Reference no: EM132912301
Question:
For this exercise, please select a specific country location (other than Canada) that you will be moving people to from the Toronto office. This Exercise asks you to look at one employee from your key group identified in your Assignment 2.
The Exercise asks you to work through 5 of the 8 global mobility topic areas outlined in yellow below. These are critical compliance considerations you need to get up to speed on before sending your employee to this different work location. Take a look at each and answer the key points included.
You will look at 6 of these compliance considerations below:
1: Employment Law: The legal employment standards, labour code and health & safety requirements covering assignees working away from their home location.
A starting point for any global mobility program is the applicable minimum standard legal requirements for employment in a jurisdiction different from the employee's home country laws. In most countries, employment law is the minimum legal standard, with jurisprudence determining the scope of practice and application.
Key Point i.
The following link provides a country specific tab - click on this link and select your country.
Once you have the country page showing, take a look at the number of National Labour Law references. See if you can access an English version outline what is different about this country's legislation when compared to the equivalent Canada/ Ontario standards. As an example, for Austria, Legal Research links "Austrian law in English", identifies there are 30 documents related to human rights (the search words I selected). In digging a bit further it is also a different oversight for this country since it is part of the European Council with 47 states sharing the same protection of human rights.
2: Immigration: Moving into and out of a location outside the employee's home location involving visas, work permits and other country-specific requirements.
Immigration compliance is one area of global mobility that may face a wide range of scrutiny and risk. While published regulations and standards are in place for most countries, it is generally the lack of organizational controls and practices that increase the risk of non-compliance.
Examples of some of these risks are:
· applying for the wrong type of work and / or residence permit;
· starting work before the application has been approved or overstaying the limits; and
· changing work duties, job title or expanding the type of work restricted by a visa type during an assignment.
Key Point ii.
Take a look / listen to this 2 minute overview of the challenges with global mobility employee tracking.
Weichert is a third party source for companies looking to move employees globally.
What are 3 advantages, for both the company and traveler, when using this type of app?
3: Payroll and Personal Tax: The reporting and withholding requirements on employment income for work performed in a location outside the employee's home location; and assessments on income paid to employees working in a location outside the home location.
This part of global mobility programs are subject to different country-specific laws and regulations with some overlap to the organization's corporate tax requirements. The
Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Treaty Model that outlines the legal obligation of travelers between home and host countries, also guides the compliance requirements in several specific global mobility topics including: payroll, income tax, social security and permanent establishment.
Key Point iii.
The following link provides a country specific tab - click on this link and select the country that you are moving your employee to: Tax treaties - Canada.ca
There may be more than one tax treaty document, so select the most recent one. Briefly outline what the protocol or convention is intending to address between Canada and the country you are sending the employee to.
4: Anti-Bribery/ Anti-Corruption: Requirement to implement policies and maintain accurate records aimed at preventing bribery or corrupt practices by corporations, their delegated authorities or individuals.
The two outcomes covered in this topic are typically addressed through an overall organization-wide compliance mandate. The mobile workforce may have a higher exposure to this compliance risk. As such, global mobility programs should have a direct alignment with the organization's overall approach to manage the inherent risks in this topic.
Key Point iv. Once you are in the website, click on your country the employee is going to and see what that country's score and rank is. Does this place any doubts in your planning for the employee to go to this location?
As an example, Austria is 76/100 and Rank 14/180 which means it is it is the 14th country from the top of the most clean ... Denmark. So this move has minimal risk to anti-bribery/ anti-corruption practices liming any further training/ precautions that might otherwise be require if the index rating was lower.
5: Data Privacy: Processing personal data in multiple jurisdictions and transferring personal data from one jurisdiction to another.
The final compliance category has had increased focus with the enactment of the Global Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). While applicable to employees working in the European Union, is seen to set the standard for managing the personal information of employees.
Key Point v. Within the Data Security discussion on the Global Data Protection Regulation website, what are the 3 measure an organization can take to minimize any data breach?
6: Duty of Care: An organization's obligation to protect its employees from risks and threats associated with location safety & business travel.
A final consideration is the cultural training, part of your 'duty of care' to ensure the employee and their family are prepared for this move. The Class Notes provides a hierarchy of steps to prepare for an international assignment. This are for the employee but in more cases now ... also for the employee's family, particularly if they are travelling with the employee.