End of the year and beginning of the new year is a time of reflecting on the past 12 months, celebrating all the achievements and new beginnings. The world of global mobility is no different. For example, the Forum for Expatriate Management (FEM) recently hosted the Expatriate Management and Mobility Awards (EMMA Awards), which celebrated […]
Christmas: Expats NOT Going Home?
As Christmas is around the corner, there is no better topic than writing about expats and Christmas. Last year about the same time I reflected on the unexpected difficulties of going back home for Christmas. Holidays at home may sound like a great idea indeed, as one naturally expects the comfort and familiarity of one’s […]
Global Mobility Functions: From Administration to Strategy
The world of global mobility is rapidly changing and is continuously challenging. First of all, there is a continuous increase in the population of international assignees. According to the latest Brookfield Global Mobility Trends survey, 45% of respondents reported an increase in the number of assignees in 2014 compared to 2013, and 43% of respondents […]
Towards a Better Understanding of Global Professionals’ Adjustment
It is hard to argue with the claim that adjustment is one of the most prominent topics related to global mobility. Annual industry surveys, such as Cartus or Brookfield surveys, regularly point to a high prevalence of adjustment challenges. This is also reflected in the academic literature, where adjustment has been assumed a critical psychological […]
Diversity in Global Business: What to Pay Attention to?
Global businesses celebrate diversity. For example, Apple believes that diversity inspires innovation, American Airlines are convinced that diversity translates into business value, and Hilton Worldwide state that diversity is fundamental to their success. Indeed, as stated in one of my previous blog posts, research supports the benefits of diversity, showing its positive links to business […]
Frequent Business Travel: From Romance to Criticism to Realism?
How would you picture a business traveler? Would you have an image of a successful person in a smart casual business outfit, who is extremely efficient arranging work matters over the smartphone or an ultrathin laptop, while sipping a take-away coffee in an airport lounge? That would be the average picture you get from Google, […]
The Ageing Workforce: Experience Never Gets Old?
The other day I watched the movie Intern. It is a light and entertaining comedy, which also makes some good points. Specifically, the story features a 70-year-old widower Ben, played by Robert de Niro, who becomes a senior intern at an online fashion company run by young and ambitious Jules (played by Anne Hathaway). Although […]
How Should We Learn about Cultural Differences?
Integral to the global business landscape is intercultural contact and communication. As such, one of the basic requirements for people to successfully deal with this diverse landscape is cultural sensitivity, or cultural intelligence (CQ). Be it international student-trainees, temporary expatriates, permanent migrants, or local workers of a multinational company, we would want these people to […]
Are we Celebrating the Nomadic Elite too Much?
What is your perception of a traditional work career or a traditional worker? How would you describe it? Would you picture an employee with a nine-to-five working day, personal desk, structured career path, long-term employment, and conventional career progression? Would your perception involve such aspects as stability, routine, commitment, narrow expertise, and experience? Or do […]
The Persistent Gender Gap: Some New Insights
Approximately six months ago in my blog post about gender inequality I concluded that ‘the global business world continues to be too slow at closing the gender gap’. Naturally, within these six months, nothing drastically has changed. Taking stock at where we currently are in terms of gender equality, McKinsey professionals reaffirm that the progress […]
The Migrant Crisis: A Moral Responsibility Only?
The global migrant crisis continues to unfold, and today we can certainly speak about a historic crisis, and the worst refugee crisis since World War II. As the number of political and economic refugees increases, so does the tension between countries and the opposition between those who welcome them and those who don’t. The migrant […]
Global Mobility and the Top Global Issues
At the end of last year, The World Economic Forum published their Global Agenda 2015 report, which summarized the top 10 issues that were thought to dominate the world over the upcoming 12 to 18 months. The identified trends range across the social, economic and political sphere and, naturally, many of these trends have implications […]
Expats: Love is in the Air?
Although spring is far gone, summer is leaving us, and the colder, darker and, oftentimes grumpier, seasons are ahead, I have chosen to write about expats’ love and committed relationships today. At first sight, this topic may not seem as important as matters of adjustment, organizational support, child education possibilities and host country climate; yet, […]
Trailing Spouse: An Outdated Label with Important Implications?
A couple of years ago I wrote a post highlighting the important topic of trailing spouses and their need for more organizational support. According to the numbers of some industry surveys at that time, the adjustment problems and dissatisfaction of spouses/partners, as well as dual-career issues topped the list of expatriation challenges. Today, looking at […]
Introverts in an Extraverted Global World
How do you feel about big social gatherings? Do you consider yourself outgoing and at ease with blending into a group of strangers? Does your creativity spur in solitude or during team brainstorming? Do you prefer action or contemplation? As you have most probably sensed by now, all of these questions relate to the well-known […]
Why Would Countries Want to Befriend Their Diasporas Abroad?
Conventionally, emigration of the skilled, especially from developing to developed countries, is considered to be a brain drain and seen as problematic. That is especially relevant for countries with high emigration numbers, such as India and China, who work on luring back their talents. Also Ireland, considered as a nation of emigrants, has recently launched […]
