Not only are businesses facing the challenge of recruiting a talented and diverse work force to Des Moines, but many are also dealing with a rapidly growing international employment base as they expand abroad.

These issues were discussed at the Iowa Council for International Understanding’s Global Migration Symposium yesterday at Pioneer Hi-Bred International Inc.’s Johnston headquarters.

More than 200 million people are international migrants today, making up 3 percent of the global population, according to figures presented by Richard Scott, regional representative of the International Organization for Migration. That is 2.5 times 1965 levels and is driven by factors including the collapse of the Soviet Union, a more open-door culture in China, cheaper air travel, real-time communications, an aging work force in developed countries and a more liberalized flow of goods and services.

But as companies open offices abroad to capitalize on new emerging markets, they also are looking to hire locally and bring people abroad into a company culture fostered at home.

Principal Financial Group Inc. used to take a centralized approach to running its international business, with American management controlling operations from Des Moines, said Ned Burmeister, vice president and chief financial officer of Principal International Inc. at a panel discussion. Now only one of that division’s five senior executives is American and only 41 of its 3,000 employees are based in Des Moines.

“I don’t think it’s coincidence that when we made the conscious decision to have a business run by non-Americans, we became successful,” Burmeister said, pointing out that this division now generates 12 to 15 percent of Principal Financial’s total earnings.

But, Burmeister said, the one thing the company struggles with is carrying its strong brand in the United States abroad. Principal tends to attract local talent in its operations in seven countries by appealing more to an entrepreneurial spirit and offering a possibility to work in another country, not because of Principal’s image, he said.

Kemin Industries Inc., which has about 1,000 employees worldwide, faces the challenge of holding together a company spread out over several countries. One strategy is to have a centralized information technology department that ensures all of Kemin’s data can be used on a global scale. The company also spends a lot of money to fly management to one location for an annual strategic meeting, as well as separate group meetings throughout the year, such as its annual scientists meeting in Des Moines. However, said Kerty Levy, senior vice president of the company, if Kemin continues to grow, it may have to develop a different strategy.

Meanwhile, Vermeer Corp. is just going through the process of expanding abroad, with offices opening in four countries in the past three years, said Shilpi Gupta, who is helping lead this expansion. With a company based on Christian and Dutch principles, she said it has been hard to recruit people internationally and operate on a global level. One of its strategies was to require each executive to visit one of Vermeer’s global offices last year to better understand the culture of that country.