April 2001

Editorial

Below the waterline...

Alain Verstandig, Managing Director, Net Expat   The worst thing that can happen to you when you're skipper - whether you're in charge of a transatlantic liner or a multinational corporation - is not the bad weather you can see ahead nor the near-misses you spot on your radar. It's what is going on below the waterline. The real threat is the icebergs on the horizon. We have just completed a study for a large industrial group. Its aim was to gauge the percentage of company managers with a partner experiencing dual-career challenges in their new host country. The figure turned out to be 32%, a figure that came as a shock to the management of this multinational. Just as in the case of an iceberg, they had only seen the part of this expatriate dual-career issue that lies above the waterline. On analysis, the bit below the surface is self-evident. The difference between the 32% and the 5% of cases known to the company is made up of those managers that kept quiet for fear of the wrong reaction, those that felt the problem was a personal matter, and finally those that talked but weren't listened to. The study revealed the submerged part of an enormous problem of mobility, partnership and family that indeed has a profound influence on the 'expatriability' of managers in any global company. Ladies and Gentlemen, watch out for the icebergs!

Expert Opinion

The art of Family Management

Mr. Jan Van Acoleyen, Vice-President Human ressources, Alcatel Micrelectronics Mr. Van Acoleyen, what do you consider to be the biggest changes affecting international mobility of staff today? I would say that there are two types: cultural and organizational. At Alcatel the cultural change is based on our desire to train our personnel outside national boundaries and our need for projects to span two or three continents. As an international company, we truly need teams composed of a multitude of different nationalities, which implies that teams risk having as many different styles of work as members, as well as ways of interpreting common objectives. I believe that we succeed with those projects thanks to our efforts in the areas of training and communication and this makes the company benefit from an international blend of talent. The other great transformation taking place is mainly organizational. This has resulted from developments in the overall framework of activities as well as new telecommunication systems. The freedom of movement under the auspices of the EU is a big step forward, even if some aspects of fiscal harmonization have not yet been resolved, allowing many specialized consultants to survive in comfort! At the telecommunication side new technologies enable us to interwork at a distance no longer requesting long travels or international moves. The professional world got electronically connected empowering remote activities. Aside from this, family issues remain the sensitive aspect of international mobility. Today, we place a great deal of attention on dual career problems. The opportunities for work for the partner may turn out to strongly affect the acceptance of an expatriate position and will later prove to be fundamental in guaranteeing the integration of the expatriate and his/her family in the new host country. One often forgets that for the expatriate, the continuity of his or her career is unaffected, as there is no change of employer, merely of country of residence. For the partner, however, the change is total. We are pleased to be able to use the services provided by Net Expat which takes responsibility for working with the partners of our expatriates who want to work. Net Expat does everything possible so that partners can also develop professionally during the period of expatriation. We also place a lot of emphasis on communicating with our personnel. As soon as expatriation is being considered, a discussion with the candidate takes place as a matter of course, and we assess specific needs together with the candidate. Likewise, six months after the beginning of expatriation, we undertake an evaluation to see whether everything is going smoothly. Clearly that's all well organized, which must be the result of an efficient policy. What is it that makes for a good policy? I believe that a policy must be transparent. It should be clearly formulated and fair, according to the staff member's respective function. All of the different points in our policy regarding expatriation can be found on our Internet site, and so it is accessible to everyone. Our policy is set out clearly and is structured so that it is comprehensible for everyone. Most importantly, it is the same for everyone, depending on levels of seniority. There is no discrimination. We willingly explain our policy choices in such a way that everything makes sense. And that works very well. The people understand what they are entitled to, but also where the limits to our support lie. You really apply the same rules without exception? I can say that around 98 per cent of expatriates are treated within the perimeters outlined in our policy. Only two per cent require an extra dose of flexibility and creativity, which does not mean that they need more expensive support or a more comprehensive package. They simply need a different solution to their particular problems. Our policy has been developed to allow a sufficient margin of maneuverability so that common sense applies for both the expatriate and for us. As an example, we recently had the case of an expatriate who absolutely insisted on moving his cello. He wanted a very particular style of furniture removal which was more expensive than a standard procedure would have been. So, we finally opted for a standard furniture removal without the supplementary cost to us, and also paid for an additional airline seat in coach as opposed to the allowed business class for the cello, close to our musical employee...

