Asia Snaps Up Talent in the Downturn
Singapore Straits Times (04/25/09) Rekhi, Shefali
Many Asian students who went to Western countries to study are being lured back to their home regions to find better jobs and lifestyles. One example is 22-year-old Vedanta Kumar, who graduated last year from the Wharton School but had little success finding a job in a faltering U.S. economy. Initially reluctant to return to India, he changed his mind after winning a desirable position at a leading Mumbai-based multinational, where "the compensation offered was comparable with what I would have earned in the U.S., taking standards of living into account." The resilience of India's banking and financial service sector in the months since then have only added to his confidence that it was the right decision. Asia's "brain gain" trend began a few years ago, but is now accelerating much more quickly as Asians and Westerners alike look for jobs in Asia. "We are witnessing a strong interest in employment here by foreign professionals from the U.S., Europe and Australia, some of whom have been made redundant in their home countries," said David Jones, managing director of Robert Half International (Asia Pacific), a financial recruiter. Applicants are being lured by the better position of the Chinese and Indian economies as compared to other parts of the world, and while open economies like Singapore and Hong Kong have been more vulnerable, job seekers from advanced Western economies such as the United States and United Kingdom are still interested. Less developed countries in Asia had faced a serious brain drain starting in the late 1950s, but as many Asians return with children they find their home countries have advanced a great deal in the interim and can offer them a plush lifestyle they might have missed out on elsewhere.

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The Risks of Relocating for Work
Toronto Globe & Mail (Canada) (04/11/09) Grant, Tavia
As layoffs continue to occur, many people are mulling over whether they should move to another city. Before making plans, however, it is important to take into account that a large portion of moving expenses is tax deductible. It is also important to consider that fewer employers are paying moving costs, the uncertainty of a home's selling price, and whether the target city will have a strong job market over the long term. Financial issues that should be examined include the cost of living, the size of the new salary, differences in real estate markets, and moving expenses. The transporting of household items represents the single largest moving expense. The typical relocation in Canada costs about $50,000, according to the Canadian Employee Relocation Council's 2009 survey. The survey also found that the average age of someone who moves for employment purposes in Canada is between 26 and 40, most are male, and earn an average salary of $92,000 annually.

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Business Mistakes: 11 Cultural Faux Pas You Should Never Make in China
CIO (04/21/09) McAlearney, Shawna
It is always important to pay attention to cultural etiquette when doing business in a foreign country, and in China there are some very specific actions that executives should take to avoid offending potential business partners. The Chinese consider business cards to be representative of a person, so an executive should always give and receive business cards with both hands, and study the card when it is received rather than immediately putting it away. A special card case should be used as well, rather than merely stuffing it in a pocket or wallet. There should be no personal contact, especially between a man and a woman, and one should always stand when others enter a room and allow the Chinese to leave first. Complimenting a Chinese executive’s English can be taken as an insult as most have had extensive experience outside the country, and may insinuate that you can find nothing better to compliment. When dining, no one should eat before the host, and business should not be discussed, nor should any embarrassing political topics. Only serving utensils should be used to choose items, never one’s personal fork or chopsticks. All dishes that are offered should be tasted, but one’s plate should not be cleared or the host will think he has not provided enough food.

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British Couple Hit by Cyprus Ruling
Financial Times (04/29/09) Strauss, Delphine
Thousands of expatriates possessing property in northern Cyprus could be impacted by a European Court of Justice ruling that the European Union's courts should enforce Greek Cypriot legal verdicts. The verdict was based on the efforts of a Greek Cypriot to reclaim land his family abandoned when the island was partitioned in 1974 from a British couple that built a holiday house on the land. The court ruled that the fact that a Greek Cypriot judgment cannot practically be enforced in northern Cyprus, whose authorities are recognized only by Turkey, "does not prevent the courts of another [EU] member state from declaring such judgments enforceable." The British couple could face court action to seize their U.K. assets if they do not demolish the house and pay compensation.

