EMPLOYEES COMING INTO THE UK | International Remuneration

Clearly, those employees coming to the UK from overseas would be treated in a broadly analogous way to those employees going overseas from the UK. In this situation, if the employee is to be an expatriate, the policy applied will be that relevant to the home country and not necessarily that defined by the host country. If the posting is defined as a secondment, and thus the employee's contract and terms of employment are with the host company, remuneration will be driven by the host company's policies and practices.

The question of internal remuneration equity between this employee and his or her direct peers within the host organization is an issue that needs to be considered. If the employee is coming from a 'cheaper' country, with respect to relative levels of remuneration, it is tempting to set his or her remuneration towards the lower end of any relevant local pay range. Conversely, an employee coming from an 'expensive' country may be paid towards the higher end of, or even above, any relevant local pay range. There may be sound reasons for adopting either approach (eg control of costs, ease of transition, etc). However, one must consider how the employee or his or her colleagues will feel when salary/remuneration disparities become common knowledge. If such differences in individual pay are driven by differences in anticipated performance, then such differences would be more easily defended by the employer and understood by the employees. Where someone is brought in to provide high-value skills or contribution, a higher remuneration would seem to be appropriate. Conversely, an employee who is there on a development secondment, or who has been promoted into this new role, would be expected to perform below a fully acceptable standard for some time and, hence, would be remunerated at below the fully acceptable level at least for an initial period of time.

Thus, while it may be tempting to do so, great care must be taken if one is going to take the employee's previous absolute remuneration in his or her home country into direct account when setting remuneration in the UK.