making the connection- the real roi of the mobility investment panel:gail reinhart, themigroup...

Making the Connection-The Real ROI of the Mobility Investment

Panel: Gail Reinhart, TheMIGroupYvonne McNulty, Expat Research

Small $$...Big Payoff!!

• Destination Services

• Intercultural Training

• Language Training

• Spousal Assistance

=

Getting the ROI from Support Services

• Significant time savings for assignee and family

• Shorter and less stressful adjustment period

• Successful transition to the assignment location

• Successful assignment !

Why Bother?

• Success of the assignment

• Happy family = engaged employee

• ROI

OR

ROI and Family Support

Reasons for assignment refusal 1. Family concerns – 34%Critical family challenges 1. Spouse resistance – 47% 2. Family adjustment – 32% 3. Children’s education – 29%

Reasons for premature return 1. Family concerns – 34%Causes of assignment failure 1. Spouse dissatisfaction – 18%

Source: Cartus, 2014; Brookfield, 2014

What Support Services Should You Invest In?

• City Orientation

• Home Finding

• School Search

• Government Compliance

In Addition…

• Intercultural Training

• Language Training

• Spousal Assistance

Intercultural Training

• Understand culture and culture shock

• Culture-specific orientation

• Communication strategies

• Important to include spouse AND children

• Reduces the potential for assignment failure/personal and family issues

Hall of IntegrationTemple of Confucius, QufuShandong Province, China

Culture Shock

• Psychological process of adjusting to a living environment that is unfamiliar

• Three stages of adjustment:• Honeymoon Phase• Negotiation Phase• Adjustment Phase

• Significant expense for corporation if new employee returns to home country

Language Training

• Alleviates anxiety and fear in communicating in new culture

• Allows assignee to understand and communicate with staff in assignment location

• Required in some parts of the world, e.g., South America, China

• Critical for spouse

ROI and Family Support

[popular solution]

throw money at the problem

[money cannot solve]

professional status (dual-career)

marital stress

identity

[unpopular solution]

enable spouse to help themselves by providing:

destination services

tailored support

tools and resources

Dual-Career Issue

• 84% of trailing spouses have a tertiary qualification or a college education

• 79% had a career prior to relocating• only 36% able to continue their career once relocated

due to work permit, language, and licensing restrictions

• of those that do, many change careers or settle for a “job” that is less prestigious than what they had

Source: McNulty, 2012

Spousal Support

• Home-based support network removed

• Forced to set up a household while dealing with culture shock and potential language barriers

• Many spouses give up career

• Provide more than just ‘career’ assistance which is typically job search, etc.

Source: McNulty, 2012

“I do not live for my husband, nor do I live for his work and the company just couldn’t understand that. He did not marry a housewife and I will never be one”

Marital Stress

Source: McNulty, 2012

• married (97%) for at least 4 years (72%) with children (57%)

• 99% rate ‘strong and stable marriage’ as most important perceived adjustment factor, then ‘lack of stress in the marriage’ (94%)

• ahead of ‘ability to earn an income’ (52%) and ‘business travel’ (43%)

Source: McNulty, 2012

“the breaking up of marriages is dealt with like an embarrassing individual failure … the more than 50% separations and divorces is simply ignored”

And it costs how much?

• Destination Services = $1,000 - $5,000

• Intercultural Training = $3,000 - $10,000

• Language Training = $3,000 - $15,000

• Spousal Support = $5,000 - $10,000

[ resources ]

[dual-career]• reimburse costs

associated with career coaching

• maintain remote connection to career – pay for subscriptions, memberships

• education support

[marital stress]• EAP programs• counseling• selection interviews

with couples

A moveable marriage: Relocating your relationship without breaking itBy Robin Pascoe

Expatriate Press Limited (North Vancouver, BC, 2003)

A portable identity: A woman's guide to maintaining a sense of self while moving overseasBy Debra Bryson and Charise Hoge

Transition Press International (Glen Echo, MD, 2005)

aportableidentity.com

[identity]

Journal of Global Mobility:The home of expatriate management research

[JGM] is the premier publishing outlet for authors and readers interested in topics and issues associated with expatriate management and global mobility.JGM caters to a community of scholars and practitioners interested in theoretical and empirical perspectives of physical global mobility as well as antecedents, correlates and consequences of activities and phenomena associated with global mobility.

Expat Women: Confessions – 50 Answers to Your Real-Life Questions About Living AbroadBy Andrea Martins & Victoria Hepworth

Expat Women Enterprises Pty Ltd (Buderim, Australia, 2011)

www.expatwomen.com

A Broad Abroad: The Expat Wife's Guide to Successful Living AbroadBy Robin Pascoe

Expatriate Press Limited (2009)

www.expatexpert.com

Expat Teens Talk: Peers, parents and professionals offer support, advice and solutions in response to expat life challenges as shared by expat teensby Diana Smit and Lisa PittmanSummertime (January 20, 2012)

www.expatbookshop.com byexpatteens.forexpatteens@yahoo.com.sg

www.expatteens.orgwww.expatteenstalk.blogspot.com twitter.com/expatteenstalk  pittman_smit@yahoo.com.

Emotional Resilience and the Expat ChildBy Julia Simens

Summertime (May 10, 2011) Tel: 775-832-9563

julia.simens@gmail.com

www.jsimens.com

Raising Global Nomads: Parenting Abroad in an On-Demand Worldby Robin Pascoe

Publisher: Expatriate Press

http://www.expatexpert.com/bookstore

Belonging Everywhere and Nowhere: Insights into Counseling the Globally Mobileby Lois BushongMango Tree Intercultural Services (October, 2013)

ljbushong@gmail.com

Part I: Expatriation and ROIIntroductionChap 1: Basics of ExpatriationChap 2: Expatriation and ROI

Part II: Understanding ExpatriatesChap 3: Expatriate Compensation

Chap 4: Expatriate Families Chap 5: Global CareersChap 6: Expatriate Psychological Contracts

Part III: Managing Expatriation Using ROIChap 7: A New Model of Expatriate ROIChap 8: Evaluating Expatriate ROIChap 9: Five Core Principles for Effective ROI

Appendices / Notes / References / Glossary / Index

http://expatROI.com

http://expatresearch.com

ymcnulty@expatresearch.com