Written by Clarisse Delaitre, Partner – Head of Majorelle Mobility, Majorelle Avocats

International mobility is a powerful driver of growth, but it also exposes companies to significant legal, social, and tax risks: selecting the appropriate contractual framework (secondment, expatriation, or local contract), determining the applicable social security regime, defining the employee’s tax status, handling immigration formalities, and ensuring compliance of the documents provided to the employee.

To turn these mobility assignments into success stories, it is essential to secure legal and social compliance upstream, and to support the employee and their family before departure, during the assignment, and upon return, in order to reduce the risks of litigation, disengagement, and assignment failure.

1. International Mobility: A Strategic… and Complex Issue

“International mobility” covers a wide range of situations: expatriate or seconded employees, international executives working across several countries or for multiple employers, and remote work abroad. These situations are becoming increasingly common due to the expansion of regional responsibilities, international business development, and the recruitment of globally oriented talent.

They are also increasingly complex to manage because of regulatory constraints relating to immigration, taxation, and social security, as well as the rise of remote work abroad since the health crisis. Companies must comply with specific formalities and provide employees with appropriate documentation.

2. The Human Factor: The Leading Cause of International Assignment Failure

Between 30% and 40% of international assignments fail—not for legal reasons, but for human ones.

When employees and their families are insufficiently supported, the consequences are immediate: stress, disengagement, difficulties for the spouse and family, sometimes leading to early termination of the assignment.

Conversely, when people are placed at the center of the process, mobility becomes a genuine lever for performance, long-term engagement of international talent, and strengthening of the employer brand.

Adler’s curve clearly illustrates this phenomenon: emotional adaptation determines performance in international mobility, with an initial phase of enthusiasm, followed by cultural disorientation, and then recovery and successful adaptation.

3. Before Departure: Securing the Decision and the Legal Framework
3.1 Identifying the Key Structural Factors

The context of the mobility assignment directly impacts the design of the compensation package, redeployment arrangements, and litigation risk prevention.

Several parameters must be analyzed: duration of the assignment, purpose of the mobility, family configuration, junior or senior profile, mobility within or outside the EU.

It is also important to distinguish between employer-driven mobility (business development missions, intra-group mobility, international service provision, use of umbrella companies) and employee-initiated mobility, particularly with the rise of remote work abroad, which sits at the intersection of company interests and employees’ private lives.

3.2 Choosing the Appropriate Contractual, Social, and Tax Framework

The choice of contractual framework is decisive.

Under labor law, a distinction must be made between:

Secondment, where the employee works temporarily abroad while remaining under the authority of the original employer;

Expatriation, where the original employment contract is suspended and a new employment relationship is concluded abroad with a new employer;

Localization, which involves terminating the original contract and entering into a local employment contract.

Under social security law, expatriates are affiliated with the system of the country where the employment relationship is performed, whereas seconded employees remain affiliated with the system of the original employer’s country, despite working abroad.

The specific case of cross-border and multi-state workers requires determining a single applicable legislation, notably based on the place of residence and the substantial nature of the activity performed.

Under tax law, the distinction between tax resident and non-resident—defined by law and not by personal choice—has consequences in terms of social contributions and may, where appropriate, create opportunities for optimization.

Given this complexity, it is recommended to coordinate, secure, and optimize arrangements by relying on specialists for the implementation of HR solutions (employment contracts, social protection, visa applications, housing, etc.).

3.3 Supporting the Employee’s Decision-Making

Before departure, a “decision-support” phase is essential: coaching, HR meetings, feasibility and risk assessments.

This approach aligns HR expectations with those of the employee (executive, spouse, family dynamics) and prepares the expatriation on professional, personal, and intercultural levels.

The benefits are clear: informed decision-making, stronger commitment, reduced risk of failure or early return, and improved performance from the outset.

4. During the Assignment: Continuous Adjustment and Ongoing Support

International mobility is never entirely smooth: changes in role or working conditions, interaction between French and local labor law, continuity of social protection, personal or professional contingencies.

