HOT TOPIC
is short-sighted on the employer’s part. Many multinational employers, including his own, have lost “expensively-developed talent through lack of forward planning.” He believes that returning home can be as big an upheaval as moving away, but is rarely as well supported. Additionally, Enser says that allowing people to uproot on the false belief that a promotion will follow when they return home almost always ends badly.
HOMECOMING CHALLENGES Not surprisingly, perhaps, the BGRS survey found that repatriated staff were 14 per cent more likely to leave their company within two years of returning, compared to other employees. Cultural Awareness International, a Dallas-based global
mobility company, says that reverse culture shock is one of the major challenges an expatriate and his/her family face. It explains, “Culture shock is precipitated by the anxiety that results from losing all of our familiar signs and symbols of social intercourse.” The firm says that common problems include academic issues (for students), cultural identity conflict, social withdrawal, depression, anxiety, interpersonal difficulties, alienation, disorientation, stress, value confusion, anger, hostility, compulsive fears, helplessness and disenchantment. Writing in the Harvard Business Review, Andy Molinsky,
professor of organisational behaviour at the Brandeis International Business School, US and author of the book Global Dexterity, says that returning home is not only challenging from a personal point of view, but can be damaging professionally because individuals often bring back business values and attitudes that do not translate well in his or her indigenous environment. “Someone from, say China or India, moves to the US and
struggles at first, but eventually learns to act in a more assertive, outwardly self-confident and perhaps even self-promotional style. But they then experience a massive shock upon returning home where these very behaviours aren’t valued – and, in some cases, are even penalised,” he says. “Or you can imagine the reverse: an American goes to China,
learns to act in a face-saving way that is group- and status- conscious, and then returns home only to discover that colleagues mistakenly judge these behaviours and communication styles as unprofessional or incompetent.” Prof Molinsky believes that to overcome such problems, repats
should, first and foremost, anticipate and prepare for the return home in a similar way that they prepared for their overseas assignment. “Second,” he says, “start thinking about how you want to incorporate the new cultural styles you’ve learned and come to appreciate, into your repertoire back home.”
FRIENDS AND FAMILY CONNECTIONS When it comes to children, Nan Sussman, a professor of psychology at the College of Staten Island (part of the City University of New York) who has studied repatriation, says maintaining some sort of connection with the foreign country they have recently left, might be especially important. For many of these ‘third-culture kids’, she says, it is important to remember that the time spent abroad might account for significant and formative portions of their lives and identity.
8 | RELOCATE | SPRING 2019
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