What Are Global Mobility Services? How It Helps Expansion

What is Global Mobility?

Global mobility refers to the strategic process of moving employees across international borders to meet business objectives, support expansion, and leverage global talent. It involves managing legal, cultural, logistical, and compliance challenges to ensure smooth transitions for both the company and its employees. Global mobility plays a crucial role in enabling organizations to operate efficiently in multiple countries while retaining top talent and optimizing workforce capabilities.

Some of the benefits to global mobility include:

• Access to Global Talent: Broaden your talent pool by hiring the best professionals regardless of location.
• Market Expansion: Facilitate entry into new markets by relocating employees with essential skills and experience.
• Employee Development: Offer international assignments to enhance skills, cultural competence, and leadership abilities.
• Increased Retention: Improve employee satisfaction and loyalty by offering global career growth opportunities.
• Knowledge Transfer: Enable sharing of expertise, best practices, and innovation across regions.
• Operational Agility: Quickly deploy talent where it’s needed most, adapting to market demands.
• Diversity and Inclusion: Foster a multicultural workforce that promotes creativity and new perspectives.
• Compliance Management: Ensure adherence to local labor laws, tax regulations, and immigration requirements.

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Global Mobility Services for Growing Businesses

The remote work era has settled in for the long haul. Globalization steams ahead, and flexibility and geographic mobility top the list of employee demands. To remain competitive, businesses are having to adopt increasingly agile global mobility services and strategies and frameworks to tap new international markets, gain access to a bottomless talent pool, and allow their employees to work from anywhere in the world. 

In theory, globalization makes the world the employee’s playground. But moving and hiring talent across borders still presents a host of challenges that need to be overcome before companies can really start to reap the benefits of a truly international workforce.

Enter global mobility services.

Faced with the daunting (and risky) task of untangling a complex knot of legal and tax compliance requirements that vary significantly from country to country, as well as the spiraling costs in both money and time associated with setting up a local entity in a foreign territory, many businesses turn to global mobility services to help them hire employees and contractors internationally. 

For multinational entities, companies ready to scale globally, or companies looking to hire top talent no matter where they are in the world, global mobility services simplify and streamline the process of building a global team, making them an invaluable resource for any organization with its sights set on the horizon.

Employer of Record services

Good global mobility services providers offer Employer of Record services as the primary basis of their offering, most often through an established network of international subsidiaries. 

An employer of record is an established local entity that becomes the de jure employer of your international talent, accepting full legal liability for every hire. By hiring and paying international employees and contractors through an EOR, businesses avoid the time-consuming and costly process of incorporating their own local entity in the country in which they want to hire. Using an EoR also shields businesses from the risks and penalties associated with accidental non-compliance to local legal and tax requirements.

Visa support services

A global mobility services provider will offer visa support during the visa application and contract creation process, including checking your new hire’s eligibility, managing the application process and relieving your HR team of the associated administrative burden.

Global payroll solutions

Global mobility services include global payroll solutions, which allow HR departments to pay international employees and contractors on time, and in their preferred currency, without having to hire local payroll and tax agents. A global payroll service allows employers to, amongst other things:

• Accurately calculate the cost of hiring someone in a foreign country
• Manage contractor invoices and payments
• Manage tax and contributions
• Navigate local requirements around benefits and social security
• Access dynamic insights into localized employee expectations regarding remuneration and benefits

In-country legal counsel

Global mobility services offer in-country legal counsel services, allowing businesses to save on the costs of hiring their own legal professionals country-to-country, and helping companies safely navigate the prohibitively complex rules and regulations governing operations in a foreign jurisdiction.

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The Costs of a Global Expansion and Mobility Programs

Implementing a global mobility program can be a significant investment for any business, but understanding the various cost factors and potential returns is essential for optimizing your strategy. Below, we break down the key costs associated with global mobility programs and provide insights on managing these expenses effectively to maximize business value.

1. Relocation Expenses

Relocating employees internationally involves direct costs such as moving services, temporary housing, transportation, and shipping of personal belongings. Depending on the destination and employee level, these costs can range from $10,000 to $100,000+ per assignment.

• Key Insight: Partnering with relocation service providers can help negotiate better rates and streamline logistics to reduce costs.

2. Immigration and Work Permits

Securing the proper visas and work permits involves application fees, legal consultation costs, and processing expenses. These costs can vary significantly by country, often ranging between $2,000 and $10,000 per employee.

• Key Insight: Staying informed about immigration regulations and timelines helps avoid costly delays or penalties.

3. Tax Compliance and Advisory Services

Global assignments can lead to complex tax obligations for both the company and the employee. Costs may include tax equalization, filing services, and consultations, often amounting to $5,000 to $15,000 per employee per year.

• Key Insight: Investing in global tax advisory services ensures compliance and helps mitigate the risk of double taxation.

4. Cost-of-Living Adjustments (COLA)

To maintain an employee's quality of life in a new location, businesses often provide cost-of-living allowances. These adjustments account for differences in housing, transportation, and everyday expenses, sometimes costing up to 20-30% of an employee's base salary.

• Key Insight: Using up-to-date cost-of-living indices can help you calculate fair and competitive adjustments.

For global mobility services, choose Playroll

When it comes to global mobility services, Playroll hits all the above marks, and more. 

Through our established network of international subsidiaries, we allow employers to hire in over 170 countries worldwide – fully compliant. Supported by a best-in-class software platform, Playroll allows you to manage all your employees and contractors, all in one place, via the powerful Playroll dashboard. From contract creation to payroll management, Playroll is the missing piece in your global mobility framework. 

But we’ll let the Playroll platform speak for itself. Book your own demo today, and our team will take you through it. 

It’s time to unlock the world of benefits global talent mobility delivers, and it starts with Playroll.