Not relocated but still away from home? A closer look at flexpatriates

A quick literature search on the term “expatriate” will lead to multiple sources dealing with expatriation topics, its issues and challenges. Among the topics that are discussed are family concerns, organizational support, and costs and benefits of international assignments. However, these issues are mainly treated in reference to long-term assignments while neglecting other types of expatriation practices.

This concern has been addressed by Austrian researcher Helene Mayerhofer and her colleagues, who looked closer into frequent flyer assignments or so called flexpatriates. The term “flexpatriate” refers to employees that undertake frequent international business trips but do not relocate. Although the authors’ focus on a single European multinational is quite limited for drawing large-scale conclusions, the study makes an important point by highlighting that compared to traditional, long-term expatriates flexpatriates are getting much less attention and support while also lacking formal HR policies.

Engaging in international business travel neither involves the relocation of the whole family, nor long-time absence from the home organization, large-scale project accomplishment or a need for deeper integration into the host community. Accordingly, potential expatriate challenges such as cultural adjustment problems, language issues, career disruptions and readjustment difficulties will be less relevant. Mayerhofer and colleagues note that the involvement of HR in international business travel is therefore limited to the administration of flight tickets, overlooking the evaluation of the assignee, as well as the preparation before and support during the trips.

Nevertheless, several challenges of flexpatriation exist. Coping with the often short notice for travel, adjusting to different conditions within very little time, dealing with cross-cultural issues and managing one’s work/life balance are among the most important. Moreover, compared to expatriates that stay for a longer period in one country, frequent flyers may be more truly ‘global’ employees as they travel to several different destinations and need to establish effective communication there. This may require greater cultural flexibility and adaptability. Similarly, while flexpatriates are rarely involved in large-scale projects and tasks of longer duration given the limited time they spend abroad, these are replaced by a greater number of short-term objectives, thus putting more constant pressure of achievement on the assignee. Finally, the fact that international business travel implies flexpatriates’ regular separation from their families suggests that this type of assignment might be more suitable for single employees.

To conclude, the personal impact of frequent international business travel on employees’ life and, hence, the support that this requires should not be underestimated. Although flexpatriation, as the term itself suggests, provides the company with greater flexibility to manage its international operations, shouldn’t the limits of employees’ flexibility also be considered?

Further reading:

Mayerhofer, H., Hartmann, L.C., Michelitsch-Riedl, G. & Kollinger, I. (2004). Flexpatriate assignments: A neglected issue in global staffing, International Journal of Human Resource Management, 15:8, 1371-1389.