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GLOBAL BUSINESS PLANNING
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As the world becomes an increasingly complex place to operate in, what do HR disparities around the world mean for businesses? From frequent legislative changes to increasingly strict reporting requirements, all underpinned by a volatile geopolitical environment globally. To add to that, the dreaded ‘B-word’ continues to pose the prospect of new trading relations between the UK and its European neighbours, which will undoubtedly bring further complications to operations.
ARTICLE BY ANNE CLIFFORD, GLOBAL HEAD OF HR AND PAYROLL - TMF GROUP
For HR and payroll teams, there have been a raft of measures introduced over the past year in the UK alone to keep on top of. Those have included new rules around executive pay reporting for quoted companies; the right to itemised pay statements for workers not just employees, and new limits on employment statutory redundancy pay that came into force in April, to name just a few. For those looking after a global workforce however, remaining complaint across multiple countries comes with a whole new set of dynamics that make the task even more complex. As part of efforts to gain a better understanding of the challenges facing multinational businesses, we commissioned research that analysed 76 different jurisdictions worldwide in terms of the ease of doing business - with the challenges around HR and
payroll a central part of that. Among the key findings of the Global Business Complexity Index 2019 is that it is becoming increasingly complex for multinational firms to employ staff at every stage of the employee lifecycle. From the very start, there are hurdles that multinationals can come up against when setting up new teams in new places, not least the sheer time and money often needed to get things off the ground. One of the biggest can be restrictions that many countries impose on hiring staff before a business has been incorporated as a legal entity, making it very hard for businesses to hit the ground running. This is especially problematic in Latin America where company registration processes can be lengthy; in Peru, for example, registration takes up to three months. Hiring staff from overseas
also presents a potential barrier for firms looking to expand internationally, particularly in countries where protectionist labour laws are in place. In Canada, for example, businesses must prove that a vacancy cannot be filled by a Canadian national before they recruit from overseas. That said, some supranational agreements that bind regions together can simplify overseas recruitment, such as the European Union’s freedom-of-movement legislation. Generally though, hiring local workers is far more straightforward. Another consideration for HR leaders during the hiring process is what employment contracts work best for different markets and balancing those with the needs and priorities of the business. Across all three regions that we analysed - EMEA, APAC and the Americas -
28 | thehrdirector | DECEMBER 2019
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