Throughout my blog posts, I aim to raise concerns, challenges, ideas, and possible solutions that relate to expat populations. Speaking about company-initiated assignments, so far the most pronounced expat challenges at the individual level have been family concerns, such as family adjustment and dual-career issues; assignee adjustment in the host country, such as lack of […]
From Trailing Spouse to Career Chameleon: In Search of Identity
As human beings we all have a need to define ourselves, specify who we are, categorize ourselves in relation to others and find a way to present ourselves to the world. In other words, we all create personal identities, which entail the perception we have about our roles, interests, characteristics, relationships, and membership in social […]
Accompanying Partners on Expatriation: The Male Perspective
Traditional gender roles imply a scenario in which the male partner is employed and fulfills the task of a breadwinner in the family, while the female is in charge of raising kids and upholding the household. Although female work empowerment made their traditional role description quite faded today, the role attitudes and expectations of many people towards the male role have not changed much. The recent study by Nina Cole (2012) looks into the ‘unique’ role of males as expatriate accompanying partners.
Current Trends: Family concerns remain the hot topic in expatriation
When looking at the hot topics and key challenges in expatriation, it seems that family-related issues continue to top the list. The 2010 Brookfield Global Relocation Trends Survey results indicate that, similar to previous years, multinationals view family adjustment, children’s education and partner resistance as the most important expatriation challenges. Companies also state that family […]