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Global Assignment Best Practice

Anne morris.

• 3 October 2019

IN THIS SECTION

When planning and preparing for a global assignment, there are numerous factors that have the potential to contribute to its overall success, with benefits both for your business and for the assignee. The following guide looks at best practice for employers when deploying personnel overseas, from the employee experience to the flexibility of different types of global assignment.

The employee experience in global assignments

A good employer will recognise that at the heart of its business are its people. As such, ensuring a positive employee experience for overseas assignees can be crucial the success of a global assignment.

As an employer responsible for sending an employee overseas, you will have a legal duty of care, not to mention a moral responsibility and vested financial interest, to ensure the wellbeing of that individual. In particular, when planning a global assignment, caretaking the health and safety of the overseas assignee should be paramount.

Any assessment of travel risks must be tailored to the nature of the work to be undertaken, the attributes of the employee and any factors specific to the host destination. The importance of researching the country and region in which the assignee will be working, and keeping abreast of any imminent changes, cannot be underestimated here.

Even relatively safe destinations can quickly become high-risk regions due to health, safety, security, political or social reasons, not to mention the possibility of natural disasters, so it is important to stay fully informed of changing risks and to be able to relay such information to assignees working remotely.

It is also important to educate each overseas assignee in advance of their global assignment about the location in which they will be working, not least arranging security briefings and training on hostile environment awareness for those travelling to high-risk destinations, as well as educating all assignees on any legal and cultural differences, even for low-risk destinations.

Preparing assignees for cultural integration can often be key to ensuring not only the safety and security of these individuals, but also their overall wellbeing and happiness, on both a professional and personal basis. This could include, for example, the use of pre-deployment programs such as cross-cultural training and intensive language classes. Any training and classes could also be extended to family members accompanying the employee on their global assignment.

You may also want to consider putting in place a benefit and support program, both prior to departure and throughout the lifecycle of the assignment, from deployment through to repatriation.

As such, by creating a safe and supported working environment from the outset, this can significantly alleviate the risk of failure and help to avoid early repatriation, ensuring the global assignment is a success for everyone involved.

The use of technology in global assignments

When conducting business on an international scale, this can give rise to a number of challenges, not least in sourcing suitable data to make informed decisions, both in advance and during the lifecycle of a global assignment. Here, the use of technology can play a crucial role in guiding your global mobility policies and management decision-making.

In particular, where implemented effectively and used correctly, data and predictive analytics tools can prove to be invaluable in gaining insight into operational costs and overall return on investment, as well as employee placement and key performance indicators.

In particular, analytics tools can be used in the following ways:

• Cost analytics – to establish a cost model for your global assignment
• Workforce analytics – to connect the talent in your recruiting database to the skillset needed for your global assignments
• Assignee identification analytics – to focus on the cost drivers of sending the right assignees to the right location
• Employee retention analytics – to predict which overseas assignees are at risk of early repatriation or attrition and which candidates, and/or global assignments, are at a higher risk of failure
• Exposure analysis – to quantify the various levels of exposure to any penalties associated with non-compliance

In fact, with the benefit of these types of analytics tools, together with other forms of technology, global mobility is becoming far easier to achieve in the digital age, and to do so successfully.

It can significantly lessen many of the legal and administrative pressures when managing a mobile workforce, especially when it comes to tax and immigration compliance in a highly regulated environment. Furthermore, technology can also play an important role in enhancing the individual performance of overseas assignees.

When planning and preparing for a global assignment, although the focus will primarily be on selecting the right assignee for the particular assignment and location in question, including their individual qualifications and capabilities, by offering the employee the right tools to do their job to the best of their ability, technology can help to maximise the prospects of a successful outcome.

Indeed, by investing in technology, an employer can not only maximise the productivity of an overseas assignee, but also monitor their progress and even measure assignee experience.

