Global mobility trends

Brazilian engineers from a Canadian company training in Česká Lípa – this is an example of globalisation and part of the work of the global mobility team (GMS) led by Pavel Gorel. He mediates the relocations of all kinds of employees, from welders to jewellers to IT specialists, solving all administrative, tax and social aspects also thanks to cooperation with colleagues from the global KPMG network.

In recent years, the team of Pavel Gorel has also helped with the registration of Ukrainian refugees as well as with the digitisation of the Czech immigration authorities. The team uses their new Immigration Questionnaire web interface in cooperating with clients. Other KPMG offices are also eager to use this tool.  

“We will continue to innovate. I would also like our team to grow further. I want to recruit more young and enthusiastic people and grow not only financially but also professionally and extend the range of services we offer to our clients,” says Pavel Gorel, adding that many companies are currently struggling with setting the rules for their remote-work-from-abroad scheme. 

The recruitment and retention of talented employees are the major challenges of present-day entrepreneurship. How can your global mobility services help?

As regards global mobility, we provide our clients with various types of services that could basically be divided into two major groups according to the needs of our clients. The first group includes multi-national corporations that mainly deal with temporary secondments of staff between group companies. An example of such a global network is our firm, a member of the KPMG network of firms. KPMG in the Czech Republic may second an auditor to New Zealand or Australia to develop their talent there. It is a temporary secondment and after some time, our firm will ask the employee to come back. During the secondment, the auditor gains new experience, and can climb the career ladder.

Our second service area responds to the lack of talent on the Czech market. We assist companies that lack the necessary work force and want to bring in staff from abroad. We usually help them with the recruitment of blue-collar workers from abroad, but we can also help them resolve the lack of white-collar workers, e.g. IT specialists, by importing them.

Which specific activities does your work involve?

In the past, we have often helped companies to bring in people from Ukraine or Russia. We also provided our services to a company lacking welders and helped it to bring in welders from India and the Philippines. We also assisted a company building a factory in Brazil and needing its Brazilian engineers to get trained in its Czech branch. We thus facilitated the arrival of 30 people from Brazil to train in the Czech Republic. Furthermore, we have been working on an interesting project for a renowned jewellery company having to deal with a lack of jewellers. As skilled jewellers are available in Thailand, we have been assisting them with the recruitment of workers from this country. We are currently discussing the form of our assistance with a major Japanese corporation which will need to bring in 150 Chinese workers to the Czech Republic to install and assemble equipment for its client.

Nevertheless, even though immigration aspects are our clients’ primary need, our assistance also involves the tax aspects and legal effects of immigration. Here, we cooperate with our colleagues from KPMG Legal.

It appears that there are virtually no borders in global mobility. How do you manage to coordinate the different requirements of various jurisdictions?

Our major strength in global mobility is KPMG’s global network of firms, as we are present in almost every country. This is the added value that our clients really appreciate because they must resolve all Czech legal, tax, and other aspects as well as all other foreign obligations. Corporations use our services as we know what they should be beware of and how to coordinate their affairs in various jurisdictions. The whole picture must be completed, and one cannot get stuck on individual puzzle pieces.

We expect that you mainly solve tax issues?

We cover all issues, including taxes, social security, and health insurance in the international context. We further help companies to set wages. Sometimes we also must reflect corporate aspects, i.e., the duties of corporations relating to their status of a fixed establishment. Having to pay corporate taxes in another country has been a sort of bogeyman for corporations, it seems.  Finally but importantly, we also deal with migration issues.

You mentioned examples from various countries. How is your work influenced by the turbulent geopolitical development?

We definitely feel the impact of the geopolitical development, and our clients also must adapt to the ever-changing situation. Concerning Ukraine and Russia, any transfers of people from Russia have been halted, but the numbers of workers coming from Ukraine have multiplied. Like the other EU member states, the Czech Republic introduced a temporary protection status for Ukrainians, and we helped with the registration of Ukrainian refugees. Companies approached the situation differently. Those with large branches in Ukraine solved the situation internally and usually established a team of employees helping the refugees. Other companies requested us to provide them with these services. For us it means that we must constantly monitor legislation and be aware of any changes to be able to apprise our clients with up-to-date information.

Let’s talk about immigration, a frequently discussed topic. How do you assess the conditions for the entry of foreign workers to the Czech Republic? Is immigration for work purposes complicated?

As regards immigration for work purposes, the Czech Republic has deeply bureaucratic processes in place. When discussing the issue with colleagues from other European countries, they usually say that this process takes one or two months in their countries. In the Czech Republic the immigration process takes at least six months, sometimes even nine. The major problem is getting an appointment at the Czech embassy in some countries, as foreigners must apply for a residence/work permit through Czech representative offices abroad.

How can economic migration programmes help in this context?

