EuropeanPWN THINK TANK GROUP:

The Rapidly Changing Face of International Mobility

The phenomenon of International Mobility is changing radically or has changed radically especially over the last 10 years. As the world becomes more dynamic and complex, so too do issues surrounding International Mobility. Surveys previously conducted by ORC WORLDWIDE and others have shown these key trends:

• The number of female expatriates is increasing. Even though 83.5 percent continue to be men, the percentage of women assigned to work overseas rose to 16.5 percent (an increase of 2.5 percentage points from an ORC survey conducted in 2002). This trend is more dramatic when examined over the past 10 years, when previously only 5 percent of international assignments went to women.

• Spousal and dual career issues are the most common reasons for assignment turndown. A 2008 survey found that nearly 40 percent of respondents believed dual-career issues in international job assignments are more important than two years ago.

• More and more companies are including a formalized spousal assistance program in their expatriate policy. Although more host countries are allowing spouses to work, the issue is still a concern as spouses face losing a job twice—on expatriation and repatriation.

• Governments seeking foreign investment are now liberalizing their rules on spousal work permits due to the increase of dual career families.

• Finally, singles are more and more concerned by expatriation. Some companies, indeed, favour their new hires moving abroad.

As many of our members have experienced or are experiencing an international assignment, we, at EuropeanPWN, have developed our own survey to precisely look at this situation of increasing diversity.

For diversity is now become the key word to describe today’s mobility: in terms of the kind of people experiencing it, their reasons for choosing it, their expectations and their success rate.

Diversity also extends to companies. Even small and medium businesses are sending employees abroad. Once thought of as the genuine way for worldwide corporations to export their “know how” and corporate rules through their assignees is no longer the only face of mobility. Nowadays, mobility is becoming a powerful tool for companies to promote their “Top Talents”, open their minds to market globalization and intercultural exchanges, test their adaptation and networking skills in order to prepare them for becoming tomorrow ‘s Top Executives.

Such diversity creates opportunities for employees and companies alike, but it also creates new challenges for them as well. These are associated with managing increasing complexity, managing higher expectations on all sides (both personal and professional) and ensuring that the opportunities that are created are long lasting and are retained within the company.

From the expatriates’ side, major expectations mainly deal with enriching the professional and personal lives of the individuals involved, their spouses and other family members, along with managing, together with their companies, their repatriations.

Kathleen van der Wilk-Carlton, secretary of the Permits Foundation, says restrictions on spousal work permits are a legacy from a very different past. “Most of these laws were developed at a time when spouses and partners were generally female and they didn’t work,” she says. “Today is very different and legislation hasn’t caught up with the new reality.”

There are still many challenges at stake for HR managers to think of in order to understand the changing face of mobility. These new mobility trends, with a special focus on dual career impacts, are being decrypted within our EuropeanPWN Think Tank Group.

Ann Bouisset, Wendy Kendall, Emmanuelle Muller-Schrapp, Maureen Rabotin, Dina Zavrski-Makaric

1 presentation given at the SHRM (Society for Human Resource Management) in April 2008 in Boston; ORC website: www.orcworldwide.com

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