Global war for talents talk

WHO WILL WIN THE GLOBAL WAR FOR TALENTS ?

EXPATRIATE MANAGEMENT IN THE 21ST CENTURY

Anne Egros October 5, 2010

•“If things seem under control, you’re just not going fast enough.”Mario Andretti- world champion racing driver

! GDP Growth in emerging markets

! Technologies and free flow of information

! Global labor productivity

! Global flow of people, goods, information, and capital

McKinsey Quarterly-May 2010

The core drivers of globalization

Within BRICs countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China),

China has become the world's second- biggest economy before Japan with a

growth rate of 10%. New York Times August 2010

Companies are required to manage an increasingly diverse workforce

expatriation is just a subset of global talent management challenge

“Emerging markets will take talent from developed

economies.”-Stephenie Overman in SHRM publication August 2010

WHY EXPATRIATE

FAIL ?

What are the major reasons for expatriate failure ?

1- Wrong candidate selection process

2-Poor job satisfaction: relationships with coworkers and disconnection from the company's head office.

3- Ethnocentric Global HR  Management: The organization thinks that the way of doing things in the home country is the best way, no matter where business is done.

4-Family issues including health care, children education and work-life balance, failure to recognize specific support to enhance local  job and family satisfaction

5-Spouse isolation,  career loss

Preparing the employees and their families for a foreign assignment is mutually

beneficial to the organization and the employee

SPOUSES/PARTNERSWHAT IS EXPATRIATESUCCESS ?

What are the  top traits shared by  successful expatriates

1-Happy, supportive  trailing spouse and family

2-Flexibility and adaptability

3-Creativity, open mind and complex problem solving skills

4-Great interpersonal and intercultural communication skills

5-Constantly developing a strong professional and social network

Financial incentives are not considered as a key success factor by most executives but generally "happiness" and a rewarding personal and  fruitful professional experiences with other cultures are intrinsically rewarding.

METRICS ?

How do you measure Expatriate failure and

success ?

What types of  training and support are the most useful ?

1-Cross-Cultural Trainings

2-Expatriate Career Management

3-Networking skills and social media training

Cross-Cultural Trainings• " culture shock", host country' history, main cultural traits,

customs, etiquette, local languages

• Spouse job search support if this is an issue, including help to get a working visa. 

• It is important that the executives and their families focus on discovering the positive aspects of their host country and learn to avoid comparing  things that are better in their home country. 

• The executive and family need to assimilate  the local culture as much as possible to be happy and successful but the family should also be connected with other expatriates. 

CULTURAL INTELLIGENCE

HEALTH CARE

CHILDREN EDUCATION

FAMILY AT “HOME”

WORK-LIFE ISSUES IN MULTICULTURAL CONTEXTS

Do not assume “one-size fits all” in global HR policies

In western cultures, family concerns are the dominant cause of premature return and Spouse/partner dissatisfaction is the number one reason for assignment failure. 

Expatriate Career Management

► Before accepting a foreign assignment, an executive should ask questions regarding future career plans with the company.

►Going abroad requires that people strategically manage their career by making sure to be visible from the head office. Assigning a mentor in the head office might be a good idea as well as executive coaching to help manage multicultural teams.

►Repatriation: Career and personal coaching  can also be offered to the following spouses to support them in the repatriation process that can sometimes be harder than the expatriation phase

 Expat Life: Returning Home and the Grief Cycle

The Grief Cycle (Dr Kubler-Ross )

1-Initial paralysis at hearing the bad news

2-Denial stage: Trying to avoid the inevitable.

3-Anger stage: Frustrated outpouring of bottled-up emotion.

4-Bargaining stage: Seeking in vain for a way out.

5-Depression stage: Final realization of the inevitable.

6-Testing stage: Seeking realistic solutions.

7-Acceptance stage: Finally finding the way forward.

 The #1 reason why people move abroad is

HAPPINESSHAPPINESS 

CONCLUSION