April 2004

Editorial

The empowerment Paradox

Alain Verstandig, Managing Director, Net Expat Some multinational employers have come up with a neat way of simplifying the lives of their expats and at the same time empowering them: they are building the 'Spousal Allowance', and the other little extras that expat families enjoy, into a single 'Family Allowance' that the family is left to manage as it chooses. The immediate advantage has been a lightening of the administrative burden for the companies concerned. Another advantage has been the family's greater feeling of responsibility for the way it handles its budget. But very soon the disadvantages of this policy have become apparent: · Conflicts of interest cause frustrations and tensions in the family (how, for example, do you choose between a new PC or coaching for the partner to help him/her find a career?) · There is a danger of choosing a partner assistance program on the basis of cost and not on the real needs of the partner. You can well imagine that this policy has produced a marked fall in the percentage of expat partners finding a job. The resulting frustrations are such that they are having a negative impact on the whole expatriation experience. The paradox is that, in trying to give their employees more responsibility, multinationals are spending exactly the same amount of money to get a distinctly inferior result. It's not always easy to make things easier…

Corporate Opinion

Total: a successful Expat Management

Mrs. Bernadette Baudier, Contrôle de gestion Marketing France, and Mr. Pierre-Gilles Pinglé, Head of Division Expat, Compensation and Benefits, TOTAL, Paris.  Can you tell us about the present expat population of Total? PGP: On the Refinery and Marketing side, we have around 700 expats of some 50 nationalities working in 90 countries and on five continents. So you can say we are really international! Our expatriates are essentially of three different kinds: commercial people sent abroad on marketing assignments, refinery engineers whose primary responsibility is to provide technical support and, finally, 'staff' functions - the financial people, the controllers and other general management assignments. Expatriation is a way of exposing our executives to a real-life situation and testing their professionalism. We have also developed an international culture by encouraging 'cross-posting': as far as we can, we try to have as many incoming people as expatriates, and this applies to everywhere we operate. And how many female expatriates do you have? BB: There are still only a few women expats in the Refinery section, which has traditionally been a man's preserve. But that's changing, as for example in the support functions where there is a significant and growing percentage of women expats. To give you some idea of the rate of change, 16% of our French executives were women in 2001 and this figure had risen to 20% by 2003. Total believes in enrichment through diversity, both in terms of nationality and gender. These changes are not easy to implement, because our pool of expatriates is a reflection of our executive resources. Our managers only qualify for expatriation when they have proved themselves in two consecutive jobs 'locally'. Moreover a good grasp of Total's internal operating procedures is essential to a successful expatriation. When you're a long way from headquarters, it's often the network you developed before expatriation that can help resolve a difficult situation. That's why it's unrealistic to send new recruits on expatriation right away. PGP: Expatriation is, for us, an excellent way of putting people to the test and, as such, is an integral part of their career development. Not giving women the opportunity of being expatriated would contribute to creating a 'glass ceiling', blocking their progress at Total. Why has Total chosen to offer support services to expatriate partners? PGP: For a long time now, it has been our aim to encourage family expatriations, most of all because our experience has shown that having the family there contributes to the success of an expatriation and helps the expatriate make the best of the experience. We have had a few cases of spectacular failures when expats have gone off on their own. There are only a few situations, such as assignments on drilling platforms, where we don't encourage the whole family to go. And, then, we simply don't like separating those whom God has brought together… So it has been more or less natural for years now for Total to address the issue of accompanying partners. In the first instance we provided general help but now, in recognition of the changes in society of recent years, we offer much more specific support for partners such as the services provided by NET EXPAT. The current profile of expat families is such that the issue of dual careers has now become an important aspect. And we are happy to see that partners like Ms Bayet Bregou have been able to take full advantage of NET EXPAT's services because - as much in terms of expatriation as of repatriation - our expats and their partners are the ones who will ultimately make the experience a success!

