What are global mobility services

Global mobility services are a comprehensive solution for supporting a global workforce.

Many companies want to scale into multinational enterprises. However, relocating employees and hiring in new locations and new countries comes with many challenges, from complying with immigration and employment laws in different countries to understanding global payroll, taxes, and mandatory employee benefits. 

Outsourcing global mobility services offer an efficient way to amp up your global mobility program while relieving your human resources (HR) department of the administrative burden. The service providers also make managing your global workforce much easier and help you avoid unnecessary penalties for accidental non-compliance.

What is global mobility?

Global mobility is a company’s ability to mobilize a global workforce. 

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, most global mobility policies focused on relocating employees or international assignees as expatriates for international assignments. However, with the rise of remote work, more workers desire global mobility to travel, relocate, and explore new opportunities for personal growth. 

Global mobility involves:

• Hiring international employees and contractors

• Relocating employees for long or short-term business travel

• Supporting workers with personal travel and relocation requests

A high level of global mobility is essential for companies with global expansion goals. It enables access to a greater talent pool and international markets and improves the employee experience leading to improved talent acquisition and retention.  

Typical components of global mobility services

Relocating employees or hiring from other countries often requires jumping through compliance hoops. Global mobility services remove the headache of managing an international workforce by helping your HR team tackle the logistics.

Let’s explore some of the services these providers offer.

Tax compliance and global payroll

On top of your business’s home country’s tax laws, you must abide by the tax rules and regulations of the other countries your workforce operates in. Failing to comply with local tax regulations can lead to financial penalties and loss of business.

Global mobility solutions offer payroll and tax services to cover everything from income tax laws to social security regulations. They’ll take care of the following:

• Running tax cost projections

• Coordinating home and host country personal, employer, and social taxes

• Reviewing tax reimbursement policies and international tax treaties

• Consulting your business on compensation and payroll reporting for expatriates and foreign national employees

• Conducting tax calculations and estimates

• Preparing tax filings and equalization calculation

Employee relocation

Your global mobility services team can help your HR professionals address your employee needs during the relocation process. They’ll assist with providing your mobile workforce with everything they need to seamlessly transition into living in a foreign environment, including visa eligibility and support and cultural assimilation.

International healthcare and benefits 

Every country also has its own rules and regulations for healthcare and mandatory employee benefits. 

Your global mobility services provider will help you review the country’s employment laws to ensure your mobile employees receive the correct coverage and protections.

Travel risk management

There’s always a level of risk when someone travels internationally, and it’s no different for your employees. Global mobility services can assist with any hiccups with immigration or customs, lost passports, security issues, and monetary concerns.

The costs of a global mobility program

Companies exploring global mobility need to consider three categories of costs associated with global expansion: cost of relocation, cost of living, and cost of operations.

Cost of relocation

Getting team members from point A to point B will involve packing, transportation, and accommodation costs. 

Your global mobility services experts can provide mobility consulting to help you determine whether it’s more cost-effective to relocate a current employee or hire someone living locally. 

Cost of living

It’s essential to be familiar with the cost of living in the city, particularly if you’re requesting workers to live there. Disparities in the cost of living between the worker’s home country and the host country may require that you adjust their salary or offer them a living stipend for their time in the foreign country.

Your global mobility services provider will help you analyze the various elements of the cost of living in the target country, including education for the worker’s children, transportation, personal care, utilities, and more.

Cost of operations

Finally, you’ll need to know how much it will cost to have employees operating in another country. Of course, this will vary based on whether you’re opening a legal entity in that country or hiring individuals who will work remotely through an employer of record (EOR).

Your global mobility services team will assist in exploring potential expenses such as taxes, shipping costs, and more. And, of course, they’ll ensure they factor in foreign currency exchange rates.

Building your global mobility strategy

Global mobility services make crafting your global mobility strategy a breeze. And with a provider like Deel, you’ll have all the support needed to excel in cross-border talent management and build a thriving multinational corporation.