Overseas assignments – how to ensure you send the right people

Sending employees on overseas assignments involves a lot of up-front costs. Therefore, it is vital that the employees settle into their new country and environment, and make a success of expat life. 

Companies with long experience in this area have come to realise that some individuals are far more likely to adapt well to working abroad, while others can be virtually predicted to fail. These companies task their HR functions with selecting those employees who will readily cope with the expat life. So what does the HR department look for?

What personal traits should an ex-pat have?

Many of the traits that make people successful employees at home, predict success when they are working abroad. That is to say; stable people who welcome diversity, aren’t afraid of change and are flexible and resilient. 

Mentoring has been proven to have a positive effect on employees working abroad for the first time, too, since a personal contact person can help solve problems before they become overwhelming. Language lessons also make a key difference in adjusting well. 

Problems in persuading employees to go

One of the problems that business leaders often have to wrestle with, is that the people they want to send, don’t want to go. New recruits, a year or two out of university are often very keen to travel abroad on assignment and will rapidly acclimatise to a new country and culture. Unfortunately, they’re not necessarily the ones with the experience that is required in the job. For that, companies often want to send proven technical experts. But these people are likely to be older, and frequently don’t want to travel because they have families. This conundrum is one that is frequently solved by HR negotiating shorter assignments, or generous return trip packages.