Testimonial

Repatriation

Denise Bayet Bregou, Expat Spouse from TOTAL  You are back in France after two consecutive and successful expatriations. How did you feel about coming back to your home country? Denise Bayet Bregou: I left France for Zimbabwe in the best way possible. At the time I very much wanted a change of scene, and the welcome we received in Zimbabwe was marvellous. We thought we would only be gone for two years. Prior to my departure I had been working in France, so I simply took 'absence of leave'. This meant I could be sure of getting my job back on my return, theoretically after two years. But things worked out differently, as so often happens with expatriation. At the end of the two years we were offered another expatriate opportunity in the Cote d'Ivoire. In accepting it, which we did, we knew I would be losing my job back in France because my 'absence of leave' was up. So I had to resign formally. So my vision of a return completely changed during the expatriation process. To be honest with you, I probably wouldn't have left France on our first expatriation so lightheartedly if I had been obliged, from the outset, to take such an irreversible decision on my job. I think that, in general, not enough thought is given to the repatriation process: first of all because of the bearing it also has on the decision to expatriate, secondly because it too poses a series of challenges. I find it very positive that TOTAL, my husband's employer, takes this issue very seriously. And, so, how has your repatriation been? - Curiously, after seven years abroad, my home environment has changed, so this has been another 'expatriate' posting for me. It's strange how expatriation can turn one's notions of 'home' and 'host countries' completely upside down… After one or two setbacks, we managed to organize our French 'departure-return'. The first reaction was one of rejection: we didn't recognize the country we had left seven years previously! It had of course changed, but we had changed too. You never come back after an expatriation to where you started from! We felt different, isolated by the impossibility of talking about our experiences to people who no longer understood us. The support that TOTAL offered us through the services of NET EXPAT was an enormous help: I was able to talk to someone who understood me. With my coach, we worked bit by bit on my professional reintegration, we focused together on my future and reshaped it. The coaching on job interviews seemed cruel at first, but I quickly got back on my feet, regained confidence in my CV and my future… and now I have a new job. How did you feel in your first days back at work? - The first challenges were essentially of an organizational nature. And then I got the rhythm back. My expatriation was an enriching experience: I now feel more mature, I am more philosophical about things, and I can handle crises better. I am also more open with other people, which makes relationships easier. The coaching I received from NET EXPAT helped me put my expatriate experiences behind me: the little book given to me by TOTAL before my departure, allied with the broadcasts by French International Radio and the words of my grandmother, had already prepared me for the fact that the return would not be easy. In fact, thinking about it, I feel that I have made a success of my repatriation. And my professional reintegration has a lot to do with it.

Expert Opinion

Short Term Policies and Practices

Siobhan Cummins, Managing Director, ORC Worldwide, London.  Globalisation continues to have a major impact on business and the need for talented and highly mobile executives willing to undertake international assignments, with more and more companies transferring employees on a short-term basis. Over the past 10 years or so, organisations have increasingly recognised the need for a separate assignment category to cover short-term transfers that differ from extended business trips (i.e., a few weeks to a few months) and long-term expatriate assignments (i.e., three-to-five years). Although the typical length of a short-term assignment is 12 months, it can vary between 3 and 12 months' duration. As companies have become more familiar with short-term assignments, different types have begun to emerge, with the following three most common: · Extended business trips · Commuter assignments · Virtual assignments From the employee's point of view, a short-term assignment is less disruptive since it enables family members to remain at home within the familiar circle of relatives and friends. In addition, short-term transfers allow continuity of both the children's education and the spouse or partner's career or interests. For the employer, short-term assignments often represent a more attractive option because they serve a variety of purposes with the vast majority using them for project work. As companies increasingly value diversity among their assignees, short-term project assignments enable them to bring together employees of different nationalities or encourage more female expatriates who may be reluctant to leave family commitments to undertake a longer-term assignment. A Closer Look at Commuters Over recent years we have seen an increase in the use of commuter assignments with around 21% of companies indicating they have this category of assignee. The two main drivers for commuter assignments are family reluctance to relocate and company initiative prompted by cost savings, proximity to the host location and so on. Whilst commuter assignments solve a number of problems they are not ideal over the long term as the assignee may suffer burn out from the constant travel. The family may get used to the assignee being away during the week and manage without them so there are tensions on his or her return home. There is also the issue of the employee not integrating into the host country situation, working long-hours and arriving late on a Monday and leaving early on a Friday which again can potentially cause irritation amongst colleagues Management of short-term international assignments is clearly a critical challenge for many companies. Keeping track of assignees can be difficult, as individual business units often initiate transfers and may not involve human resources in administration from the very start. Yet, HR involvement is essential to ensure not only consistent treatment of assignees but also proper compliance with local employment and tax regulations. It is clear that short-term assignees are now recognised as an important category of transferees in their own right and that the majority of companies have established policies and practices in place to meet the specific needs of these assignees. With increasing interest in balancing employee issues (regarding work and family) with corporate objectives and financial constraints, a short-term assignment can and does provide a rewarding and cost-effective solution for both the company and the employee. For More details on ORC's Short Term Policies and practices Survey please contact Siobhan.Cummins@ORCworldwide.co.uk  tel ++442075915611.

