Expatriates in International Assignments

Expatriates are sent to international assignments for various reasons, particularly to initiate, expand and control international operations of the firm.

Expatriate employees pertain to employees that are non-citizens of the country in which they are working. As more US companies expand business abroad, the need to send employees for international assignments also grows. This is the reason why knowing the advantages and disadvantages of international assignments or what works and does not work becomes increasingly important.

The function and application of expatriate workers in international assignments was originally intended as a way to initiate, expand and control international operations. Currently, the purpose of international expatriate assignments has evolved along with the changing globalization trends.

Expatriate international assignments require that cost effectiveness and appropriateness issues be considered. Since globalization is now the current trend, it is important to be able to manage these international workers strategically and effectively.

International Working Trends

Increasing globalization of business requires the need for more expatriates but employer costs and family considerations impede the mobility of the employees. The Centre for Research into the Management of Expatriation (CReME) conducted survey among European multinationals and European subsidiaries of US multinationals to determine the different international working formats used by organizations.

The study reveals that organizations have an increasing amount of expatriation in all four types of international assignments.

Types of Expatriate Assignments

1. Long-term expatriate assignments. Expatriate assignment is referred to as a long-term assignment where the employee and his/her spouse/family move to the host country for a specified period of time, over one year.

2. Short-term expatriate assignment is an assignment with a specified duration, usually less than one year. Family may accompany employee.

3. International commuter is an employee who commutes from the home country to a place of work in another country, usually on a weekly or bi-weekly basis, while the family remains at home.

4. Frequent flyer is an employee who undertakes frequent international business trips but does not relocate.

Strategic Reasons of International Assignment

Professional Development;
Knowledge Transfer;
Fulfillment of Scarce Skills;
Control;
Co-ordination.
The choice of the different forms of international workers adopt is determined by the nature of the value drivers to be addressed by the international assignment. Potentially any profile of international worker can be used for developing a value driver, however its level of effectiveness and efficiency is related to the diverse categories of value drivers to be addressed. This is due to the feature properties of the different forms of international workers and in particular to the time that the assignee spends in the host country and subsidiary.
Expatriation is seen to provide extensive learning and adaptation processes as a way for people to find themselves in strange circumstances in order to be able to learn and to adapt. Thus a key objective mainly of expatriate placements is for professional development. It is also used for knowledge transfer and in particular for long-term knowledge transfer, i.e. when it is necessary to transfer culture, values, and particular technical experiences in specific competence areas.

The expatriate can be used as a control mean. This is true in particular when the control has to be performed in the form of supervision and socialization, and requires a long term relationship of the assignee with the local organization and a cultural integration. In some multinationals the expatriate is used to fill skill gaps. However this practice is recognized to be extremely expensive and not convenient.