Mon, 28 May 2012
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| TSX Composite | 11576.47 | 0.09 |
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| ISEQ 20 | 500.94 | 1.55 |
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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.
Expatica's Getting Started section will provide practical information on how you can open a bank account, exchange your driving licence, improve your Spanish, and more.
Here's a guide to an extensive list of groups and clubs in Madrid for expats, from sports groups to social and family gatherings.
A brief introduction to our Tax section for Spain, from help with inheritance tax to accounting advice.
Here's a short introduction to our Banking section for those living in Spain, from what to ask the experts to opening a Spanish bank account.
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