In today’s world, doing global work is getting harder. The geopolitical landscape—fractured alliances, renewed nationalism, sanctions, airspace restrictions, and unpredictable regulation—combined with macro-economic headwinds like inflation, energy costs, and supply chain stress, have made everything from travel to deployment of talent more expensive and time-consuming. For anyone working across borders, these changes are no longer […]
Rethinking Expatriate Adjustment: It’s Not Just About the Move Anymore
For decades, the concept of expatriate adjustment has centered on the traditional long-term assignment: a 3-to-5-year relocation to another country, often with family in tow. Researchers and practitioners alike have focused on how well expatriates adapt to the host country’s culture, their new workplace, and daily life abroad. But in today’s world of global work, […]
How to manage your energy in a global role
Having just returned from our annual family skiing trip I have been reminded of how important it is to conserve and restore your energy resources. A few consecutive, full days of skiing can easily sap your physical energy. But we all know that our mental energy is a finite resource as well. And sometimes it […]
The Real ‘Up in the Air’ Story?
Today there are many different ways to tap into the global interconnectedness of businesses, many of which do not even imply any physical relocation. For example, locally based businesses can use global digital networks to reach out to potential international clients with ‘just a click’, or utilize highly multinational teams, where people from different locations […]
Not Eager to Go on a Business Trip? How about Bleisure Travel?
What comes to your mind, when you think about business travel or business trips? If you are a novice in this, I assume you would feel excitement. Business travel may sound like a great opportunity to get out of your daily routine, visit new places, meet with new colleagues and do some sightseeing, all of […]
The Rise of ‘Bleisure’ Travel
Are people working more today than they did in the past? Without providing any statistics here, my gut feeling would say ‘Yes’. I believe that a couple of decades ago people had more work-life balance than today: most worked a fixed 9-to-5 schedule, and there was less overtime. Indeed, ‘taking work home’ back then would […]
Business Travelers: Benefiting the Business while Risking Family Life?
International travel is a natural part of today’s borderless and interlinked business environment. As noted in my previous post on this topic, global business travel is accessible and, even more importantly, brings benefits to multinational companies. Yet, as usual, possible benefits come with possible risks. Foremost, business travel is accompanied by travel stress. For example, […]
Expatriates have less work-life balance abroad than at home. Some evidence.
The statement that expatriates have less work-life balance abroad than at home is a Fact. Expatriate survey findings indicate that expatriates spend longer hours at work than they do in their home countries, working on average 13.4 hours per week more.