Human Capital - Conference - Ernst & Young - United States

2009 HC Conference

Following the success of our Human Capital Conference in London on 24 June 2009, we cordially invite you to attend our next Ernst & Young's 2009 Human Capital Conference which will be held in New York on 27 October 2009 at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel.

In response to the challenges posed by today's economy and related travel and expense restrictions, we have modified the format of this year's Human Capital conference. We are hosting two one-day conferences in the hopes that travel to at least one of these events would be convenient for our global network. This is the second and final event for 2009.

The program for the New York conference will be similar to the one previously held in London in that it includes three sessions that will focus on topics of critical interest in today's environment. However, in New York we will be running concurrent streams of sessions, providing some additional flexibility for delegates in terms of content choice and the opportunity for organizations to send multiple delegates with slightly different interest profiles within the wider HR area. Our presenters will be Ernst & Young professionals from around the world who will lead discussions in the Global Mobility and Performance and Reward areas.

For each breakout session we will look at issues related to cost and return on investment as these are key themes upon which all companies should reflect as strategies are charted and decisions are made. By focusing on just three topics we will be able to conduct a deep dive with you into the subject matter in order for you to take away actionable ideas, materials and contacts to use in your organization.

As with our past conferences, this new format will provide an excellent venue to consider global and country compliance and tax matters as well as HR issues relevant to your business. Our discussions will be geared toward the decision makers of international assignment programs, as well as international performance and reward programs. All topics will focus on today's challenging economic times.

We look forward to welcoming you to this special event!

Descriptions of workshops

1A: Driving cost and efficiency through your global mobility policies: Many organizations have one or two longstanding policies that have not significantly been changed or challenged in years. Given the speed with which international assignments and market pressures have changed in the last several years, no company should let a policy "sit on the shelf" for years at a time. This session critically reviews the current thought leadership and leading practice as it relates to global mobility, domestic relocation or special purpose mobility policies. Driving cost reduction and efficiency will be key undertones to this session. As we analyze this, we will have a company panel that will share their experiences as they have tried to drive policy change and respond to the current market environment within their own organizations.

1B: Driving cost and efficiency through your global mobility processes: For organizations who have already driven change through their global mobility policies, the real issue is to now implement that change and to drive real business connectivity in their mobility processes. A policy is only as good as the process that makes that policy come to life. Strong execution means that a policy is understood and accepted, it is followed, and exceptions where they exist also follow a stated protocol. This session challenges the key process segments from assignee business case to repatriation, with alignment to talent management and ultimately cost efficiency. A panel discussion will highlight practical examples where the implementation and operation processes were successful and where they were not so that all participants will be able to come away with practical suggestions on how to move their program forward through a well executed policy.

1C: Executive Compensation & Governance - With the increased scrutiny on boards and compensation committees, executive compensation and its governance has become a hot topic in the business environment. We will examine current trends in executive compensation and benefits and potential action steps that should be undertaken in the future. As part of this examination, we will discuss how to survive turbulent times, including managing the compensation message to shareholders and executives, keeping abreast of regulations and evolving governance standards, and moving successfully to the future.

2A: Regulatory matters: In light of the current economic environment and reduced tax revenues, countries are searching for ways to increase their tax revenues. Expatriates are a focus as they are highly paid and compliance is very challenging. We will explore the trends that we are seeing on a global basis so that your company can prepare by focusing your compliance efforts on the "hot buttons" for the tax authorities. We are also seeing in light of the current environment that countries are trying to protect their domestic workforces and therefore are increasing the restrictions on obtaining work authorization for the globally mobile workforce. We will discuss what steps can be taken to increase your ability to deploy employees to the locations where they are needed when they are needed without too many delays.

2B: Vendor Management - HR outsourcing offers significant opportunities for cost savings and dramatic improvements to the quality of services offered to the employees - both locally and globally. In contrast, the absence of strong vendor governance may negatively impact overall vendor performance, as evidenced by unexpected fees, regulatory and compliance problems, and an overall decrease in employee satisfaction. Additionally, some areas of the outsourcing marketplace have been slow to meet client demands in this challenging global environment. We will analyze current outsourcing vendor governance and how organizations can achieve effective outsourced services, gain invaluable operational and global advantages, and optimize cost savings.

3A: Accidental Expatriates: Accidental Expatriates are those short term / business travelers who travel to foreign countries but are outside of the expatriate program and as a result, may be triggering significant risks for the company in an unmonitored way. This will be an operational discussion for those companies that know they have this issue and want to discuss how to tackle it. It will include a discussion of tracking the employees, engaging the businesses, engaging the employees, and assessing and addressing the issues these employees create. This session will include a panel discussion where panelists will run through their real life experiences as they have tackled these challenges within their own organizations.

3B: Assessing Risk: A strategic discussion for those companies that believe they have exposure relative to their globally mobile population, but don't know what to do next. This discussion will begin with an analysis of all of the various types of risk that a globally mobile workforce will trigger and then will swiftly move into how to identify those risks that are most pressing or most significant. As a case study analysis, the group will then analyze how to move forward with this knowledge with real life examples of how other companies have gone through this analysis and turned it into an actionable plan, including how to generate support, obtain resources, and then tackle the issue. Since the market has told us that Accidental Expatriates is the most pressing risk of the moment, we believe that this case study will not just be an interesting case study but a meaningful analysis.

3C: Keeping Our Generational and Global Talent Engaged and Committed - Understanding the needs and motivations of an organization's talent across the globe is key in being able to provide developmental opportunities that appeal to different generations and cultures—and to ensure that the organization attracts and retains the talent needed in their succession pipeline. In this session we will highlight a recent global study which focuses on our cultural and generational talent group and ways we can prepare organizations to provide appropriate developmental opportunities.