Global Employment Companies 2025/26 Insight series – Part 2

Global Employment Companies (GECs) are not new, and have been utilised for decades, with their ‘popularity’ fluctuating over time. Originally GECs were often utilised as a means to effectively handle the employment of global nomads who moved regularly from country to country, or to benefit from the tax and social security regimes applicable to offshore employment (particularly in the Energy and Resources sector).

In response to the competitive talent environment, organisations focusing on developing their talent deployment strategies, global shifts in remote work technology and attitudes (which have made remote working more accessible than ever), and regulatory changes, we have seen over the past three years a period of increased activity.

Our latest article covers the topic of GEC sustainability through a series of questions.

What are GEC sustainability reviews, and why should we perform them?

A GEC may have existed as part of an organisation’s group structure for many years and may even have been inherited as part of an organisation’s M&A history. With appropriate regularity, it is strongly recommended that organisations conduct sustainability reviews, which are multi-disciplinary reviews to establish whether the GEC still meets the original strategic intention upon which it was established and meets its regulatory and/or compliance obligations. With ever increasing changes to the global business landscape (e.g., regulatory change, geopolitical impacts, emerging workforces, technology and new market opportunities), the strategic intentions of an organisation are likely to evolve regularly, making the need to review the sustainability of a GEC all the more important.

So how often should we review the sustainability of a GEC?

Best practice would dictate an in-depth sustainability review of a GEC every 3-5 years, however this should take place more regularly where there are, for example, material strategic shifts within the organisation, or significant regulatory changes.

More regularly, a GEC ‘health check’ which is a lighter touch review should be completed, on a 6-12 month basis to track the GEC’s progress and measure key performance and success metrics.

What are some of the key areas to cover in the sustainability review?

Below is a list of non-exhaustive example of the key areas we recommend are covered in GEC sustainability reviews. It is important that the review is holistic, covering all the key functions/workstreams within the organisation, including Tax, HR, Reward, Finance and Legal.

Our report includes examples of the considerations for each of these areas:

• Economic substance rules
• Environmental changes (regulatory, political / economic stability, availability of business support services)
• Corporate tax exposure
• Employee Experience and Talent Attraction
• Compliance and Administrative Efficiency

What could be the outcome of the GEC sustainability review?

When reviewing the sustainability of an existing GEC we see 5 potential outcomes for the GEC;

The majority of these outcomes require additional steps. As an example, if the organisation decides to close the GEC there will be a number of considerations across multiple workstreams, which can include

• Employment law considerations around the transfer of employment to a new group entity, which may include consultation periods and consideration of rules such as TUPE in the UK, depending on jurisdictions
• Corporate governance actions and processes to follow with regards to closing an entity
• Consideration of exit taxes depending on the GEC jurisdiction, and corporate tax filings

Our question to you

We have demonstrated why it’s important to perform GEC sustainability reviews and highlighted some of the key areas to consider when doing so. Thus, we ask you, when was the last time you assessed whether your GEC remained fit for purpose in line with your organisation’s strategic needs?

Please access our report for more detail and additional insights.