3 Questions for you on international assignments.

Friday, 17 September 2010

Question 1: The two most significant obstacles when managing short-term international assignments are tax compliance and keeping control of the length of the assignment. True or False?

True, and this responsibility falls to HR about 88 percent of the time.  Unfortunately employers and business travelers often are unaware of the numerous tax and immigration issues that can be triggered inadvertently by individuals traveling abroad. Seventy-one percent of respondents to a 2008 survey poll by Ernst and Young, London, United Kingdom said they believed their company had moderate to significant accidental expatriate risk, with some companies reported to having inadvertently created permanent establishment issues for their employees. (Answer from GMS™ Training Module 2- Strategies and Tactics: Global Workforce Mobility)

 

Question 2: The United States has more failed international assignments to the United Kingdom than any other country. True or False?

True, although the U.S. does have the most relocations to the U.K., cultures of similarity such as the U.S. and U.K. and or the U.S. and Canada present special, particularly difficult cultural adaptation issues.  Most frequently when assignees return home early it’s due to their inability to deal with the culture.  (Answer from GMS™ Training Module 3- The Intercultural Challenge: Doing Business Globally)

 

Question 3: When people communicate, we interpret 40 percent of each other’s message from the words said, 30 percent from non-verbal body language and 20 percent from voice intonation. True or False?

False, we only interpret 7 percent of a message from the words said.  We interpret the most, 55 percent from non-verbal body language and then 38 percent from voice intonation.  (Answer from GMS™ Training Module 3- The Intercultural Challenge: Doing Business Globally)

For more information about the Global Mobility Specialist™ designation and training program, please visit www.WorldwideERC.org/Education/GMS  or call +1 703 842 3430.