Canadian HR Reporter

2014 Best CITIES 2014 Worst CITIES Quality-of-living surveys guide compensation of expatriates gLOBAL HR A tale of 2 cities By Sarah Dobson C anadian cities rank among the world's best when it comes to mercer's Quality of Living survey — an an- nual ranking that helps multina- tional companies in compensat- ing employees on international assignments. Only one city in the United States — San Francisco — ranked in North America's top fi ve for qual- ity of living in 2014. e rankings on this continent are dominated by Canadian cities — Vancouver, Ottawa, Toronto and Montreal — all of which ranked in the top 10 per cent globally. e political and social envi- ronment is stable in Canada, says Luc Lalonde, principal at Mercer in Montreal. "Relatively speaking, for large cities, I think we can say that the crime rates are lower, again on a relative basis — these are large cit- ies we're talking about. e gener- al standard of health care is high, we have decent public services, a variety of restaurants and rec- reation options, so it's an across- the-board thing where Canadian cities do well pretty much on all elements or all factors," he says " ere would not be issues to deal with or explain with potential assignees or people accepting a job, even if temporary in Canada, be- cause the quality of living is high." The lowest-ranked cities in- clude Baghdad, Iraq; Bangul, Cen- tral African Republic; and Port au Prince, Haiti. " ese locations, unfortunate- ly, usually score low across the board," says Lalonde. "It's fair to say that these locations have challenges or cer- tainly multinational and expatri- ates going there are faced with some challenges — we're talking about internal instability, poor infrastructure, safety issues and also poor health-care standards… ose are certainly major things for expats or employees or even employers sending employees there." The Mercer rankings are meant to assist employers both in encouraging employment mo- bility and staying abreast of the competition by calculating fair, consistent expatriate allowances. e quality-of-living reports are based on 39 factors within 10 categories, so organizations can fi gure out hardship allowances — premium compensation paid to expatriates who should expect to experience a signifi cant deterio- ration in living conditions in their host location — for transfers to more than 460 cities worldwide. e total index is based on the following categories: •consumer goods •economic environment •housing •medical and health care •natural environment •political and social environment •public services and transport •recreation •schools and education •socio-cultural environment. " ose who use this informa- tion are typically multinational companies or they may be gov- ernments or public organizations that send employees on interna- tional assignments, so they need tools to make comparisons to see to what extent quality of living is similar or not, in diff erent cities, and this way they can use indices and determine hardship allow- ances, if needed," says Lalonde. " ere are many, many assign- ments where the diff erence is not signifi cant enough for a company to provide a hardship allowance." Some of the details in a report about a particular city can include: availability of rental accommoda- tions; ease of public transporta- tion; availability of private and international schools; health insurance options; approaches to freedom of speech and reli- gion; restrictions on the import and export of currency; and visa requirements. Emerging cities Some of the emerging cities in Mercer's rankings include Wro- claw, Poland, where "there is a good talent pool and improved in- frastructure," said Lalonde, along with Manaus, Brazil, which has a major industrial sector, Cheonan, South Korea, which is "strategical- ly located in an area where several technology companies have oper- ations," and Durban, South Africa, which "has seen some growth in the manufacturing industries and also it has a shipping port that has increased in importance," he said. European cities enjoy a high overall quality of living compared to those in other regions, with very high standards of infrastruc- ture and health care as well as political stability and low crime levels, according to Mercer. ose cities that received the lowest rankings in the region are found mostly in Eastern Europe, although these locations are try- ing to improve their infrastruc- ture and internal stability: Tbilisi, Georgia; Minsk, Belarus; Yerevan, Armenia; Tirana, Albania; and St. Petersburg, Russia. Asian cities are improving in quality though some, such as ones in China, continue to strug- gle with pervasive air pollution that impacts living quality, found Mercer. Singapore, Tokyo, Kobe, Yokohama and Osaka are among the top-ranked locations in the re- gion while in Australasia, Sydney ranks 10th overall, with Welling- ton, New Zealand, at 12th. The lowest ranked cities globally are: •Baghdad, Iraq •Bangui, Central African Republic •Port au Prince, Haiti •N'Djamena, Chad •Sana'a, Yemen The highest ranked cities globally are: •Vienna, Austria •Zurich, Switzerland, •Auckland, New Zealand •Munich, Germany •Vancouver A fisherman stands at the mouth of the Capilano River fishing for salmon in Vancouver. On the right, people gather at the site of a car bomb attack in Baghdad last month. Vancouver is consistently rated one of the most liveable cities in the world while Baghdad is the worst. FeATuReS Credit: Andy Clark (Reuters) and Thaier Al-Sudani (Reuters) "It's an across-the-board thing where Canadian cities do well pretty much on all factors... there would not be issues to explain to potential assignees."

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