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It Takes More Than Two to Tango
When it comes to international transfers companies have to face major
organizational challenges. However, in the tangle of labor law, social
security, residence permit and fiscal aspects, one essential factor for
the successful foreign assignment is too often ignored: the
accompanying family.
In an increasingly globalized economy worldwide business is no longer a privilege of large enterprises. International experience has become a key factor for executives when international companies ask for the “global employee”: Cosmopolitan, mobile and flexibly transferable.
Transfers hold risks
However, flexibility is not as easy as it seems. Some potential candidates for foreign assignments have a hard time when it comes to accepting the assignment – mainly because of private reasons, according to a PricewaterhouseCoopers study published in 1999/2000. The traditional single-income marriage is part of the past. Gone are the times when “he” pursued his career abroad and “she” followed willingly. Young and well-educated women today think twice about whether they want to lay their careers to rest, just because their partner wants to accept a job abroad. After all, the years abroad can not only lead to renouncing financial independence in terms of salary, but can also increase the challenges of re-entry into a tough labor market after a 2, 3 or 5 year absence.
However, even if the employee, their partner and the company have come to easily agree on the assignment, success is still not guaranteed. In the event of failure the risks to the employee are usually more of a personal kind, whilst the company will usually face financial losses: Around 10% of all assignments are cancelled ahead of time. The direct costs alone of an unscheduled early return from an assignment can easily add up to 150,000 Euro or more. But assignments that end ahead of time are only the tip of the iceberg. The losses incurred by companies whose expats continue their work only half-heartedly or have already quit emotionally can only be estimated – there are no statistics yet covering this financial impact.
There is no way around family
A number of international studies confirm the results of a survey performed by Going Global in 1999 amongst human resource managers of global companies in Germany: Family issues are the main reason for employees to throw in the towel and return home ahead of time.
Yet this statistic does not come as a surprise. After all, 80% of all expatriates are living in a serious marriage-type relationship. Consequently, companies are usually sending out families. Even though the expatriate faces the challenge of having to adjust to a new working environment, he typically remains in the structured and familiar company environment he has been used to. So the challenge is not to address his adjustment issues. The greater issue is to address those of the family, who are often exposed to an unknown local culture and having to deal with everyday challenges in the host country, i.e. housing, schooling, medical care etc. If the spouse (in Germany 90% of them are still female) is unable to cope with the challenges of daily life in a strange and unknown country or the teenage son just does not want to integrate into the new school system, major difficulties can arise. After all, no employee can fully concentrate on his new job challenges when a storm is brewing on the domestic front.
If global players such as Bosch, Siemens or the RWE AG support their employees on foreign assignments with a family-oriented transfer policy, it is not mere good will on their part but the realization that it is far more economical to set the course for a successful deployment at an early stage by offering reasonable preparation and assignment support.
From a Duet to a Triangular Relationship
However, too many companies still hesitate to address this challenge. German human resource departments and expatriates still tend to separate strictly job-related matters from private ones.
Yet it is very important that companies open up a new chapter in the relationship with their employee when they send a family abroad. This is because an international transfer involves more than just the employee; it also involves housing, kindergarten, school, health insurance or the career of the partner: Problems and decisions which traditionally have been part of the employee’s private sphere will now also be influenced by the company. The familiar employee-employer relationship must evolve into a triangular relationship triangle that also includes the accompanying family.
Essential: Open Communication and Appreciation
For her study “The Trailing Spouse: Barrier to Mobility or International Asset” Australian Yvonne McNulty has been interviewing accompanying spouses since February 2001. So far 218 spouses from 48 countries have been participating in the study, commenting in detail on the challenges they have been facing in their new lives abroad. McNulty’s study addresses a number of areas where companies can improve the way they manage international assignments. These include:
http://www.thetrailingspouse.com
Yvonne McNulty’s website, including the online-survey and questionnaire
http://www.figt.org
Non-profit-organization „Families in Global Transition“, concentrating on the support of mobile families
http://www.goingglobal.de
Going Global, online-service for German speaking expatriates
¹Studie „International Assignment Key Trends“, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, 1999/2000
In an increasingly globalized economy worldwide business is no longer a privilege of large enterprises. International experience has become a key factor for executives when international companies ask for the “global employee”: Cosmopolitan, mobile and flexibly transferable.
