Last update: December 9, 2020
The HR toolkit of short-term staff relocation: The key considerations to take into account your staff relocation and expat management.
With new highs in the number of global travellers, relatively small companies developing both domestic and international divisions, and lower prices both for transport and accommodation, temporary relocation is much more attractive than relying on local agencies.
Having your staff relocated will save time and cash. They know the work much better than anyone else, which means the HR work can be focussed on travel and accommodation, and not on the fine details of training and explaining how projects need to be carried out.
Hiring local agents and training them will provide you with the right service to meet your challenge, but they don’t know your company, and it can take time to set up the right working practices between your company and the agencies in the field.
But relocating your staff has its own set of issues to overcome as smoothly as possible, the two first key-considerations are the tax obligations in your home country, and the accommodation in the relocation country.
Private to-let short term stay platforms have impacted this market in ways we never expected. So the incumbent hotel industry has had to drag down its prices to compete. This makes for more savings and choice in staff relocation.
Temporary relocation adds benefits both to employers and employees. Those willing to spend some time away have the benefit of a short-term move, without the headaches of shipping furniture and goods.
Be sure to prepare internally for any temporary relocations. For taxation, a short-term relocation must have a duration of one year or less, each employee must be delivered a formal letter of assignment which can be presented to ensure expenses are not taxed.
If you are relocating to Europe, each country has a vastly different process for visa application and local councils also require notification of short-term stays.
Use this checklist to make sure you’ve covered all of the bases.
We hope this checklist comes in handy. If you have experience in this and would like to inform others of the pitfalls, contact us and we’ll include it in this post.