This week Eurohome Relocation Services published their 2014 Global Mobility Report on Russia. Eurohome specialises in providing and managing relocation, destination, and immigration services for multinational companies and individuals. The report based on surveys with 52 international organisations across 11 different industry sectors. Surveyed companies had a range of less than 500 employees worldwide to over 50,000.
It seems that companies tend not to have many expatriates on their workforce in Russia (60% of respondents had less than expatriate 5 employees) which was deemed to be due to visa restrictions, language barriers, high costs-of-living and the perception that it can be a difficult assignment if not for the employee but also for their family.
Whilst the Expatriate Trends Study released last year showed that shorter assignments were becoming more popular Russia seems to be bucking that trend. Only 7% of assignments are project based and only 11% of employees are based in Russia for less than one year versus 38% being based for 3 years or longer. The recent introduction of the ‘Highly Qualified Specialist’ visa which is valid for 3 years and greatly simplifies the work-permit / quota process may account for the trend towards longer assignments.
Benefits on offer to employees
The report also details the types of benefits offered by companies to employees when they move to Russia. Whilst not all of the listed benefits will be on offer by each company it’s interesting to compare them to the benefits that tend to be on offer in Asian countries as released by Hays in their recent The 2014 Hays Asia Salary Guide.
- 84% – Medical Cover
- 80% – Visa & Immigration
- 77% – Housing Assistance
- 69% – Temporary Accommodation
- 50% – Dependent Schooling
- 50% – Language Training
- 50% – House Hold Goods Moving & Insurance
- 46% – Preview Tour & Orientation Tour
- 46% – Tax Briefing
- 34% – Cultural Adaptation Training
- 23% – Partner Assistance
- 19% – Settling In Support
- 19% – Tenancy Management
