Are companies managing the repatriation process optimally, or are there still lessons to be learned?

Repatriate turnover is significantly higher than turnover of domestic employees.

Finding the key to successful repatriation of globally mobile employees is clearly the way to competitive advantage for internationally operating firms. However, the solution remains elusive, at least if we look at the results of international research by leading experts which shows repatriate turnover to be from 20 to 50 percent higher than turnover for domestic employees.

Given the investment companies make in expatriate programmes and developing international competence, finding the key to successful repatriation, and retention of global staff, must clearly be a priority for international companies.

In a globalising economy it is vital to have employees capable of functioning successfully in a complex, global context. To develop global competence, companies invest a great deal in sending employees on international assignment, trying to ensure their adjustment and successful repatriation and retention. 

Why then is it constantly reported that repatriates leave their company far more often within one year of return to the home country. Are companies optimally managing the repatriation process, or are their still lessons to be learned about how better to achieve effective repatriation of global staff?

Is your company on the right track?

After studying the current literature, it seems that lessons can be learned in five key areas:

Corporate values

Very often expatriates do not feel recognised by the company because they can not use the international experience and knowledge gained during the international assignment. The HR department does not offer any debriefing sessions and the employee leaves for another company where they believe that the international knowledge is valued.

An international company should show the repatriate that they do value the international experience gained, by offering a job in which the gained international knowledge can be used or by offering a promotion or a job with more responsibilities.

Career development plan

Another serious problem with repatriation is that the company does not have a job for the repatriate on return from the international assignment or that the international assignment does not fit into the overall career development plan.

 Employees who do not have a job on returning from an international assignment might feel lost and leave the company. Research shows that only 40 percent of expatriates in the US have a guaranteed re-entry position after repatriation.

Even if the repatriate has a job on return to the home country, they can experience difficulties, such as a reduced work status, downward career move and loss of autonomy. International companies should therefore assure the expatriates they will have a job upon return and ensure that the expatriates' assignment fits into an overall career plan.

Training

Training is mentioned by many researchers as an aspect which is important in order to provide a smooth repatriation. Training needs-analysis should be conducted during and after the international assignment. Moreover repatriation training is also necessary. The expatriate should be kept up-to-date about any changes in the home office, and must be helped to prepare to return to the home country.

Contact with home country

Contact with the home country is necessary during the time that the expatriate is on international assignment. This contact can be provided in many different ways. For instance, by assigning a mentor to the expatriate, who keeps the expatriate informed about all changes in the home company.

Length of international assignment

By informing the expatriate early about the length of the international assignment, they know when to start preparing for their return to the home country. Preferably the company informs the expatriate about the length of the international assignment before leaving. Moreover the company should start talking with the expatriate about what happens on return to the home country six months in advance.

If all these career development aspects are incorporated in a repatriation strategy companies should have a lower repatriation turnover. But is this really the case or does the answer lie elsewhere?

To help find out I am inviting HR managers who deal with international staffing and repatriation from a Dutch perspective, to take part in my research.

To participate, and to receive a copy of the survey results, please go to: Questionnaire or http://www.studentenonderzoek.com/?qid=9848&ln=ned.

With the statistically sound conclusions this research can produce on the repatriation process and what a company should do to ensure that their repatriates are retained, some of the elusive lessons about successful repatriation can be discovered.

If you would like to have more information on the subject, please send an email to 266482mp@student.eur.nl.

June 2006

Maaike Platenburg a student in International Business Administration at the RSM Erasmus University in the Netherlands. She is currently writing her master thesis in the field of International Human Resource Management.

Subject: Repatriation