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What to know about deploying your first expat... and beyond


For companies new to the global market, moving into a new country and deploying their first employee on an international assignment can be fraught with difficulties. Chamness WorldWide’s group of experts offer advice on how best to make the initial move into a new foreign market, avoiding the pitfalls of global mobility and how best to retain staff.


For those that never thought about being global, suddenly they find themselves amid mergers, acquisitions, takeovers and joint ventures, resulting in cross-border interaction. For companies expanding their business globally, particularly those in the earliest stages of


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growth, they will face deploying their first employee on an international assignment to open a new country. A trusted existing employee that’s embedded in the organisation and understands its vision, mission and strategic plan is ideal to facilitate a start-up, rather than a local hire who must be trained into the organisation. With this first deployment, global mobility becomes an essential initiative within the company, with the potential of more to come.


PROTECTING YOUR INVESTMENT Reasons for global expansion vary by company. Globalisation often leads to greater economies of scale, reduced operating and manufacturing costs due to overseas production, brand introduction and market share. Employees assigned to new destinations from the home office are deployed because they have the knowledge and skill sets to ensure these company goals are achieved. With great globalisation rewards come the potential associated risks, with the cost of employee


deployment being a huge line item. Financial investment to deploy one employee has five factors for consideration:


• Compliance requirements, from departure to destination, i.e. immigration and tax services • Costs to relocate employees from home to host countries. These may include destination services, transportation and shipment of household goods


• Recurring costs for tenancy management, property lease, car lease/transportation and management of associated expenses


• Accompanying family costs, i.e. school placement programme and tuition, spouse/partner career assistance and language and cultural training


• The employee must be kept ‘whole’ as defined by a Cost-Of-Living Analysis (COLA), which assesses the cost of living at home vs. the equal cost for the same lifestyle in the destination, based on a specific basket of goods and services.


The cost to deploy one employee may average US$1.5 million for a three-year assignment. Protecting the company’s investment in that employee involves managing talent from afar. Even if the benefits package is generous and the employee’s professional growth is strategically planned, there can still be a risk that results in the loss of the employee. Global human capital management suddenly becomes a critical company initiative for this first deployment. Depending on how the company structures the engagement with and management of the


employee while on assignment can be the pivotal element in a successful deployment. When an employee feels untethered to the home office and isolated from the company – and there is no talent management plan in place – the risk of employee loss is significant. If there’s family accompaniment on the assignment, the risks to the company rise exponentially.


The cause of most failed assignments is due to family unhappiness and lack of assimilation in the destination, which results in early repatriation of both the family and the employee. Because this


ince the inception of corporate globalisation, companies around the world have sought ways to opportunistically move into new world markets. Globalisation was a paradigm shift, not only in the positioning and market share of a company, but in the management of talent. It has driven the strategic growth of organisations and defined their course.


22 | RELOCATE | SPRING 2019


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