The relocation of foreign workers represents one of the few opportunities to satisfy the demand for a (qualified) work force on the current labour market. Therefore, programmes for support of economic migration are important and the Czech Republic offers several. Within the programme, applications can be submitted and their approval accelerated. Nonetheless, the whole process takes several months, while companies need to get the staff as soon as possible. And we then have to tell them that they very probably will have to wait for four to six months until they can bring employees to our country. Sometimes, companies cannot wait that long and as a result opt for a different, more complicated solution.

Which innovative procedures or technologies does your team rely on?

We use new technologies in our work and communication with our clients. Our Immi Q (immigration Questionnaire) tool has had great results. It is a web interface which our clients use to share information with us. Our task is to check whether the information is correct and possibly inform them if something should be added. The data is linked to the forms of the individual permits. This is a big progress, as it both facilitates our work and reduces the error rate. And we have inspired the entire region, as now our colleagues from Romania and Poland want to use our solution. Another internally developed tool which helps us depicts the process flow of individual cases. We also use global applications to coordinate international projects. We are also considering how to implement new AI tools provided to us by KPMG Global. I think concerning AI, we can expect tremendous progress, so essential in the digitisation of the Czech state administration and our clients’ processes.

How does the digitisation proceed on the other side – in state administration?

Digitisation is gradually advancing in the Czech state administration, and I have great expectations for this process. E.g., we can see progress in the registration of EU and third-country citizens, administered by the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs. Processes such as registration and announcement of changes or termination of operations have been digitised since the summer of 2024. We keep in touch with the Czech state administration, and we were even involved in some of the digitisation processes, providing expert assistance to the authorities and commenting on the processes on behalf of private sector users.

What advice do you have for companies looking to improve their global mobility programmes?

I have noticed that companies are starting to focus on remote work, i.e., working from abroad and especially working from home from abroad. This trend had already started during the COVID-19 pandemic, but nobody addressed the possible impact then. Employees have become accustomed to working from home and appreciate that they can also work from abroad. However, companies need to be careful as this can have various implications for them, e.g., in terms of social security and health insurance where the obligation to pay contributions in the country where the work is done arises on the first day of the activity, unless this is covered by a social security regulation or treaty. There may also be tax implications. Companies are now adjusting their practices - sometimes prohibiting remote work altogether, sometimes setting a limit up to which working from home from abroad is possible. Information systems are also being introduced to allow monitoring, whether in terms of insurance, taxes, or even permanent establishment. Of course, this also has implications for immigration or employment law, which we always advise our clients to check.

I would offer another piece of advice for Czech companies that have grown in our market and started to do well abroad, too. With their expansion into foreign markets and the increased mobility of their employees, they should now think about how to handle their mobility programme and let our experts help them set it all up. We are now helping two companies with this setup, and it makes me happy to see that they appreciate our work and realise the complexity of the issue, i.e., that you cannot send someone abroad overnight without having the necessary rules in place.

For which type of companies is the global mobility issue most relevant now?

While the overall economic situation is tense and many strong economies are experiencing stagnation or are even on the verge of contraction, there are sectors that are benefiting and expanding. And if they don't have global mobility programmes in place, they seek our help. Because these are issues outside the standard agenda of the local HR department, they turn to us. It is often necessary to set up mobility rules regarding regulations, coordination with foreign branches, and the implementation of compensation packages. These projects are interesting to deal with.

Can you share any successful engagements with us that are etched in your memory?

You always remember the bigger projects. For example, the engagements where we managed to get 30 workers from Brazil or 120 welders from India and the Philippines to the Czech Republic. As regards taxes, I am pleased to mention long-term cooperation with clients who keep coming back to us for advice, as well as cross-border cooperation with our colleagues on various projects. But in our practice, any little thing will do. We accompany our clients in negotiations with the authorities and help them with their work and residence permits. Most of the time it is not a pleasant experience and the clients are personally affected so I am pleased by every thank-you email from a person we have helped. Our business is thus not just about the big wins.  

What do you consider to be the major strengths of your team?

The human factor is very important in our team. We have incredibly skilled managers and passionate seniors and juniors who are always in contact with each other, and the social aspect plays an important role as well. It makes me happy to see colleagues coming back to the office from the working-from-home scheme. I would like us to meet more often both in and out of the office in the future. After all, our work is based on contact with people. It is similar within our international network where we are trying to meet more and more physically with teams in Europe. Even though technology will rule more and more, human contact and empathy are extremely important in the services we provide.

Where do you want to take GMS services next?

We won't stay the same but will continue to innovate and figure out what we can do differently and in a more modern way. My job is to make the team work well and enjoy working together. And I'd like to see the team grow. I want to have more young, enthusiastic people here. I want to grow not only financially, but also professionally and within the breadth of our services, so that our clients can fully rely on you to resolve their global mobility issues from start to finish so they can get on with their business. We want to be bold. At the global level, we follow the motto ‘Be Brave,’ and this fits us well.