The family's inability to adjust to the local culture is the main cause of poor job performance amongst expats in mainland China, shows new research.

27 July 2006

AMSTERDAM - A new report reveals that the inability of the family to adjust to the local culture is the main cause of poor job performance amongst assignees sent to mainland China. Plus short-term assignees are often not given sufficient cross-cultural training.

The report on the challenges faced by assignees and their families in mainland China and the programmes companies have in place to address family needs shows that 83 percent of companies taking part in the survey provide cross-cultural training for their employees on traditional assignments to mainland China. But, in contrast, only 41 percent of the companies give cross-cultural training to their short-term assignees.

Paradoxically, the most frequently cited challenges faced by those on short-term assignments according to the survey are "language capability, understanding Chinese culture and social life issues."

This suggests that having cross-cultural training "could assist the short-term assignee in being more effective from the start," according to the report, especially as the short-term assignee "generally has limited period of time to accomplish business objectives."

And the survey, carried out jointly by Worldwide ERC®. and Hong Kong Institute of Human Resource Management shows that most of the participating companies expect increases in both traditional and long-term assignments through the end of 2006.

Companies are under pressure in an increasingly competitive labour market to attract skilled professionals for their expanding operations in China, said Pin-on Mak of HKIHRM.

It is critical, said Mak, "to address obstacles to recruiting and retaining the best employees."

[Copyright Expatica 2006]