THINK GLOBAL PEOPLE GLOBAL MOBILITY
shown that Covid-19 fueled family- oriented decisions, as personal and professional spheres were merged in the domestic space, challenging a long-pursued but fragile balance. Assignments are disruptive,
requiring people to leave their comfort zones and adjust to new cultures. In exchange, companies will try to minimize the shock by providing fi nancial compensation in the form of enablers (visa, relocation services, schooling costs), equalizers (housing and cost of living allowance, taxes) and fi nancial incentives (foreign service premium). Monetary rewards can be useful to attract candidates, but research shows it won’t have the same impact in securing their permanence abroad as social ties, career prospects and perceived support prevails.
EXPATRIATE CAREER RISKS When you move abroad, you lose sight of the political, relational, and institutional changes that are happening back home. Depending on the nature of your contract, it’s a gamble. It can help you climb the career ladder or not, as your foreign achievements may not be considered when you come back. There is no guarantee. In turn, the pandemic has
raised the question whether the costs of global assignments are justifi ed. With the development of technological skills, especially those associated with virtual teams and spaces, is expatriate work still necessary? Hiring locally is much more compliant and cost eff ective. Could expertise be taught through virtual means, anticipating skill shortages in key countries? Could we foster cross cultural abilities through domestic-based experiences if the place is diverse enough? Enterprises have a tough choice
to make. They can either embrace the going local mindset, seizing the sudden technological upskill to virtually train domestic employees to achieve business objectives from a distance, lowering the need for staff mobility. Or they can try to better understand the profi le and expectations of people being sent abroad, allowing a bigger variety of compensations mechanisms, and strengthening the bond between reward and talent management.
RESEARCH FINDINGS AND THE FUTURE The GLOMO research has shown that a compromise can be found in the middle. Depending on organization business models, the
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
acquisition of international
knowledge can foster important networks, diffi cult to be replicated digitally. Diff erent motivations and personal interest should be assessed meticulously, as they can allow diff erent contractual agreements to be proposed, cutting costs in a win- win scenario. Assignments need to be fully aligned with business needs. Expatriates are often resilient in dealing with distracting emotions while keeping the will to learn, grow and demonstrate competence. This unique skill set should be supported by the right leadership. For global work to become
attractive again, it will be necessary to focus on enabling all stakeholders to deal successfully with uncertainty. Achievements abroad should be transferred and recognized at the repatriation stage or before the next departure, fostering psychological support for the development of a global mindset and career. Context matters when we deal with mobile work. In a world that changed drastically in a matter of months, policy fl exibility is key.
GIOVANNA SILVEIRA MILANI is a journalist, fellow of the Marie Skłodowska- Curie Innovative Training Network and researcher of the EU Horizon 2020 GLOMO programme. She is a specialist in Global Mobility and is currently working towards an Industrial PhD on the topic of Expatriate Compensation and Benefits at UT1/Toulouse Business School in France.
GLOMO (
www.glomo.eu), is a pioneer project that has received funding from the European Union’s H2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 765355. Researchers from a variety of countries have generated knowledge about the success factors, effects, and implications of the mobility phenomenon. To read more articles generated from the research see relocateglobal. com/international- assignments
MICHAEL DICKMANN is Professor of International Human Resource Management (HRM) at Cranfield University and the Director of the Cranfield Masters in Management. His research focuses on human resource strategies, structures and processes of multinational organisations, cross-cultural management, international mobility and global careers. Michael has published in a broad range of academic journals and he is the lead author of several books on international HRM and global careers. Since 2017 he is the Senior Editor- in-Chief of The International Journal of Human Resource Management.
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