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Lawrence Laier, a Senior Executive with over 25 years of professional experience in human resources shares his thoughts and insights into expatriation and repatriation issues. He has served as Managing Director, Head of Human Resources with Natixis (formerly known as CDC IXIS), the US subsidiary of a prominent French financial institution. Prior to Natixis he worked at Citi and A.G. Becker Paribas.
X-E: You have lived and worked in France, Brazil and the United States. Have you experienced striking cultural differences between these countries in terms of HR management? How would you characterize these similarities and differences?
LL: I have experience with human resources practices in France and Brazil from my time working closely with management in France, and from being an employee of Brazilian companies. I also have additional insights into Brazilian employment issues because my eldest son is a lawyer in Brazil. These experiences coincide at one critical point:
Both the French and Brazilian legal systems are based on code, rather than common law principles to which we are accustomed in the United States. As a result, legal codification of employment rules is rigidly structured and highly procedural. When I compared my work experience with my colleagues in France, I learned that much more of their time was spent on labor relations issues than mine was. Because of the presence of labor unions in most French companies, strategic business decisions must be presented to the unions prior to enactment, even though unions cannot stop the decisions if they disagree. Perhaps because of these restraints, French managers tend to be somewhat less focused on relentlessly increasing revenues and more focused on structural issues and individual career goals. In high context cultures such as France, the social structure is more hierarchical than in the US. The hierarchy is often driven by which universities professionals have attended. In Brazil, much effort is expended by companies to work around the procedural codes. Creativity is expended to find alternative routes to get things done. Brazilians can be very entrepreneurial and are often successful at finding creative solutions to code restrictions.
X-E: Is there a typical profile of the expat?
LL: No. The more successful expats are open to new experience and willing to share in local culture. Junior employees adapt more easily to expatriation because they often have fewer entanglements. The greatest obstacle of expatriation relates to the families of expats. What if the spouse has a career that will be disrupted? How do you deal with a "significant other" who is not married to the expat. If there are children, how will their education be managed? Large families make expatriation much more expensive and complex. Issues such as these can distract the expatriate from his/her job functions.
X-E: What steps do you need to take as a local manager to ensure that you retain expats/ex-expats employees?
LL: There is a need for administrative attention from the home office. At the local level, we are really only able to deal with issues that occur at the local level. We cannot effectively manage the return of the expat. Unfortunately, my experience has been that lack of proximity to the home office inevitably leads to neglect.
X-E: You are an ex- expat. How was your return home?
LL: I was an expatriate in the broad sense of living in countries other than my own. I was different from corporate expatriates who often live in a "cocoon of expatriation," where they live in communities of their own nationality. It is possible for such expats to live in other countries for years while experiencing the other cultures in a limited way. That was not the case with me, so integration was somewhat difficult. I was out of touch with American culture.
X-E: You have managed and overseen HR functions of prominent financial institutions. Does this industry in general rely more on international transfers between entities/mobility?
LL: In the age of global expansion in financial services, international mobility was very important. I have encountered many expatriates who were transferred from one international assignment to another without being assigned locally. In general, I think it took them off the regular career progression. I believe that the current economic crisis will result in a reversal of the trend toward globalism and result in a more regional outlook (e.g., ING, which will be split and will sell its US assets to increase its focus on Europe). I suspect that there will be some reduction in the number of expatriate assignments over the next few years as businesses reduce their overall staffing levels and as national governments issue fewer work permits to expatriates to preserve local jobs.
X-E: What are the biggest challenges faced by HR executives when transferring an employee back to his country upon completion of an assignment abroad?
LL: Where do you place the expatriate upon return? The business has gone along fine without him/her on a local basis. In most cases there is not a pre-defined job waiting for a returning expat. Usually one has to scramble to find a suitable position for a returning expatriate, particularly if the business is under economic stress. In effect, the expat leaves the home office as an employee and comes back . . . a candidate.
X-E: Many global companies experience high turnover rates from employees returning from their overseas assignment. What practices/processes, in your opinion, should be applied to prevent such a loss?
LL: There should be planning from the home office and the conditions of the return of the expatriate should be defined at the beginning of the expatriate assignment (including severance provisions). There should be formal evaluation of an expat's performance both locally and by the home office. Career planning meetings should occur on an annual basis while the expat is on assignment.
X-E: More and more corporations use relocation companies to service the needs of their transferees. The services provided usually focus on expatriation (housing, schools, tax advice) and include minimal or no repatriation services. Why is that?
LL: One of the key issues in expatriate administration is that responsibility is bifurcated between the home office and the assignment office. The many needs of the individuals put considerable stress on a human resources department. They range from problems moving an expat's belongings to assistance in finding work for an expat's spouse. Thus it is cost effective for the assignment office to contract assistance from service providers. When it is time for the expatriate to return, he/she becomes the responsibility of the home office. It may be that companies assume that an expat returning to his/her own country does not require much assistance beyond the transport of belongings.
X-E: Do you think that more employees would be willing to work abroad if more companies offered assistance in connection with their return home?
LL: Yes. The greatest risk to an expat occurs at the end of the assignment. Meaningful attention from management at the end of an assignment would make a major difference in retention.
X-E: In this economic climate, a number of professionals working abroad return to their home country, after being terminated. What advice(s) would you give to those in this situation, who may feel that the skills they gained abroad may not be recognized by companies in their home country?
LL: This has been all too true. The truth is that companies, even having the best of intentions consistently fail to follow up on the return promise to expatriates. While the HR people who track them will keep an eye open, the business people who actually hold their fates have a tendency to lose track of them. By the time they return home it is already too late. My advice to expats would be that an expat assignment should be considered risky and that expats should attempt to manage that risk up front and try to negotiate return provisions before leaving. They should also actively manage their careers by maintaining their home country networks.
X-E: Thank you Lawrence for taking the time to answer our questions. Additional information about Mr. Lawrence Laier may be found at: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/lawrence-laier-sphr/6/547/7b8
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