When talking about expatriation we tend to think primarily about traditional long-term assignments, which are two to three years in duration and imply an employee relocation to the host country. These are the assignments that we readily relate to attractive compensation and benefit packages, career enhancing moves, and profound cross-cultural experiences. However, in spite of […]
Expat Lifestyle, Travel Bug and Addiction
‘Once an expat, always an expat’, ‘catching the travel bug’ and ‘itchy feet syndrome’ – these are some of the fairly common phrases you come across when looking through expat blogs, forums and global mobility related articles. Indeed, sometimes expatriation moves from merely a one-time international work experience to a nomadic lifestyle, and there are […]
Global Mobility in 2014: Looking Ahead to the New Year
The beginning of the year is usually when we start making New Year’s resolutions, look back on the events, achievements and experiences of the past year, and take a hopeful look forward to the year ahead. Somewhat following this trend I decided to start this year with a post about predictions for 2014 in the […]
Global Dexterity: Translating Cross-Cultural Knowledge into Action
I am sure we all remember our school and university years, when we were filled with lots of theoretical and practical knowledge to be used in our future lives and careers. I am also sure we all remember the first days and weeks in our professional careers, when we realized that all that knowledge is […]
Corporate Volunteering Initiatives: What are the Benefits for Global Companies?
The globalization of business goes hand in hand with global mobility. Indeed, global mobility of employees is necessary to expand a company abroad, to establish partnerships with foreign companies, and generally, to sustain the international status of a company. As such, there are many different goals international assignments might aim to fulfill, which is why […]
Online Freelancing: A ‘Dream Job’ in the Globalized World?
Today is different than before. Long, long time ago people used to settle in one place and remain there for their lifetimes, in large because there were no roads or public infrastructure available. Then people built roads, invented cars and trains, and started moving between cities. Next, planes were invented, people started learning languages, and […]
Immigrants: Why Would Any Country Want Them?
On April 16, 2013 the United States Senate was introduced to a new immigration reform bill, called The Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act of 2013. The reform bill aims to increase border security, streamline legal immigration, and address the issue of undocumented immigrants already settled in the country. In regards to the […]
Homesickness: A Natural Part of Being Away from Home?
Globally mobile individuals are the ones who know by experience how it feels to adjust to a new destination, suffer from reverse cultural shock when returning back home, have a restless urge for new relocations, and finally recognize the homesickness when away from home again. The latter, namely homesickness, is not as pronounced a topic […]
Returning Home after Living Abroad? Not as Easy as Expected!
Undoubtedly, expat life can be very exciting. The experiences and challenges of life abroad develop one as a person, teach new skills and enhance capabilities, create new meanings in life, and generally translate into valuable memories, which are worth remembering for many years ahead. Nowadays, the young generation gets involved with a globally mobile lifestyle […]
Global Workforce Mobility: The Latest Trends
The deployment of a global workforce is no longer merely a trend; it is a prevailing reality for companies of different sizes and in different locations. As the annual survey by Weichert Relocation Resources (WRRI) shows, 92% of companies surveyed perceive workforce mobility as critical and important for achieving their talent management objectives. Naturally, effective […]
Global Mobility: Facing the Ultimate Language Challenges?
The principle of free movement of people within Europe dates back to the creation of the European Union. The policies of the European Community strive to allow for seamlessly easy and efficient movement of people across borders, be it for holidays, studying or work. Indeed, going for a weekend trip to another EU member state […]
Global Workforce Migration Outlook for 2013: Off to Even More Surprising Destinations?
‘UK to Botswana’, ‘Greece to Australia’, ‘Ireland to UAE’, and ‘Portugal to Mozambique’ – the four stories from the latest Guardian article illustrate European migrants fleeing the continuous recession. Indeed, ‘the great escape’ of Europeans from economic crisis, especially to emerging economies around the world, is expected to continue in 2013. While already quite pronounced […]
Flexible Global Mobility: Higher Satisfaction with No Additional Cost?
Increased globalization continuously pushes organizations to expand further into emerging markets, to operate across borders more effectively, and to create better results in more cost-saving, flexible and innovative ways. This explains the spreading popularity of virtual working arrangements (e.g. telecommuters, virtual cross-cultural teams) as well as rapid transformations in HR strategies, such as moving talent […]
What Are the Implications of Being Compelled to Expatriate?
In today’s business environment, globality is a term referring to modernity, opportunities, prosperity, and is almost a necessity when speaking about market competitiveness. Hence, organizations and recruitment agencies alike are looking for globally minded people, and highly value and promote international experience. Moreover, sooner than later career paths that entail various international assignments will be […]
A closer step towards understanding ROI: Introduction of a recent framework
Several empirical and theoretical researches continuously report on the lack of knowledge and understanding within the field of assessing value of international assignments. A recent article by Australian scholars McNulty and De Cieri (2011) contribute to our limited knowledge by presenting a framework of expatriate ROI from the perspective of long-term assignments.