Cartus
Get New Posts Via Email
Enter your email address:
Find us on        Cartus.com
What's New On This Blog
Posted by Pat Moody |
Food, Glorious Food | Cartus Celebrates

“Tell me what you eat, and I’ll tell you what you are.”

As Cartus celebrated the rich diversity of its cultural heritage on International Food Day, these words of Frenchman Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin seemed especially relevant. Our employees around the world, from Danbury to Irving, Swindon to Singapore, participated in the day’s events by bringing in dishes from different cultures and sharing them with coworkers.

Food plays an important role in expressing our cultural identity – what we eat, how we prepare it, and the many and varied customs throughout the world that surround the act of eating. When it comes to doing business in other countries, it’s important to become aware of these cultural distinctions in order to show respect, minimize misunderstandings and enhance relationships. Navigating the unfamiliar global waters of business meals, alcohol consumption, and the specifics of cultural etiquette takes education, learning and even practice.

Food and Culture
Asking your hosts about local dining etiquette is a good way to learn about their customs, while also demonstrating your interest in their culture. If time permits, it’s always a good idea to explore food and entertainment-related customs in advance. There are a number of websites and online tools that are great sources of cultural information. Country NavigatorTM is an online cultural reference tool available to clients by subscription through Cartus to support business travelers and employees who work globally. (more…)

Relocating to South Africa? Stay Safe and Make Friends

Posted by James Speirs |
Relocating to South Africa? Stay Safe and Make Friends

As part of our Cartus Market Watch series, we recently published an “Insights” on South Africa,  which explored key challenges that assignees face when moving to the country. The Market Watch details a one-hour eLearning webinar I recently presented, entitled Emerging Markets – A Relocation Perspective. The webinar focused on three countries: Brazil, the United Arab Emirates, and South Africa. As a South African, I was proud to highlight and explore the relocation challenges for those moving to my home country.

Stay Safe
Security is one of the key challenges.  It can seem disconcerting when you mention the risks, but when you’re in South Africa, it isn’t something that people worry about. South Africans do not treat their safety with reckless abandon, but people know the areas in big cities where you are more likely to encounter challenges. Likewise, assignees moving to the country need to be aware of their surroundings. Of course, when sending employees to a country with high crime rates, it’s important to be realistic about the potential risks, but at the same time, I would advise companies not to be alarmist. (more…)

Cartus Celebrates Earth Day

Posted by Mark Langdon |
Cartus Celebrates Earth Day

The Cartus Conservation Committee works hard all year on a number of different projects. One such initiative is our ride sharing program, which has earned numerous state and national awards. The committee also supports the city of Danbury’s Adopt-A-Street program during the spring and summer months and our fall Cartus Ride Share Day, as well as an in-house can and bottle recycling program. But our biggest and best event of the year is our Cartus Earth Day Event.

This year was our 9th annual Earth Day with 22 outside vendors attending—a great way to share environmental information with Cartus employees who can ask questions and pick up, or buy, environmental gifts from the vendors. This year our office supply vendor, Staples, stole the show, with pens made out of recycled water bottles, white board markers that can be refilled, and calculators made out of recycled plastic. The line for their booth went halfway around our very large conference center. (more…)

CartusMobile wins Creative Application of Technology Award!

Posted by Jane Bergman |
CartusMobile wins Creative Application of Technology Award!

At the prestigious Re:locate magazine awards in London last night CartusMobile, our innovative mobile app that puts critical relocation-related information at the fingertips of our clients and their assignees, won a special Creative Application of Technology award. Shelley Northrop, vice president, Marketing, and I were pleased to accept the award on behalf of the company.

CartusMobile was praised by the judges as an application that improves processes and services and integrates communication with greater speed and clarity among Cartus, our clients, and our assignees.

Congratulations to Nica Ganley and the CartusMobile team whose innovative app design and user-friendly functionality have been honoured in this award win.

Clients and transferring employees are invited to learn more about this app through our CartusMobile site.

Email this contributor at jane.bergman@cartus.com.

Work Permit Changes in the Czech Republic and Romania | Immigration News

Posted by Lisa Reid |
Work Permit Changes in the Czech Republic and Romania | Immigration News

Our immigration vendor, Fragomen, has advised Cartus of changes in the proof of education requirements for applications for work permits in the Czech Republic and Romania. The Czechs have loosened standards, while the Romanians have tightened them.

In the Czech Republic, labor offices in Prague and Brno may issue a short-term work permit before the foreign beneficiary presents an educational certificate that has been officially recognized as the equivalent of a Czech degree. This represents a change in policy, as these two offices would not previously have issued a permit without receiving a nostrified degree.

Romanian authorities are expected to announce, within the next month, new requirements mandating that work permit applicants submit every educational certification  that he or she  has earned, including high school diplomas, and full academic transcripts for each university-level degree. The government’s goal is to ensure that foreign workers have educations equivalent to a Romanian diploma or degree. This will increase the time it takes to prepare Romanian work permit applications.

Read Fragomen’s full alert on the Czech  and Romanian rule changes, or consult Fragomen  about specific questions on this issue.

For general information on destination issues in the Czech Republic and Romania, please email me at lisa.reid@cartus.com.

Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | © 2012 Cartus.