HUMAN RESOURCE

MANAGEMENT

Submitted To: Submitted By :

Ms. Rashmi Sharma Group No. 10

Submitted On: Group Members :

5th March, 2009
Minal Sinha (60/08)
Vaibahv Maroo (34/08)
Vishal Jain (144/08)
Nimish Methi (126/08)
Mahendra Saini (42/08)
Shashank Singhal (110/08)
TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Acknowledgements__________________________________________3

2. Introduction________________________________________________4

About Accenture 4
Company Description 4
Corporate Citizenship 5
Community Involvement 5
Code of Business Ethics 6

3. Background________________________________________________7

Expatriates 7
Expatriates in India 9
Expatriate Compensation Approaches 11
The Expatriate Compensation Package 13
Issues in Compensating Expatriates 16

4. Scope of the Study__________________________________________18

5. Data Collection_____________________________________________18

6. The Questionnaires-For expatriates and aspiring expatriates__________19

7. Data Analysis______________________________________________23

For expatriates 23
For aspiring expatriates 26

8. Limitations of the Study______________________________________28

9. Learnings_________________________________________________28

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 Acknowledgements

We would like to acknowledge the help and support of Ms.

Rashmi Sharma without whose support this project would not
have seen the light of the day.

We are grateful to her for not only guiding us through this

project but also providing us unflinching support and endless
resources in making our endeavor a success.

We would also like to thank Ms. Deepa Banerjee, HR Manager,

Accenture India, Gurgaon for having provided all the help and
support during the different phases of the project.

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About Accenture
Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing
company. Combining unparalleled experience, comprehensive capabilities across all
industries and business functions, and extensive research on the world's most
successful companies, Accenture collaborates with clients to help them become high-
performance businesses and governments.

In India, Accenture follows a focused and targeted strategy that is responsive to the
structure of the economy and the needs of the marketplace. The current strategic
imperative is to enhance shareholder value by assisting Indian corporation in
developing and implementing strategic initiatives, cost management and top-line
growth. We are also helping Indian corporation to increase customer services levels;
improve efficiencies in operations and supply chains; and use IT as an enabler in
becoming globally competitive.

Company Description
Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing
company. Combining unparalleled experience, comprehensive capabilities across all
industries and business functions, and extensive research on the world’s most
successful companies, Accenture collaborates with clients to help them become high-
performance businesses and governments. With more than 180,000 people in 49
countries, the company generated net revenues of US$19.70 billion for the fiscal year
ended Aug. 31, 2007.
Our "high performance business" strategy builds on our expertise in consulting,
technology and outsourcing to help clients perform at the highest levels so they can
create sustainable value for their customers and shareholders. Using our industry
knowledge, service-offering expertise and technology capabilities, we identify new
business and technology trends and develop solutions to help clients around the
world:

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Enter new markets.
Increase revenues in existing markets.
Improve operational performance.
Deliver their products and services more effectively and efficiently.

We have extensive relationships with the world's leading companies and governments
and work with organizations of all sizes—including 94 of the Fortune Global 100 and
more than two-thirds of the Fortune Global 500. Our commitment to client
satisfaction strengthens and extends our relationships. For example, all of our top 100
clients in fiscal year 2007, based on revenue, have been clients for at least five years,
and 85 have been clients for at least 10 years.

Among the many strengths that distinguish Accenture in the marketplace are our:

Extensive industry expertise.

Broad and evolving service offerings.
Expertise in business transformation outsourcing.
History of technology innovation and implementation, including our research and
development capabilities, on which we spend approximately $300 million annually.
Commitment to the long-term development of our employees.
Proven and experienced management team.

By enhancing our consulting and outsourcing expertise with alliances and other
capabilities, we help move clients forward in every part of their businesses, from
strategic planning to day-to-day operations. With more than 180,000 people in 49
countries, deep industry and business process expertise, broad global resources and a
proven track record, Accenture can mobilize the right people, skills and technologies
to help clients improve their performance.