Further, the use of technology through, for example, mobile devices and secured wireless networks, can be extremely effective in maintaining regular communication with overseas assignees, ensuring that they don’t feel disconnected from the company or work colleagues back home. This can be crucial in avoiding early repatriation and the potential failure of the global assignment overall.

Needless to say, however, it is vital that you keep abreast of technological advancements, from connectivity to up-to-date software, to ensure that your overseas assignees can carry out their work cost effectively and efficiently, and that the use of technology is aligned to your organisational objectives and overall mobility goals.

The importance of return investment in global assignments

For you as the employer, global assignments can equate to profitable expansion into both new and existing markets, significantly boosting the global revenue, as well as the reputation, of your business. Furthermore, by sending existing employees abroad, as opposed to recruiting overseas, this can help to streamline operations and expedite growth.

That said, cost control can play a key role in the commercial viability of a global assignment, not least when factoring in the potentially significant cost of both deployment and repatriation of the overseas assignee.

However, global assignment management is not only about number crunching. It is equally about the potential return on investment in various other ways. In fact, overseas assignments can be an excellent way of developing top talent within your organisation, by offering key individual employees a career pathway to more senior promotion.

In particular, the international experience can help train promising and ambitious individuals for leadership, managerial and executive roles, as well as giving them invaluable insight and new industry knowledge to help develop your business back in the UK.

Further, for the individual employee, on both a professional and personal basis, the benefits of working abroad can be significant, not least in terms of potential career progression, increased salary or compensation, as well as the possibility of an international travel experience for their whole family.

As such, given that the overall success of the global assignment will inevitably include the successful repatriation and retention of your top talent at the end of the assignment, you will need to consider what initiatives to implement to alleviate the risk of losing key employees.

In addition to the promise of career progression and a suitably senior role to come back to, useful initiatives could include the use of competitive relocation and repatriation packages, ensuring that your overseas assignees are happy to repatriate and return home. As previously indicated, this should also include the cost of suitable benefit and support initiatives to ensure the overall wellbeing and happiness of your employees.

Understandably, you may feel cautious about controlling the cost of a global assignment, but this must be balanced against the need to attract and retain talent to ensure the continuity and success of your business in the long-term.

Flexibility in global assignments

When determining the potential success of a global assignment, you will also need to consider the nature and duration of the task to be undertaken and the best way in which this can be achieved, from the use of frequent business travel and short-term assignments to long-term assignments and relocation. There is no one-size-fits-all approach.

Needless to say, each of these different types of global assignment has different benefits and risks, although business travel is likely to prove the most straightforward and cost effective choice in many cases. Here, individual employees can attend conferences and meetings, close a deal, sign new business and network. Indeed, networking can be one of the most lucrative ways to support business growth.

Senior executives and managers can also use extended business trips to undertake various different global assignments, including opening a new office or setting up a new division, without the costs associated with other types of global mobility, and without the same personal and practical challenges of relocating to another country.

In respect of short or long-term assignments, these can be a good way of gaining invaluable insight and industry knowledge to help progress your business back in the UK. The long-term global assignment, in particular, can also be extremely effective in establishing a foothold in strategic and emerging markets. This type of assignment can provide new sales opportunities, new customer bases and significantly increased revenue. It can even enhance your reputation and global influence as a corporate organisation.

However, where you are looking to fill skills gaps or to manage operations overseas, you may want to consider the possibility of permanent relocation, not least because this can often prove to be much more cost effective than the traditional long-term assignment with the associated costs of repatriation. That said, any relocation package will need to include sufficient incentive to attract a suitable candidate to move abroad on a permanent basis.

Key take-aways 

The management of global assignments can be one of the hardest areas for employers and HR experts to master, not least when trying to control costs whilst adapting to the shifting demands of the global business environment. As such, there is a very high failure rate for global assignments.

Further, the consequences of an unsuccessful global assignment can be far-reaching for your business, not only in terms of loss of revenue and wasted expenditure, but the potential loss of key personnel and top global talent from within your organisation.

