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The Challenges of Relocating Abroad
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20424 |
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Section : |
LIFE
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| Issue
Date : |
3 / 1992 |
2,193 Words |
| Author
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Karen Fawcett
Karen Fawcett is a Paris-based writer. |
To some, moving abroad might sound easy; to others, glamorous or may be exotic. For many people, however moving especially to a foreign country presents such potential trauma that they would rather stay put. But in industries lucky enough to share in today's international business boom, mobility is essential. This is especially true for senior managers, who risk an end to career advancement if they turn down overseas assignments.
When pondering a major move, there are many factors to be considered. How will it impact the psychological well being of the family? The children's schooling? A spouse's career? A relative who might need help? Family finances? Habits and even hobbies?
Until recently, few companies were responsive to the human problems involved in relocation. Even in companies where Personnel had been trendily renamed the Human Resources Department, employees and their families seldom found the information and support needed for a successful move
As a result, too many executives have not made adequate. Adjustments to their new environments. Major changes like moving a new city, let alone a new country, cause stress that heightens family problems. It has been documented that 70 percent of those who return home prematurely do so because of adjustment or family problems; only 30 percent return due to job-related difficulties.
From a company's viewpoint, not only is it expensive to move people back from overseas, but there are other costs as well: Loss of productivity when people are unhappy, disruption in the work unite when a key manager leaves prematurely, lower morale among these remaining, and of course, the need to replace the departing employee.
Especially in this slow and competitive economy, companies realize that avoidable mistakes involving keep personnel can be very expensive. As a result multinational companies are beginning to allocate more time and money to studying how to improve the relocation of employees overseas. Increasingly, we find conferences on the subject, relocation consultants, and companies offering to take care of the entire process.
Still, as in so many things in life, the more we put into them, the more we can get out of them. It is critical to learn as much as possible about a new country, and, most importantly, its language before packing suitcases and crates. "There's nothing worse than feeling like a
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