What factors would you consider before accepting an expatriate assignment?

Choosing the right person for overseas assignments is more than just matching the business skills necessary for success. Consideration of the following factors should influence the choice of the person representing your company. Obviously, for shorter assignments (a few weeks or less) these issues will vary in importance. For longer assignments, these are crucial and choosing the right person will impact the success of the endeavor.

1.     How long is the assignment? Is this going to be a short term assignment (a few days or weeks) or a longer term assignment (longer than a month- years)?

2.    What country is the employee going to?  The intensity of the overseas experience is in direct relation to how the climate, culture, and language differ from one’s own. The greater the degree of difference, the more intense, and therefore stressful, the experience. An American going to Britain will not have as intense an experience as an American being sent to Asia, Africa or the Middle East. 

3.    What international skills and experience does the employee have? Has this person ever traveled internationally before? Does he/she speak the language of the place they are being sent to? Is he/she familiar with the culture of the new place? Does he/she have a high degree of self-awareness? Does this person want to go, or is he/she a reluctant expatriate?

4.    What is their personality/psychological make-up like? Adapting to life in a foreign environment requires flexibility and a high tolerance for ambiguity on the part of the sojourner, because there are so many things that are difficult to understand or simply don’t make sense within one’s own logic. Choosing someone who is flexible, open, and can deal with differences easily will increase the chances of successful adaptation. “Culture shock” is a very real phenomenon, and the degree to which this is experienced depends on the person, the country involved, and the training and support they are given. Some people, no matter how well they perform their job, are unsuitable candidates for an overseas assignment because their personalities and make-up do not lend themselves to such a major transition. Some folks are exhilarated by these kinds of assignments, and some are not, and companies lose money when they can’t tell the difference!

5.    How is their overall health? The adaptation to an overseas assignment can be extremely stressful, especially if the culture and climate are very different from one’s own. Does this person have a chronic condition that requires medication or monitoring? If so, a lengthy overseas assignment can be especially stressful. In addition, unfamiliar viruses and bacteria can stress the immune system, which also requires time to adapt. It is not unusual for expatriates and their families to get sick more often when they go overseas. The employee should consider this when deciding to accept an overseas assignment.

6.    Is the family going, too? Having one’s family along on an international assignment provides a support to the employee, but also requires training and on-going support for all family members. All of the criteria about health, emotional make-up, flexibility and willingness that apply to the employee apply to the family members as well. An employee can’t function well in a foreign environment if their family members are miserable, a fact that many companies have come to appreciate after an employee cuts short an assignment prematurely because of family stress. 

7.    Will they be reporting to someone at the home office, and does that person have overseas experience? How sensitive will their boss be regarding the challenges involved with an international assignment? Is the superior familiar with the country/environment/challenges that will be faced?

8.    Will they be managing people in the foreign country? If the employee is expected to not only function well in an international setting, but also manage others who are culturally different from him/her, all of the above issues become even more critical. Having an international coach/consultant on your team to help choose and prepare the right individual will greatly improve your success rate!

9.    What pre-departure training will be given? Pre-departure training for cross-cultural adaptation in general, communication, and information about the country the employee (and family) is being sent to is crucial. Depending upon the role they will fill, language training is recommended, especially in cases where they will be managing people who speak a different language than they do.

10.   What on-going support will be provided?  Having a coach that specializes in international business/expatriate living available for regular discussion with the employee and members of their family, via telephone, is an investment that will pay off for the company. The transferred employee will have higher morale, lowered stress, and will be able to talk frankly with someone with international business experience, helping to improve their performance while on assignment.

Attention to these details and appropriate training and support will directly impact employee morale, and make the difference between a successful overseas assignment and an unsuccessful one.

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