Sense out of uncertainty, HR without borders

Welcome to the World’s leading organisation for multinational employers.

Blue chip employers belong to FedEE because we provide the kind of fast, practical, affordable, high quality and far-sighted service that gives successful HR professionals the special edge they require to stay ahead of the game. An illustration of this is the fact that we have predicted not only 9/11, the 2007/8 meltdown, the Brexit result, the pandemic (six months before it happened) – as well as the latest surge of hyperinflation, back in May 2020. One FedEE Member put it 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, quangos or pressure groups. We also receive no revenue from advertisers or sponsors.

Join our top Multinationals: We are Chaired by the Ford Motor Company, whilst Latham and Watkins – the world’s second largest law firm – is on our board. In fact, 40% of the top global companies are FedEE corporate members.

❖ Legal Counsel: FedEE Members have access to our legal knowledgebase, helpline and customised legal services.

Monitoring Global Developments: We track laws, legal cases, HR practices and key developments in a timely and practical way.

Membership of FedEE is corporate: with member organisations free to nominate multiple, individual  users anywhere – apart from Afghanistan, Belarus, DRC, Iran, Haiti, Myanmar, Nicaragua, N Korea, Russia, Serbia, Syria, Venezuela and Yemen.

❖Have you amended your organisation’s employment contracts to comply with the EU Directives on Transparent and Predictable Working Conditions and Work-Life Balance? We have developed a template to assist you to incorporate the principal contractual changes. Do not delay in achieving compliance – the changes were due in early August 2022.

 

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. 85% 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.

You could probably secure a near alternative to FedEE by hiring a talented HR professional with years of working in many jurisdictions and industry sectors, then by arming them with numerous costly online legal 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 over three decades.

Examples of Issues We Review:

A recent landmark court decision in Malaysia has been the first to challenge the country’s Islamic laws concerning sexual orientation. 

We chart emerging pandemic threats as they happen. Our expertise in Epidemiology allows us to track and evaluate new viruses and variants of existing ones.

How many US States now ban the use of non-compete clauses and which is the latest?

Are casual workers unlawful in Australia? We show you why not.

What statutory profit sharing obligation exists in Mexico? When are payouts due?

What has happened to the legal loophole in Belgium that allowed employers to hire workers on a succession of alternating temporary and replacement contracts?

May an employer in Kenya dismiss an employee serving a probationary period “at will”?

What are the HR data retention periods around the World?

Which multinational companies are leading the way in introducing new-style work practices?

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The FedEE Story

FedEE was supported initially by the European Commission.

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FedEE Services

FedEE offers a range of “must have” services to the Multinational employers.

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FedEE Achievements

Some achievements since foundation in 1988.

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Aftermath

FedEE’s frightening analysis concerning prospects for a post-pandemic World.

The future of work
 

COMMENT: What is happening to the global economy

For the past two and a half years, FedEE has been predicting a major economic downturn once the post-pandemic bounceback “health honeymoon” period has ended. The fall has already happened for the USA and UK. Please click here to view a recent edition of ‘Labour Market Trends’.

What recession means is that GDP and stocks fall heavily and hyperinflation hangs around to make things worse. US GDP has actually fallen each quarter since Q1 2022. The CPI remains very high and stock prices are greatly overvalued. Now a global recession is likely this year in all major countries, except Australia and India.

Driving the recession are the past slack monetary policies of major governments around the World, that printed money in vast quantities as GDP levels fell. The dilution of the US dollar has been particularly spectacular – with M3 growing by over 40% since February 2020. 

The only major economy that remained relatively well-managed during the pandemic was Japan. However, although the UK and USA have ceased to print money it may already be too late. Tech companies around the world are still bleeding jobs in greater numbers.

THERE IS A NEED TO MOVE NOW TO AVERT THE COMING CRISIS

  • It was just a matter of time for quantitative easing (overprinting of paper money) to transpose into sustained highj levels of inflation. Falling consumer confidence has been affecting demand and the Ukraine war has added to economic uncertainty. Across much of the World pay is not keeping pace with prices and interest rates are depressing demand.

The US continues to carry a huge deficit in its balance of payments and public sector borrowing constantly hits its ceiling so that the government cannot pay its debts. The World’s treatment of the US$ as the default currency of choice is a big mistake.

in Europe, governments are reacting – not by the sensible course of containing spending, being austere and riding out the storm, but by throwing large amounts of public spending at subsidies, with the UK planning to borrow heavily on the prospect of a future prosperity it may never enjoy and Greece is already devoting 3.7% of its faltering GDP on support measures (the highest in Europe). 