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Corporate Citizenship
In our role as a global organization, Accenture believes we have a responsibility to
engage proactively with the communities in which we live and work. Corporate
citizenship nurtures motivation, employee pride and societal awareness through a
systematic framework which, anchored by a strong set of core values and Code of
Business Ethics, drives consistency and transparency across our businesses and
workforces. We take a holistic approach to aspects such as diversity, education and
environmental conduct, as well as community involvement activities, and aspire to an
integrated approach that positions corporate citizenship at the heart of our business
operations

Community Involvement
Accenture giving focuses on delivering tangible outcomes through a mix of financial
giving and the giving of the time and skills from our skilled professionals.

Giving: Financial Accenture giving focuses on delivering tangible outcomes through

a defined global program, diverse local country efforts, disaster relief and inspired
fundraising by our people.

Giving: Time and Skills Accenture offers its employees the opportunity to use their
time and skills to bring positive outcomes to diverse communities.

Accenture Code of Business Ethics

The Accenture Code of Business Ethics has been substantively revised and a new
version was adopted in September 2006.

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The new Code is designed to: place more emphasis on Accenture's six core values,
give practical examples to our people of what these values mean in their everyday
work life, accommodate new legal and regulatory developments, make the Code more
user-friendly.

The new version of the Code is a result of the joint effort and work by many of our
people across geographies and functions. In particular, consultations were held with
our country operations and management in order to best accommodate local needs
and legal requirements.

One very visible aspect of the Ethics and Compliance program is our Code of
Business Ethics, which all employees must read and follow. Currently available in 16
languages, the English version was distributed in electronic form to all employees.
The Code emphasizes critical areas particular to our organization and business model
while highlighting aspects of conduct that are imperative for all employees. Our Code
does not incorporate or refer to all policies, but acts as a synthesis of the key policies
and principles that should govern all employees' conduct. Our employees periodically
certify their compliance with our Code of Business Ethics.

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BACKGROUND

Expatriates
An expatriate (in abbreviated form, expat) is a person temporarily or permanently
residing in a country and culture other than that of the person's legal residence.

The difference between an expatriate and an immigrant is that immigrants (for

the most part) commit themselves to becoming a part of their country of
residence, whereas expatriates are usually only temporarily placed in the host
country and most of the time plan on returning to their home country, so they
never adopt the culture in the host country.

During the later half of the 20th century expatriation was dominated by professionals
sent by their employers to foreign subsidiaries or headquarters. Starting at the end of
the 20th century Globalization created a global market for skilled professionals
and leveled the income of skilled professionals relative to cost of living while the
income differences of the unskilled remained large. Cost of intercontinental travel had
become sufficiently low, such that an employer not finding the skill in a local market
could effectively turn to recruitment on a global scale.

This has created a different type of expatriate where Commuter and short-term
assignments are becoming the norm, and are gradually replacing the traditional long
term. Private motivation is becoming more relevant than company assignment.
Families might often stay behind when work opportunities amount to months instead
of years. The cultural impact of this trend is more significant. Traditional corporate
expatriates did not integrate and commonly only associated with the elite of the
country they were living in.

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Modern expatriates form a global middle class with shared work experiences in
Multi-national Corporation and working and living the global financial and
economical centers. Integration is incomplete but strong cultural influences are
transmitted. Middle class expatriates contain many re-migrants from emigration
movements one or two generations.

The assignment of the expatriate employee can be classified as

- Short-term assignment (in any company being 0 to 12 months)
eg. A feasibility study
- Long-term assignment, (from 1 to 3 years)
- Permanent assignment, when the employee signs a permanent employment contract

Expatriates in India
The Indian job market is full of attractive opportunities, not only for domestic
talents but for foreign workforce as well. The number of foreigners seeking jobs in
India is increasing every year. Not only are the middle and senior level
expatriates coming to India, young graduates, who are on the threshold of
beginning a new career are taking up jobs in Indian sectors like IT,
Pharmaceuticals, Retail etc. According to a recent study by
Credence Research and Analytics (CRA), there are 40,000 expatriates in India
presently; and out of them, almost 15% are in leadership roles.

Even major IT companies like Infosys are having special programs for getting
students for premier universities like Stanford and Harvard to work with them.
Recognizing the fact that India is a growing economy, foreign universities are
sending their students to work in India so that they can have an understanding of the
Indian markets an environment, work practices and culture of the Indian
organizations.

