A foreign posting is the glittering prize for many people as they trudge off daily to head office in the home town. Glamour, wealth and a fast track in the promotions race all are on offer to those posted to a distant land.

Those naive enough to hold that dream soon learn otherwise — and surveys hav confirmed that the expat reality can be a lonely and isolated one.

Companies not doing enough

Fifty-nine percent of expatriates believe their companies are not doing enough to help them find local healthcare and 55 percent say their employers are also failing to adequately prepare them for medical emergencies and security crises, according to one survey by Cigna International Expatriate Benefits a few years ago.

Over 700 expatriates on active assignments participated in that web-based survey by Cigna, the US-based National Foreign Trade Council and global rewards association WorldatWork. The expatriates represent 200 multinationals who are based mostly in North America and Western Europe. Nearly three-quarters of those surveyed have not changed their willingness to accept a future expatriate position, and 77 percent do not expect world events to affect whether or not they complete their current assignments.

Dissatisfaction with HR departments Yet communication is more important than ever considering the state of world affairs. Dissatisfaction with human resources department's ability to explain procedures for medical and security emergencies was not limited to one region of the world, according to Ginny Hollis of Cigna International Expatriate Benefits. Only 20 percent of expats praised their companies for providing up-to-date security bulletins, contingency plans and emergency guidelines.

Missing link with home country

Communicating directly with expats is not human resources' only weak point. Over half of expats - 56 percent - rated host- and home-country HR co-ordination negatively. Hollis says one Australian living in the Netherlands told them that the "sending and receiving offices actively fight". Looking after the family Like many expatriate surveys, Cigna also found that dual-career issues are still a concern, with 67 percent reporting that the international assignment had been difficult on a dual-career family.

Fifty-four percent said the trailing partner had to "make a big sacrifice".

While 52.5 percent of trailing women had worked before their husbands' assignment, only 19 percent were working in the host country. That's a dramatic difference compared to trailing husbands, 88 percent of whom had worked prior to the assignment and 68.8 percent of whom continued working.

"You wonder whether if that's purely by choice or if that's all they [women] feel they have as an option, but I don't know the answer to that," Hollis says.

Among the recommendations expatriates suggested for improving assignments: more cultural and language training.

Sixty percent of expats receive language training, but only 40 percent of their families did. "Those who had the cross-cultural training were three times as likely to rate the assignment favourably, the same with language training," says Hollis.

Updated 20 March 2007 from first publication in 2002.

[Copyright Expatica 2008]