It is, therefore, imperative that you understand and address the following key global assignment success factors:

• Make a full assessment of any travel risks, tailored to the individual assignee, the specific assignment and the host destination in question, keeping abreast of any changes that may impact on this.
• Educate each overseas assignee in advance of their global assignment about the locations in which they will be working, including but not limited to any safety and security issues, as well as any legal and cultural differences.
• Always ensure the overall wellbeing of your overseas assignees at all times, from deployment through to their return home, as such alleviating the risk of early repatriation. This could be through the provision of cross-cultural training, intensive language classes and/or an ongoing benefit and support program.
• Ensure that you adequately incentivise your overseas assignees so as to avoid losing key employees from within your workforce, for example, through attractive relocation and repatriation packages, as well as a suitably senior role to return home to.
• Utilise data and analytics tools to make informed management decisions in respect of global assignments, from cost control to non-compliance.
• Keep abreast of technological advances that may maximise the productivity of an overseas assignee, or otherwise enhance any profitable business growth.
• Consider the flexibility offered by different types of global assignment, from business trips to permanent relocation, not only with regard to the nature and duration of the task to be undertaken, but also with regard to the personal and professional needs of the prospective candidate who may be undertaking this assignment.

Needless to say, this list is not exhaustive, with a plethora of other factors that may come into play when planning and preparing for a global assignment.

Guidance for HR & employers

For advice and guidance on managing  global assignments,  or any aspect of global mobility programme strategy and implementation, contact us .

Founder and Managing Director Anne Morris is a fully qualified solicitor and trusted adviser to large corporates through to SMEs, providing strategic immigration and global mobility advice to support employers with UK operations to meet their workforce needs through corporate immigration.

She is a recognised by Legal 500 and Chambers as a legal expert and delivers Board-level advice on business migration and compliance risk management as well as overseeing the firm’s development of new client propositions and delivery of cost and time efficient processing of applications.

Anne is an active public speaker, immigration commentator , and immigration policy contributor and regularly hosts training sessions for employers and HR professionals

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About DavidsonMorris

As employer solutions lawyers, DavidsonMorris offers a complete and cost-effective capability to meet employers’ needs across UK immigration and employment law, HR and global mobility .

Led by Anne Morris, one of the UK’s preeminent immigration lawyers, and with rankings in The Legal 500 and Chambers & Partners , we’re a multi-disciplinary team helping organisations to meet their people objectives, while reducing legal risk and nurturing workforce relations.

Legal Disclaimer

The matters contained in this article are intended to be for general information purposes only. This article does not constitute legal advice, nor is it a complete or authoritative statement of the law, and should not be treated as such. Whilst every effort is made to ensure that the information is correct at the time of writing, no warranty, express or implied, is given as to its accuracy and no liability is accepted for any error or omission. Before acting on any of the information contained herein, expert legal advice should be sought.

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Global Assignment - Meaning, Importance, Steps & Example

What is global assignment.

Global assignments are business projects which are allotted to some employees outside the home country. Global assignments are employers assigning their employees on projects which are globally implemented. Global assignments are mostly taken place in multinational companies and may involve employees to relocate from their current country to a different country where the assignment is assigned.

Since globalization has taken place rapidly and the world has become more connected, it has become a very common phenomenon. Many countries face skill shortage or require an expert for a particular assignment so they would hire the person with the requisite skills or knowledge from other countries and pay the person a hefty compensation as demanded by the person.

Steps in Managing Global Assignment

Some steps in managing global assignments & international projects are:

1. Evaluating objectives of the international project

2. Identifying team members & giving pre-requisite training

3. Pre-departure preparation of activities & work to be done

4. On job activities on global assignment at international location

5. Project completion

6. Evaluation & reassignment if required

Importance of Global Assignment

Global assignments as identified by experts in international human resource management are of three types

1. Technical assignments: Employees may be assigned global assignments if they have the technical skills that are required by the MNC for a particular assignment and the MNC is not able to find anyone as capable as that person internally and in that particular country, if a person is located within the MNC in another country then that person is sent on a technical assignment.

