The international business has experienced rapid growth in the past four decades leading to an increase in the demand for expatriate talents ( Suutari, & Tornikoski, 2000) . Employee movements from home country to foreign countries have affected a few aspects of employment including compensation, contract duration, promotions among others. Human resource managers have to make tough decisions that relate to sending employees to work in foreign countries. The compensation of expatriates is rather an area of focus for HR managers as they have to consider the different factors in the employees' working environment ( Sims, & Schraeder, 2005) . The focus of the assignment is evaluating the case study Jenkins Goes Abroad on determining expatriates' salaries and motivation strategies.
Case Study
Jenkins Consulting is a company that assists other firms by providing advice on how to improve effectiveness and performance in all business aspects such as management and operations. Jenkins has only been operating in the United States but has attracted attention from foreign companies. A company in London, U.K has contracted Jenkins Consulting firm to help in repositioning and restructuring for the company to succeed. Five full-time employees at Jenkins will be needed to relocate to London to work on the assignment for an estimated span of two years. Jenkins’ HR manager Dale Kugar must ensure that the expatriate employees are appropriately compensated. However, Dale is facing challenges because of the high inflation in the U.K which shows that if the employees are paid the same amount that they are paid in the U.S the employees will not have the same purchasing power. Some of the consultants are worried about the impact of the assignment in the U.K on their careers.
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Determining Expatriates Salaries
Dale's intentions as a HR manager were to maintain the current benefits for all the employees who were going to work in London. The employee benefits included health care insurance, compensated time off, and retirement savings. The problem with Dale’s approach is that there is high inflation in the U.K which means that the expatriate team working in the U.K will have a lower value of their salaries and benefits. Therefore, Dale can make recommendations on different approaches to solving the inflation problem. There are three different strategies that Dale can use to determine the expatriates’ salaries which include home-based approach host-based method and global market strategy ( Suutari, & Tornikoski, 2000) .
Dale is focused on using the home-based approach in determining the salaries of the expatriates. Home-based method or the balance sheet approach is a popular approach which is used by more than 85% of Multinational companies in the U.S. The balance sheet approach give expatriate employees a salary package that equalizes the differences in cost of the international assignment and the same work at home country or the firm ( Suutari, & Tornikoski, 2000) . The approach is based on multiple key assumptions and designed to protect expatriate employees from the differences in cost in home and host countries.
Dale should maintain the home-based method which involves the base salary and the incentives. Dale has to consider taxes, goods and services, housing, and reserve (savings) factors in the host country and adjust the salaries and incentives accordingly. The salaries must match the position of these employees in the organization in the U.S. Dale must ensure that the expatriates' salaries are adjusted to the inflation and also must put into consideration factors like taxes, housing cost among others ( Sims, & Schraeder, 2005) . Incentives such as the same promotion considerations for the expatriates like those left working in the U.S must be maintained.
Incentive Compensation and Benefits for the Expatriates
Although the home-based approach is in use and its aim at treating expatriates the same way those working at home are treated, Jenkins should offer incentives and other benefits to the expatriates. Jenkins as a firm has never worked in any other country except the U.S which means that the employees are used to working at home. The idea of working in a foreign country may be hard on the employees especially those with other commitments such as families. There is a need to use incentives and additional benefits to the first expatriate team working for Jenkins. Employees require incentives to encourage them to work in new environments because of risks such as security, immigration and many more.
The incentive and benefits for the employees will motivate the employees to want to work in the new environment and also to complete the set goals. For Jenkins Consulting company, it would be the first time to work internationally and it would be important if the assignment in London would be a success. Offering the expatriate team with incentives and additional benefits for Jenkins will motivate the team to send to London to achieve its goals which will create a good image for Jenkins Consulting. A good image will create other opportunities for Jenkins that opening a chance to expand in foreign countries.
Expatriates carry the image of companies working like multinationals. It is, therefore, the responsibility of the mother firm to ensure that expatriate teams carry out their responsibilities to the fullest. It is important to keep employees working in foreign countries motivated by giving them more privileges than those working at home. The salaries of the expatriate team should be decided in a way that the HR team seems appropriate. In the case study above balance sheet approach was the best approach to determine the expatriates' salaries.
References
Sims, R. H., & Schraeder, M. (2005). Expatriate compensation. Career Development International .
Suutari, V., & Tornikoski, C. (2000). Determinants of expatriate compensation–Findings among expatriate members of SEFE. LTA , 4 (00), 517-539.
