Around the world, living costs are rising at the fastest rate in decades. Many leading economists are predicting we’re entering a period of ‘stagflation’, a time when there is very little economic growth combined with high rates of (often double-digit) inflation. Some are even forecasting the onset of a challenging, and perhaps lengthy economic recession.
To remain competitive, grow and be agile during times of change and instability, organizations need to ensure they are using their skilled workforce to the greatest advantage. And talent mobility programmes can be an important way to accomplish that.
However, talent mobility programmes are notoriously costly to operate. The general rule of thumb is that deploying an individual on a long-term international assignment can cost businesses between 2.5x to 4x more than employing the same individual in their home country.
Being able to provide real-time accurate cost estimates has always been an important requirement for global mobility, because it enables business leaders to make informed, data-driven decisions about investing in and budgeting for international deployments. With inflation dramatically increasing, keeping a close eye on mobility and workforce management costs is more important than ever.
Equus AssignmentPro can support your global mobility program by ensuring business leaders have quick access to timely, accurate and complete cost estimates and analysis. These help your organization develop the best strategies for navigating the uncertain economic environment ahead.
Here are five ways AssignmentPro can help your organization get smart about costs.
1. What-If Cost Estimates (WICE)
Our customers have used the What If Cost Estimate (WICE) tool in AssignmentPro to great effect since its launch in 2016. In under two minutes, the mobility team or business users can run hypothetical cost estimates that incorporate all the latest benefits, allowances and tax positions or calculations. They can customize estimates based on their corporate policies, and run multiple options for cases. This helps to assess the total projected assignment costs and ensure internal discussions and decisions are made based on hard data.
2. Global Projects Cost Estimates
This summer we have taken the cost estimate functionality a step further with Global Projects Cost Estimates. Customers can now run multiple costs estimates simultaneously in AssignmentPro. This is especially beneficial for projects involving teams comprised of individuals with different skill or experience levels, or from a variety of home countries. In just a few minutes, mobility teams can create accurate cost estimates based on a number of variable factors. This allows them to budget effectively and take into account complex issues such as cross-border costs in tendering rates.
3. Detailed Cost and Tax Analysis
Business leaders often want to know not just the overall cost of a move, but also need the breakdown of costs comprising the estimates. AssignmentPro provides this though cost-estimate backing reports, which include line-by-line details of the benefits and allowances across the assignment lifecycle stages. They also show how personal income taxes, social security, payroll and fringe benefit taxes are computed in the host and home countries, based on the tax positions and computation assumptions. This visibility enables mobility teams to adjust tax positions according to the case circumstances, ensuring greater accuracy and transparency for the business.
4. Live, Real-Time Market Data
AssignmentPro features an API with AIRINC to ensure our customers have access to real-time prices for employee travel, benefit and living expenses. As soon as your latest AIRINC market data set is available, it automatically appears in AssignmentPro for you. This gives you total confidence that the cost estimates you run are based on the latest information and reflect the most accurate prices, which in an atmosphere of high inflation change rapidly and significantly.
5. Comparing Actual Costs to Estimates
Gone are the days of low inflation, when you could review your market data once a year and only be required to make minor updates to the benefits and allowances that drive your cost estimates. With so much volatility in the market and rising costs, you must frequently review things like cost of living allowances (COLA), rental prices, shipping and flight costs – not to mention salary adjustments — to create accurate estimates for moves and assignments.
AssignmentPro supports this by allowing you to access actual payroll and benefit data, so you can compare these costs to your estimates. With this real-life pricing information, you can create dashboards that give you an at-a-glance view of the total costs of your mobility program, and quickly spot trends where budgets are deviating from estimate values. You can then adjust your assumptions so future cost estimates reflect current realities.
Don’t allow your talent management and global mobility programs to slow down because of economic change and uncertainty. Instead, use technology such as Equus AssignmentPro to help you be smart about managing costs, so you can keep your workforce moving and benefitting your entire organization.
Click here to find out more about how Equus can help you control costs for your GM program
