What About Us - Taking Account of The Partner's and Family Needs on International Assignments

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"Hey, darling, I've got wonderful news! I have been offered a job for the next three years in Chile... and we leave in eight weeks! What an opportunity for us - aren't you delighted?" Sound familiar?

Often the immediate thought is "No, I am not delighted - I am happy where I am, I don't want to move and I don't know anything about Chile", followed by, a few moments later, "How can I be ready in eight weeks and go and live thousands of miles away - and what about the children and the parents?" And very often these days, "What about my job?" - but you take a deep breath, smile and say "OK, let's see how we can make this work"!

For the working partner, an assignment overseas can be - and usually is - a wonderful opportunity. He, or she, invariably has a helpful and effective support system in terms of work content, challenges, opportunities, offices, colleagues, communications, transport etc. For the supporting, often non-working partner, this is not usually the case and, away from family and friends, support comes primarily from the working partner plus whatever preparation received prior to departure.

The responsibilities of finding somewhere to live, sorting out schools, arranging for appliances to be installed, shopping etc, invariably falls on the non-working partner and this can, and does happen, where the mother tongue, be it English, French, German or whatever, is not widely spoken or even understood.

Studies consistently show that the biggest single cause of expatriation assignments ending in failure is the inability of the non-working partner to adjust to the physical and cultural environment of the host country. And yet it need not be so.

A little time, effort and money spent on pre-departure preparation can significantly increase the chances of a successful expatriation and speed up the process for both employee and partner of becoming "more effective more quickly".

The weeks immediately prior to departure are invariably frenetic - sometimes traumatic - and there never seems to be enough time to do all the things that need to be done; it often becomes a very stressful time.

Farnham Castle International Briefing Centre offers a supportive and helpful environment in which to undertake pre-departure country briefings on both scheduled and customised programmes. These are designed to help employees, with their partners, understand more about the peoples among whom they are about to live and work.

International assignment briefings also provide an opportunity for couples to resolve any outstanding issues of a personal nature related to the expatriation, and to identify those questions they want to have answered about the target country and the living and working conditions therein; also covered are issues related to health, finance and security and where relevant, there is an introduction to the language of the target country. Advice is also offered on the opportunities available in the destination country for those wishing to follow a career path or interest during the assignment. And to further help the acclimatisation process, the opportunity to undertake intensive language tuition on a one-to-one or one-to-two basis is also available - and all whilst resident in a comfortable 12th century castle in Surrey!

Some companies believe that only the employee needs to be briefed or learn the language of the host country. However, given the much lower level of external support usually provided to the supporting partner - particularly in the first few weeks or months of an expatriation - we strongly believe that the partner's needs in this area are at least as important, if not more, than those of the employee.

Ideally, both employee and partner should participate together in the briefing.

"I recommend this assignment briefing for anyone and their spouse going on a foreign assignment and suggest that it be arranged as early as possible before the assignment starts."

Product Development Director, SKF Bearings going to India.