Sense out of uncertainty, HR without borders
FedEE : The World’s leading organisation for multinational employers.
Successful employers belong to FedEE because we provide the kind of fast, high quality service that gives HR professionals in multinational organisations the special edge they require to stay ahead of events. An illustration of this is the fact that we have predicted not only 9/11, the 2007/8 meltdown, the Brexit result, but also the pandemic – six months before it happened. Furthermore, our Members jointly command assets that are larger than China’s annual GDP and three times the worth of the US Federal government. One FedEE Member put the way we make a difference this way.
“I do not have the time to brief outsiders and start worrying about professional fees before I can get a job done. I just need someone I can trust who will give me an honest second opinion and help me sort things out so that I can move onto other things. My company cannot carry all the expertise about international HR laws and practices it needs in-house – so the next best thing is FedEE. You have no equal and those who do not know about you do not know what they are missing!”
Above all, we are politically neutral and independently funded by our Members – with no financial support from governments, political parties or pressure groups. We also receive no revenue from advertisers or sponsors and take your corporate privacy very seriously.
❖Join our top Multinationals: We are Chaired by the Ford Motor Company, whilst Houlihan Lokey – a leading US investment bank – is on our Board. In fact, 40% of all the top global companies are FedEE Corporate Members.
❖ QP-HR Counsel: FedEE has now opened up its pathway for experienced HR practitioners in multinationals to obtain recognition for their specialist internal legal advisory role. If you meet the criteria and work for a FedEE Member company you can now apply to be considered for this credential.
❖Monitoring Global Developments: We track new and revised laws, legal cases, HR practices and wider socio-political developments that affect company payrolls – all in a timely and practical way.
❖FedEE Actively Lobbies governments around the World and the EU. We act as a ‘think tank’, developing common policies and advising on practical ways to deregulate.
❖Have you amended your organisation’s employment contracts and HR policies to comply with the latest legislative amendments, court precedents and HR trends? FedEE gives you the key elements you need to update employee handbooks.
❖ Do not be deceived by manipulated official statistics. We indicate the data you can trust and provide the true picture that governments often wish to obscure from view. We also warn member companies about the previously unrealised implications of planned changes in the employment field.
International HR Answers in Seconds
FedEE was developed to provide a “right hand” professional support service to those in multinational HR departments.
We focus on key developments so you can get on with your core day-to-day activities. You do not need a legal database containing 1000s of new laws and court cases to read every day, nor do you have the time to wait for a call-back from a law firm – but you do need to know if your company faces a new employer obligation in a particular country, if a key deadline is coming up on the radar, or how to resolve a difficult employee problem in real-time.
FedEE also produces news reports you would never receive from any other source. This is partly because we monitor changes in over 30 languages. We also have a tiered support system so that if you need to know more, you may go to our online knowledgebase, or simply call our multinational helpline. 87% of helpline enquiries are resolved within two hours, after just one direct call to an Advisor. Our service is also multi-user – so several colleagues may access it in their own right. Few lawyers have hands on HR experience and so their guidance is often rigid, obscure and off the mark. We go beyond the law and aim at finding practical, management solutions that stick and make good economic sense.
What you will also discover as a member of FedEE is our far-sighted view of the future. Here, for instance, is the introductory paragraph to an article in ‘Industrial Management and Data Systems” written by our Secretary-General, Robin Chater, which was published back on 1st March 1989 – entitled “Industrial depopulation: the politics of automation”.
“As computerised manufacture merges into computer integrated manufacture, with expert computer systems controlling other expert systems, where do human beings come in? Are they gaining or losing? Are they drifting into a catch‐22 situation? Maybe the time will come when they are merely spectators. The mushrooming progress of technology is reflected on, who is gaining and who is losing are questioned and a suggested plan of action is provided to keep progress – at least technological progress – on the rails”.
You could probably secure a near alternative to FedEE by hiring a team of talented HR professionals, lawyers and economists with years of working in many jurisdictions and industry sectors, then by arming them with numerous costly database subscriptions – or you could simply sign up to FedEE at fraction of the cost. That is perhaps why many HR departments around the World have relied on FedEE for well over three decades.
Examples of issues we have reviewed:
❖ The facility now available, thanks to the Federal Labour Court in Germany, to charge departing employees for the cost of investigating their malpractices.
❖ Why the expenses reimbursed to employees for using their own cars for business purposes in Poland counts as taxable income.
❖ Why employers in Florida, USA may now resume their mutual tolerance and anti-discrimination training.
❖ How ‘Resignation Agents’ operate in Japan and how commonly they are used.
❖ Why employers in Lithuania may now ask an employee, or prospective employee, for a criminal record certification without having any special need to do so.
❖ The fact that overtime work in Mexico beyond legal limits is now treated as a form of labour exploitation punishable by up to 12 years imprisonment.
❖ The increasing difficulty in the European Union for an employer to sidestep liability for errors leading to a GDPR breach by their employees.
❖ Progress being made in UAE over Emiratisation targets
❖Which multinational companies are leading the way in introducing new-style work practices?
The FedEE Story
FedEE was supported initially by the European Commission.
What we do
FedEE offers a range of “must have” services to multinational employers.
FedEE Achievements
Some achievements since foundation in 1988.
