Expatriation, while a great professional opportunity, is a temporary upheaval in a person’s life.
Negotiating the terms of your expatriation will help you limit the potential obstacles that can arise when you leave to work abroad.
Negotiating your status while abroad
Your status depends on the length of your stay abroad and the company you will be working for. In other words, whether you are on secondment or considered an expatriate.
The status of expatriate must be distinguished from that of seconded worker. Seconded workers retain their employment contract with their home company. With expatriation, the worker signs a local employment contract. They therefore contribute to the local scheme only.
Negotiate your salary and social benefits
If expatriation means promotion, you can negotiate your salary in addition to expatriation benefits.
– Talk to your employer about your salary, which is the amount you would have received had you stayed in your home country. In other words, the gross salary you were receiving before being sent abroad.
– Find out what the reference salary is in your host country (equivalent to what a local national would earn in a similar position). You should also find out what the reference salaries are in other countries and internationally, so that you can more easily assess the salary to which you are entitled.
– Negotiate a salary net of local social charges. Ask about the stability of the currency in which your salary is paid, and consider introducing safeguards to limit changes in the exchange rate.
Expatriation bonuses. There are different types of bonuses:
– The difficulty premium for difficult destinations due to their dangerous or unstable political situation. Also because of climatic conditions, or a lack of satisfactory educational or health infrastructures.
– Mobility bonus paid at the beginning and end of the assignment.
– Cost-of-living bonus for expensive destinations.
– The installation bonus to finance initial expenses on site.
Social security cover (health for the whole family, unemployment and pension contributions) must also be addressed. The loss of social security rights in the country of origin, if partially or not at all compensated by the host country’s system, results in a virtual loss of income for the employee. The employee will have to take out private insurance to compensate for this. For this reason, future expatriates can negotiate, for example, to cover their own supplementary health insurance and that of their family in the host country.
Negotiating benefits during expatriation
Help with moving abroad
– Housing assistance
– Moving assistance
– Transportation assistance
Family assistance
– Help with children’s schooling
– Help with spouse’s employment
– Help with maintaining personal ties
Social protection during expatriation
The status of expatriate employee necessarily implies a change in social security coverage. This social protection abroad takes into account all contingency mechanisms concerning illness, disability, unemployment, retirement…
As far as health insurance is concerned, healthcare costs vary from one country to another, and can be very expensive; taking out additional expatriate health insurance is strongly recommended. Mondassur, an international health insurance broker for 20 years, offers a range of insurance solutions, including GoldExpat for expatriates. By taking out GoldExpat insurance, expatriates can rest assured that they’ll be well covered throughout the world when they travel.
Negotiating the conditions of return to the country of origin
Negotiating the terms of your return from the outset means you can leave with peace of mind. Indeed, the best way to successfully reintegrate after a medium- or long-term expatriate assignment is to settle the conditions even before you leave.
Once you’ve settled abroad, it’s important to maintain a relationship with the company. Regular exchanges with your superiors and colleagues will facilitate your return on good terms.
In addition, check with your HR manager that you will find a job within the company on your return. You can also negotiate training courses for yourself and assistance for your spouse’s return to work.
Employer’s obligations
The expatriation of employees implies several duties on the part of the employer. Duties such as the obligation to provide information and the obligation to ensure safety.
The employer’s first obligation is to provide the employee with a suitable employment contract. Depending on the duration and conditions of the assignment. In addition, the obligation to inform. The employer is required to inform the employee that he wishes to send him abroad to work before his departure. It is also the employer’s responsibility to inform the employee of the health and safety conditions in the host country.
Finally, the employer also has a safety obligation, which goes beyond the professional sphere. Specialized insurance is therefore essential. Where the employee has been seconded to a subsidiary based abroad, the employer also has a duty to repatriate and reintegrate the employee.
