Note: This post was written assuming a world without the restrictions forced on us by COVID19. I firmly believe that when it is again safe to work in a normal office environment, the opportunity to work abroad or study abroad will be a very valuable one for those who have the opportunity to do so.
A few years ago I was technical advisor to a doctoral student who has meanwhile been awarded her PhD. She studied the effects of taking a long-term expatriate assignment on a person’s career. Having personally worked for more than 30 years with thousands of persons preparing for, performing and returning from assignments abroad, I also have considerable anecdotal evidence about the impact such assignments have on the individual as well as the family. Furthermore, I am an expat, having lived outside of my home country for three decades. Without getting into the research statistical details, I would like to summarize some things that I think are important for readers who might find themselves in these categories.
Living and working abroad is an education that can be acquired in no other way. You learn about people from another country, but you also learn about yourself since it is only by being outside of your own environment that you can begin to understand the nature of that environment. Teachers of intercultural awareness often explain this phenomenon by pointing out that a fish has no awareness of water until it finds himself out of it. Living away from your home country gives you a perspective.
There is considerable evidence to suggest that families in healthy relationships have those relationships strengthened by doing an overseas assignment. However, when a relationship is not strong, the stresses of the overseas assignment can be the straw that breaks the camel’s back and result in a marital breakup.
As globalization continues to play a greater role in how we do business, in many industries the successful completion of an overseas assignment is essential.
Under normal circumstances the ideal expatriate assignment should last three to four years. Shorter assignments may result in the delegate returning home before he or she has had the opportunity to demonstrate their potential in the assignment. Assignments lasting more than five years put special strains on a family reintegrating to their home country.
The reintegration process begins the day one goes overseas. It is essential for the health of a delegate’s career that relationships with mentors remain active. I suggest that a goal should be for the delegate to make some contact with each mentor back in the home country on a weekly basis. This might be an email or a telephone call in which the delegate shares some insight that was learned on the assignment. And when the delegate takes home leave, little time should be set aside to visit colleagues who could be important when it is time for the delegate to reintegrate. Too many expats have discovered that while they were away people stopped thinking about their next assignment upon return which resulted in a hastily selected and ill-fitting assignment.
Based upon research conducted with over 2,000 expats and former expats, my colleague’s research showed that in the first two years after reintegration the Expat assignment actually slowed down promotions and salary increases because of the weakening of that person’s network in the company and possible lack of familiarity with new procedures and personnel back in the home country. However, five years after return from an assignment abroad the former expat outperforms with respect to salary and promotion those who never did an assignment abroad because the individual’s network has meanwhile been bolstered and the value gained by the assignment abroad is recognized as unique knowledge needed in the home country.
I have often been asked when the best time is to do a long-term delegation. There are many factors to be considered. You want an interesting assignment with a good boss where you will be appreciated and can make a meaningful contribution. If you have a life partner, you will want to consider the impact on that person’s career. It is often the spouse who pays a much higher price to accompany a delegate with no prospects for career enhancing work. Children are amazingly resilient. If the parents have a positive attitude about their new assignment, the children will feel safe and will thrive in that environment. They learn language skills much faster than adults do. The one caution is that young teenagers from 13 to 16 years old are at risk of having more trouble adjusting to a new environment. They are burdened at that time with considerable insecurity and may feel lost when taken away from their friends. They fear that they will never adjust and will be outcasts in their new school.
There are certain things that parents must pay attention to when taking children on an expat assignment. For younger children, three years of total immersion in a different language will make them quite fluid and that new language but upon return to the home country they will be faced with considerable catching up to do in their language skills. For this I recommend owning a DVD or home theater system that allows you to play commercial movies in your choice of the home country language or your adopted country language. For example, a German Expat family living in the United States should purchase DVDs in Germany that have both English and German language soundtracks. By having the children watch their favorite Disney movies in English before they come to America and during the first months in America, their English skills are bolstered. After that they should watch the films in German to keep their German language skills active. Also, an increasing number of German broadcast outlets stream their programs over the Internet in the original German language.
German children returning after assignment abroad at a point in their lives when they must be tested to determine which educational path they will pursue (admission to Gymnasium, etc.). Parents of children facing this should be in touch with the school system back in Germany to acquire information about curriculum and learning materials so that the parents can do a certain amount of homeschooling of the children to prepare them for the exams.
Herb