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Why are expatriates ready to work in India? What attracts these expatriates to
fly to India? Some of the reasons that add to the trend of expatriates looking
for more jobs in India are as follows:

Growth Opportunities: India, being one of the fastest growing economies in the
world, offers a large number of growth opportunities to expatriates. More expatriates
seek jobs in India on account of job cuts, outsourcing, and high taxes in western
nations.

Compensation: Indian companies maintain external equity and are now

increasingly paying at par with the foreign countries. Expatriates with
specialized skills which are unavailable in India, due to financial and
technology constraint like molecular research, are being offered highly attractive
packages.

Attractive Positions: Companies are offering attractive leadership positions to

experienced expatriates. Key roles ranging from middle level managerial roles to
Departmental Heads are also being offered to specialized expatriates.

Adds value to resume: There are no second thoughts about how Indian experience
adds values to ones resume. It reflects an individual's hard work and ability to
adapt and deal with diversity. One gets to know the different cultures, improve
networking skills, and knows how to deal with people.

Increasing Unemployment: The rate of unemployment is increasing in

industrialized economies while the growth opportunities are increasing in South
Asian countries. As a result of this fact, many expatriates who have saturation in
their careers in their countries are heading towards Indian markets to grab the
opportunities here and move ahead in their careers.

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Apart for the advantages of working in India, there are certain factors that
reduce the chance of an expat to become successful in India. Difficulties in
communication and difference in cultures are two main factors for the same.

Expatriate Compensation Approaches

There are generally three approaches to international compensation.
They are:

a) The budget system - This system takes in all costs incurred by employees in both
countries (the home country and the host country). These costs and the effect
of the local tax system, form the basis on which employee's income is calculated.

The system is extremely expensive to keep up there are many adjustments which
need to be made, notably in high inflation countries. If products and services
are not available locally, it will involve cost of importing.

This system has been subject to criticism from expatriates. The fact that the
employer determines what items will and will not be included in the budget is often
seen as paternalistic. Moreover, once expatriates know what items are included in
the budget, they will certainly try to get other (expensive) items on the list.
They feel that they know best what they will need in the host country.

b) The Local Growing Rate System - Under this system, the expatriate is
paid entirely according to the standards in the host country. This prevents
the situation where junior staffs are paid substantially higher salary than the
expatriate, who is compensated in conformity with the standards of income in
the parent country. The approach relies on survey comparison of local
nationals with expatriates. It is taken as a reference point in terms of benchmarking.
This method is less popular when employees are assigned to a less prosperous

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country, as it will result in profoundly lower salaries. Thus the local growing
rate system is mostly used for assignment to countries with clearly
higher compensation levels.

The advantages of this approach are: 1. it ensures equality with local nationals 2. It
is simple, 3. It identifies with host countries and 4. It ensures equity
among different nationals

The disadvantages of growing rate approach are: 1. it has variation between

assignments for same level of employees 2. It has variation between expatriate of
the same nationality in different countries & 3. It has potential re-entry problem

c) The Balance sheet or Home Made System - The premise that underlines
the balance sheet approach is that the same net sum must be available in both
the countries. In this context, net means the freely disposable income. The idea is that
the spending power must be identical in both the country. Consequently,
allowances will have to be made for cost of living, housing and generally accepted
spending patterns.

The balance sheet approach to international compensation is a system designed to

equalize the purchasing power of employees at comparable position levels leaving
abroad and in the home country and to provide incentives to offset quantitative
differences between assignment locations.

The objectives of the balance sheet approach are:

To ensure mobility of people to global assignment as cost effectively as
feasible.
To ensure that expatriate neither gains nor loses financially
Minimize adjustments required of expatriates and their dependents

The salient features of the Balance Sheet approach are:

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 Basic objective is maintenance of home-country living standard, plus
financial inducement
 Home country pay and benefits are the foundations of this approach
 Adjustments to home package to balance additional expenditure in host country
 Financial incentives (expatriate/hardship premium) added to make the
package attractive
 Most common system in usage by multinational firms

Advantages of this system are:

 It ensures equity between assignments
 It ensures equity between expatriates of same nationality
 It facilitates expatriate's re-entry
 It is easy to communicate to the employees

One major drawback of this system is that it may cause large salary gaps within one
and the same subsidiary, particularly between parent-country nationals and
host-country nationals.