Relocation

A closer look at European Relocation Associations

Suzanne O'Doherty, Human Resources Manager, Cabot. Brussels and Mary-Anne Hodru, President of ABRA. Brussels. Mrs. Hodru, could you tell us the reasons underlying the creation of the national relocation associations over the last 15 years? MH: The primary impulse was the quest for professionalism: the relocation industry is a young one, 30 years at most. The pioneers had to make do with what they could at the time and, since there was no regulation, quality standards varied a lot. Also the close links between the relocation and real estate industries posed a conflict of interest. So there was a common determination, more or less Europe-wide, to professionalize the relocation industry and to give it a sense of its own worth as well as a code of ethics. SO: This makes me think of my personal experience: relocation companies didn't exist when I came to Brussels from Cork in Ireland 35 years ago. We had to do everything ourselves, improvise solutions, we expats had to help one another to settle in. Fortunately the relocation specialists came along later and started offering professional support with house-hunting. The outsourcing trend soon affected the relocation industry: it's easy to outsource the settling-in side of relocation, which is obviously independent of core business. Today it's difficult to imagine having people in-house for this, even in the largest multinationals. This being said, I think it's important that the company keep an overall hands-on approach to the relocation process. Once the working relationship between a company and its relocation consultant has been established, the HR manager can rely on the consultant: there is less need for negotiation, the rules are more readily accepted and respected, and there is no room left for individual "fixing". The relocation company acts as a buffer and contributes to the HR manager's peace of mind. How are these relocation associations structured? MH: The European mobility market took off in the late-1980s. The first move came with the creation of ARA in the UK in 1986. The French association followed in 1995 and, together in 1998, they established the European relocation association EURA www.eura-relocation.com which now has more than 140 members. ABRA www.abra-relocation.com arrived in Belgium in 2001. The latest arrival is SARA in Switzerland which was established in 2003. In line with the will to create a code of ethics that guarantees professional practices, these relocation associations are today running training and certification programs under the EARP (European Academy of Relocation Professionals) label www.earp.eu.com. So our clients will soon be assured of dealing with qualified professionals who are familiar with all the key aspects of their trade. These training programs have met with a lot of success and are also open to corporate members active in international mobility. SO: The initiative is an excellent one and strengthens the relationship between clients and service companies. It's so important for an HR manager to be able to trust his suppliers! What are the key qualities a relocation consultancy must have for you as a client? SO: The first quality is empathy, the ability to put oneself in the position of the family one is responsible for, and particularly the partner who plays a key role in making an expatriation a success. The actual expat quickly settles into office life, as the employer and the professional environment hardly change at all. But, for the partner, things are completely different and the disorientation is complete. This is why I always give my business card to the partner so that he or she has a point of contact. The next thing I expect from a relocation consultancy is regular feedback, even when things turn out worse than expected. Flexibility and a proper appreciation of the realities of the client company - understanding the different expat categories, policy details, and so on - are also important. And finally, of course, integrity is a must. I think the strategy set by ABRA, EURA and the other relocation associations will rapidly produce results.