Definition

Hiding an alternative reality

Lyn Glanz is Ph.D research into "Sensemaking in Expatriation" at Erasmus University Rotterdam Who are today's expatriates? Defining expatriates as "employees assigned to live and work in a foreign country for a period of time" is usual in studies legitimately concerned with the premium paid for such added value employees. But enter any expatriate community and you will find a very different set of people calling themselves "expatriate". Those who are highly visible are people who have chosen to work and live abroad as locally employed foreigners . . . often on permanent or semi-permanent contracts with no return ticket or added benefits to aid their acculturation. These local hires may represent a more internationally mobile and flexible workforce than is currently measured by standard expatriate research. Many companies do not differentiate between these employees and local nationals; at present they are largely a hidden resource. Some companies which recognise the attractiveness of such local hires are aware that these families have little choice but to become totally integrated. Children often attend local schools, bringing the family into closer contact with the host culture. In the absence of an expatriate package, there is greater pressure for both partners to work to secure an income for the whole family to cover the extra cost of living abroad. In the search for globally minded employees, it may be too often assumed that global competence is developed in and confined to those employees whom companies identify as their "chosen" expatriates. Individuals and couples taking the decision to move abroad as local hires can represent mobile, innovative employees. Few organisations recognise or track local hires in their "expatriate" programme. This means they cannot capitalise on the wealth of hard-won individual experience, and may miss important trends and issues concerning the whole area of living or working overseas. Do you acknowledge these expatriate local hires in your organisation?

Testimonial

HR strategies

Dominique Anglaret, Human Resources Manager, Eli Lilly France Ms. Anglaret, today Eli Lilly has a flexible, personalized approach to expatriation: Can you explain what it is based on? At the moment we are developing new types of international missions aiming to respond to our needs for mobility, which vary greatly in length and type. Short-term missions of twelve months are a model we have recently been developing. Eli Lilly will be offering temporary assistance to the expat partner and/or to his or her children to meet family needs. If the expats are Europeans, then commuting can also be a solution for short-term missions of up to twelve months. Does a large proportion of your expats go abroad this way, and what is their profile like? It is a smaller percentage of our expats, and in any case, this type of expats is very specialized. This program is not about training international managers and exposing them to different cultures. Rather, it's about sending highly specialized experts to work in clearly defined areas at Eli Lilly. Can you tell us about other expats? I should explain that our traditional expatriation covers periods of between three to five years, affecting our "international managers". We make a real effort in selecting them, according to their concrete performance, which is measured and quantified before anyone is sent abroad. Once we actually begin the recruitment process, we check on our managers' availability on a regular basis. These evaluations are undertaken during development plan discussions which take place regularly with the line manager. Employees note their wishes and constraints in their development plan, of which mobility is a part. We refer to the combination of these various elements as "personal assessments", to which Eli Lilly attaches great importance. How open are staff members towards Eli Lilly concerning those "personal assessments" and what are some of the problems you encounter in this connection? Our staff members generally respond quite openly, even if they don't always explain to us the reasons for their "unavailability" regarding expatriation. In practice, we have noted a growing number of staff members who could be sent abroad unwilling to accept expatriation, due to their spouse's career. One of our strategies has been to try to deal with the issue by offering "virtual assignments", which don't require relocating the staff members or their families. But clearly, in the near future, we will have to find more workable solutions to the issue of dual careers. We have been dealing with family problems on a case-by-case basis, but we realize that in future we will have to structure our approach.

Survey

How do you like our newsletter

Nathalie Brotchi, Program Director Europe, Net expat   Net Expat has commissioned an extensive survey to measure the level of readership satisfaction of Net Expat Newsletter. The results are impressive with 97 % of participants wishing to continue receiving the newsletter and 76% entirely happy with the content. Suggestions for improvement include more testimonials, practical solutions for HR managers, and more articles directly related to our day-to-day work of helping expat partners. A 'thank you' to all the participants for their contributions. This will help us to continue offering you a pleasant and useful moment of reading. If you would like to make other suggestions or participate with an article in one of our forthcoming issues, then just contact us at newsletter@netexpat.com

Tax Advice

Implications of income of an expatriate's spouse?

