Multiple Country Compensation Programs

Summary

This course has walked you through how to set pay for employees in multiple countries. We considered differences in pay for employees transferred between countries (expatriates and third country nationals) and for local nationals. We discussed types of pay and benefits that may be legally required, customary, or simply market competitive in different countries.

This material is especially important for multinational companies that:

• hire and develop staff globally and compete for the best talent
• have markets and operations that are determined by economic opportunities, not political boundaries

The corporate strategy of these multi-national corporations is global.

Ideally, total rewards that reinforce the global business strategy and organization culture would be a competitive advantage for the business.

From a practical standpoint, the economies, cultures and governments of the world are diverse. These do and will continue to create differences in any total rewards program. There are places in which these differences are narrowing, and companies are learning to regionalize their compensation plans. But you must be certain to give each country individual consideration when establishing total rewards for the local employees there. Your research may save your company many legal, economic, and labor supply difficulties.