Compensation & Benefits
Compensation & Benefits
“Remuneration issues are one of the most sensitive topics when, on the one hand, obtaining the employee’s consent for the overseas posting, and on the other, when overseas postings need to be handled in a cost-conscious manner”
We are at your service as a “sparring partner” for all issues related to employee remuneration in an international context. Thanks to our numerous consultation mandates, we are aware of the standards in the relevant industries. Furthermore, in collaboration with our worldwide CONVINUS GLOBAL NETWORK (CGN), we are able to manage the remuneration components for overseas postings fairly and cost-efficiently.
The compilation of balance sheet calculations for determining remuneration for postings and local employment overseas as well as the optimization of overseas remuneration are also key points of focus for us.
Contact us so that we can work together to find solutions for your specific remuneration issues with regard to international assignments overseas and in Switzerland.
Optimization of overseas remuneration
By correctly structuring the remuneration package, significant costs can be saved for the company according to the country of deployment, without any negative effects for the employee.
In order to benefit from the optimization, this step should be taken in conjunction with contract design, and not only later on, when the employee is assigned overseas.
We would be glad to provide you with information on country-specific options with regard to the optimization and structuring of your employees’ remuneration packages, such that an optimum cost structure is achieved with the same remuneration.
Balance sheet calculations
Balance sheet calculations are a long-established method for defining overseas remuneration for employees in a fair and transparent manner.
Beginning with the employee’s current gross remuneration, the net income is determined based on personal information (marital status, place of residence, age etc.). The corresponding costs of living, tax and social security information for the country of deployment are then added to this net income in order to obtain the new gross income.
With balance sheet calculations (also called “net-to-net calculations”), the remuneration can be determined in a clear and transparent manner for local transfers and postings.
If you only require partial aspects of a balance sheet calculation in order to e.g. determine the difference in costs of living between various posting locations or to calculate the net salary of the employee, we can also provide you with this data for all country combinations worldwide.
Our key consulting services:
- Determining overseas remuneration
- Defining international assignment allowances
- Worldwide evaluation of usual fringe benefits
- Gross ups and offsetting of net salary components
- Tax optimization of overall remuneration both domestically and overseas
- Costs of living indexes for all country combinations worldwide incl. housing costs for each work location and employee category
- Benchmarking studies for the remuneration of certain groups of professions in Switzerland and overseas
- Structuring of bonus payments before, during, and after the international assignment
- Listing of usual and updated international assignment allowances for Swiss and foreign companies
- Compiling balance sheet calculations for determining overseas remuneration as well as gross-net and net-gross calculations for all countries
- Remuneration comparison calculations with and without fringe benefits
Defining overseas remuneration
A Swiss employee is assigned to the USA for 2 years, and currently receives a gross salary of CHF 140,000.
Based on this, we calculated what the gross salary needs to be in the USA in order to maintain the same standard of living. Aspects taken into account include the different tax, social security, rental housing, and living costs.
BEST PRACTICES - A small selection of cases from our day-to-day work:
- Evaluation of usual local remuneration levels and fringe benefits for an engineer in Denmark
- Determining the overseas remuneration for the international assignment of a sales director from Switzerland to the USA
- Calculating the overseas allowance agreed upon as a net value for tax and social security purposes
- Compiling a housing costs budget for the temporary assignment of international employees in various locations in Norway
- Review of predetermined, company-wide per diem rates for employees of foreign companies deployed in Nigeria
- Breakdown of overall remuneration agreed upon in order to utilize tax-free allowances for postings to China
- Utilization of country-specific expatriate regulations in the Netherlands and Belgium for the taxation of certain remuneration elements
- Adaptation of international assignment allowances to the usual industry standards for postings from Switzerland
- Balance sheet calculations for a transfer from India with local employment in Switzerland
- Determining differences in costs of living between Oslo (Norway) and Shanghai (China)
