Short-term assignments - an expatriate perspective
This article was first published by ECA International www.eca-international.com January 2007

The rise in popularity of the short-term international assignment is well-documented, but is it always as popular with expatriates? Marian Weston, herself an expatriate partner, conducted some research.

For both employer and employee short-term assignments fulfil many of the criteria demanded by our 21st century culture: flexibility, variety, immediacy, minimal family/domestic disruption. Research shows that use of short-term assignments has risen considerably during the last five years. But what are the real impacts on the family and what can companies do to ensure that the assignee and their family are sufficiently supported to ensure a successful assignment?

Employees undertaking short-term assignments are rarely accompanied by their partner and/or family, who often opt to stay at home because of the shorter nature of the assignment (ECA's mobility surveys show that approximately 15% of short-term assignees are accompanied by dependants). While this has a number of perceived benefits, from my personal experience, and from speaking with a number of assignees and families in the same situation, the stay-at-home partner/family may not always receive the support they need from the company.

Challenges involved with short-term assignments

Whilst short-term assignments tick many boxes from the corporate perspective, there are a number of challenges faced by the assignee and their family. These differ slightly from more traditional assignments because they are focused more on separation issues than the relocation challenges usually encountered when adapting to a new location, as is more often the case with traditional long-term assignments.

Challenges cited by assignees

In interviews conducted with 45 assignees, a number of challenges which they face whilst on short-term assignments cropped up again and again. The three challenges most cited by assignees are:

1) Strains on personal and family relationships

2) Inadequate/lack of pre-assignment preparation

3) Lack of company support and knowledge about the local situation/project

Some of the other comments about challenges from assignees include:

•  "Short-term assignments tend to be more project-orientated, with a more concentrated workload and less flexibility for the assignee"

•  "HR tend to have no personal experience of short-term assignment working"

•  "No supporting policies for the family"

•  "Uncertainty of continuity of contract and career"

•  "Re-adjusting to family life on return"

•  "Major family milestones missed"

•  Challenges cited by stay-at-home partners

While the challenges faced by the family sometimes overlap with the assignee's experiences, it is important to individually categorise the respective challenges to provide the company with a more holistic understanding. Speaking with 62 stay-at-home partners enabled me to identify the most significant issues they face, including:

•  Assignee is often away for lengthy periods of time

•  Short-term assignments are often extended

•  Financial uncertainty

•  Shift in family dynamics: constant and total responsibility for the stay-at-home partner

•  No communication with the assignee's company

•  No specific corporate supporting policies

•  Strains on personal/family relationships - risk of marital breakdown

•  Re-adjustment to assignee's travel and return

•  Communication with the assignee

•  Considerations for HR

The challenges outlined above can be compounded if corporate preparation and support is inadequate. The lesson learned from years of research on expatriation is that if the family is unhappy, the assignment is at risk. This is no less true for short-term assignments. To minimise the chance of assignment failure there are a number of considerations for HR to remember, some of which are outlined below:

•  This work is often lonely and isolating for the assignee and family. Are there any policies to support these issues?

•  Regular communication between the assignee and family is especially important. Have the communications available locally for the assignee been researched?

•  Does the assignee/family have a known contact within the company in case of emergency?

•  Can the assignee be offered continuity of employment whilst doing short-term work?

•  How many trips home is the assignee entitled to? Is the company flexible? Can the assignee receive money in lieu of airfares etc.?

•  Do company incentives differ for short-term and long-term assignees?

•  Is there someone within the HR department who has personal experience of short-term assignment working who could empathise with the assignee?

•  Is the company being kept updated by regular communications with the assignee and the family?

The HR challenge

From my experience and research, corporates, in seeking instant cost-effective solutions, are adopting a 'sticking plaster technique' rather than investing, developing and implementing policies specific to short-term assignments, a trend that needs to change to sustain this popular and rapidly increasing employment trend. By better understanding and acknowledging the various challenges faced by the assignee and their family, corporates will have a stronger foundation to develop improved policies. The key question, therefore, is, 'How can HR be more pro-active, recognising the impact of this lifestyle on the family and assignee, and offering comprehensive and practical advice?'

Discussion of new corporate policies within HR is often unfairly equated with high expenditure, and from speaking with 25 multinational companies, it is clear that this can result in many policies not getting past the drawing board stage. Whilst financial budgets and restrictions are always a major consideration for corporates and HR, illustrated below are some practical and cost-effective solutions which have been suggested by assignees, stay-at-home spouses and corporates:

•  Develop guidelines for use at the interview stage to ascertain the assignee and family suitability for short-term working. Does the family have a good support network in the assignee's absence? How experienced are the assignee/family in this type of work?

•  Have a basic understanding of the specific contract, country location and specific challenges of the assignment to fully prepare the assignee whilst considering the assignment.

•  Develop and diarise regular communication with the assignee for the duration of the contract.

•  Initiate communication with the assignee's family and provide the stay-at-home partner with a company contact in case of emergency in the assignee's absence.

•  Organise a pre-assignment briefing for the assignee and partner. The briefing could be either prepared in-house or outsourced to a consultant.

•  Provide phone/internet allowance for ease of communication.

•  Be flexible and build into the assignee's overall employment package a travel allowance for the partner/family to visit.

•  Provide basic tax advice tailored specifically to the short-term assignment scenario. Again, this could be either prepared in-house or outsourced to a consultant.

•  Offer marital/career counselling.

•  Establish and update useful resources for the stay-at-home family.

•  Offer the stay-at-home partner an annual subscription to a magazine, such as Global Connections, which specifically offers support to the assignee's partner.

•  Establish a newsletter/information network specifically for stay-at-home partners. To encourage contribution and participation by stay-at-home partners offer use of office space and equipment to develop the newsletter idea.

•  Network and share effective policies with other corporates.

•  Attend conferences/workshops to update corporate policies with current thinking and new practices within the HR industry.

It is clear that the benefits of providing effective support to short-term assignees and their families are dual. If HR is alert and prepared to maintain a pro-active stance by establishing and developing practical effective policies which support assignees and their families, they will be happier and better positioned to make a success of the assignment. As a result, the reward to the corporates will be continued growth, productivity and sustainability, rather than dissatisfaction, crisis management and burnout.