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You are here: Home Housing Renting Preparing for the big leap: A relocation expert writes

04/05/2006Preparing for the big leap: A relocation expert writes

Making the dream move to Spain could be fraught with problems unless you are properly prepared. Our relocation expert explains.

Unpacking a new life: Language and cultural skills are essential

Relocation is the process of moving a company's leading employees and their families from their home into a completely different work, social and cultural environment.

Yet, behind this generic word 'relocation' are a vast range of human resources-related services outsourced by world organisations to help their employees prior to their departure on a foreign assignment and once they get there.

Investing in expatriates even beyond budget criteria delivers better results for all parties involved since assignments involving high costs and failures are not uncommon.

In fact, it is said that one of four actually fail.

Preparing properly

This is a good reason for investing in finding the perfect expatriate candidate for the organisation, selecting and subsequently training them.

Recent surveys have indicated that what expatriates find work best for them are not always top priorities for the human resources departments responsible for them.

So what did expatriates and their spouses or partners rate as the most factors when preparing to work abroad?

Number one: They ranked language training and intercultural training for them and also for their children as the most important factor to make the assignment abroad succeed.

Great value was placed on the ability to speak the local language and understand the local cultural habits, regardless of how different, or actually similar, the culture is from their own.

In second place, they said more focussed and practical information about the local situation and local culture was very important.

This is linked to languages and how the local people live, but expats also said briefings should include business-related issues.

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