2. Developmental assignments: Developmental assignments are typically used to develop a project or concept that is new to a different location or develop skills in a different location which is not implemented in that location, it is also used by institutes to bring in faculties from different parts of the globe to give the students an exposure to different perspectives and cultures and their thoughts on the scenario of the subject.

3. Strategic Assignments are global assignments in which a key partner is sent to launch a product in a key location, develop the market or get necessary changes in the business strategy or even sign Memorandum of Understandings and Joint Venture deals.

Advantages of Global Assignments

Some advantages of global assignments are

1. Skills and knowledge which are not available in a country can be brought from other countries.

2. MNC’s are able to get their projects done more effectively and not having the problem of talent not being available.

3. Employees may be motivated to join an MNC which assigns global assignments to its employees regularly.

Example of Global Assignment

Here is an example of global assignment for a hypothetical organization Company A. Company A could not find a person who could communicate in French, German and Hindi in their main headquarters in USA as they felt that there would be a gap in understanding if the language is translated to English, and then to either of these languages. So, since they did not find the any person who had proficiency in these three languages in their headquarters and started finding for a person with the language skills throughout all their office. Company A found a person in their international office in India with the knowledge in these three languages. So, they assigned her the project under a global assignment and she was asked to relocate to the main headquarters located in the United States for the duration of the project.

Hence, this concludes the definition of Global Assignment along with its overview.

This article has been researched & authored by the Business Concepts Team . It has been reviewed & published by the MBA Skool Team. The content on MBA Skool has been created for educational & academic purpose only.

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Global Assignments Enhance Employee Development

For the first time in years, building international management experience has appeared as one of the top two reasons for sending employees on international assignments, Brookfield Global Relocation Services (GRS) discovered, based on responses from global mobility professionals representing 143 companies worldwide. Brookfield GRS provides employee relocation, assignment management and mobility-consulting services for multinational organizations.

This finding is borne out in the experience of Joy Hill, global mobility manager at Brown-Forman, the spirits company that produces Jack Daniels and many other well-known brands. Developing high-potential employees and meeting business needs are the top two reasons employees at Brown-Forman are sent on international assignments, she said.

Brookfield’s 2015 Global Mobility Trends Survey report found that the need to move talent internationally is not diminishing (88 percent of respondents expect their expatriate population to either increase or stay the same this year) and that dealing with cost pressures, compliance mandates, measuring return on investment (ROI) and assignees’ spousal needs have become top priorities.

“All of the data suggests that talent will be in short supply in the next five to 10 years and that the mobility of the talent that is available will be important in order to address the talent shortage,” said Gill Aldred, director of consulting services at Brookfield GRS. “Mobility has a role by partnering with talent management in a formal way so that the identification and preparation of good candidates for international assignments is approached with more structure and is supported by the resources it needs to be effective.”

Seventy-seven percent of respondents believe that having international assignment experience has real value. Respondents reported that international assignees are promoted faster (43 percent), achieve higher performance ratings (19 percent) and receive more frequent compensation increases (17 percent) than those without such experience.

Hill found these metrics to ring true at Brown-Forman. “Given that most of our expats are high potentials, I would agree, but I believe it comes down to the organization’s objectives for the expat assignment,” she said. For example, those sent on assignment to fill an immediate business need may not necessarily be in line for a faster promotion or increased compensation, as that action can be viewed as a normal course of business, she added.

International assignments also represent value to the organization, Aldred said. “There are clear advantages to assignees, and by extension to the company, in completing a successful international assignment. Companies can target retention efforts towards those who have gained valuable international experience, which supports a company’s overall strategy to retain high-performing and highly invested-in employees.”

Organizations can also brand themselves as employers of choice for Millennials who actively seek international opportunities, Aldred said.