EU Overtime Rules
An overview of the current structure of law governing the working of extra hours
Career Path to becoming an HR Director (HRD)
A lot is written about how to reach the top of the HR career ladder, but there is little of substance ever revealed about it. Most guidance focuses on obtaining the right qualifications and fails to distinguish the kind of jobs that lie at the top of the ladder. In truth, the pathway to the top is generally very tough and the best HRD jobs are the most demanding because they are those in multinational corporations. Here the job title too can vary from Director to VP or Chief People Officer. It may be a Group role or heading up either a country or regional operation.
It certainly takes a high level of competence, an effective personality, determination and a large measure of luck to advance so far. But the hard facts are also key to understanding what it takes.
FedEE has recently sought to untangle this mystery by asking several fundamental questions. Based on analysis of current CVs for a cross section of those in HRD jobs within multinational enterprises across Europe and North America we have found that 60% of HRDs are female and 10% of HRDs do not even have a degree. The average time in their current HRD post is 4.6 years and that it takes, on average, eight career moves (many of them sideways) to get to the top. Few actually make it to the top in the same organization, and the time in post immediately before the big job averages 3.8 years. Two thirds of those who are successful do so without ever working outside the HR function and, contrary to expectation, female HRDs do not need to climb their way through more jobs on the way to the top job than their male counterparts.
FedEE Law: What we do
Save time and costs on research and advice
FedEE Law is the internal Legal/HR Counsel for the Federation of International Employers. We provide customized legal services exclusively for FedEE corporate member organisations – although we do not operate in the general legal marketplace.
We regularly provide advice and due diligence on individual employment law matters. Some of our larger and more strategic engagements have included:
- A Transfer of Undertakings report for the largest defence sector merger in recent years – covering 39 jurisdictions (completed in 22 days).
- Over 40 assignments covering employment law issues for a leading governmental agency.
- Regular updates of staff handbooks for a large NGO operating extensively in the third world.
- Employment law country reviews for a leading global asset management company.
- A report on options for the reorganisation of a Japanese-owned electronics company.
- A strategic employment review ahead of market entry to Japan for a European retailing logistics company.
We also pride ourselves on being the expert, meticulous drafter of Mutual Separation Agreements to suit particular circumstances and jurisdictions.
If you need to meet deadlines and have a limited budget then contact our FedEE Legal Team today ([email protected]) in confidence and without obligation.
Spotlight: Jurisdictional slippage
The most serious common (and easily overlooked) HR legal problem in multinationals is a phenomenon that we call ‘jurisdictional slippage’. This most often occurs when an employee, who is a foreign national, wishes to return to their home country to deal with a family matter, but will exceed their due annual leave. They suggest that it would be possible to work remotely for a while and an accommodating employer agrees to their request. The problem is that they are not formally posted, remain on their original company’s payroll and often overstay their period abroad.
In some cases we have found that such employees have worked on this basis for several years and continued to pay tax and social security as if nothing had changed. Unfortunately, by this time it is too late to amend the situation and substantial penalties await both parties from tax authorities in both jurisdictions if rectification is sought.
Often the first time things come to light is when the employee is terminated. The company finds that the employee has contractual rights in one jurisdiction and statutory rights in the other and the tax/social insurance authorities not only seek backpayments, but apply penalties. For this reason, we recommend that all companies regularly review the status of their “red circle” jobs, especially those most vulnerable to slippage – such as teleworkers.
FedEE Contact and Findings
Anti-Trust Actions
The increasing risks of HR practitioners being penalised for market collusion.
Leave Carryover
The law across Europe concerning the right to carryover untaken annual leave from year to year
Past Newswires
Examples of our fortnightly newswires sent to all FedEE Member organizations.
Join FedEE Today
Many of the world’s largest multinational companies already belong to The Federation of International Employers (FedEE®). We have a Worldwide Membership – with particular concentrations in North America, Western Europe, India and Japan. We were founded in 1988 and are regularly voted by our Members as an organisation they would recommend to other multinationals.
If your company has over 150 employees in two or more countries, has its own in-house HR department, and has been operating for two or more years then you really cannot afford to operate without being part of the Federation. The approval process takes less than a day and for immediate access to our services we have an online credit card payment facility. Membership costs as little as €998.00 a year. Please check here to view the table of our membership services. Sign up now.
What Next?
Once a completed application has been received it will be quickly reviewed by our Membership Review Group and, if approved, we shall send an email to the applicant confirming acceptance – normally within 24 hours. The Secretary-General also usually calls to welcome all new members.
Our letter of confirmation will have an attached invoice containing our bank details to allow payment. The membership fee may be settled by bank transfer within 35 days or, on request, via a credit card payment link. As soon as the fee has been settled we shall send out passwords to all nominated users and place them on our Newswire list. At the end of each subscription year we shall write inviting the Corporate Member to renew. 94% of Members renew at this time.
Membership renewal is not automatic, but we shall retain membership for a certain period to allow for continuity. Helpline bundles may be purchased at any time and unused enquiries in the bundles do not expire whilst membership is retained.
Contact Us
Address, email, telephone numbers and on line payments so you can get in touch from anywhere around the world.
Senior Management Team
Introducing our key staff and Board Members.
FedEE Customised HR services
The FedEE Legal Counsel team is constantly called upon for tailored research and advice.
Clear Thinking
Most people are not taught to think and few realize that clear thinking originates in perceptions and personal identity.
