Overcoming the Top Expatriate Concerns and Mitigating Risk of Expat Failure

A great number of companies are establishing subsidiaries, offices and operating bases outside their countries. Managing these offices require multinationals to send their executives or managers to these foreign locations, where they work as expatriates. As the wave of globalization hits across the world, there has been an increment in the number of expatriates, which is partly owing to host country’s inability to provide local hirable managerial or technical talent.

Middle East is a glaring example of the same, and more particularly United Arab Emirates, where native Emiratis are outnumbered in their own country by the ratio of 11 to 1 owing to the influx of immigrant workers. However, those who think being an expatriate is nothing but fun are mistaken. Adjusting to different cultural backgrounds takes some time, and so does getting used to the absence of your near and dear ones and familiar faces, which is why we often witness expatriate failure-a premature return from an international assignment-in multinationals. If you are a would-be expatriate, or are looking for work opportunities and assignments outside your country here are some things to keep in mind.

This Reclaiming your social identity

A major number of expatriate failures occur owing to the sudden loss of social support. Man has always been ‘a social animal’ and will continue to remain so. By moving to a foreign country expatriates are exposed to challenges that come with being at an unknown location, amongst unknown people and culture, and facing them without any sort of social support affects a majority of expat population.

To tackle this social identity crisis, expatriates should conduct due diligence to determine the likes of expat clubs, social clubs, fun activities in their new country that they can become part of. In GCC nations like Qatar and UAE, where already a sizeable chunk of population is expats, it’s easier to find such clubs and settle down.

Finding like-minded individuals isn’t tough when you know that 91% of the total population is on the same page as you. (Emiratis make up for only 9% population in UAE).

Even if you do not get the time to research in advance there is always an option to ask your new colleague at work or neighbors for information on such things. Expats should proactively explore their neighborhood, and city, frequenting cafes to make new friends, which is not easy, but not impossible either.

Missing family members and close friends

Family members and close friends make up for your majority of social support and therefore, this is actually an extension of the above-made point. In order to deal with this issue, you could plan to relocate with your entire family, or try and connect with your family members as frequently as possible, as and when you get the time. If travelling back to your nation isn't feasible monthly you and your family members could travel to an equidistant location for a reunion. All this requires meticulous budget and time planning but the results could be highly beneficial for your career.

Career Issues

With the rapidly changing economic dynamics and private sector being notorious for showing little concern for loyalty to its employees in a seemingly bad economic state, staying in the job and advancing your career is a constant challenge. However, for employees who are working at foreign locations these concerns are likely to be higher. Expats are on their own in a foreign country, with little sympathy from the local government or people, with no social cushion to fall back on and therefore can find it tough to find new career opportunities and advance their career.

To mitigate the career risk associated with moving to a foreign nation, one must conduct certain amount of research for predetermining the different employers and available job opportunities in their industry. For instance, GCC nations are mostly known for their flourishing Oil and Petroleum industry and one would find most expats working in the same. Your research should include the different companies involved in this industry, and also the basic economic health of your new nation which would prove an indicator of how the employment market would behave in the near-term.

A couple of major job sites such as Naukrigulf.com will provide you ample resource on job opportunities in these countries. Professional social networking for connecting with employers of your industry could be one of great uses of technology here.

Communication Concerns

An English speaking American expat would obviously find it difficult to speak to a Chinese executive who is not as well versed with English language. Candidates who are moving to a country which has different cultural ethos as well as language should be cautious enough to get well versed with the native language of that country. Those going to fill in a top job in UAE should get hands on training in Arabic while those moving to China should get a better understanding of Chinese. Intensive tuitions are recommended for the same.

Cultural Shock

“The level of culture shock an individual experiences is positively related to the individual’s perceived need to adjust to a new culture” (P.C Earley, 1987, p. 686 Inter-cultural training for managers; a comparison of documentary and interpersonal methods). The importance of cultural issues cannot be undermined as it is partially responsible for determining how we conduct business internationally. The level of cultural intelligence is significant in predicting the cross cultural performance of expatriates. To improve the CQ of expatriates it is necessary for multinational to take culture-orientation exercises into consideration. A would-be expat should also make efforts to understand more about the new country so as to make it easier for him to live there.

Expat failure can cost organization directly as well as indirectly. The direct costs include salaries and relocation benefits, and the cost incurred to find the replacement while the indirect costs would an unreliable corporate image amongst others. For an expat, it could mean a huge emotional as well as financial loss. Thus both, the companies as well as the employees should work towards addressing issues that are responsible for expatriate failure.

Note: This article originally appeared on Linkedin