To investigate the work-life balance of expatriates, Industrial Relations Counselors, Inc. sponsored a survey on expatriate work-life balance which was conducted by ORC Worldwide during late 2006/early 2007.

The concept of work-life balance has become well known, particularly in Europe, however, before ORC conducted this survey, little research had been done on assessing the impact of work-life balance within the internationally mobile community.

Plus, for the first time, the survey sought responses from expatriates themselves, and not corporate human resources (HR) departments.

The survey ranked as number one in the Expatica HR 2007/2008 Top 5 Industry Survey Awards, scoring highly as a ‘hot topic and a topic of interest to HR professionals as well as for readability and quality of data.

Here are some of the main findings from the survey.

Expatriates work longer hours abroad than at home.
When it comes to working in a foreign location, survey results show a clear divergence between company policy on work hours and actual practice. Although it was usual to have a stated hours-of-work policy, nearly two-thirds of the expatriates surveyed work longer hours abroad than they did at home. Expatriates worked on average an increase of 13.4 hours per week. Survey respondents cited several contributing factors, such as the volume of work, lack of local support, cost pressures to perform well and, in particular, business travel.

International assignments disrupt family life, causing dissatisfaction among spouses and children.
International assignments clearly intrude into family life. Expatriates’ families voiced dissatisfaction with assignees’ travel schedules, long hours at work, and the limited support given to families during periods of separation. Nearly 5 percent reported that their families returned home earlier than anticipated, and of that number, 30 percent cited the work and travel schedules of the expatriate as the reason.

Overall, companies have weak work-life balance policies.
Work-life balance initiatives were not, on the whole, available to—or taken up by—expatriates. Only 21 percent say that their organisations had either a formal or an informal policy on work-life balance.

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