Expatriate management faces many challenges. The role has become more complex as companies send more employees abroad but expect greater support and services. Expatriate managers must address a wide range of issues from tax to culture while facing pressures to cut costs from the business units they support and expatriates themselves. Specific issues include the perception that expatriate HR is not effective, balancing the many areas of focus required, and a shortage of experienced staff with in-depth knowledge of the field.

1. Expatriate Management:
Is it in Crisis?
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HR Spectrum
The management of expatriates has never been more complex than it is
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today: never have there been so many companies sending so many
Consulting employees on assignments abroad; never have there been so many
Services. specialized vendors and other resources available to the manager of
expatriates; yet never has the function faced such a difficult time in
Member mastering its own destiny.
Firms.
The days of the expatriate “have six-gun, will travel,” with the expat
Client foraging about on his own during the relocation and the assignment
List. itself, are long gone. Today expatriates demand a great deal more in
terms of support and services when relocating overseas. And corporate
Advisory managements are putting ever increasing pressures on expat
Board. departments and programs, especially to cut costs.
Articles & So, is there a crisis in managing expatriates?
Presentations
Some Specific Issues
Coming
Events. A number of concrete issues stand out:
Related * The perception (by others) that expatriate HR is “not working” The
Links. tremendous range of subject matter, from tax to culture, comp to spousal
assistance, hardship to payroll, a range no other HR activity
Contact encompasses
HR Spectrum
* Segmentation of work, with each niche area requiring its own focus
* “Client” – i.e. business unit – pressures, in that expat HR typically exists
as a corporate unit but its corporate “clients” are multiple business units
* Pressure from the expats themselves (the 300 E-mails-a-day
syndrome)
* Resource constraints, as in constant pressure to cut staff and reduce
costs
* Shortage of people with seasoned skills and in-depth knowledge of the