 

Services Tailored for You

Your Employment Law Questions Answered – Practically and Fast

If a quick check of the FedEE Knowledgebase does not come up with all the details you are looking for then the FedEE legal helpline is just a phone call, or email message, away. We seek to answer all email questions raised within four working hours. In fact, over 90% of telephone enquiries about our core 35 countries are resolved during a 15-minute call.

Updating Your HR Policies to Comply with Statutes and Rulings

The most constant concern that arises in our periodic member surveys concerns the updating of HR policies. If a policy is out of date, and thus at variance with the law, or phrased in an ambiguous way a company can find itself being challenged by employees with whom they are in dispute, an ex-employee or a factory inspector. All policies should therefore ideally be reviewed on an annual basis. FedEE offers a policy review service that could be just for one policy in a single jurisdiction, a complete handbook or for multiple countries. This service is at a fraction of the cost charged by a conventional law firm.

Let FedEE-Legal provide you with the employment law assistance you need during the current crisis

FedEE Legal are Legal Counsel to the Federation. We offer expert advice, information and support at less cost and much faster than an old-style legal firm. Our expertise is also based on a depth of international HR experience and is led by a former Advisor to The European Commission and the ICO who also has a track record in mining, electronics and engineering.  We cover over 120+ country jurisdictions, plus federal laws, from a single international centre. For statutory reasons FedEE Legal is not open to non-members of the Federation. Call us today on (+44) 203 807 9205 or email enquiries@fedee.com.

Ask FedEE Legal’s research team to undertake an investigation into a difficult legal challenge, or brief you on a particular jurisdiction

We have undertaken numerous customised research exercises for major public and private organisations to assess, for instance, the best jurisdiction and labour market for expansion into Eastern Europe, restructure the business, convert independent advisors into permanent employees, or set out all the steps necessary for a major transfer of undertakings. We specialise in M&A HR legal strategy – and in 2019 we were a key player in one of the largest mergers in recent times.

Becoming a multinational for the first time? Let FedEE help reduce the delays and risks

Membership of FedEE will be an invaluable aid to successful growth in other countries. Not only can we show you how to avoid the legal pitfalls, but can put you in touch with local service providers and provide statistics to help you assess things like the size and nature of local labour markets.

Global News

Advanced Diploma in Multjurisdictional Employment Law
 

OPINION: FedEE Secretary-General

What Brexit did

Whatever political views exist about Brexit, the economic consequences are inarguable. A study undertaken by a member of the Bank of England’s monetary committee has found that business investment since the Brexit referendum has fallen by £29BN (US$35.36BN).

This backs up the forecast by the government’s Office for Budget Responsibility that the ultimate consequence of Brexit would be that GDP would be 4% lower than if the UK stayed in the European Union and a recent analysis by Bloomberg that the UK is already a 4% smaller economy because of Brexit.

In terms of manpower, the number of immigrant arrivals from overseas students in 2022, plus those entering the country as Ukraine refugees and Hong Kong residents (taking advantage of the BNO path) has swamped the exit of EU citizens returning to their home countries due to an end of EU free-movement rights. However, the underlying loss of manpower to sectors such as hospitality and retailing has been at least half a million.

Publications and press reports from FedEE correspondents
 

Press Releases and Newswires

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White papers

FedEE Member companies gain access to a wealth of information and guidance.

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Press Releases

Examples of past press releases distributed to media, newspapers and agencies. 

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Past Newswires

Examples of our fortnightly newswires sent to all FedEE Member organizations.

Dates for Your Diary

  • 31st May 2023: Entry into force of NZ-UK Free Trade Agreement (FTA).

    31st May 2023: Employees’ profit-sharing payments are generally due by this date in Mexico.

    27th June 2023: Federal Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA) takes effect in the US.

    30th June 2023: Failure to apply for the unemployment insurance scheme by this date may result in fines in the UAE.

    1st July 2023: A 4-day work week will be introduced in Kazakhstan.

    1st July 2023: Digital immigration tool will be mandatory for certain companies in Florida (USA).

    31st July 2023: Changes to New Jersey’s Unemployment Compensation Law will take effect.

    17th December 2023: Deadline for certain private sector entities to set up whistleblowing channel in Finland.

    1st January 2024: Employers in Australia with over 100 employees will be required to publish their gender pay gaps.

    1st January 2024: Washington State lets employers access family-leave claim information.

    1st January 2025: A comprehensive reform of the Integration Act will enter into force in Finland.

FedEE makes it all fit together
 

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.

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Contact Us

Address, email, telephone numbers and on line payments so you can get in touch from anywhere around the world.

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Senior Management Team

Introducing our key staff and Board Members.

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Training and Events

The World’s advanced professional transnational law training course.

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Clear Thinking

Most people are not taught to think and few realize that clear thinking originates in perceptions and personal identity.