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, Colgate-
Palmolive’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.