As companies continue to send employees abroad, well-thought-out global mobility programs that go beyond focusing on compensation packages and housing issues are crucial to the success of expatriate relocation. While executives may appear, at first glance, to settle into a familiar work environment fairly quickly, more often their productivity declines during the initial relocation period due to a lack of familiarity with the host country's values regarding work, hierarchy, communication styles, and employment rules and regulations, among other issues.
For the family members accompanying the executive, the issues of operating in a very different place and culture are magnified. The importance of a smooth transition for a company's employee and his/her family is vitally linked to the success of that individual's performance on a foreign assignment. According to the 2009 Global Relocation Trends Survey, a high percentage of relocation programs fail or are aborted, and the cost to a company can be staggering. An alarming 92% of assignment refusals or failures are due to family concerns, which also account for 27% of early return from expat assignments. A whopping 56% of assignment failures are directly attributable to spouse dissatisfaction.
Due to the increased visibility of assignment success factors and the high costs of the expatriate investment, savvy companies provide relocating executives and their families support services to facilitate their transitions into the host country.
Repatriation and reintegration assistance planning is also a hot button issue. For the organization to have a highly effective and focused employee, both the expatriate and his/her accompanying family has yet another, often unexpected, adjustment to make when repatriating. Company support during this challenging transition period aids both the employee and his/her family. However, a lack of planning that begins well before an overseas assignment ends can cause a company to lose a valuable employee. Statistics show that up to 70 percent of repatriated assignees leave their employer within two years, usually to join a competitor. Retaining an expatriate achieves a much higher REI (return on expatriate investment).
Who would benefit from our Global Mobility program?
- Anyone sent abroad on a short-term or a long-term assignment
- Family members accompanying the executive or employee
How is the program designed?
- Each two-phase program is tailored to be function specific and culture specific
- Phase 1: Daily Living (for employees &/or executives and their family members)
- Phase 2: Conducting Business (for employees &/or executives)
- Includes experiential role-playing, exercises, etc. to give the participant a "feel" for the culture
What will participants learn?
Phase 1 - Daily Living includes:
- Moving & shipping
- Housing
- Utilities & services
- Household help
- Meals & food
- Shopping
- Getting around
- Socializing
Phase 2 - Conducting Business includes:
- Workplace environment
- Time: management & perceptions
- Making contacts
- Greetings
- Rank, status & hierarchy
- Communication, verbal & non-verbal
- Meeting protocols
- Decision making styles
- Leadership styles
- Gender roles
What will participants gain?
- A awareness of what to expect when immersed in a specific foreign culture
- An understanding of how to navigate the issues of daily life
- An awareness of culture shock and how it can undermine productivity
- An awareness of the taboos that can have serious repercussions
How will the company benefit?
- Improved employee performance & productivity
- Greater employee satisfaction with the overseas assignment
- Improved employee morale
- Avoid costly cultural & political faux pas
- Overseas assignment completion
- Overseas assignment success
- Increased REI resulting from all the above