Transfers hold risks
However, flexibility is not as easy as it seems. Some potential candidates for foreign assignments have a hard time when it comes to accepting the assignment – mainly because of private reasons, according to a PricewaterhouseCoopers study published in 1999/2000. The traditional single-income marriage is part of the past. Gone are the times when “he” pursued his career abroad and “she” followed willingly. Young and well-educated women today think twice about whether they want to lay their careers to rest, just because their partner wants to accept a job abroad. After all, the years abroad can not only lead to renouncing financial independence in terms of salary, but can also increase the challenges of re-entry into a tough labor market after a 2, 3 or 5 year absence.
However, even if the employee, their partner and the company have come to easily agree on the assignment, success is still not guaranteed. In the event of failure the risks to the employee are usually more of a personal kind, whilst the company will usually face financial losses: Around 10% of all assignments are cancelled ahead of time. The direct costs alone of an unscheduled early return from an assignment can easily add up to 150,000 Euro or more. But assignments that end ahead of time are only the tip of the iceberg. The losses incurred by companies whose expats continue their work only half-heartedly or have already quit emotionally can only be estimated – there are no statistics yet covering this financial impact.
There is no way around family
A number of international studies confirm the results of a survey performed by Going Global in 1999 amongst human resource managers of global companies in Germany: Family issues are the main reason for employees to throw in the towel and return home ahead of time.
Yet this statistic does not come as a surprise. After all, 80% of all expatriates are living in a serious marriage-type relationship. Consequently, companies are usually sending out families. Even though the expatriate faces the challenge of having to adjust to a new working environment, he typically remains in the structured and familiar company environment he has been used to. So the challenge is not to address his adjustment issues. The greater issue is to address those of the family, who are often exposed to an unknown local culture and having to deal with everyday challenges in the host country, i.e. housing, schooling, medical care etc. If the spouse (in Germany 90% of them are still female) is unable to cope with the challenges of daily life in a strange and unknown country or the teenage son just does not want to integrate into the new school system, major difficulties can arise. After all, no employee can fully concentrate on his new job challenges when a storm is brewing on the domestic front.
If global players such as Bosch, Siemens or the RWE AG support their employees on foreign assignments with a family-oriented transfer policy, it is not mere good will on their part but the realization that it is far more economical to set the course for a successful deployment at an early stage by offering reasonable preparation and assignment support.
From a Duet to a Triangular Relationship
However, too many companies still hesitate to address this challenge. German human resource departments and expatriates still tend to separate strictly job-related matters from private ones.
Yet it is very important that companies open up a new chapter in the relationship with their employee when they send a family abroad. This is because an international transfer involves more than just the employee; it also involves housing, kindergarten, school, health insurance or the career of the partner: Problems and decisions which traditionally have been part of the employee’s private sphere will now also be influenced by the company. The familiar employee-employer relationship must evolve into a triangular relationship triangle that also includes the accompanying family.
Essential: Open Communication and Appreciation
For her study “The Trailing Spouse: Barrier to Mobility or International Asset” Australian Yvonne McNulty has been interviewing accompanying spouses since February 2001. So far 218 spouses from 48 countries have been participating in the study, commenting in detail on the challenges they have been facing in their new lives abroad. McNulty’s study addresses a number of areas where companies can improve the way they manage international assignments. These include:
- The company must acknowledge the vital role of the family in an
international assignment and develop better transfer guidelines which
focus not only on the expatriate but also take into account the needs
of the trailing family as well.
- The majority of accompanying spouses expressed a strong need
to establish a direct communication link with the company. Within the
relationship triangle it is still common practice to route all
essential information exclusively through the expatriate and exclude
the trailing spouse.
- The spouses generally appreciated the companies’ commitment to
find adequate housing, to choose the right school and to help to settle
other organizational matters. However, they complained that their
personal needs to establish a meaningful and fulfilling everyday life
were not taken into consideration.
- Finally, trailing spouses expressed a need for the company to become more aware of the impact of an assignment on the whole family and not just the employee. A typical expatriate family is constantly balancing what McNulty calls “the gains and losses of international mobility”. In essence this is the family’s attempt to strike a balance between missed opportunities in the home country versus new challenges and opportunities in the host country.
http://www.thetrailingspouse.com
Yvonne McNulty’s website, including the online-survey and questionnaire
http://www.figt.org
Non-profit-organization „Families in Global Transition“, concentrating on the support of mobile families
http://www.goingglobal.de
Going Global, online-service for German speaking expatriates
¹Studie „International Assignment Key Trends“, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, 1999/2000