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Solutions and strategies for improving expatriate success. ·

Was the employee being unreasonable in his requests?  How did the HR team handle the situation?  Given what you know about the challenges of expatriates, was there anything that the company should have done for this employee and/or his family?  Who is ultimately responsible for making sure the expatriate experience is a successful one?
·        Provide an analysis and suggest some solutions and strategies for improving expatriate success.  
·        If you have ever been an expatriate, please use your own experiences to enhance the discussion. 


·       The employee had a bad experience in France. His expectations were crushed and he felt not really supported by HR. I do not think the person was being reasonable in that situation, he was disappointed and that disappointment was being expressed. So, he was being unreasonable, since there was no other position available, being a senior employee he should have understood that the organization or HR cannot create a redundant position just for him.
·       HR team was professional. They were making sure that the employee got everything the company had to offer. But, they were being defensive. They were not really showing any empathy. They did not really try to understand why the employee was so frustrated and disappointed. On the first place, HR did not do a good job educating and informing the employee about how life was going to affected in a different country.
·       The company should educate and inform the expats or soon to be expats about the society, challenges and opportunities. Like learning a new language or the food and culture everything is going to change and the employee should be aware of that. Employee with family should know how moving to a different country would change his and his family’s life.
I went to Australia in 2011, and I was not well prepared. I had to adopt with Australian accent, the food and the work culture. Everything was very different. I got really home sick and I got really desperate to come back to my own country. I met a coworker, who had to go to one of Caribbean islands for work. And he shared his experience. Turned out, they were not allowed to go out of home because the law and order situation was not good. I heard stories of corruptions from my friends who was sent to Africa on assignment. Thee expats all over face many such problems, most common include relations, money , cultural shock (Peter , 2015).
Based on country the situation is going to be different. And companies should be honest and transparent to employees before sending them there. For this employee, the HR should have informed his about the challenges his family would face if they do not take the French class. The employee was unaware of many things, and one argument would he should have done his own research. But the company should have provided enough help to him, to make sure his life does not become too uncomfortable in France and he would stay there and do his work. I do not think the Company did enough to help the employee.

·       The ultimate responsibility lies with the employer. They are investing money and resources in an employee to make it a success. But, often time the employee does not get enough information about how his or her life is going to change. The company should take care of that aspect too, for the employee’s mental wellbeing. As a result of that the employee will do well at work. But, most companies get anemic return on the investment made on expats (Black, Gregersen, 1999). Saying that, I do not think that the employee does not have any responsibility. The employee should be equally responsible. He or she is taking a responsibility and they should try to complete it. Company should provide all possible resources the employee would need to be successful. May be the employee is leaving the country for first time and has no idea what to expect, this is where the employer’s experience would be useful. The company can make the policies much clearer for other employees who wish to go abroad. And they can set up expat forums, so that other expats help future expats. The company can survey other expats to find out the challenges they faced and then figure out ways to fix or address those challenges.
References –
Retrieved on 3/9/2019. Retrieved from https://www.atlasandboots.com/most-common-expat-problems/
Black J, Gregersen H ( March, 1999). The Right Way to Manage Expats. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/1999/03/the-right-way-to-manage-expats



                                                                            
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