The Expatriate Compensation Package

The basic elements of an expatriate's compensation package are:
Basic Pay - Basic Pay is the amount of money that an expatriate normally receives in
the home country. The expatriate salaries typically are set according to the base
pay of the home countries. Therefore, a German manager working for a US
MNC and assigned to Spain would have a base salary that reflects the salary
structure in Germany. The salaries usually are paid in home currency, local
currency or a combination of the two.

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The base pay also serves as the benchmark against which bonuses and benefits
are calculated.

Benefits - About one third of the compensation is benefits. In case of the

expatriates it can be more. Most US based MNC's include expatriate
managers in their home-office benefits programme at no additional cost to
expats. If the host country requires expats to contribute to their social
security programme, the MNC typically picks up the tab.

Fortunately, several international agreements between countries recently have

eliminated such dual coverage and expenses.

Some of the common benefits are as below:

 Housing: It covers a wide range of arrangements. Some companies provide with
a residence during the assignment and pay all associated expenses. Others deal
a predetermined housing allowance each month and let expatriates arrange their
own residence. Additionally, some organizations help those going on assignments
with the sale or lease of the house they are leaving behind.

 Utilities: Some companies provide air conditioners, bottled gas, bottled

water, electricity, telephone and telephone call expenses.

Car: Car or chauffeur driven car with parking facilities are provided by some
organizations befitting the status or requirements of security of the employee.

 Helping hands like servants, security guards are provided by some

organizations either representing affluence or power or status or all of them.

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 Club subscriptions are also part of benefits of expatriates. The club
memberships and club fees along the entertainment power is also given by some. The
club may vary from recreational/social clubs to sports club etc.

 Children's education benefits are another integral part of the

compensation package. These expenses cover costs such as tuition, enrolment
fees, books, suppliers, transportation, room, board and school uniforms. In
some cases, expense to attend post-secondary schools are also provided.

 Reimbursement policies for relocation / repatriation - Some companies

would provide this as an allowance too - which involves moving, shipping and
storage charges that are associated with personal furniture, clothing, and other
items that the expatriate and his or her family are (or are not) taking to the new
assignment. It also includes temporary living allowance.

 Assistance for spouse employment - to make up for loss of spouse's income

 Leave / Vacation - Expatriates are provided with an annual leave which

normally varies from 25 to 30 working days, besides the vacation provided,
home holidays and rest and relaxation (R&R)

 Insurance - Different kinds of insurance - including medical, life, dental, vision

etc are provided to the expatriates under global or local plans

 Social Security Costs - includes the Retirement Benefits given to the

expatriates, which would be on a defined benefit or a contribution plan basis.

In the recent years, some companies, especially MNC's have also been designing
special incentive programmes for keeping expatriates motivated. In the

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process a growing number of firms have dropped the ongoing premium for
overseas assignments and replaced it with a long-time.

Issues in Compensating Expatriates

 The Home or the Host Country - is one of the most common broad
issues with regards to compensation. Different companies would follow different
practices with regard to the same. A lot of them would follow diverse practices,
sometimes even on a case-to-case basis with the expatriates present. A majority
enroll expatriates for the host country benefit program, and maintaining the
payment of the base in the home country

 Different nationalities - Difference in the compensation packages

offered to expatriates from different nations, like the US & the UK.
Companies would like to keep the salaries of professionals at the same level, from
different countries, at par with each other.
 Economic conditions - both of the home and the host country. These
include currency fluctuations, inflation etc.

Multinational corporations have several options available for handling their

expatriates' salaries and allowances that will cover the many different economic
scenarios that can arise. For instance, an employee can be paid solely in host-
country currency, in US dollars entirely, or in a percentage between the two.
Many companies that are new to the international scene, with no sophisticated
policies in place, may have to get creative to keep their costs down and their
employees happy. One option is to offer guaranteed exchange rates or "protection
policies" for a certain percentage of the salary.