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Companies Restrict Travel, Advise Staff on Flu
Reuters (04/28/09) Feast, Lincoln; Waterman, Will
Seeking to head off a potential flu pandemic following at least 149 deaths in Mexico, companies around the world have put travel restrictions in place and offered advice to staffers. For example, Nokia postponed all non-essential travel to and from Mexico, while Hon Hai, a Taiwanese company that makes electronic components in Mexico for famous names such as HP and Dell, limited “all non-essential travel to places that have seen cases of swine flu,” and quarantined staff members returning from those areas for a period, according to a spokesman. Honda Motor, which has production facilities in Mexico, is also suspended global business travel until at least May 6 and considered sending expat workers' Japanese families home, while South Korea's Samsung and LG limited travel to Mexico as well. In Germany, Lufthansa worked with health officials to prepare plans for what to do if the situation worsens, and the German airport operator Fraport considered stricter flu-related checks at Frankfurt's airport. Meanwhile, one company considered rescinding its decision to cancel non-essential business travel is the Australian supermarket group Woolworths, "because now all the advice is you can't contain it through lack of travel," said a spokeswoman.

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It's 9:05 a.m., Do You Know Where Your Workforce Is?
Conference Board Review (04/09) Vol. 46, No. 2, P. 54; Klein, Paula A.
Managing the expatriate workforce, which has doubled since 2006, requires companies to expend more time, money, and energy. There's "a very fundamental difference in managing a company when a large percentage of workers are dispersed around the world," says Globoforce Ltd. CEO and Co-Founder Eric Mosely. Even if the HR department philosophically agrees with employees about fair pay, benefits, and advancement opportunities, putting best practices into play can be tricky. A financial incentive program that works in one region could offend in another, so benefits and incentives must be geographically tailored. The challenge of coordinating projects and communicating across different time zones and cultures can create resentment and hinder productivity within teams. Even the noblest efforts by HR to monitor career progress can leave global managers feeling distant and unattached to their parent companies. The temptation while living overseas is to stay within an expatriate American community, which prevents managers from gaining critical global communication skills. Overseas managers must evolve into "contextual chameleons, becoming part of the culture" and spending social time with colleagues and partners to gain trust and to build community in an environment that can be isolating and lonely.

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Vienna Named City With World's Best Quality of Living
Reuters (04/28/09)
Mercer's Worldwide Quality of Living Survey has released its latest annual ranking of cities with the highest quality of living, with Vienna, Zurich, and Geneva taking the top three spots while Vancouver and Auckland tied for fourth place. Other cities in the top 10 were Dusseldorf, Munich, Frankfurt, Bern, and Sydney, while Honolulu was the highest-ranked U.S. city at No. 29 on the list; Washington and New York were in the 44th and 49th spots. Last on the list was Baghdad, in spite of some slight infrastructure improvements and efforts at attracting investment. The highest-scoring Asian city was Singapore, which also led the rankings in terms of city infrastructure. "As a result of the current financial crisis, multinationals are looking to review their international assignment policies with a view to cutting costs," says Slagin Parakatil, a senior researcher at Mercer. "Many companies plan to reduce the number of medium to long-term international assignments and localize their expatriate compensation packages where possible though the hardship allowance, based on quality of living criteria, will remain an essential component of the package."

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Mexico: Business Is Standing Its Ground
BusinessWeek (04/20/09) No. 4127, P. 34; Engardio, Pete; Smith, Geri
Mexico's bureaucratic hurdles, its headline-grabbing crime and drug gang turf wars, and competition from Asian manufacturing havens have not put the maquiladora industry out of business, with companies like Johnson Controls, Cummins, Emerson Electric, Visteon, Delphi Automotive, Whirlpool, Honeywell International, Daimler, and Lenovo continuing to operate the low-labor-cost factories in Mexican cities along the U.S. border. K. Alan Russell, who operates maquiladora industrial parks in Ciudad Juarez and helps smooth things out for U.S. companies running plants in them, finds himself having to do much more damage control than usual, frequently having to assure companies that his facilities are safe whenever bad news about Juarez makes it into the headlines. Manufacturers continue to be bullish on Mexico, however; for example, Otis Elevator's Randy E. Wilcox says, "Not only are we not going anywhere, but more and more of our key suppliers are in Mexico. It's the hub of our supply chain for North America." Mexican states and cities have also worked to become more competitive with Asian manufacturing hubs by studying the successes in Asia, Europe, and the United States. For example, local governments have been partnering with universities and private industries to improve job skills, perform research and development, and improve their supply networks and infrastructure. Since the 1994 financial crash, Mexico has also adopted good fiscal and monetary policies that make it easier for it to withstand global economic shocks. At the same time, U.S. manufacturers are rethinking their heavy use of Asian manufacturing locations and taking more of an interest in "near-shore" operations, in part because of the rising cost of manufacturing in China as well as concerns about spiking oil prices making trans-Pacific shipping much more costly. U.S. companies also find it easier to control their operations in Mexico than in China, where there are intellectual property and quality control concerns and companies often have to work with government-connected partners.

