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Colgate Palmolive: Managing International Careers

1. Describe the benefits for employees on Colgate-Palmolive’s International Assignment Policy The main objective of Colgate-Pamolive’s policy was to provide a standardized set of procedures and entitlements for its expatriate managers. The policy has several important benefits: prior accepting an overseas assignment, managers were allowed to take 5-days trip with expenses paid, upon acceptance of the assignment, the manager and his or her spouse were offered language courses at company expenses, medical examination, the refund of the cost of private school tuition for the children 4-19 years and employees also received annual home leaves so they could return to their home country for an extender visit each year. Moreover, to ensure the financial parity, the firm introduced a goods and services allowance, housing and tax equalization program. The goods and services allowance was calculated comparing the cost of a standard market basket in the home country with an equivalent basket in the foreign country and the difference was given to employees in a cash payment. The housing supplement was calculated to reimburse employees by which housing costs like gas, oil, electricity and water. The tax equalization was calculated with the employee’s hypothetical tax obligations and if the tax liability in the foreign country were greater, the company paid the difference. Furthermore this great benefits CP created the Spouse Assistance Program in which the company provided an orientation program to help spouses identify and take advantage of career opportunities in the host country and to gain a work permit, they also offered its services in networking and provided a one-time payment of $7,500 either to defray the costs of finding a job. Another program and facilities such as making the move and settling in, sale or rental the principal residence, relocation allowance, refund of temporary living expenses, home leave (reimburses transportation costs), post allowance (allowance paid to expatriates assigned to areas with less facilities than desirable) and a world opportunity. 2. What is your critical evaluation of Colgate-Palmolive’s International Assignment Policy? What are its strong points? What weaknesses do you find? The policy was designed to support the success of the business, but in order to ensure professional success, the policy also seeks to fit in with family interests in equitable ways. Thus, CP provide a lot of benefits to the employees and their families that can be considered as excessive and it represents a great expense for the company. Nevertheless, ColgatePalmolive’s International Assignment Policy is an excellent incentive for workers to travel abroad for company’s assignments.

The strong points of this policy is the fact that it is governed by some well-defined principles, of which the following are some of the most important: the fair treatment of the family and recognizing their contribution to the success of the assignment, relocation allowance, all the housing, tax equalization, goods and services, educational reimbursement benefits. All these benefits shows the commitment that the company feels towards its employees. On the other hand, some of the weaknesses of the policy are: if the company pick up the wrong candidate for an international assignment all the expenses will be in vain because of the costly benefits given. Another one is that the employees will continue asking for more benefits to them and their families but the company will never be able to make up for all the lost income, as Haroon Saeed said and, obviously, the expenses will increase. 3. What should Colgate-Palmolive do about the growing issue of dual-career families? Colgate-Palmolive need to see this as an opportunity to grow up for the spouse, they could make a better and attractive programme for the spouse, with an opportunity to grew up professionally, to making a family and help them to find a good job that recompenses the other one or put an own business. Other solution could take the youngest ones to take this international experience before that they make a family and be more difficult moved to another country. With this way, the managers have the international experience before that something or someone tie them to a country. C-P manage the best expatriate program and I think they have a good program for the spouses, of course with the time, they need to adapt this to the new necessities that emerge in the way, and with the individual necessities that all the families have. I think that the key is to negotiate with every family or advance the process of expatriate managers is the solution. 4. What should an MNC consider when designing a policy regarding international career development? What changes would you make to the current plan? An MNC has to consider that different countries have different cultures which have their own customs, traditions, moral values and ethical judgments. It is not the same to hire a person with Mexican nationality who has a very strong sense of belonging to his country and family (so the idea of hiring him involves the expenses not only of him, but also of his family) to hire to a person of German nationality who are more distant and individualistic, whose expenses would be of lesser amount for the company. The fact that the company is committed in a way that strengthens its customers is what makes Colgate have a good policy of international professional development. The only thing that seems like it should be changed is to spend a lot or rather to invest a lot in a worker that in the end turns out not to be so good at his job, which would cause a loss to the company. The changes that would make in the current plan is the way of selection and conditioning for the workers, in order to make them more durable and efficient in what they were hired.