With studies showing the United States now surpasses traditional 'hardship' postings as the most challenging relocation destination, a recent survey on spousal adjustment to the US reveals a key finding that global HR should know about.

If cross-cultural training for a posting to the US has been chopped due to budget challenges, companies may want to re-consider that decision, according to the results of the new survey 'Many Expatriates Many Voices: Study of Accompanying Spouses and Partners Relocating to the USA' conducted by Dr Anne P. Copeland at The Interchange Institute and commissioned by Prudential Financial.

One significant finding to emerge from the survey is that expatriates who received cross-cultural and/or language training had more positive views of Americans which, in turn, contributed to better mental health and adjustment to the US.

The survey also found that expatriates who received cross-cultural training described themselves, their children and their spouses as having a more positive experience in general than expatriates who did not receive such training. In addition, their spouses (the ones whose jobs instigated the move) experienced improved relationships with co-workers, according to the survey's author.

However, only slightly more than one quarter of the respondents to the survey actually received cross-cultural training and when they did, most said it was after the move to the US. Considering the (for many) less-than-flattering image of the US at present, it could be that companies' best and brightest have been turning down US assignments without having a clearer understanding of American culture as opposed to politics, before making their decision to relocate or not.

"Those who had received training described the typical American they had met as significantly more patient and friendly, respectful, polite and less verbally aggressive," says Copeland.

They survey also looked at the experiences of those who did not receive cross-cultural training and in particular, those who claimed they didn't need it because their home countries were similar to the US, their English language skills were good, and they had a lot of American friends.

"On the surface, that may make sense," says Copeland, "except that 63 percent of the survey's participants from Canada, the UK, Australia and New Zealand who did not get cross-cultural training said that, in fact, it would have been very helpful."

This led to another key finding of the survey regarding the importance of cross cultural training for the US: "Those who were not offered [it] but felt they had needed it had poorer adjustment and said their spouses were less productive on the job than those who were offered it or did not need it."

Cross-cultural training should be a must prior to any assignment no matter how 'easy' the expat thinks it will be, according to Mary van der Boon, a Netherlands-based specialist in cross-cultural training and management.

"The head organizational psychologist for a G7 country's foreign service recently told me that he had determined the highest degree of cross-cultural misunderstandings occurred in missions where the local population spoke English well," says van der Boon.

"In other words: the greatest threat came not from the culture that was the most 'foreign', but from the one that was the most similar," she says.

Cross-cultural programmes that are conducted in the context of the spouse's relocation challenges may also be helpful, according to Copeland.

"I did a cross-cultural training programme for a newly-arrived Korean couple," she explained. "The wife had been in business in Korea, but had followed him first to Malaysia then Singapore, now Boston, and had not been able to work in any of those places. When I got to the part about 'loss of identity' I thought she was going to stand up and cheer. She told me: 'This wasn't just cross-cultural training, this was the best thing to happen to me in a long time.'"

Cross-cultural trainer van der Boon always insists upon including the partner, or non-employee spouse in the cross-cultural training.

"Often the training programme is geared to business culture, but it's also very valuable for the partner," she says.

"At the very least, she/he will gain true insight into the complexities of their partner's job assignment, and almost always the lessons learned can be applied very strategically to daily life in the new host environment."

December 2004

Robin Pascoe is the author of four books on expatriate adjustment and can be found at www.expatexpert.com