As has been the case for a number of years now, family and spouse / partner issues are critical to assignment success, according to the companies that took part in the 2012 Global Relocation Trends Survey by Brookfield GRS (n = 123).
‘Family concerns’
When candidates were asked why they turn down assignments, 34 percent cited ‘family concerns’ as the most important reason, followed by ‘spouse’s career’ (17 percent). When asked to rate family challenges that were critical to them, companies listed ‘spouse / partner resistance’ first (48 percent), followed by ‘family adjustment’ (38 percent) and ‘children’s education’ (35 percent).
6% of assignments failed
Also, when it comes to assignments failing, family and partners are clearly important issues. The companies taking part in the survey reported that about 6 percent of all assignments failed (compared to 4 percent the year before). In 19 percent of cases, failure was attributed to the employee leaving to work for another company. Spouse / partner dissatisfaction came second with 17 percent, and ‘other family concerns’ third with 11 percent.
