What is global mobility?
Global mobility is the discipline of moving employees across national borders — long- and short-term assignments, permanent relocations and cross-border remote-work setups. It sits at the intersection of immigration, tax, social security, payroll and employment law, and adds a human layer on top: moving logistics, housing, schooling and support for the family.
In larger companies a dedicated global mobility function, usually within HR, owns the topic; in smaller ones it lands on whoever hires internationally first. Either way the questions are identical: may this person legally work there, who owes which taxes and social contributions, how do they get paid — and will the family come along?
What a global mobility program covers
A working mobility program is less about perks and more about compliance choreography. Immigration comes first: the right to work, via instruments such as the EU Blue Card for non-EU nationals or A1 certificates for postings within the EU. Then tax and social security: which country taxes the salary, whether a double-taxation treaty applies, and where contributions are due.
Payroll follows — sometimes as a “shadow payroll” run in the host country in parallel to the home payroll — plus relocation support: moving costs, temporary housing, school search, help for the spouse. The best programs also track the ongoing side: permit renewals, day-count thresholds, and the moment a long remote stay quietly turns into a taxable presence.
The most common types of mobility
Mobility comes in a handful of standard shapes, each with its own legal and cost profile:
- Long-term assignment — typically one to five years abroad, often with an assignment contract on top of the home contract; the classic expat construct, and the most expensive.
- Short-term assignment or secondment — months rather than years; the employee stays employed at home and is posted to the host organisation for a project or a bridge function.
- Permanent transfer — the employee moves onto a local contract in the new country for good; simpler in the long run, but harder to reverse.
- Commuter arrangements — living in one country, working in another, with weekly travel; common between neighbouring markets.
- Remote work and workations — the newest category: working from another country without a formal assignment, which still triggers tax, social-security and permit questions once it lasts.
Relocate someone — or hire locally?
For European expansion, mobility carries a price tag that surprises people: a long-term assignment typically costs two to three times the employee’s annual salary once allowances, tax equalisation, housing and schooling are added. That is why the first question in any market entry should not be “whom do we send?” but “whom could we hire there?” A local sales hire speaks the language, brings a network and needs no permit — in most cases, recruiting locally beats relocating.
The exceptions are real: when a role needs deep internal product knowledge, or when local talent is genuinely scarce, mobility fills the gap. In our own mandates the local route usually wins — a machinery client entering Poland hired a local Country Manager instead of sending an expat and was selling within weeks. In high-cost, high-regulation markets such as Switzerland or Denmark, the local-hire calculus is clearer still.
