HR managers typically agree that successful repatriation is important. But budget shortcomings and time constraints are just as frequently cited as reasons why it fails to be an agenda priority. Why retaining repatriates doesn’t necessarily have to be a costly affair.

"What keeps surprising me is if you ask, 'Is repatriation important?' they say, 'It's extremely important,'" said Nannette Ripmeester, managing director of Expertise in Labour Mobility, a Rotterdam-based consultancy.

"'What is it that you do about it?' They say, 'We have other priorities. It's in the pipeline.' Although they all say it is important, there are very few companies that do something about it."

The International Mobility Group, a consortium of organisations including Shell, ING and KLM, recently undertook a research project on the experience of repatriates and what organisations can do to ensure a smooth re-integration.

The survey of IMG companies, which was overseen by Ripmeester, concludes that repatriation is the forgotten phase of the expatriate process, with support focused primarily on the early and middle stages of the assignment.

Other studies validate such conclusions. Some two-thirds of expatriates from Europe, Asia and the United States don't know what their new job will be before they return home, according to a survey of managers conducted by J Stewart Black, professor of business administration at the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan. Only one-third of European and American managers "had the opportunity to use their international experience after repatriation," Black reports in his book "International Assignments: An Integration of Strategy, Research, and Practice."

Perhaps as a result, one in four leave the company within 18 months of repatriation, said Black.

"The key driver is a feeling that all the time and energy the employee invested in learning a new language, culture, business environment, customers, competitors, etc. is undervalued by his/her current employer," he said. "In a free market, when you've already put in the investment, the only way to ensure you get a good return is to put that value out to bid. This is effectively what repatriates do and why they leave."

At the same time, organisations "very often don't realize that it's a million dollar investment that walks out the door," said Ripmeester.

To some degree, the responsibility may rest with HR for failing to make the business case for investing time and energy into repatriation efforts.

"HR people need to become more influential in organisations by getting a lot more clever at using business language and at using business arguments," said Alastair Macfarlane of Performance Systems International, a management consultant specialising in international corporate business.

Along with a diminished return on investment, companies may also be damaging their reputation.

"You lose twice," said Ripmeester. "You lose the investment you made in the expat and you have an alumnus that is not too happy. Probably without too much investment, you could have turned that into a lasting good experience."

"It's very often just a question of showing interest in the other person and that is not a question of money but very often a question of time."

Macfarlane agrees that successful repatriation is not complex and "just needs organising."

"It's not expensive. It's not difficult," he said. "It just doesn't come into people's mindset."

Generally, Macfarlane said there are two types of organisations when it comes to repatriation policy. There are those that view its expatriate programmes as part of an overall process of managing and developing human capital. These more sophisticated organisations often have strong selection and development processes at the beginning and support systems for their expatriates in the beginning, middle and end phases of an assignment.

The other type of organisation tends to view its international assignments as a means to solving short-term business problems. There may be some level of support at the beginning but typically little, if any, long-term thinking or strategy.

"I think a lot of why repatriation isn't managed properly links into why expatriation isn't managed properly in the first place," Macfarlane said.

Macfarlane recalled a recent experience of one expatriate who was sent to Southeast Asia by a large engineering firm for a one-year assignment. He received no pre-assignment visit, culture training or essentially any other kind of support prior to, during or after the assignment.

"With the lack of the investment, the inevitably of him leaving [the company] as soon as he got back was set," said Macfarlane.

Such a scenario can perhaps be avoided by discussing, early on, opportunities for the assignee upon repatriation. This was among the recommendations made in Ripmeester's research for the IMG.

Recommendations on basic support for repatriates a high level of communication before, during and after the international assignment a mentor program, which helps two expatriates; the mentor can use his / her knowledge, the expatriate can learn from him / her settling-in services; helping the expatriate and his / her family with practical issues upon return making the repatriate feel understood Source: Summary, research on repatriation conducted by Expertise in Labour Mobility

At ING, discussions about career planning begin before an expatriate goes on assignment, said Anita van Oss, Global Head HR for International Private Banking. They continue during the assignment and repatriates are advised of training programmes that may be relevant to them and their career goals.

"We try to monitor, as much as possible, the career of an expat so that they remain employable once they come back," said Van Oss.

Approximately 5 percent of the ING's repatriated employees leave the company within a year of returning from assignment.

Establishing a mentoring programme was also suggested in the International Mobility Group report. This gives the repatriate a person who understands what they are dealing with upon return, both professionally and personally.

"I have found that while 'mentoring programmes' can have an informal structure to them, programs that include some formal elements were more successful and went a long way to easing the mental stress expatriates experience," said Michele Shamblin, a project manager at Ohio-based The Human Resources Department consultancy.

One large energy company, said Shamblin, developed a programme that, among other aspects, included a structured mentor system with regular communication between mentor and assignee as well line managers in both home and host countries; meetings for recent repatriates, new assignees and those who had returned within the previous year to share experiences and cultivate a network; and a monthly repatriation report sent by HR to mentors and senior managers listing who was scheduled for repatriation and to keep them in mind for job vacancies.

"The 'I'm out of sight and out of mind' syndrome is diminished when such programmes are in place," said Shamblin.  

December 2004

Jennifer Hamm is a freelance journalist based in the Netherlands.