Key features and benefits	Mercer's Global HRMonitor®	Sample report	QOL list of cities
Quality of Living and Location Evaluation brochure

Press release: Mercer's 2011 Quality of Living survey highlights

To encourage employment mobility and keep abreast of the competition, you need reliable information to help you calculate fair, consistent expatriate allowances. Based on 39 factors within ten categories, Mercer’s Quality of Living Reports contain all the key elements you need to calculate hardship allowances for transfers to over 420 cities worldwide. “Hardship allowance” refers to premium compensation paid to expatriates who experience – or should expect to experience – a significant deterioration in living conditions in their new host location.

Our reports are based on the Mercer’s annual Quality of Living Survey. The survey questionnaire is developed by international Mercer professionals, working closely with major multinational companies and other experts in the field.

Key features and benefits

• Tangible values for qualitative perceptions to establish an objective assessment of the quality of living for transfers to over 420 cities worldwide.
• Carefully selected factors representing the criteria considered most relevant to international executives.
• A detailed outline of how we establish quality-of-living differentials between cities.
• A City-to-City Index Comparison that summarises the difference in the quality of living between any two cities.
• The Quality of Living index for the city and access to a detailed breakdown of the category scores that form the resulting index.
• Our online Quality-of-Living Calculator that allows you to customize the Quality of Living index to your specific needs.
• A score report summarizing the Quality of Living differences for each of the 39 factors.
• Mercer’s recommended Quality of Living Allowance Grid that allows you to translate the quality of living index into percentage benefits and define competitive hardship allowances where applicable.
  
  

  The total index is based on the following categories:
  Consumer goods Economic environment Housing Medical and health considerations Natural environment	Political and social environment Public services and transport Recreation Schools and education Socio-cultural environment

Global HRMonitor® - a new dimension of online HR information Quality-of-Living Calculator Our web-based application contains flexible and powerful tools to let you customize your hardship allowance calculations and access details of the scores used in calculating the Quality of Living index. The calculator also allows you to account for additional factors, such as travel time and communication facilities between home and host country and for extreme environmental conditions.