Five small things that make or break global assignment success

There are plenty of good reasons for an employee to desire an expat assignment. Check out my recent post "Want to make more money? Take an expat assignment!" for more on expat assignments. Expats almost always come out better off on the compensation and career side of things than they would have had they stayed in their home country and not taken the assignment.

But this article from Aperian Global’s Jesse Rowell and Tessah Clark shares their insights and opinions on how employers can better support global employees and provide top tips to help ensure foreign assignment success. Their five areas of focus and enhancement are (and increasing salaries is not one of them):

1. Family support: In the past, many surveys have revealed this to be the biggest element within a failed assignment. Providing destination support in the host location could be things like language training, area overviews, dependent schooling support or settling-in services.
2. Assignment selection: This is still a program element that while it adds a little upfront cost, might quadruple assignment ROI. Most companies do not have a candidate pool, nor utilize any unbiased assessment tools to evaluate or support the expat selection. Companies that follow such a process will field and deploy many better-prepared employees for assignment, leading to higher success rates.
3. Cultural understanding: Coaching or training on specific destination business and living culture can prepare expats and families for many of the challenges that emerge early in the assignment process. Less than half of companies have it in policy and even fewer keep it in the final offer (LOU) or assignment letter. There are many options now that are both educationally effective and cost effective. 
4. Decreasing stressors: Stressors come in all forms, shapes and sizes. Lack of clear goals can add stress and nearly 20% of companies do not have a process for setting goals for the assignment. There is usually a manager in the home country and one in the host country. Unclear and confusing management of the expat can also add stress. Clear expectations and communications can go a long way in reducing assignment related stress.
5. Adjustment within social context: Technology advancements have not seemed to reduce assignment failure rates. With so many more options for staying in touch with friends and family, we might have thought expats would have a better experience, but they still find challenges with integrating and adjusting the a new life and culture. Getting socially integrated can take some time and employees can be provided with strategies to help them more easily integrate locally.

Some level of support in any or all of these categories is sure to improve assignment success rates for the company.