Our newsletters are clearly striking a chord with our readers. A big thank you to all of you who got in touch with us! Your responses illustrate how more and more companies are coming to regard partner support as crucial to mobility and successful expatriations. Buying off expat partners with so-called ‘Gucci-money’ clearly doesn’t work (see also No more Gucci); neither do ad hoc responses to expat partners’ needs or crises. Companies realise that effective partner support requires a proactive approach, but they often struggle to find a way to achieve this.
Reduced manpower at HR
Slimmed-down HR departments barely have the manpower and/or know-how anymore to develop partner support policies or to provide support. Therefore, companies are increasingly turning to consultants to develop their expat partner policies, and outsourcing the management and execution of these programmes.
Effectiveness
A number of HR professionals have described to us the way their departments had struggled and failed to deal with partner support. A few readers admitted to having fallen for tempting propositions such as free intakes and introductory offers. They were then pulled into purchasing outrageously expensive support packages that weren’t even effective. One HR professional commented: “There’s obviously no such thing as a free lunch. It was more like a full course dinner in a restaurant I hadn’t chosen.”
No more outplacement
Another reader described how, in her company, partner support was regarded as being synonymous with career support. Consequently, an outplacement consultancy was hired to support the expat partner. It proved to be completely ineffective; expat partners looking for (broad) support hardly ever have the same needs and drivers as outplacement candidates.
Invisible financial damage
Such mistakes cripple the effectiveness of partner support and lead to substantial (financial) damage for the company. Less successful assignments are costly, but often not very visible, unless it results in a premature repatriation. The financial consequences of immobility – not being able to get the right person in the right place – can be heavy, but, in the short-term, again hardly visible.
Support policy workshops
Global Connection aims to safeguard companies from making costly mistakes in the area of partner support. Therefore, we monitor the needs and expectations of expat partners. Our latest survey results are due later this year. They will help us to update our support policy roadmap, which we will discuss with some of you later this year, in a series of policy workshops.
