recruitment company in London, and this was in the late 90s. It was all about Y2K and the fears that, come the year 2000, computer programmes might crash. We were bringing IT specialists into the UK from South Africa and Australia. My job was to find them somewhere to live and find schools for their children and get them a work permit. It was a baptism of fire because I had no experience in any of that and it was very hands on. I used to drive out to Heathrow to meet them and find a hotel for them and go househunting with them. Then I moved into what used to be called expatriate management.” Caitlin later moved to BNP Paribas and worked in various corporate roles for 15 years in London, managing expats and dealing with the ever- changing UK immigration rules. “When I was 40, I was offered a job in Singapore,
and my husband and I made the move from London to Singapore. It was a policy-based role for a company which provided engineering staff to various projects around the world, finding staff for oil rigs and engineering projects in the Gulf or onsite in Papua New Guinea.” When her husband was relocated to Hong Kong five
years later, Caitlin moved with him and after a year of freelancing, was approached by Crown World Mobility to work on the vendor side. She says the experience of relocating was “definitely
more stressful and emotional than you can appreciate unless you've done it”. “We had all of those discussions that go on behind the
scenes, the things that families and assignees probably talk about with their partners and families, but which don't necessarily get conveyed to the employer,” she says.
HOW TO BRING MORE DIVERSITY INTO GLOBAL ASSIGNMENTS Caitlin says that increasingly clients are focusing on DE&I policies, not just for their staff, but also often for their entire supply chain. “Clients want us to guide and inform their assignees
about the policies and the benefits they will receive. They want us to make sure that they know that there are resources available for specific situations. People might not want to share personal information, but we can make sure that they know there are resources available if they need them, so that they feel supported.” For example, women might be more likely to turn assignments down if
they are thinking about having
families or they've got young families. “There needs to be a financial commitment on the
part of the company that if you have a woman who'd be perfect for an assignment position, but she's got a young family, then maybe she needs some more help in the host location. That could go for single parents as well, whether they're male or female. So it is about rethinking your benefits and starting from a place of wanting to say yes, so that you can facilitate and encourage diversity in assignments.”
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“ There needs to be a financial commitment on the part of the company that if you have a woman who'd be perfect for an assignment position, but she's got a young family, then maybe she needs some more help in the host location.”
THINK WOMEN
GLOBAL MOBILITY
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