2010 International Cost of Living Rank

The rank of cost of living indexes as at January 2010 for each of our 276 global locations have just been released. The indexes are calculated using the prices for specific quantities of the same goods and services in each location, based on expatriate spending patterns across 13 broad categories (Basket Groups). Our calculators make use of a cost of living index customized to the basket groups selected, the Exchange Rate and a relative Hardship Comparison for 276 locations around the globe. Together with the assignees salary you are provided with a report on-line, based on your input and Xpatulator's data, which you can save, e-mail or convert to a pdf file.


The January 2010 overall international cost of living rank, together with the previous Quarter's rank, and the change in rank is as follows:


Jan 2010 Rank Country, City (Oct 2009 Rank)[Change in Rank]
1 Japan, Tokyo (1) [0]
2 Switzerland, Geneva (3) [-1]
3 Brazil, Brasilia (12) [-9]
4 Switzerland, Zurich (5) [-1]
5 China, Hong Kong (2) [3]
6 Norway, Oslo (10) [-4]
7 Denmark, Copenhagen (6) [1]
8 Venezuela, Caracas (7) [1]
9 Central African Republic, Bangui (4) [5]
10 Chad, N'Djamena (9) [1]
11 Cameroon, Douala (18) [-7]
12 New Caledonia, Noumea (17) [-5]
13 Liechtenstein, Vaduz (11) [2]
14 Greenland, Nuuk (16) [-2]
15 Australia, Sydney (35) [-20]
16 France, Paris (19) [-3]
17 United Arab Emirates, Dubai (8) [9]
18 Angola, Luanda (15) [3]
19 Solomon Islands, Honiara (21) [-2]
20 Italy, Milan (22) [-2]
21 San Marino, San Marino (23) [-2]
22 Monaco, Monaco (25) [-3]
23 Kiribati, South Tarawa (51) [-28]
24 Bermuda, Hamilton (13) [11]
25 Korea Republic of, Seoul (29) [-4]
26 Papua New Guinea, Port Moresby (14) [12]
27 Vanuatu, Port Vila (42) [-15]
28 Austria, Vienna (30) [-2]
29 Finland, Helsinki (28) [1]
30 Croatia, Zagreb (34) [-4]
31 Gabon, Libreville (33) [-2]
32 Qatar, Doha (24) [8]
33 Italy, Rome (31) [2]
34 United Kingdom, London (26) [8]
35 Russia, Moscow (32) [3]
36 Ireland, Dublin (20) [16]
37 Mali, Bamako (46) [-9]
38 Taiwan, Taipei (27) [11]
39 Comores, Moroni (48) [-9]
40 Australia, Melbourne (71) [-31]
41 Australia, Canberra (72) [-31]
42 Belgium, Brussels (41) [1]
43 Cameroon, Yaounde (47) [-4]
44 Micronesia, Palikir (45) [-1]
45 Netherlands, Amsterdam (40) [5]
46 Togo, Lome (53) [-7]
47 Slovakia, Bratislava (44) [3]
48 USA, New York NY (39) [9]
49 Bahamas, Nassau (36) [13]
50 Turkey, Ankara (52) [-2]
51 Bahrain, Manama (43) [8]
52 Isle of Man, Douglas (38) [14]
53 Nigeria, Lagos (37) [16]
54 Australia, Perth (86) [-32]
55 Canada, Toronto (49) [6]
56 Spain, Madrid (55) [1]
57 Germany, Berlin (59) [-2]
58 Congo, Brazzaville (67) [-9]
59 Iceland, Reykjavik (74) [-15]
60 Singapore, Singapore (64) [-4]
61 USA, Boston Mass (50) [11]
62 USA, San Francisco Calif (54) [8]
63 Czech Republic, Prague (83) [-20]
64 USA, San Jose Calif (56) [8]
65 United Arab Emirates, Abu Dhabi (58) [7]
66 Tuvalu, Funafuti (97) [-31]
67 Vatican City, Vatican City (63) [4]
68 Nauru, Yaren (57) [11]
69 Colombia, Bogota (111) [-42]
70 Jersey, Saint Helier (60) [10]
71 Canada, Vancouver (66) [5]
72 Germany, Bonn (73) [-1]
73 Guernsey, St Peter Port (62) [11]
74 Senegal, Dakar (81) [-7]
75 Palau, Melekeok (61) [14]
76 Germany, Frankfurt (75) [1]
77 Estonia, Tallinn (68) [9]
78 Luxembourg, Luxembourg (76) [2]
79 Hungary, Budapest (94) [-15]
80 Sweden, Stockholm (96) [-16]
