Inside the Expat Insider 2019

With insights gleaned from over 20,000 expats around the world, the goal of Expat Insider 2019 is to assist global mobility and HR professionals to better understand and manage the needs of foreign assignees, international hires and relocating spouses.

Your question might be, "So, is there anything new in this big old report?" and our answer would be yes and no. Because it reports out on how expats are experiencing life abroad, many of those experiences are shared across many people and locations that some of the insights you might have never heard before. There are a few key tidbits that are worth considering. Let's toss around a few of those:

• About one in five foreign assignees and one in four international hires are considering an early return. That should be enough to capture your attention and cause contemplation. Even if for the current moment you are not seeing it as a huge issue for your global mobility program, obviously expats are out there and considering repatriating and either have not shared that tidbit with you or just have not gotten there yet. Some of the big challenges that are suggested being root causes are the challenges of making friends and navigating the social environment, an inability to settle into local culture and a lack of career options for spouses. 
• While career development is a core motivation for taking the assignment or transfer for an expatriate, loneliness is a top reason for returning. The lack of socializing opportunities and not having a personal support network are two of the biggest contributors to experiencing loneliness. Interestingly, despite the job being the biggest reason for taking the assignment, 34% end up unhappy with the job.
• If permanent transfers are a cheaper (and more popular) methodology for moving talent into a location, then this data says that companies really should be reconsidering what they are providing as support when moving across borders. In this survey, 67% of transferring employees (local hires) did not receive any specific relocation services. Greater employer support during the relocation and transition phase was emphasized as something to consider combatting what employees are experiencing.

Obviously, talking directly with expats (qualitative data) is a great way to show empathy and gain insights. A few questions to consider:

• Are you doing that within your mobility program? 
• Do you currently understand the journey that your mobile employees are on? 
• How are they experiencing their move or assignment and is there anything that you should be considering to improve that experience?  
• How is their experience informing your internal discussions with hiring managers and recruiters? 

Start with reading the 2019 Expat Insider report and then connect with your RMC and mobility team to dig in and identify where your program can better support the company's investment in mobile talent.