Winners Announced for 2017 Partner in Quality Awards

by | Feb 14, 2018 | Press Release

Bringing attention to vendors with an excellent service and performance record, WHR Group is pleased to announce the recipients of its 2017 Partner in Quality Awards.

The Partner in Quality Awards is an international evaluation of WHR’s Global Partner Network for those with a commitment to exceeding pre-determined service and performance standards. The Partner in Quality Award requires a minimum of 20 transactions over the course of the year, and ranking within the top 1 percentile of the relocation partner’s category.

The 2017 Award winners are:

Tax Assistance and Your Global Mobility Tax Program

by | Feb 6, 2018 | News

Find the updated version of this article here!

In December 2017, the U.S. government passed legislation that directly impacts taxpayers. Under the new law, known as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, taxpayers will be unable to claim certain deductions, including job-related moving expenses.

relocation expenses taxable to employee, tax gross-up, global mobility tax

Job-related moving expenses now taxable

In accordance with the new legislation, taxpayers must treat any direct payment or reimbursement of moving expenses received from their employer for job-related moving expenses as taxable income. Previously, employees only needed to pass the time and distance test (criteria 50-miles, 39-weeks, and 1 year) to be qualified to deduct moving expenses related to household goods moves, storage, and final moving expenses. Alternatively, an employee paying their own moving expenses could deduct those moving expenses, even if they didn’t itemize.

Under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, all moving expenditures will be taxed accordingly, at least until 2025. However, active-duty military members may still deduct moving expenses.

For employers like you, this can have a significant impact because it could be a deterrent to attracting new talent, or current employees may be less inclined to take a promotion that involves moving. One possible solution you can consider is to offer tax assistance.

What is tax assistance?

Tax assistance, often called gross-up assistance, is an approach where an employer “grosses up” an employee’s taxable relocation benefits. This is done to alleviate some tax burden on a portion of the employee’s income. However, there are some benefits and drawbacks with this approach, and it’s important to consider the impact.

Pros and cons of tax assistance

When considering whether to implement tax gross-up, you should carefully examine the advantages and disadvantages.

Pros of offering tax assistance

  • Helps your relocation program remain competitive.
  • Enables you to attract and retain top talent.
  • Alleviates some tax burdens placed on employees.

Drawbacks associated with tax assistance

  • Increasing an employee’s taxable income can change their tax bracket, which may increase the employee’s tax rate and phase out certain tax credits.
  • Increases company relocation expenses.

If your company decides to take the tax assistance approach, it is essential your employees are educated on what gross-up is and how it impacts their taxable income. Relocation management companies can help by explaining how tax assistance works to your staff. RMCs can also manage everything, including ensuring tax assistance is correctly calculated and implemented.

At WHR Global, we are committed to helping our clients hire top talent as well as helping their employees feel comfortable in their new location. We can help your company modify its relocation plans to adjust to the new tax law. We’ll also help you find the best solutions to help alleviate the potential tax burdens associated with moving and relocation for your employees.

For more information on how WHR Global can assist and explain how to incorporate tax assistance, give us a call at +1-800-523-3318 or email [email protected].

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Are Current Immigration Trends Affecting Your Employee Relocation Program?

by | Jan 9, 2018 | News

Current U.S. immigration policy isn’t making things easy for American businesses and their employees, especially when businesses need to bring in talent from all over the world. Uncertainty continues as current immigration trends change and the process works its way through the legal system causing many companies to lose precious time and money in their recruitment efforts.
employee relocation, relocating employees best practices

From coast to coast, U.S. businesses feel the impact of these restrictions. Back in April, when President Trump stressed the need to “Buy American and Hire American,” an executive order was signed in an effort to put H-1B programs under new scrutiny. Companies that seek people with specialized knowledge and training, typically those in engineering, science, and information technology, can temporarily hire foreign workers though the H-1B programs. With this executive order, U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services was told to more rigorously review every H-1B applicant, resulting in hiring and productivity delays from longer processing times.

Then, in October, USCIS changed a policy that had previously allowed anyone eligible for H-1B to get an extension without major reapplication requirements. Implementing a higher level of scrutiny on extension requests was, the service said, “consistent with policies that protect the interests of U.S. workers.”

Some politicians believe reform will increase employment of U.S. citizens. But others are not so sure.