HR management issues are central: who manages the employee? Who evaluates performance? Where does the reporting line lie?

Sensitive situations are numerous: declining performance, request for early return, disciplinary issues, termination of the assignment, pregnancy, workplace accidents, health crises requiring emergency repatriation, tax and payroll complications.

The challenges of expatriation are both professional and personal: culture shock, isolation, family separation, language barriers, professional pressure, and the spouse’s career rebuilding.

Studies show that refusals and failures of expatriation are very often linked to the spouse (reluctance to relocate, especially for career-related reasons, integration difficulties, boredom) and to the attractiveness of the destination or relocation package.

Structured support during the assignment is therefore essential:

Intercultural awareness training to understand and manage cultural differences;

Integration coaching to ensure a successful first 100 days;

Specific support for the spouse’s social and professional integration.

5. The Return: A High-Risk Moment Not to Be Underestimated

Returning from an international assignment is often delicate: reintegration or redeployment conditions, impact on career and compensation, continuity of social rights, prevention of disengagement or departure.

5.1 Anticipating the Exit Framework

It is essential to identify the exit framework in advance:

For expatriation: return to the original contract, redeployment, or termination;

For secondment: reintegration into the original or equivalent position;

For a local contract: termination, transfer, or return without contractual link, including management of non-compete clauses, notice periods, etc.

Securing the return requires written clauses from the outset (duration of assignment, early termination scenarios, return or non-return conditions) and anticipation of impacts on legal status, compensation, social protection, and taxation, in coordination between HR, legal, and management teams.

5.2 Supporting the Employee and Their Family

Supporting employees upon return requires preparation of their role and career trajectory, clear and early communication, and alignment with on-the-ground realities and employee expectations.

Poorly managed returns carry multiple risks:

Legal risks (reclassification of the contract, litigation for unfair dismissal, breach of return commitments, disputes over compensation, benefits or seniority, social security reassessments and criminal liability risks);

HR and organizational risks (loss of the employee, disengagement, perceived demotion, redeployment difficulties, employer brand damage);

Financial risks (litigation costs, turnover costs, loss of investment made during the assignment).

Return is often experienced as a “shock”: for the company (repositioning challenges, weakened career promises, potential loss of talent), for the employee (reverse culture shock, loss of status, professional uncertainty), and for the family (lower standard of living, reintegration difficulties, family imbalance).

To ensure a successful return, it is helpful to anticipate the cultural and emotional shock, to value the international experience (skills acquired, career project, repositioning), to establish advisory boards composed of international talent, and to provide specific support for the spouse (integration, financial management, job search).

Conclusion

The success of an international mobility assignment no longer depends solely on the legal compliance of the arrangements.

It requires a comprehensive approach, integrating from the outset the context of the assignment, the appropriate contractual, social, and tax framework, and structured humansupport before, during, and after the mobility. By placing people at the heart of its mobility strategy, a company secures its risks, strengthens its employer brand, and transforms expatriation into a true career accelerator for its talent.

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Majorelle Mobility is the international division of Majorelle Avocats, dedicated to international mobility and business immigration. It is composed of lawyers who are experts in international employment law, global mobility, and immigration law, handling highly technical cases with significant strategic implications for companies.

Based in Nantes and Paris, the division supports French and international clients in designing, securing, and implementing their international mobility policies, both for sending employees abroad (outbound mobility, expatriation, secondment, international remote work, short-term assignments) and for welcoming foreign talent to France (business and family immigration, foreign employees seconded to France).

Majorelle Mobility’s expertise is grounded in a comprehensive and integrated approach to international mobility, combining employment law, social security, immigration law, and HR practices. This approach enables the anticipation of legal, social, and operational risks related to international mobility, the securing of mobility arrangements, and the delivery of pragmatic, tailored solutions aligned with companies’ organizational and economic constraints.

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This article is written by an FACC-NY member. The views expressed are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect those of the French-American Chamber of Commerce – New York (FACC-NY).

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