Dealing with the global emergency
FedEE exists to enable you, as an HR professional in a multinational company, to operate effectively across national borders.
See our latest guidance on COVID-19 in Western Europe and elsewhere. We also have available to members model clauses to enable wage reductions, a model Health and Safety Policy for employees asked to work from home during the current crisis, a model letter for use in enlisting employees assistance in the post-crisis recovery. Employers will also find of value our categorization of jobs subject to viral risk… and much more. Do not miss out – join FedEE today.
FORGOTTEN SOMETHING? Preoccupation with the present crisis can lead HR Departments to ignore the even greater difficulties they could face after the crisis is over.
ACT NOW: We advise employers to begin planning NOW for the recovery. FedEE has a model plan to assist in this process.
WAGE SUBSIDIES? If your organisation is looking for state funding, then you should consult an extract from FedEE’s practical guidance to such support. Members have access to data on how to apply in 20+ countries.
The Employment Law Monitoring Service
There are over 350,000 legal amendments and over half a million court and tribunal cases in the field of employment law every year. In “common law” countries like the USA, UK, India and Singapore legal precedents are set almost every working day.
How does an employer know if they are compliant? FedEE constantly sifts through these changes and notifies companies about what they need to know through its daily updates and fortnightly newswires. Is there a coming deadline for completing a government social security return or preparing a pay gap report? When does a new law come into effect and how will it affect the way you do business?
Consult Our Huge Employment Law Knowledgebase
There can be few days when an HR professional is not confronted about a difficult people question and has to ask themselves about the legality of an action. Many flinch from such questions and hope for the best, but a true professional will check online by consulting the FedEE knowledgebase.
Here they will find the requirements of employment laws in over 100 countries – all written up in simple English. A five-minute check could save a seriously wrong decision or expensive dispute down the line.
The FedEE Story
FedEE was founded in June 1988 at a meeting of HR Directors at BP PLC’s Head Office in London.
FedEE Services
FedEE offers a range of “must have” services to the individual Multinational employer.
Persolicy
FedEE’s International HR Policy Updating Service, tackling those neglected handbooks.
Latest Brexit Update
FedEE’s analysis of the current crisis facing the British economy.
Your Priorities for 2020-2022
The World is rapidly becoming a more chaotic and uncertain place and it is only going to get worse. What has been happening to countries and companies in response to the current health crisis is bad enough, but what is going to hit us next?
The crisis is already generating new forms of prejudice affecting employees. First it was the picking out of those with Chinese ethnicity for ridicule over the virus, now it is backfiring across Asia against those with western ethnicity – who are being blamed for the ongoing viral threat.
Those in business will be familiar with a well-known phenomenon for which entrepreneurs are vulnerable. It is called the “shiny objects syndrome” – always chasing new ideas at the expense of those already gained. But there is another, equal and opposite, complex suffered by the rest of mankind – the ‘something new blindness syndrome” (SNBS). This means there is a subject that so preoccupies us all we ignore the huge problem coming up on the rails. This was undoubtedly the case with Brexit, and is even more with COVID-19.
The phenomenon is a “syndrome” because it is unexpectedly connected in some way with the current preoccupation. Two we can easily see right now is the dire economic consequences of the lockdown and the fact that once jobs are lost this time around they will never return.
Things you can do in the next few months:
- Assess your level of employment law compliance.
- Ensure that your HR policies are in line with statute and case law – drawing on FedEE’s knowledgebase to do so.
- Look beyond the current global crisis to identify new challenges.
- Have in place a specific contingency plan and policy to cope with all eventualities.
- Examine the data from recent assessments about who is an “essential worker” in your business.
- Examine what you have learnt about individual staff from sending them to work at home.
- Consider launching a “Bright Ideas Programme” that will give employees a chance to develop a new produt, service or operational improvement and reward them with a stake in the result.
- Run regular focus groups of employees to determine what are the latent, hot issues.
- Monitor social media traffic and tweets containing any reference to the company or top management.
- Centrally monitor all employee concerns and grievances.
- Ensure that at least one member of the HR team undertakes FedEE’s one-year HR Counsel course.
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 lament 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 called “Persolicy” 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 Us Prepare Your Quarterly HR Team Briefings
All our member companies receive regular country updates for over 100 countries plus a special quarterly review of relevant legal developments in France. This also comes with powerpoint slides for use when briefing colleagues. Such FedEE Focus quarterly reviews cover much detail that we cannot provide in our fortnightly newswires. They are available also for an annual fee in respect to the following countries – Australia, China, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, The Netherlands, Russia, Singapore, and The UK.
Ask our legal 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 companies to assess the best jurisdiction and labour market for expansion into Eastern Europe, restructure the business as a Societas Europea (SE) 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.
During the last ten years the average size of multinationals has fallen from over 5000 employees to just 700 employees and many start to become multinational – especially in the service sector – when they have fewer than 100 employees.
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 statistics to help you assess things like the size and nature of local labour markets.
The FedEE HR Counsel Programme
Now there is an opportunity for HR professionals in multinational organisations to obtain a legal qualification that prepares them for a role as the departmental expert in employment law. FedEE’s Advanced Diploma in Multijurisdictional Employment Law (Adv Dip MELL) is a one-year part-time programme undertaken primarily through distance learning.
If you are a University graduate with at least three years relevant HR experience you may join the programme at any time. You do not have to possess a first degree in law and the programme will begin by preparing you to understand legal concepts and basic principles of law.
The programme focuses on ten principal jurisdictions – China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, The Netherlands, UAE, UK and the USA. However, participants may also choose other jurisdictions for their personal research. There are a total of 24 modules to complete (two per month) and, as a graduate, you will possess greater knowledge of trans-border legal requirements than most conventional legal professionals.
The course is designed to fit in with a busy work schedule and if not completed within the year it may be extended for a further six months. The programme not only ends with a valuable qualification, but you will also be able to use the job title “HR Counsel” – as FedEE owns the term as a trade mark.
For further information please download the programme brochure and, if you wish, contact FedEE’s Legal Counsel, a qualified Barrister who heads up our team of Tutors, or click here to sign up today to participate in the course. Please note that the structure contained in the brochure describes the revised one shortly to be introduced. Those joining the programme in September and October 2019 will follow the original course structure – which contains the same modules in all but one case.
For further details, please contact the Programme Director on Academy@fedee.com.
Press Releases and Newswires
White papers
FedEE Member companies gain access to a wealth of information and guidance.
Press Releases
FedEE’s latest press release distributed to media, newspapers and agencies.
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, Japan and China. A high proportion of our members have been part of FedEE for many years and tell us we provide a both unique and excellent service with great value for money.
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 €895 a year. Please check here to view the table of our membership services. Sign up now.
Why not take a short tour of our knowledge-base before joining FedEE® to see the nature and extent of the employment law, HR data and support that we offer? Please contact our Membership Secretary on membershipservices@fedee.com to arrange for a one-to-one webinar for you and your colleagues, arranged without obligation and entirely at your own convenience.
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.
Training and Events
World’s advanced professional transnational law training course.
FedEE Economic Bulletin
Our periodic review of global trends affecting HR practitioners.
