Global Assignments…How Can We Ensure ROI?
We're talking about the dreaded "R" word in the U.S. – Recession. We consistently hear and read about the staggering numbers of corporate lay-offs and spending cutbacks. All the while, we're being asked by our organizations to ensure the ROI of the human capital we have in place and those that we still need to move around the world to support globalization. With the average cost of a two- to three-year global assignment now well over $1.24M, how are we going to ensure that the Company yields a return on investment?
Two factors with significant impact to the ROI of a Global Assignment that come to mind immediately are Pre-Assessment and Preparation, and Repatriation and Re-assimilation. We're going to tackle Pre-assessment and Preparation.
With an average $1.25M plus investment, it's a wonder to me why companies and assignees themselves are reluctant to make the initial investment in preparing for the assignment. Aside from the initial assessment based on cultural compatibility, values etc., which is critical and often undervalued, there are definitive benefits to cultural training that are quantifiable and yet, still ignored.
According to ERC (Employee Relocation Council) the top 4 reasons for an 'unsuccessful' international assignment are: Spouse's/Family's Inability to adjust to cultural/physical environment, Expatriate's inability to adjust to cultural/physical environment, other family related problems and lack of skills necessary to conduct business in the host country culture. These are all issues addressed through one critical assignee service, global effectiveness training.
For less than 1% of the total assignment investment, companies can provide assignees and their family members with global effectiveness training, which provides them with the critical information on preparedness, initial expectations and continued assimilation. This training and education doubles the success rate for an international assignment, so why don't more companies provide the service, or for those who do, why don't they mandate that their assignees take advantage of it?
Posted on 02/12/2009 in Global Mobility | Comments (0)
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