“What a mistake when we are trying to fuel the innovation economy around the United States,” noted Carl Guardino, CEO of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group. Statistics show there aren’t enough qualified American workers to fill openings because not enough American students major in these fields.

The head of an immigration law department representing companies and academic institutions told The Boston Globe that entry-level computer science jobs, “might sound like positions that would be easy to fill with American labor,” but they are often highly specialized.

This change in policy hits Silicon Valley particularly hard because numerous engineers vie for H-1B visas. In 2016, the major technology companies combined applied for more than 30,000 of the 85,000 H-1B visas awarded.

It is not just the tech industry facing difficulties in securing and relocating employees. Experts in oil and gas say recruiting new and younger talent may become more difficult “at a time when oil and gas companies need it most.” Health care facilities, many of them located in medically underserved areas, feel a pinch in their personnel as foreign-born physicians question whether their visas will be renewed. The nation’s nursing shortage grows more dire if foreign-born nurses are not allowed to renew.

The uncertainty of what will happen next continues, especially because the travel ban decisions of lower courts are still in limbo. Because immigration laws constantly change, companies need to be aware of all that is happening and make sure they and their employees abide by regulations. Companies also need to be realistic with timeframes for when employees can start positions in the U.S. It may take months to get the necessary visas due to the additional roadblocks many people now face.

The challenges of employee relocation into the U.S. are extensive, which is why many companies outsource to a relocation management company. Offering immigration benefits allows your employees some peace of mind while going through this very difficult and stressful time.

RMCs keep up to date with everything that occurs in the courts, including what changes go into effect and when. They ensure companies and employees remain compliant and, when necessary, help relocate staff in as little time as possible allowing your business to focus on core personnel decisions.

For more information on how WHR Group can take your relocation program to the next level, call us at 800-523-3318 or email [email protected].

How Relocation Can Solve the Current Global Talent Shortage

by | Dec 26, 2017 | News

If your company has been experiencing a talent shortage, it’s not alone. Technology and increased mobility have combined to shift worker populations across borders, leaving whole industries barren of employees and facing empty candidate pools. The situation, however, has opened the door to national and international recruitment strategies that are proving to be very successful. Establishing a relocation plan for your new employees reduces the stress that they experience during their move to your community.

A Dearth of Workers

Around the world, managers are reporting a global talent shortage, with 40 percent of respondents to a 2016 survey saying they haven’t seen a challenge this great since 2007. The survey polled over 42,000 employers in Europe, the Middle East, Asia and the Americas about who they are looking for and the skills they need.

  • Almost half (46 percent) of Asian companies were experiencing hiring difficulties, compared to 36 percent in Europe and the Middle East, and 42 percent in the Americas.
  • Skilled trade positions remained in highest demand, a trend that has continued over the past five years. Traditionally poor opinions about the value of the skilled trade industries remain persistent across the globe, which causes many young people to steer away from those career opportunities. However, the interconnected global economy has generated strong building and manufacturing industries in many countries, many of which struggle to fill their open positions in time to complete their current and future contracts.
  • The second most sought-after worker is the information technology and technical employee. Demand for these highly trained staffers is highest in Asia, and IT jobs are the 10th hardest to fill in the U.S.
  • Engineers, drivers, accountants, managers and operations professionals are all highly sought after in every corner of the world.

Worker Shortage Requires Innovative Recruiting Strategies

The worker shortage has compelled many companies to re-evaluate their hiring strategies, especially if those had traditionally relied on hyperlocal or in-house hiring practices. When there are no “local” candidates, however, corporations must then determine how to canvass a larger, potentially global region for appropriate employee opportunities. Those that include and advertise an attractive relocation incentive in their employment ads can attract a wider, deeper pool of candidates.

For many companies, that new hiring strategy requires intense analysis of what the role is expected to produce and how to best match that need with potential candidates:

  • Does it require comparable experience over foundational education or the opposite?
  • Must the skill base match exactly with the expected position? Or can comparative skill be used to enhance or improve on previous expectations?
  • What are the short-, mid- and long-term goals for the position? Are there advancement opportunities? Will there be additional training expected or offered? How does this specific position factor into the company’s succession planning or future growth activities?

Experts assert that matching the company’s culture with a comparably cultured employee is the best strategy to pursue, to achieve the closest fit with the lowest likelihood of failure. If the worker shares a similar occupationally relevant mindset with the enterprise, then the education and skills background can modify to fit the work.

