The best way to find out how satisfied expatriates are with your company's international assignment policies and support is to survey them.

When Juliane Gruethner was appointed as international assignment administrator for SCA Hygiene Products AG in 2001, one of the first things she did was draft an opinion survey for the approximately 120 expatriates who were based in various countries within her division.

Be ready to act on feedback

Although not a newcomer to the business of managing expats, Gruethner says the survey helped her to identify the major issues in expatriate administration that needed to be improved within the company.

"Since then I've found that conducting surveys, on an anonymous basis, are a good way to get direct and open feedback on the different areas of expatriate services and expatriate policy," she says.

Surveys can be a proactive method of assessing your expatriate assignment policies on a regular basis. If administered effectively they can also help catch unsuccessful policies, as well as dissatisfied and unproductive expatriate staff.

But creating and administrating an opinion survey that targets specific issues and concerns requires careful planning.

Should your survey be anonymous or personalised? Should it be managed in-house or outsourced? How often, and when, should you survey? And, of course, what questions should you ask?

Be prepared to act on feedback

The goals of your expatriate survey need to clear from the start.

Surveys should be customised to garner feedback on specific issues related to expatriate assignments such as policy communications, policy provisions (including expatriate allowances and benefits), relocation and family support, HR management support, and career and repatriation planning. You may also want to survey expat partners who often play a vital role in the success of an employee’s stay abroad.

Be mindful, however, that just wanting to know what your expatriates think about various policies may not be enough of a reason to conduct a survey — you must be prepared to act on their feedback.

"The main drawback to surveying is that it raises employees' expectation that something will be done. If there is no follow through, or follow through in the way employees expect, then there is potential for demoralisation," says Bob Sperl, senior international consultant, international group, for Watson Wyatt Worldwide.

You should thus be prepared to actively address your survey's outcome.

Ruud Jansen Venneboer, executive director of International Survey Research (ISR) notes companies should be especially careful of raising the expectations of expatriate spouses and families. An advocate of surveying the partners of expats, Jansen Venneboer advises only asking questions that "you can, and are willing to, act on".

"This is particularly relevant in relation to questions asked to expatriate partners," he says. "Remember that these are not company employees, so a company's influence on their well-being is by definition different from that of the expat himself."

As an example, Gruethner's company division joined Partnerjob.com, a non-profit-making organisation that helps create career opportunities for dual career expatriate partners, based on negative survey feedback about expat spouse support. She also plans to increase family support in the area of international education.

How to administer your survey

After deciding which aspects of the international assignment you want feedback on, the next step is to determine what methodology you should use to administer the survey.

Surveys can take various forms, including one-to-one interviews, focus groups and questionnaires, and choosing which style of survey — or combination of styles — will work best for you is determined by a variety of factors.

"It depends on the goals you have for the survey and also the size of the group to be surveyed," says Gruethner, who utilises an in-house web survey tool to disseminate and analyse questionnaire results.

Email is ideal for distributing and analysing questionnaires

"If you're responsible for only 10 or 15 expatriates in your company, I think it's worth having personal interviews instead of a questionnaire, but if you're interviewing 100 or more, I think you have to find a suitable technical solution otherwise you won't be able to handle the responses.":

In the case of questionnaires, a typical format includes a combination of multiple choice and open-ended questions – the multiple choice questions allow for quick and easy tabulation, while the open-ended questions enable expats to give more insightful responses, in their own words.

Using email or another type of online tool, depending on your technical support, is the ideal method of distributing and analysing your questionnaires.

"The sheer geographical spread of expatriates means that using an internet based tool is by far the most preferred, and cost effective, way of getting through to expats and getting back the answers you need," advises Jansen Venneboer.

If your questionnaires uncover a policy or support problem at a particular location, you may choose to additionally supplement the questionnaire with more personal group meetings or one-on-one interviews with expatriates or senior managers. This combination of surveying styles can better pinpoint trouble areas to act upon, and give a more accurate view of the assignment area that you are assessing.

A final point is that you share the main results -- and any potential actions coming out of the results -- with the people who were invited to take part. "Only by going full circle on this will you ensure a successful survey, and successful expat policies, now and in the future," adds Jansen Venneboer.

When to survey

Deciding when and how often to survey will be dependent on the type of information you are trying to attain and your resources.

Gruethner conducts surveys on an annual basis and does additional surveys at the assignment start and end. She also asks expats for feedback whenever the company is planning changes in expatriate policy.

"And what I have started now is sending out surveys after repatriation to see how the support at the local basis works and how satisfied the expats are with the external service providers," she says.

Sperl, of Watson Wyatt Worldwide, says, however, that there is generally no need for regular surveys unless there is a significant change in the business.

"I would not see a need more often than five years from the last," he says.

Dirk Wollaert, HR Adviser for BP Benelux, adds that expatriate-specific surveys are only worth conducting in cases of core policy or expat package reviews.

"We want to treat expats as much as we can as part of the normal business staff for which we run yearly people assurance surveys and from which we take required actions on a business by business basis, stream or region," he says.

"My experience with expat surveys is also that you confirm by this their special status and need for special treatment. The result is quite often that they will, in most cases, expect to get better services or packages."

In-house or outsource?

Outsourcing the survey process should be considered if you lack the time and manpower to conduct it in-house.

Benefits of a third-party provider are the expertise they offer, the in-depth analysis of results and the anonymity of their service. Workers may be more candid, and thus more accurate, in their feedback when speaking to someone outside of the company.

If, however, you cannot budget for a professional and extensive survey process, there are other simple methods that will allow you to be pro-active in the management of your expatriate programme.

"Small companies with few expats may not have the financial, and manpower, resources to get a professional survey up and running," says Jansen Venneboer. "What I would say to them is to keep things simple and personal. Having someone responsible who picks up the phone to these folks every once in a while and talks to them could go a long way towards what you are trying to achieve."

April 2003