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Doing Business? S'pore Is Fourth Best
Straits Times (04/17/09) Chan, Fiona
Forbes recently released its rankings of the most business-friendly countries in the world, and Singapore is ranked fourth, up from eighth last year. The country also remained in the number one spot for the Asia-Pacific Region. Singapore’s ability to attract companies, investors, and workers puts it in a good position to rebound from the global recession more quickly than its peers, according to Forbes.

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Trailing Spouses Need Pensions Too!
Shelter Offshore (04/22/09)
Britons taking expat assignments overseas should keep in mind the pension savings benefits their spouses may miss out on by not being able to contribute to the U.K. National Insurance Fund or company pension. One avenue that may be possible for a spouse who is coming along to be a homemaker is for the other spouse to pay a wage to the homemaking spouse for the homemaking services. This can allow for contributions into a traditional overseas pension scheme that may be eligible to be transferred into a Qualifying Recognized Overseas Pension Scheme (QROPS). Another idea is for the spouse with the job outside the home to set aside a certain amount of savings for the other spouse each month, perhaps in a long-term plan that offers a favorable interest rate and a suitable arrangement for the spouse's retirement needs.

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50 Percent Tax 'Could Reduce Competitiveness'
Witan Jardine (04/23/09)
PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) has warned the British treasury that high-earning people could decide to leave the United Kingdom after the 50 percent tax rate for workers earning at least 150,000 pounds a year goes into effect. Chancellor Alistair Darling said this levy will go into effect starting in April 2010, a year earlier than planned and with a higher rate than the 45 percent Darling had originally announced. "This increased tax take could accelerate the movement of high earners and top performers in industries like finance and technology to other established and growing economic hubs," wrote PwC International Mobility Partner Sean Drury. "Countries like Switzerland will look increasingly attractive to some of the people in the key industries needed to lead the U.K. out of the recession."

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Fewer People Relocate for Better Opportunities
USA Today (04/23/09) El Nasser, Haya
A new Census Bureau report blames the housing crisis for tying Americans down to living in the same home, county, or state. Established homeowners -- particularly if they bought when residential prices were at their highest and now are upside down on their mortgages -- are held captive because of the decline in property values. "People aren't selling their houses," notes Census analyst Kin Koerber. About 35.2 million people pulled up stakes from March 2007 to March 2008, according to the study, dropping the rate of relocation to 11.9 percent from 13.2 percent. Besides home depreciation, the bleak employment outlook is holding Americans back from moving, with research from ORC Worldwide showing that more than half of companies surveyed had more employees turn down jobs in other cities because of concerns related to housing. The jobs decline, which is still in effect, is likely to factor into next year's numbers, according to Brookings Institution demographer William Frey. He predicts that foreclosures will trigger more relocation activity, because the repossessions will supplant households. Additionally, those who are foreclosed on will likely become renters -- who are more likely than other homeowners to change residence frequently.

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Popular Demand for Portuguese
MetroWest Daily News (MA) (04/26/09) Mineo, Liz
The growing Brazilian population in the Boston area has made the Portuguese language a popular second language for Latin American expatriates and U.S. natives alike in recent years. According to Arlete Falkowski, a former Portuguese high school teacher who has been teaching the Portuguese language in the area for the past nine years, the number of students under her tutelage has grown from three in her first year to 16 now. "In the past, many wanted to learn Portuguese because they had a Brazilian girlfriend or wanted to travel to Brazil," said Falkowski, who teaches people at their homes, online, and at two locations in suburban Framingham. "Now, many more want to study it to expand their business to Brazilians or to get jobs for which they need to speak Portuguese." Falkowski teaches seven people from the United States, while the rest are from Latin American countries, and her students include state Rep. Pam Richardson as well as Dominican-born dentist Candida Castillo, who says, "The other day I spoke Portuguese to a Brazilian patient, and he was very happy. He asked me if I was Brazilian because he said I had a Brazilian accent. I was so happy." The growing number of Americans seeking to learn Portuguese is a good sign of Brazilians' integration into the local community and the opportunity for cultural exchange, said Falkowski.

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