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Companies also split the salary between home- and host-country currencies, and
readjust the split as the need arises. Companies are going back to the use of
the cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) index to manage the differences in the
cost of living between the home and host country.

 Taxation - Policies used for taxation by both the home and the host
country, the anomaly of double taxation etc

Similarly there can be other issues like nature of the assignment, the
assignmentlocation etc due to which the expatriates may need to be compensated
differently. Different kinds of benefit packages would be provided to expatriates,
which would vary according to the different needs of the expatriate.

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Scope of the Study

The project was undertaken to study the various issues confronting expatriates. The study
is limited to Accenture India, Gurgaon office employees.

Data Collection

The team visited the Gurgaon office of Accenture India and got the questionnaires filled
in person by expatriates who have returned to India after completing their respective
assignments as well as aspiring expatriates.

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The Questionnaires

For Aspiring Expatriates

QUESTIONNAIRE 1

ASPIRING EXPATRIATES
Q.1 Would you like to be an expatriate?
(A) Yes
(B) No

Q.2 What factors fascinates you the most? Rank them.

(A) Place
(B) Perks
(C) Project
(D) Recognition or Career growth

Q.3 Would you like to go for?

(A) Long Term (more than 1 year)
(B) Short Term (less than 1 year)

Q.4 What is the selection procedure?

_______________________________________________________________
Q.5 Are you married or single?
(A) Married
(B) Single

Q.6 If married, will they send your spouse along?

(A) Yes
(B) No

Q.7 Are there any family constraints?

(A) Yes
(B) No

Q.8 What all are the formalities you need to fulfill before going?
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________

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Q.9 Are there any apprehensions?
(A) Yes
(B) No

Q.10 If yes, please

specify__________________________________________________________

QUESTIONNAIRE 2

FOR EXPATRIATES
Q.1 Where did u go as an expatriate?
_______________________________________________________________

Q.2 What was the duration of your stay?

_______________________________________________________________

Q.3 What was the selection procedure?

_______________________________________________________________

Q.4 Are you married or single?

(A) Married
(B) Single

Q.5 If married, did they send your spouse along?

(A) Yes
(B) No

Q.6 Were there any family constraints?

(A) Yes
(B) No

Q.7 What all were the formalities you need to fulfil before going?
_______________________________________________________________

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Q.8 What problems did you face?
(A) Language Problem
(B) Food Problem
(C) Culture Problem
(D) Accommodation problem

Q.9 What type of accommodation you had there?

(A) Company Provided
(B) Own Arrangement

Q.10 Where were you working?

(A) Company Office
(B) Client Office

Q.11 How was the learning experience?

_______________________________________________________________

Q.12 How was the living experience?

_______________________________________________________________

Q.13 Was there any bond signed?

(A) Yes
(B) No

Q.14 What all perks did u get?

_______________________________________________________________

Q.15 How was the work culture there?

_______________________________________________________________

Q.16 Were you awarded or recognised for any new technology that you learnt over
there?
______________________________________________________________

Q.17 Did you share your knowledge with others?

_______________________________________________________________

Q.18 Were any special orientation programs held, to help you adjust better to the
new culture?
_______________________________________________________________

Q.19 Did you face any kind of gender bias or nationality issues?
_______________________________________________________________

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Q.20 How were your queries answered by HR while you were onsite?
(A) Excellent
(B) Good
(C) Average
(D) Satisfactory
(E) Poor

Q.21 Would you like to go again?

(A) Yes
(B) No

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Data Analysis

FOR EXPATRIATES

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25
FOR ASPIRING EXPATRIATES

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Limitations of the Study
 Paucity of time available for analysis

 The scope of study is limited to a few employees of Accenture India

only

Learnings
 A good insight into the issues involved in expatriate management

 A thorough understanding of the process of conducting a primary

survey
 Inter-personal skills during the Data Collection phase.

 Learnt a lot of of Microsoft Excel skills during preparation of graphs

and analysis
 Different kinds of benefits / incentives / allowances accorded to
expatriates

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