Human Resource Mobility Officer Importance for Business | Required Skills

The human resource mobility officer or a head of international mobility develop or implements a mobility strategy for the company. It defines the mobility conditions for employees, controls their departure and their return, while ensuring that the company remains competitive. HR mobility officer or Human resource mobility officer also known as International Mobility Project Manager, International officer and International mobility manager, etc

Why Human Resource Mobility Officer is Important for Business

The position of head of international mobility covers a geographical area in the world and a remote population with various statuses: expatriates impatriates, detached, transferred, made available, commuters On a VIE mission (international volunteering in companies).

Development and / or Updating of the International Mobility Policy

• To build for the company an international mobility reference: define the general conditions of departure and return, the processes.
• To put in place, for each employee on mission, a social protection system in accordance with the legal and regulatory constraints in France and in the host country.
• To propose innovative solutions and improvements in the international mobility policy to preserve the competitiveness of the company.

Conducting Studies on International Mobility Projects

• Analyze the project and its legal environment, evaluate the risks, and develop a social, legal and fiscal safe removal plan.
• To carry out internal wage benchmarks (comparison of professions) and external (competition), simulations of remuneration (differential cost of living).
• Perform salary cost projections, package calculations (salary envelope), annual salary review.
• Extract and analyze statistics to develop monthly dashboards.
• Control the costs of mobility in their various components (social protection, remoteness bonuses, etc.).

Management of Employees’ Files

• Define contractual schemes; negotiate sending packages on mission (remuneration, expatriation bonus, tuition, housing, car …) by adapting them to the target (lightened for junior executives).
• Look for optimal tax solutions, in consultation with experts.
• Draft contractual documents in compliance with immigration conditions and legal and social specificities.
• Choose social security coverage for mobile employees.
• To provide services facilitating the relocation of families: immigration procedures, support for families, administrative and logistical management.
• Ensure relations with Consulates, Regional Directorates for Enterprises, Competition, Consumer Affairs, Labor and Employment (DIRECCTE), the French Office for Immigration and Integration (OFII).
• Ensure the integration in France of the detached.
• Manage returns in the country of origin, transfer to local contract, early return.

Advice and Assistance to Managers

• Advising recruiters, assisting HRDs in various issues of international mobility (immigration, taxation, social protection, package calculation …) with a view to internal equity.
• Follow the evolutions of the economic environment (competition, monetary crisis), legal, and social, fiscal to adapt the salary data and contractual schemes and propose adjustments to the package.
• Facilitate internal technical meetings, especially for the RRH to share information.

Coordination of external providers

The experts in:

• Tax and social law: they propose an optimal transfer scheme on the total remuneration (package calculation), social optimization (affiliation social security, social protection), and tax (individual taxation, conventional tax returns and income tax returns). Wealth, tax equalization calculations, tax residence, and patrimonial issues).
  They provide graceful and contentious procedures (dismissal).
• Compliance services: they determine the tax and social obligations and ensure their respect, in the countries of origin and the host countries.
• Immigration: they constitute and follow applications for introduction in France, provide assistance for visa applications, work permits, residence permits.
• International mobility strategy: they draw up a remuneration policy, advise on improving the process and quality, carry out audits, watch.

Providers in:

• Relocation: they take part in international moving operations, apartment research (knowledge of the real estate market and rental supply), implementation of the housing lease and contracts (work, insurance), and assistance to the opening of a bank account, research and registration in schools, management of expenses and rent.
• Training: foreign languages, the culture of the country.

Possible Activities of Human Resource Mobility officer

The head of international mobility can propose, implement, improve the organization of the service, the tools (charter, manual of management of international mobility), and the processes (notably on the revision of salaries).

It can conduct cross-cutting projects such as:

• The development of new software, its deployment, such as the centralization of wage revisions abroad or the tracing of international movements.
• Training users of this software.
• Participation in the design of an HR international portal.
• Audit on the security of people on missions abroad.

Variability of Activities

Relatively recent, this business has a perimeter that remains very variable.

Depending on the size of the area and population managed, depending on the organization of the company, the head of international mobility performs all or part of the activities presented and coordinates those entrusted to his team or experts and service providers.

In addition, its missions can be shared with HR managers in the company:

• With Compensation and Benefits

In the management of total remuneration: salary and benefits in kind, stock options, bonus shares, expatriation bonus, employee savings plans (employee savings plan, employee savings plan, incentive plan, PERCO group retirement savings plan) , Harmonization of remuneration policies and collective agreements.

• With the Head of Personnel Administration and Payroll

In the management of contract documents (contracts of employment, mobility amendments, local contracts, detachment letters), payroll (transfer of pay items to local HRBs), contacts with social agencies (health and repatriation cover, security Social security and retirement (French foreigners’ fund CFE), unemployment insurance for the Assedic group in the Paris region (GARP), supplementary pension schemes for expatriate pensioners.

• With the international RRH or the HR development manager

In the coordination of the local RRHs within its branch or zone, in the control of their activities, the HR development of employees on assignment (recruitment, career management, talent, remuneration and benefits)

• With the recruitment manager

In the recruitment of internal candidates for geographical mobility and candidates for VIE.

• With HR Manager

In the realization of studies, drafting of employment contracts, administrative formalities (labor inspection of the host country), analysis of collective agreements, practice

Required Skills for Human Resource Mobility Officer

Technical Skills

• Organization of the company, its trades, its culture.
• Knowledge of cultural specificities (including health and safety) and country-specific regulatory environments.
• International legal fundamentals, international taxation, social protection, social law.
• Management of international staff (types of international, transnational remuneration and their contractual and fiscal anchorages).
• Accounting (ease with numbers), data analysis.
• Fluent English, second foreign language strongly recommended (Spanish, German, Chinese,).
• Common office tools, specific ERP, spreadsheets.
• Ease in research on legal sites.

Personality Traits

• Sense of customer service: listening to employees, managers, HR managers and local payroll managers to best meet their expectations.
• Ability to analyze: a complex situation, issues, priorities.
• Rigor, organization in record-keeping, HR follow-up, compliance with immigration rules, taxation, social law.
• Adaptation to cultural diversity: adjusting the way people communicate with each other and their cultural references, and being aware of cultural differences.
• Good relationship, diplomacy: knowing how to constitute and maintain a network, the links with distant employees and local HRH, communicate with tact on remuneration.
• Negotiation and patience: knowing how to orient and argue about the package and the benefits (when an employee asks for an advantage not included in the policy or questions his or her merits).
• Interest for the international.
• Anticipation to foresee future situations, to define a strategy.
• Geographical mobility as the position can generate frequent travel.

Factors in the evolution of the job of responsible for international mobility

• The globalization of markets and strategies for the development of companies through mergers and acquisitions has given this function its strategic dimension. International mobility often involves senior positions (managerial, technical, commercial, and managerial).
• The instability of the international geopolitical context generates risks of all kinds (political and military conflicts, health, and personal safety). The head of international mobility must now integrate them into his missions.
• All of the costs involved expose this position to both human and financial risks. Looking for cost reduction, their main goal, groups are brought to pool their resources, organized into centers of excellence, internal service providers.
• The rise of emerging countries (where labor costs are low) and competition have reinforced a “war of international talents”. The management of international mobility became a competitive advantage, sometimes in favor of local contracts.
• The management of certain data and reporting are based on specific HRIS tools (calculation of packages, monitoring of exchange rate trends, etc.).
• The complexity of French, European and international regulations, in particular the social processing of files (administration and payroll), leads to an increasing use of external experts.