Simplified expatriate management

Expatriate management is increasingly complex for most companies, whatever their size. This is all the truer in this era of globalisation where short  or long-term missions overseas are often necessary for companies to develop their activities. In the face of this reality, calling on a specialised company, capable of steering all management operations, is no longer a luxury. It is in this niche for the outsourcing of expatriate management that the Swiss company ITX (International Technologies for Expatriation) launched itself at the start of the 2000s.
With a staff of some twenty specialists based in Geneva, ITX manages over 1,500 employees from 70 different nationalities posted to 90 countries. On condition that a certain number of ethical rules regarding social and legal matters are respected, ITX offers outsourced services for expatriate management, from the conception of mobility rules to the payment of salaries, via the establishment of social protection. If the expatriates from the one company rely on the same social system, outsourcing can include a quasi-identical transfer of their management in ITX computing systems, via a payment software adaptable to most mobility policies.

The soar of TCNs
“Our added value is that we have a good knowledge of different social and mobility systems throughout the world,” declares John Allinson, Managing Director of ITX, a former international mobility manager for major European petrol companies as well as the giant ITT. “In recent years, we have seen an important rise in the number of TCNs (third country nationals), that is employees coming from another country than the companies in which they work.” For these multicultural expatriates, International Technologies for Expatriation offers to implement the legal and social instruments that are best adapted to their management, depending on their place of origin and the place of their posting. “Today, certain work contracts come under Swiss law, but recruitments made under other legislations will multiply in the future,” affirms John Allinson. “What is important is that the cost of the systems that we put in place be reasonable to allow companies to compete with international rivals. These systems should be high in quality to keep current employees and to attract new talent throughout the world.” It is thus particularly important to offer expatriates social protection that is not inferior to their former and future social systems, notably regarding retirements.

Increasingly complex profiles
A labour shortage in certain sectors of the economy in Western countries has encouraged a growing trend for employees of different origins to be recruited. With the increasing complexity of profiles and employee histories, recourse to services such as those developed by ITX will become essential, not only in the interests of profitability but also homogeneity.
In the course of the last decade, ITX has therefore managed over 4,000 files on employees for SMEs and multinationals, active in sectors as wide-ranging as transport, health, the water industry, petrol, mass distribution, metallurgy or chemistry. International Technologies for Expatriation moreover carries out studies on social systems throughout the world and carries out research on the type of insurance most likely to best meet the specific needs for international mobility. This is a contribution that allows expatriates on five continents to sleep peacefully!