise, manpower and resources needed to maintain centralized, organized payroll and tax reporting. And when the service provider assumes the responsibility of maintaining the latest technology platforms, it frees up the company and its employees so they can concentrate on their core business efforts.

We will be attending and/or sponsoring the following upcoming events. If you’re attending, look for us and say hi, because it's a great opportunity for us to stay abreast of the latest global mobility trends, as well as develop and strengthen trusted partnerships. 

southern California Relocation Council Summer Meeting and Wine Pull

Date: August 23

Location: Westin Carlsbad Resort & Spa, Carlsbad, CA

Attendee: Patrick Cacho

SCRC's summer meeting will feature a panel discussion on diversity and inclusion programs and their impact on global mobility policies followed by the annual SCRC Wine Pull. Funds raised from the Wine Pull will be giving to local SCRC charities.

Click here to learn more and register for the summer meeting.

If you can’t attend, please be sure to follow CapRelo on Facebook and Twitter for updates.

One way to help ensure global assignment success is to prepare an effective global assignment letter of understanding that outlines the pertinent details and benefits of the assignment in a way that leaves no room for misinterpretation. 

After your letter of understanding addresses specific information regarding the scope of the assignment, you can delve into the specifics of your global mobility policy and explain the benefits the employee will receive.

Explain Your Global Mobility Policy

Your letter should summarize the portions of your global mobility policy that are applicable to the employee. Among the issues your policy addresses, it is important to include information on the five topics below because they are:

• The most costly components of an assignment or transfer and
• Usually the greatest stressors to an employee, which can cause reduced productivity.

Relocation Expenses

When writing the letter, review your policies to determine what is relevant to the particular employee. While it’s not recommended to copy your policy verbatim into the letter, you should summarize:

• Specific expenses and the amounts the company pays for directly.
• Types of expenses that can be reimbursed, along with any limits. Note whether the employee is required to document each expense, should submit a consolidated summary or will be given a lump sum amount for miscellaneous expenses.
• The ongoing allowances for specific benefits.
• Expenses the employee is responsible for paying.
• Repayment agreement terms.

Moving Household Goods

Household goods shipments can be a significant part of your overall global relocation expense. The moving cost can vary widely depending upon whether the employee is relocating permanently or will be on assignment for a set length of time, the distance between the current and destination locations and the family size.

Global movement of household goods will typically include sea and air shipments and long-term storage. The letter of understanding should be clear on what is covered. Typical benefits include a 20-foot or 40-foot container and 500 pounds for an air shipment. Long-term storage is generally only provided for those on assignment, and for the length of the assignment.

The cost of storage and valuation coverage for household goods must also be considered. Your letter should specify the amount the company will pay for household goods transport, storage and valuation along with any limitations or restrictions.

Tax Implications and Assistance

Global assignments and relocation can have significant tax implications. The letter of understanding should outline the assistance provided, which may include a pre-assignment/relocation orientation with a third-party tax provider, tax return preparation assistance and tax equalization. It should also include details on the employee’s and the company’s responsibilities. The company’s tax provider may also suggest including a tax equalization addendum that outlines the company’s policy to be signed by the employee.

Immigration

The letter of understanding should emphasize the importance of compliance with global immigration laws and should outline the assistance provided by the immigration partner or department. The employee’s responsibilities to provide accurate and timely information and to follow all instructions regarding travel limitations of the host country should be clearly documented. The assignment or relocation cannot begin until required immigration documents are obtained.

Housing and Settling In Assistance

Getting your employee and their family settled into a new residence is crucial because it helps them to return to full productivity quickly. Each employee is unique. Some may need temporary housing while they search for a new residence. Your letter should reflect the level of assistance the company provides.

• Temporary Housing: Summarize what provisions the company makes for temporary living and for how long.
• Home Finding Travel: Summarize the assistance the company provides, such as home finding trips. Include the number of trips allowed, the expenses covered and the family members approved.
• Destination Services: Summarize the services the company provides, which might include home finding assistance, orientation to the new area, contacts with local schools, colleges, medical facilities, etc.
• Long-Term Housing (Assignments Only): Summarize the housing assistance provided, including monthly housing allowance based on family size and location, method of payment, utilities included and employee responsibilities for maintenance and upkeep.

