Repatriate or Stay Abroad?
An article in the New York Times shows how the financial services industry has seen a significant decline in their expatriate workforce. Finance positions worldwide are no longer sustainable. Consider loosing your job, but then add the fact that you live and work in a foreign country (and oftentimes for a company that is not headquartered in that country). “…Career counselors are generally telling them not to move, and to use their networks to look for jobs locally instead of sending résumés halfway around the world.” Would you return home or would you use your establishment in the host country to find employment?
Another article in the Times compliments this post by demonstrating the challenges of returning home from an international assignment. In fact, repatriation is oftentimes harder than expatriation because organizations provide few services to acclimate and adjust upon return. “Home” as it was known pre-departure is never the same after life abroad. Children and teenagers have to adapt to new schools with new classmates. Reverse culture shock is both a learning experience and an obstacle to adjustment, as you see your native culture through the lens of the culture you were immersed in before. Corporations aren’t convinced repatriation is a problem, so no investment is made in the individual’s or family’s transition. A recent survey by KPMG , “Global Assignment Policies and Practices,” reports that only 4% of HR manage their staff’s repatriation. Perhaps opting to stay in the host country beyond an assignment’s length or in the case of a lay-off, as noted in the first part of this post, is worth considering.