Finally, when the recruitment team identifies eligible candidates who will have to relocate to take the position, those companies that provide attractive relocation incentives are more likely to secure the hire. WHR Group research roots out the best relocation practices and standards that exist anywhere, not just across the globe but within separate industries, too. With this information, your company will know that its relocation packages are as enticing as any other company in your sector, so you don’t lose top talent because of an insufficient offer of relocation support. In this job-seeker economy, no company can afford to cut corners on this critically important incentive.

At WHR Group, we specialize in helping our clients find the right candidate and helping that employee feel at home in their new location. As more workers relocate to fill the needs of the growing global economy, the last thing they should worry about is how they are going to get their stuff from the old home to the new one. How can we help you find and relocate your next worker?

For more information on how WHR Group can take your relocation program to the next level, call us at 800-523-3318 or email [email protected].

Recruiting Top Talent with Shifting Demographics

by | Dec 12, 2017 | News

Research shows workforce demographics are changing. The pools of possible employees and what they are seeking in the workplace will greatly influence businesses moving forward. As candidates become more diverse and educated, organizations must adapt their practices. Being aware of these shifts helps you attain and retain top talent, which is especially important when investing time and resources such as relocation.
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Women & Diversity

Gender equality in the workplace has gathered much attention over the last few years and companies are making efforts to narrow the gap. While progress is occurring, studies show women continue to be “underrepresented at every level in corporate America, despite earning more college degrees than men for 30 years.”

Diversity in the workplace is vital for companies and hiring women is good for business. For example, a study by the International Finance Corporation shows women in the workplace make for a better work environment because women have a  “greater willingness to communicate and receive feedback.” They also help strengthen team dynamics and improve productivity and innovation.

Overall, employees are impacted in a positive way when a diversity plan is in place. An author who specializes in human resource issues stresses, “Business reputations flourish when companies demonstrate their commitment to diversity through aggressive outreach and recruiting efforts.” Additionally, she states that workplace diversity is important because it greatly impacts a company’s reach to markets in foreign countries. Thus, businesses seeking to bring in and retain top talent should be aware of how important a diverse population impacts business performance and ultimately their bottom line.

Millennials

According to findings by the Pew Research Center, millennials (people born between 1980 and 1997) are the largest living generation (an estimated 79.8 million as of 2016). For years, employers have come to understand that millennials in the workforce are different from their predecessors and so are the things they value. For example, some benefits are more important than a large salary.

This generation craves flexibility. Studies show 22 percent of millennials say they would be willing to work more hours if their options were flexible. Overall, 84 percent of millennials report their companies are making these concessions, including adapting to rapidly changing technology to allow for mobile working.

Millennials have been stereotyped as a job-hopping generation, but trends are changing. After a globally turbulent year socially and politically, younger employees who just last year thought about leaving jobs now appreciate job security. As these hires desire the feeling of being a part of the family when they enter a new job, improved onboarding practices help with engagement and commitment.

Short-Term Assignments

Short-term, temporary assignments have always been part of the U.S. employee experience, but they are now on the rise for international relocations. Surveys indicate the flexibility many employees seek is driving changes in relocation services.

Relocation efforts for millennials are a bit different than in the past. More than a quarter of Baby Boomer employees had stay-at-home spouses. Nearly 80 percent of millennial families are dual-income and spouses work full-time in their own careers. Thus, they want to be sure relocation is the right move for every person in the family.

To keep top talent, this requirement must factor into the equation in addition to long-standing goals companies have always had to be cost effective and make sure the right people are in the right place organizationally. Today, companies need to deliver a positive experience for those who relocate because it brings better employee engagement and productivity.

As research by Gallup News reveals, if millennials are not “engaged in those jobs, companies’ profitability, productivity and innovation will suffer. And if they are not thriving in their well-being, they will struggle in life, affecting how they perform as citizens, consumers and employees.”

As demographics shift and changes become necessary, the challenges of relocating an employee can be extensive. This is why many companies outsource to a relocation management company (RMC). RMCs keep apprised of numerous trends and how they affect the efforts of human resource departments. Additionally, RMC’s help relocate employees, creating the positive experience you desire while optimizing company resources to best align with your business goals.