While the number of employees on international assignments has remained relatively stable over recent years, the percentage of “global nomads” (employees who move from country to country on multiple assignments) and long-term expatriates has increased, causing challenges for employers when it comes to providing expatriate benefits. However, provision of expatriate benefits remains a key priority for multinational companies – 85 percent of survey respondents have specific procedures in place to monitor the success of expatriate benefit programmes. Employers are eager to ensure that their expat benefits programmes not only support business and HR strategies but also meet their assignees’ needs.

According to Mercer’s 2011/2012 Benefits Survey for Expatriates and Internationally Mobile Employees, the need to develop global leadership talent and the growth of new business ventures abroad has prompted a rise in global mobility. The number of global nomads has risen from 6 percent to 10 percent of the expatriate population of survey respondents, while the percentage of short-term expatriates (those assigned to a project for less than a year) has fallen from 17 percent to 11 percent. Long-term expatriates as a percentage of the total assignee population increased from 21 percent to 40 percent between the 2008/09 and 2011/12 surveys.

Source: Mercer