There is no doubt that short-term assignments are on the increase. But is HR aware of the impact this type of assignment has on the assignee and family?

The short-term assignment lifestyle can be tough an assignee and family alike

ORC Worldwide's 2004 Worldwide Survey of International Assignment Practices and Policies survey, Mercer International's 2003 International Assignment Survey, and the 2003 Global Survey of Short-term International Assignment Policies, conducted jointly by the MI Group, The SHRM Global Forum and ORC all illustrated  the increase in this trend, which, in some areas, is overtaking traditional long term expatriate assignments. This burgeoning employment trend has taken many by surprise, not least Human Resources.

Marian Weston, who has spent the last year exploring the effects of the short-term assignment lifestyle on the family/assignee/ and company, summarises her findings below.

The aim of the survey I carried out was firstly to encourage genuine feedback and discover what level of support, if any, the family and assignee received, and also to investigate whether there were corporate policies in operation, specifically pertaining to the assignee and short-term assignment—and if such policies were in place—how effective were they?

Knowing, that three major dynamics of company, assignee, and family are integral to an assignment's overall success, I devised three questionnaires; one for the assignee, one for the stay at home partner, and one for the company to complete. 

When asked 'Do you feel able to contact your partner's company? And, 'How does your partner's company support you/the family in the assignee's absence?', response from 'stay at home partners' was overwhelmingly negative. The general consensus being that the company was 'not interested', so ' just get on with it'.

Geneveive Treille, wife of a short-term assignee, and mother of six, who has eight years experience of this lifestyle notes that she has had little company support. "It is the small things that would make a difference," she says.  "It would have been very supportive if the company had initiated contact with me, pre-assignment, and provided a contact useful for those unforeseen emergencies, for example, notification of a late pay cheque."

Surveying the assignees drew an interesting parallel with the family experience.  Once on a posting, many assignees felt that HR adopted the 'out of sight, out of mind mentality; resulting in them struggling with the project and its difficulties at local 'grass roots' level, while also trying to meet, often unrealistic corporate expectations.

As HR consultant, Carrie Shearer advocates, one way for HR to recognise the challenges of this lifestyle 'is to go on a temporary assignment'.

Here are some coping strategies, offered by families with experience of the 'short-term lifestyle', for use as practical considerations when considering this lifestyle, or as effective coping strategies if already living it.

• Be prepared, and explore the pros and cons of this lifestyle prior to living it.  Talk to people currently doing it, read research etc. 
• Both assignee and 'stay at home partner' need to be resourceful and independent.
• You need a network. If you haven’t already got one, create one!
• Know your relationship and be prepared to keep re-negotiating it.
• Be prepared to field feelings of resentment.  Be aware that this experience can be lonely and isolating.
• Give some thought to age and stage of children, and be aware of potential difficulties ahead of you, such as adolescence.  Do some background reading.
• Establishing good relationship/communication with child's school, is an important and practical resource, it will help you 'keep your finger on the pulse', and be a good source of support if the going gets tough.
• Be aware of the effect and extra emotions this lifestyle will subject you and your family to.  Are you strong enough?
• Don't underestimate the importance of maintaining regular communication with each other.  It keeps the assignee 'in touch' with life on the 'home front' and also helps maintain sense of continuity, involvement and family for the family unit 'at home'.

Anne Copeland of 'the Interchange Institute' is currently undertaking research, sponsored by US-headquartered Prudential Financial, on the impacts of the short-term assignment, from the family perspective. Copeland advises HR "to give families a voice about how the short-term assignment 'solution' works for them," and "to give the assignees a voice about the personal ramifications of these assignments." Copeland adds, "We hope the information we gather will point to things organisations and families can do to ensure that the assignments work all around." Visit www.interchangeinstitute.org for more information.

Jack  Keogh,  vice  president,  Global  Workforce Development at Prudential Relocation,  said,  "We want to gain a deeper understanding of the impact of short-term  assignments  and  extended  business  travel on the assignee's family.  There is not much research on this topic." 

Keogh added that the company will soon publish results of an ongoing survey that examined short-term assignments.  "We want to identify the most effective services to support short-term assignees and their families in order to minimise negative family outcomes while achieving maximum cost efficiencies," said Keogh.

You can download the results of Prudential's ongoing studies of expatriate management at www.prudential.com/referencelibrary

Research findings overwhelmingly indicate that if this type of 'short-term assignment lifestyle' is to succeed and,  be sustainable,  then improved communication and  the  support of family and assignee,  should be pre-requisites, and need to start  featuring  as  major priorities  on the HR agenda. Listening to, and valuing feedback from assignees and family might be a good starting point.

Companies are so often quoted saying, 'that people are their greatest asset'. Maybe, now the time is right for Human Resources to start 'walking their talk?'

February 2005

Marian Weston is a freelance writer based in the UK. Her husband has been on a series of short-term assignments over the past five years.

Subject: Jobs and recruitment