81 Guinea-Bissau, Bissau (65) [16]
82 Djibouti, Djibouti (80) [2]
83 Sao Tome and Principe, Sao Tome (93) [-10]
84 Seychelles, Victoria (145) [-61]
85 Malta, Velletta (77) [8]
86 Portugal, Lisbon (84) [2]
87 Haiti, Port-au-Prince (69) [18]
88 Falkland Islands, Stanley (70) [18]
89 Canada, Calgary (85) [4]
90 Burkina Faso, Ouagadougou (90) [0]
91 Cote D'Ivoire, Abidjan (88) [3]
92 Gibraltar, Gibraltar (91) [1]
93 Azerbaijan, Baku (78) [15]
94 Trinidad and Tobago, Port-of-Spain (82) [12]
95 USA, Los Angeles Calif (87) [8]
96 Australia, Brisbane (136) [-40]
97 USA, Philadelphia Pa (89) [8]
98 Benin, Cotonou (105) [-7]
99 Lebanon, Beirut (92) [7]
100 Serbia, Belgrade (113) [-13]
101 Samoa, Apia (124) [-23]
102 Andorra, Andorra la Vella (103) [-1]
103 Israel, Jerusalem (110) [-7]
104 Cayman Islands, George Town (99) [5]
105 USA, Washington DC (95) [10]
106 New Zealand, Auckland (147) [-41]
107 Guinea, Conakry (184) [-77]
108 Greece, Athens (108) [0]
109 USA, Baltimore Md (98) [11]
110 Cape Verde, Praia (121) [-11]
111 USA, San Diego Calif (104) [7]
112 Canada, Montreal (107) [5]
113 India, Mumbai (130) [-17]
114 Zambia, Lusaka (153) [-39]
115 Saudi Arabia, Riyadh (100) [15]
116 Saint Helena, Jamestown (114) [2]
117 Lithuania, Vilnius (115) [2]
118 Indonesia, Jakarta (128) [-10]
119 Montenegro, Podgorica (135) [-16]
120 Barbados, Bridgetown (109) [11]
121 Sudan, Khartoum (122) [-1]
122 China, Beijing (112) [10]
123 Marshall Islands, Majuro (137) [-14]
124 Tanzania, Dar es Salaam (143) [-19]
125 USA, Seattle Wash (116) [9]
126 USA, Miami Fla (120) [6]
127 Niger, Niamey (142) [-15]
128 Poland, Warsaw (183) [-55]
129 Kazakhstan, Almaty (118) [11]
130 USA, Portland Ore (123) [7]
131 Martinique, Fort-de-France (126) [5]
132 Kuwait, Kuwait City (125) [7]
133 Sierra Leone, Freetown (102) [31]
134 Jordan, Amman (132) [2]
135 USA, Chicago Ill (127) [8]
136 Mauritius, Port Louis (158) [-22]
137 Australia, Adelaide (196) [-59]
138 Puerto Rico, San Juan (138) [0]
139 Georgia Republic of, Tbilisi (101) [38]
140 Latvia, Riga (134) [6]
141 United Kingdom, Glasgow (129) [12]
142 Jamaica, Kingston (155) [-13]
143 Botswana, Gaborone (173) [-30]
144 Canada, Ottawa (141) [3]
145 Guam, Hagatna (133) [12]
146 India, New Delhi (157) [-11]
147 Liberia, Monrovia (119) [28]
148 Maldives, Male (144) [4]
149 Rwanda, Kigali (140) [9]
150 Mozambique, Maputo (131) [19]
151 Malawi, Lilongwe (206) [-55]
152 India, Chennai (162) [-10]
153 Ukraine, Kiev (106) [47]
154 Grenada, Saint George's (156) [-2]
155 Slovenia, Ljubljana (154) [1]
156 Cyprus, Nicosia (160) [-4]
157 USA, Jacksonville Fla (146) [11]
158 USA, Dallas Tex (149) [9]
159 India, Calcutta (178) [-19]
160 Moldova, Chisinau (139) [21]
161 USA, Tampa Fla (150) [11]
162 USA, Cleveland Ohio (151) [11]
163 USA, Atlanta GA (152) [11]
164 India, Hyderabad (185) [-21]
165 Chile, Santiago (175) [-10]
166 United Kingdom, Birmingham (148) [18]
167 Equatorial Guinea, Malabo (189) [-22]
168 USA, Denver Colo (159) [9]
169 Uruguay, Montevideo (216) [-47]
170 USA, Phoenix Ariz (161) [9]
171 Timor-Leste, Dili (79) [92]
172 Romania, Bucharest (172) [0]
173 Algeria, Algiers (190) [-17]
174 USA, Milwaukee Wis (167) [7]
175 USA, Charlotte NC (169) [6]
176 Macedonia, Skopje (235) [-59]
177 Gambia, Banjul (165) [12]
178 USA, Pittsburgh Penn (171) [7]
179 Ghana, Accra (117) [62]
180 Antigua and Barbuda, Saint John's (168) [12]