Christophe Vaerewyck,Senior Tax Consultant, Ernst & Young Belgium According to special tax regime in Belgium, foreign executives on a temporary assignment qualify as non-residents for Belgian tax purposes. This means that the expatriate is only taxable on income related to activities in Belgium and on his/her other Belgian source income. The expatriate is required to file a Belgian non-resident income tax return. The question poses itself whether an expatriate's spouse receiving earned income from professional activities in Belgium is also to be considered a non-resident for Belgian tax purposes and should consequently file a joint non-resident income tax return. Based on the general principles of common law, a husband and wife who are not living separately cannot be regarded as having a different tax status from one another, i.e. non-resident status for one spouse and resident status for the other. The reason for this is that one spouse has established his/her residence or the centre of his/her assets and wealth in Belgium, while the other spouse (the expatriate) has not done likewise. Still, the two are living together. Conversely, this does not automatically mean that both spouses will be regarded as residents. Since the executive spouse is in Belgium on a temporary basis, one can assume that the other spouse's sojourn in Belgium will also be temporary. Unless circumstances prove otherwise, both spouses will thus be deemed to be non-residents. However, one must consider the fact that both spouses are pursuing careers in Belgium, which reflects the fact that they have established the centre of their economical interests in Belgium. While the expatriate's working spouse will be deemed to be non-resident, this does not qualify the spouse for the special tax regime since professional income is taxed separately. In conclusion, where the spouse of a foreign expatriate also receives income originating in Belgium, that income must also be disclosed on the non-resident income tax return.

Net Expat speaker in New York

We are happy to announce that Net Expat will be a guest speaker at the upcoming major HR event, the 6th Euro-North Atlantic HR Conference. The overall theme of the conference, which will take place on June 13 & 14 at the New York Marriott EastSide Hotel, is "Best Practice Management of International Assignments". This conference is organized by CORPORATE RELOCATION NEWS (http://www.crnnews.org) and is presented in association with KPMG. As you might expect, Net Expat will address the subject of "Family Issues & Employee Mobility" during a 75-minute presentation planned for June 13th. This conference will be the 14th international conference at which Net Expat has been a speaker - an endorsement of our global expertise in dual-career issues.

Some profiles

Looking for that specific profile? Here are some of our candidates who are actively looking to pursue their careers. Don't hesitate to contact us if you are interested, it's completely FREE OF CHARGE! Spanish Finance Manager - 10 years of experience as a treasury, risk management and sales executive - Degree in Business and Economics + MBA, excellent English - ref MAL Belgian Account Director looking for freelance opportunities in Czech Republic - ref AVE Brazilian Economist with 18 years experience in banking (Management of international accounts, investment portfolios, asset management, …) - ref CMA British Civil Engineer + MBA - 10 years experience in international project management - ref HED French PhD in Sciences familiar with various laboratory techniques - ref ERE Swiss Banking Specialist with 15 years experience in investment banking, fluent in English, German and Portuguese - ref ESC Swedish IT specialist with 5 years experience in SAS and e-business, fluent in English and German - ref PMA Dutch Paralegal with extended experience working for the Court of Justice in Arnhem. Spoken: Dutch (MT), English, French classes on-going - ref NWA Australian MBA - over 10 years experience in management, finance and marketing - ref VWA Kenyan IT Specialist with MBA with experience in HTML, Java, SQL, … - ref CAD Dutch Lawyer, specialization in Immigration law and European law, fluent in Dutch (MT), English, French and Arabic (MT) - ref HMO Belgian pharmacist looking for opportunities in QA, clinical research, regulatory affairs - ref VLA British lady looking for administrative / receptionist evening position - ref EWI From Trinidad Legal Consultant Environmental Regulations & Policies - 6 years experience including with the Commission. Fluent in English (MT) and French - ref DWA American Senior IT Project Manager. Over 20 years experience - from analysis to roll-out of technical solutions in client-server environment - (Finance, Banking, HR, Transportation, Engineering applications, Pharmaceutical …) Fluent in English, French and Arabic. - ref HBA British School teacher, English and French mother tongues, looking for a position starting in September 2001 - ref VBU and many others… Do you want more information? Or would you like to be kept informed of other international profiles? Don't hesitate to contact us at jobs@netexpat.com . We will be pleased to send you their CVs.