Thu, 9 February 2012
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Tips for expats and organisations on managing a successful relocation back home.
Seek a mentor once you have accepted the overseas position. This person’s role is to keep you informed, assist in your career path, and aid your visibility within the company while you are away and when you return. 
A well-intended article that fails to take into account two significant factors --
1) the return to one's home country is typically NOT controlled by the expat, but by the employer. The international HR department of a certain well-known Dutch financial services giant had a practice of "forgetting" to renew leases for its expats when they expired after two years (the lease was in the employer's name). The expat (or, more typically,the trailing spouse) was surprised to find an "eviction notice" less than two months hence, and needed to initiate the process of repatriating (often without a well-thought-out plan for return).
2) If one is a senior executive assigned to The Netherlands, the home country entity typically does not do a good job of career planning to determine into what role the executive will be slotted upon return (even if the "sudden eviction" in point #1, above, does not occur). As most organizational structures are pyramidical, one needs to know for what role are they being groomed upon their return. If you do not know that ahead of time, you are essentially on a "one way ticket" to do a job and then be RIFed upon return. The firm alluded to above lost over 90% of its U.S. expat employees within 1 year of retyurning to the States over the past 10 years.
A well-intended article that fails to take into account two significant factors --
1) the return to one's home country is typically NOT controlled by the expat, but by the employer. The international HR department of a certain well-known Dutch financial services giant had a practice of "forgetting" to renew leases for its expats when they expired after two years (the lease was in the employer's name). The expat (or, more typically,the trailing spouse) was surprised to find an "eviction notice" less than two months hence, and needed to initiate the process of repatriating (often without a well-thought-out plan for return).
2) If one is a senior executive assigned to The Netherlands, the home country entity typically does not do a good job of career planning to determine into what role the executive will be slotted upon return (even if the "sudden eviction" in point #1, above, does not occur). As most organizational structures are pyramidical, one needs to know for what role are they being groomed upon their return. If you do not know that ahead of time, you are essentially on a "one way ticket" to do a job and then be RIFed upon return. The firm alluded to above lost over 90% of its U.S. expat employees within 1 year of retyurning to the States over the past 10 years.
This handy guide from Expertise in Labour Mobility includes how to write a CV, application procedure, interview dos and don'ts, Belgian management culture.
Belgium’s first alternative directory assistance services - available through the shortcode 14-14 - can now be accessed on the internet.
Moving to Belgium presents a host of challenges to expats, not least of all finding the right home.
The psychological effects of global mobility can be physically painful.
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