181 Iran, Tehran (180) [1]
182 Honduras, Tegucigalpa (163) [19]
183 Philippines, Manila (170) [13]
184 Afghanistan, Kabul (177) [7]
185 Fiji, Suva (247) [-62]
186 Mexico, Mexico City (166) [20]
187 Somalia, Mogadishu (164) [23]
188 USA, Detroit Mich (179) [9]
189 USA, Austin Tex (182) [7]
190 Morocco, Rabat (217) [-27]
191 USA, Columbus Ohio (186) [5]
192 Namibia, Windhoek (232) [-40]
193 China, Shanghai (187) [6]
194 USA, Fort Worth Tex (192) [2]
195 Saint Kitts and Nevis, Basseterre (181) [14]
196 Cuba, Havana (202) [-6]
197 Syria, Damascus (188) [9]
198 USA, Las Vegas Nev (194) [4]
199 Korea Democratic Republic of, Pyongyang (203) [-4]
200 Kosovo, Pristina (211) [-11]
201 Peru, Lima (198) [3]
202 Brunei, Bandar Seri Begawan (208) [-6]
203 India, Bangalore (215) [-12]
204 Kenya, Nairobi (227) [-23]
205 Bulgaria, Sofia (174) [31]
206 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Kingstown (195) [11]
207 USA, Houston Tex (199) [8]
208 Congo Democratic Rep, Kinshasa (176) [32]
209 Thailand, Bangkok (210) [-1]
210 USA, San Antonio Tex (201) [9]
211 South Africa, Johannesburg (236) [-25]
212 Myanmar, Yangon (197) [15]
213 USA, Indianapolis Ind (205) [8]
214 Lesotho, Maseru (256) [-42]
215 Guyana, Georgetown (200) [15]
216 Vietnam, Hanoi (223) [-7]
217 Albania, Tirana (218) [-1]
218 USA, St Louis MO (209) [9]
219 Armenia, Yerevan (193) [26]
220 Dominica, Roseau (204) [16]
221 Madagascar, Antananarivo (207) [14]
222 USA, El Paso Tex (212) [10]
223 USA, Memphis Tenn (213) [10]
224 Egypt, Cairo (229) [-5]
225 Ethiopia, Addis Ababa (191) [34]
226 Dominican Republic, Santo Domingo (221) [5]
227 South Africa, Pretoria (238) [-11]
228 Mauritania, Nouakchott (228) [0]
229 Costa Rica, San Jose (214) [15]
230 Belize, Belmopan (219) [11]
231 Oman, Muscat (226) [5]
232 Nicaragua, Managua (222) [10]
233 El Salvador, San Salvador (230) [3]
234 Panama, Panama City (224) [10]
235 Burundi, Bujumbura (220) [15]
236 Uganda, Kampala (252) [-16]
237 Laos, Vientiane (237) [0]
238 Belarus, Minsk (225) [13]
239 Guatemala, Guatemala City (231) [8]
240 South Africa, Cape Town (254) [-14]
241 Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur (241) [0]
242 Bangladesh, Dhaka (234) [8]
243 Saint Lucia, Castries (233) [10]
244 Tunisia, Tunis (248) [-4]
245 Swaziland, Mbabane (265) [-20]
246 South Africa, Durban (269) [-23]
247 Eritrea, Asmara (239) [8]
248 Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sarajevo (253) [-5]
249 Turkmenistan, Ashgabat (240) [9]
250 Iraq, Baghdad (243) [7]
251 Suriname, Paramaribo (242) [9]
252 China, Macao (245) [7]
253 Pakistan, Lahore (244) [9]
254 Bolivia, La Paz (246) [8]
255 Nepal, Kathmandu (260) [-5]
256 China, Shenzhen (250) [6]
257 Tonga, Nuku'Alofa (270) [-13]
258 Libya, Tripoli (268) [-10]
259 Pakistan, Islamabad (249) [10]
260 Pakistan, Karachi (251) [9]
261 Paraguay, Asuncion (259) [2]
262 Ecuador, Quito (255) [7]
263 Cambodia, Phnom Penh (274) [-11]
264 China, Wuhan (258) [6]
265 Sri Lanka, Colombo (261) [4]
266 Tajikistan, Dushanbe (264) [2]
267 Kyrgyzstan, Bishkek (257) [10]
268 Uzbekistan, Tashkent (267) [1]
269 Bhutan, Thimphu (262) [7]
270 Argentina, Buenos Aires (266) [4]
271 China, Dalian (271) [0]
272 Yemen, Sanaa (263) [9]
273 Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar (272) [1]
274 China, Guangzhou (273) [1]
275 Zimbabwe, Harare (276) [-1]
276 China, Tianjin (275) [1]

