As Global Mobility professionals will know, there are various methods of calculating expatriate pay. However, even the most robust of assignment policies may find that certain moves simply don’t work with their standard remuneration approach. This blog post looks at the common pitfalls when moving people out of low paying countries into high paying ones and considers potential solutions to the issues that it can cause. 

If relative pay scales were the same around the world life would be very simple, but in reality they vary from location to location. For example, the median basic gross salary (data provided by Willis Towers Watson) paid to a middle manager in Switzerland is EUR 130 218, whereas the same role in Egypt would pay a gross of just EUR 17 212. Of course, respective tax schemes and relative buying power can change the picture provided when comparing at a gross level, but significant disparity still exists regardless. So, how can we bridge this gap to ensure a competitive package is provided that facilitates mobility? Let’s consider some remuneration options, in the context of this move from Egypt to Switzerland. Read more...