Ideally, your letter of understanding should focus on the employee and the benefits of the new role while creating a positive impression and enthusiasm for the new opportunity. Make sure to outline the expectations and responsibilities in the new role to avoid any possible misunderstanding. Explain and summarize the relevant points from your global mobility policy, paying particular attention to the five topics discussed above.

Relocating globally or going on an assignment for a job is considered a major life event because it often requires an employee selling a home before moving the family to a new country and changing many of their typical routines. Your employee letter of understanding must cover a number of important topics, but without increasing your employee's anxiety.

A letter of understanding outlines the details and benefits of the assignment. This legally binding document basically serves as an addendum to the employee’s regular employment contract and lays out any varying or additional terms that apply for the duration of the assignment. As such, it must be signed by all parties. In addition to the assignment start and end date, job title and location, the letter of assignment must specify all contractual agreements, code of conduct, compensation and benefits, assignment-specific benefits such as moving expenses and repatriation allowance, tax equalization and other fiscal matters.

It’s important that the letter of understanding lay out all pertinent details of an assignment in a way that leaves no room for misinterpretation. Any lack of clarity could lead to misunderstanding, which in turn could lead to costly and time-consuming problems. This can be a drain on resources, and it can create a distraction for the employee and impact the success of the assignment.

The key to drafting effective letters of understanding begins with knowing your employees and focusing on them and their families. You can find sample templates on the internet to help you draft a letter of understanding, but unfortunately, many of them begin something like this:

Dear Mr. Jones,

This letter is to inform you that you will be transferred effective [date] to our location in...

Considering the upheaval a relocation will cause in your employee's life, this approach is rather abrupt. Here are some best practices to help you write an effective letter of understanding.

Discuss the Global Relocation or Assignment First

Your company has made the decision to relocate or send an employee on assignment to benefit the organization in some way. You may need to add talent to a business unit in another city, or to reduce it at the employee’s current location. You may want to move a manager to provide new leadership in another territory. You may even want to give a high-potential employee broader experience as part of a career development plan. No matter the reason, be sure you or the appropriate manager(s) discuss those reasons with the employee long before you write the letter.

Having a detailed discussion provides an opportunity to create enthusiasm about a new role by:

• Increasing the likelihood of an accepted offer.
• Providing a platform to discuss your global mobility policy and company-provided financial assistance.
• Clarifying the specific skill-building and learning opportunities available in the new role.
• Showing that the company values the employee and wants to make an investment in his or her future.
• Demonstrating that the employee is important to the growth of the business.

Holding a preliminary discussion shows respect for the employee and allows you to craft a letter tailored to that individual. In turn, you’re more likely to increase loyalty and productivity — and reduce the chance of a relocation offer being declined.

Outline the New Role

Your employee’s job title and responsibilities may remain the same in the new location. If that is the case, make sure the transfer letter of understanding includes the name of the person to whom the employee will report and the duration of the transfer or assignment. For employees taking on new responsibilities, you’ll also want to include the following:

• The employee's new job title or position.
• A description of any increased benefits, salary or bonuses.

Similar in some ways to an employment offer letter to a prospective new employee, this portion of the letter of understanding focuses on the specifics of the new role. It documents the job title, salary and related matters to eliminate misunderstandings later. The letter should be dated and signed by the appropriate manager, and be sure the letter contains:

• The employee's full name and current home address.
• Department names — both the current department and the new destination department.
• The effective date the employee should report to the new location.
• The anticipated end date in the case of an assignment.
• The name of the employee's new supervisor.
• The date by which the individual relocation and assignment benefits must be used.

After you proved this pertinent information, you can delve into the specifics of your company's global mobility policy and explain the benefits the employee will receive. Check back next week to learn about the five most important topics to include in your global assignment employee letter of understanding.