For more detail go to http://www.xpatulator.com

Per Diem

When organizations send employees on business trips, short term assignments, conferences, or training they typically pay employees what is typically called a per diem allowance.

The purpose of a per diem allowance is to cover expenses incurred by an employee, such as accommodation, meals, personal transportation at the place of the assignment, laundry, phone calls, internet costs, transportation to and from the airport, meals, refreshments, and any other incidental expenses likely to be incurred by the employee while travelling on company business.

When establishing an appropriate per diem allowance, a number of factors have to be considered such as:
•The cost of living in the destination compared to the home location
•The length of travel / flight time in order to allow for an employee to recover from long flights and / or change of time zone
•The level of the employee in the organization

It is good practice to develop a clear, easy to understand, policy on per diem in order that all employees understand how it works and be able to apply the policy consistently and fairly.

Some of the emotive issues that need to be dealt with are:
•Long flights travelling due west can mean extended travel time but only 1 days per diem for example while travelling the same distance due east can result in 2 days per diem
•When an employee is acting in a higher level position that would place them in a higher per diem category
•When does per diem start and end
•How much travel time is reasonable given flight duration and time zone changes
•Can employees extend their trip to take a vacation without impacting their per diem
•Is the per diem cash up front or a reimbursement
•What proof must be provided to substantiate the per diem claim
•If accommodation is provided, how much should the per diem be reduced by

You can use services such as the Salary Purchasing Power Parity Calculator on www.xpatulator.com to calculate equivalent Per Diem rates in each of your required international locations.

Hot and Critical Skills

A critical skill is a skill or set of skills that are essential to the organization’s mission and objectives. These are the core skills the organization must have to be able to function.

A hot skill is a skill or set of skills that are in high demand and/or in short supply. An example might be experienced engineers in a market where many are retiring and too few are available to take their place.

Any particular skill could be either critical or hot or both. Market intelligence will provide the full picture of market pay conditions in terms of supply and demand. Pay Data typically provided by salary survey providers will provide the price in terms of what the going salary rate is for the skills for varying job levels, industries, and geographic regions. Pay Data is based on what locally employed people who are currently employed are paid.

Although exact data is difficult to establish, there is evidence that most organizations pay premiums for critical and hot skills. Most offer premiums of 5% to 20% of base pay. Other organizations offer sign-on or stay-on bonuses to secure such skills. Such premiums are seen as short term solutions as they do not address the underlying problem i.e. the short supply of skills. In most markets a shortage of skills results in more people gaining the skills. However the lengthy time scale to gain the skills and get experience can often mean that by the time individuals have achieved the required level of experience, the demand for the skill has fallen away.

When critical and hot skills are unobtainable locally in the immediate term, organizations extend their search beyond the “national” market and recruit expatriates. The employment of expatriates is used by organizations in parallel with a development program to develop the needed hot and critical skills locally.

Effectiveness – How you can do more with less time

Your effectiveness is about identifying your most important task and tackling it with single-minded focus until it is completed. The challenge is usually those tasks that you know are priorities, but that you’ve put off for whatever reason.

Focus
Your ability to focus in a single-minded fashion to accomplish your most important task is the prime determinant of your success. The complication comes in, when you lack clarity about your true goals and objectives. Lack of clarity impairs action.

