We look at how mentoring programmes can help your company develop and retain its key global workers.

After decades in which the overwhelming majority of expatriates were seasoned male professionals, there is a recent emergence of women and under 40 professionals among the expatriate ranks.  From a 2005 survey, GMAC concluded that the number of women international assignees rose 9 percentage points to 23 percent compared to 14 percent in 2004, marking the first time women have constituted more than 20 percent of the total expatriate workforce.  In 1994, 41 percent of expatriates were under 40.  By last year, this had jumped to 54 percent.  
 

Mentoring schemes have encouraged women to put themselves forward for assignment

There are obviously differing elements present in the mentor/mentee relationship when the mentor is a seasoned male mentoring expatriated women.  In my research, I have found a number of studies and trends on variables related to assignment failures and turnover rates which have led me to examine this developing movement.  This work in progress is dedicated to determining  selected mentoring experiences of expatriates including a comparison of mentoring experiences of women, expatriates less than 40 years of age and those of males 40-years old plus.

It is widely known that expatriate assignments are notorious for their failure rates. Also, that the direct costs associated with expatriate deployment are exceedingly steep making failed expatriate assignments doubly painful. The following is of concern:

• In 2002, O'Conner and Klaff separately estimate that USD 1-2 million was spent per expatriate manager during the preceding 4-year period only to have 20-50 percent of the repatriating managers resign within a year.  
• A recent study quoted by Nancy Lockwood reported that 35 percent of employees who do not receive regular mentoring planned to seek other employment within a year.  In contrast, only 16 percent of employees with good mentors were planning to leave their companies.

Overseas assignments are often characterised as haphazard, ill planned affairs that all too frequently lead to poor job performance and job displacement.  The high attrition rates of returning managers with a wealth of experiences and perspectives, cycle after cycle is truly throwing good money after bad.  Therefore, one must consider that higher levels of dissatisfaction of returning managers and the high attrition rates call into question current ways of utilising newly acquired skills and perspectives and of realising returns on human capital investments.

Mentoring: before, after and during the assignment

Mentors represent a frequently used intervention to help stem the tide of expatriate failures.  Mentoring for expatriates typically includes pre-assignment, the 'in-country' assignment, and repatriation phases of the process.

Often times, expatriates are faced with the special difficulty of sharing neither the same culture nor the same job experiences as co-workers.  When the context in which one uses to detect and interpret such differences is dissimilar and, sometime contradictory, there arises the strong need for local mentoring.

The literary work of Schein in 1971 discusses an "inclusionary boundary" that is difficult for expatriates to cross due to a manager's position in the informal information and influence networks.  The expatriate is on the periphery culturally as well as organisationally.  "In addition, all foreign cultures have different norms about openness to outsiders and willingness to trust newcomers.  Thus, the informal information that is most critical in helping newcomers adjust may be the information least likely to be given readily to expatriate managers."

Mentoring as motivation

A support strategy of mentoring the expatriate is a critical intervention in keeping an expatriate motivated.  The assignee can only achieve acculturation if he/she is continuously challenged with understanding work and social environments.  Who better to observe, model and interpret cultural situations than a host-country national (i.e. “local mentor”) to the expatriate with hands-on training in cultural behaviour.  They represent the 'bridge' to interaction with other host country nationals and valued business contacts.

Mentoring key for women expats

This process maintains relevance in the case for female assignees.  It has been reported that women believed that their advancement to international management may be partially based on the successful development of mentoring relationships.  In an international management context, and particularly at the repatriation stage of the international career move, a mentoring relationship is even more important than in domestic management.  The mentoring implications of a youth movement among expatriates are significant considering shifts in management theory and application.

Seeking your contribution

If you are currently on international assignment, we feel your contributions to this research project will help demonstrate to employers the significance of following through on its human capital investments and potentially enhance your own personal/professional experiences and well as influence the success rates of those employees that will later consider expatriate assignments. 

To participate in this study visit:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?A=132075258E27388

The questionnaire will only take about ten minutes of your time.

Participating firms can request a copy of the results of this survey from Ronald Tate at Ronald.Tate@famu.edu.

May 2006

Ronald Tate is Professional Development Professor at the School of Business & Industry, Florida A&M University.

Subject: HR and expat mentoring programmes