Planned Action
Successful people launch directly without hesitation into the major task that confronts them at any point in the day. However, while acting is better than procrastinating, action without planning leads to failure and disappointment, so learn to plan daily. Remember the 10/90 rule: investing 10% of your time in planning before beginning a project will help you use the other 90% of the time more effectively.

Prioritize
Remember Pareto’s rule. If you have a to-do list of 10 items, two of those items will generate 80% of the return you get from your entire list. Begin with the end in mind. After attending to the urgent and important matters, focus on what is important but not urgent. Failures do what is tension-relieving while winners do what is goal-achieving.
Make a list of your tasks. Prioritize your list by putting an “A” next to those tasks that you must do as soon as possible or face serious consequences. If you have more than one “A” number them “A1”, “A2” etc. “B” tasks are ones you should do, but that carry mild consequences. “C” tasks would be nice to do, but carries absolutely no consequences at all. “D” tasks are those you can delegate to someone else, so your goal is to delegate all of them to free your time for things only you can do. “E” task is one you can eliminate altogether. It may have seemed important once, but it isn’t any more. You can’t do everything and there is only so much time in a day, so start with the 20% of tasks that will generate 80% of the return.

Time
The Law of Forced Efficiency relates to the idea that any job will expand to fill the time you allow for it. If you have two days, it will take you two days (or perhaps more). However, the flip side is also true: If you have only one day to complete a two-day job, somehow you find the time to do it.

Being effective requires a positive attitude and the will to do the most difficult task first. Because you can’t do everything, indulge in creative procrastination – put off the things that do not carry a consequence. Break large tasks down into a series of simple ones. Work with a sense of urgency.

Expatriate Engagement

Engagement is a fairly recent term in business. In the past the talk was about “attracting, motivating and retaining” expatriate employees. All three strategies focused primarily on money. A competitive salary that takes into account the relative cost of living, exchange rate and hardship together with global expatriate benefits such as longer vacations, flights home, private school, club membership and the like were typically used to “attract” expatriates to where their skills were needed most. Bonuses, performance based pay, and recognition plans were used to “motivate” expatriates. Shares, retirement plans and tax-free gratuities were typically used to “retain” expatriates using the so-called golden handcuff approach.

The financial crises and recession have in my view provided further proof that money alone is not enough. When money gets tight will your expatriate employees stay and will they be motivated? Money on it’s own will not motivate or retain an expatriate when annual salary increases are reduced, bonuses are negligible if they are paid at all and shares are not performing.

To ensure expatriates will stay when times get tough, an engaged expatriate is required. An engaged expatriate is one who is committed to the organization (i.e. the host organization). An engaged expatriate is willing to exert extra effort in accomplishing tasks important to the achievement of the organizations goals.

Recruitment and Promotion
Ensuring that expatriates are put in the right job is a prerequisite for engagement. In reality expatriates are often hired because their skills are not locally available and because they are willing to relocate to a location that most people would not want to live in. As a result expatriates are often hired for their technical skills and not for their behavior, which in their home country would have been closely analyzed and subject to rigorous reference checking. It is critical that the right expatriate is recruited into the right job taking all aspects into account, including personality, age, culture, attitude, and previous track record through quality reference checks.

High Performance Standards
Average performance is usually associated with easy, low demand work. Responsibilities and accountabilities need to be well defined with clear perceptible differences compared to those they report to and to those who in turn report to them. Where differences in accountability are not clearly defined the result is a “non-job”. It is not possible to perform in a non-job as it is not clear who is accountable for what!

For engagement, expatriates need to be challenged with high standards of performance that will test their abilities fully. Hiring over qualified, over experienced expatriates into jobs that are too small for them will leave them unchallenged. Expatriates often perform badly when unchallenged by the job, but rise to accomplish the most difficult tasks when properly challenged.

Feedback
An engaged expatriate requires feedback. With this information the expatriate can control their outputs, measure how they are doing, guide themselves to reach their goals, and accept complete responsibility for their tasks, assignment and job.

In conclusion I ask again. When money gets tight will your expatriate employees stay and will they be motivated? A competitive salary that takes into account the relative cost of living, exchange rate and compensation for the hardship of living in an unfamiliar/foreign location together with global expatriate benefits will attract and to some degree retain expatriates. However if you really want your expatriates to stay motivated when times get tough you need to ensure you have engaged expatriates. Engaged expatriates are committed to the organization. You can better engage your expatriates by ensuring that expatriates are put in the right job, are challenged with high standards of performance that will test their abilities fully, and by providing feedback on how they are doing.