More Work to Do

While the value of international experience is recognized, only half (49 percent) of mobility practitioners indicated they have an active link to talent management in their organization, and a majority of respondents said they lack talent-based tools related to mobility, such as preassignment candidate assessments and repatriation programs.

More than three-quarters (78 percent) of respondents do not utilize any type of candidate assessment for selecting individuals to go on international assignments. “In terms of ensuring that the company’s high-stakes, high-investment assignments start off with the best possible chance for success, a candidate assessment makes sense,” Aldred said. “For a key strategic leadership role, an employee’s technical skills and experience may be paramount for success, but assessing the employee for the right mix of adaptability and global communication skills is also critical,” she added.

A large majority of respondents said that they have not identified a candidate pool of high-potential, ready, willing and able candidates for international assignments (81 percent); don’t have a formal career-management process in place for assignees (82 percent); and don’t have repatriation programs linked to retaining international assignees (86 percent). Nearly one-quarter (22 percent) reported having no initiatives at all in place to reduce international assignee attrition rates.

“Respondents that reported a formal reporting relationship between mobility and talent rather than only a strong link between the functions also reported a number of positive practices, including more often having formal career-management processes in place and better outcomes in the areas of reduced assignment failure and assignee attrition,” Aldred said.

Cost Pressures, ROI Challenges

When asked about the single biggest mobility challenge that their companies face, 23 percent of respondents cited assignment cost, 22 percent said compliance with host-country laws and 11 percent said career management while on assignment.

Three-quarters (74 percent) indicated that they had been required to reduce international assignment costs within the last year in response to economic pressures.

Even with the mounting pressure to reduce assignment costs, the survey results reveal that many companies lack basic cost-management practices. Only 62 percent of respondents indicated that they track costs during an assignment, and less than half (46 percent) said that a preassignment cost-benefit analysis is required.

Despite the high cost associated with international assignments, a staggering 95 percent of companies don’t measure international assignment ROI, according to the survey. The top reason cited for this oversight by 53 percent of respondents is that they are “not sure how to achieve this.”

The anxiety around calculating the ROI of international assignments has to do with inhibitors such as the lack of data collection and governance processes, Aldred said. Starting ROI evaluation requires strategy and data, and Aldred advised companies to remediate inadequate data collection, tracking and interpretation strategies, and amend governance so that defining, communicating and evaluating assignment objectives is a requirement.

“ROI for international assignments could represent a valuable scorecard metric for the mobility function and one that might be used to arrive at a more nuanced and strategy-friendly balance between the cost and the value of mobility,” she said.

Family Concerns Top Reason for Assignment Refusal, Early Return

Family concerns (38 percent) was the single most cited reason for assignment refusal and for early assignment return. It was also the third most commonly noted reason for assignment failure, after assignees leaving to work for another company and poor job performance. Spousal and partner career issues is another growing concern. Spousal career concerns came in as the second most noted reason for assignment refusal, and just over one-third (35 percent) of respondents indicated that spousal and partner career concerns were having an impact on their ability to attract employees for international assignments.

Emerging Markets in Challenging Locations

International assignments are growing in the same locations that respondents say are the most challenging for assignees and program managers.

The top emerging markets for international assignments—Brazil, China, India—also present the greatest problems, according to respondents, whether it’s immigration, cultural adaptation, and specifically, security in Brazil, environmental health concerns in China and government regulations in India.

Assignees moving to what may be considered a challenging location should be carefully selected and supported, Aldred said. Additional strategies she recommended include:

• Providing mandatory intercultural training.
• Carefully setting expectations for the quality of housing, availability of good schooling and the immigration process.
• Providing high-quality destination support through in-country support partners.
• Including spouses and partners in the preassignment training process.

Roy Maurer is an online editor/manager for SHRM. Follow him @SHRMRoy

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Selecting Global Assignees

By Valerie Frazee

Jul. 1, 1998

The success of your entire overseas venture may rest in the hands of one expatriate employee and his or her family. So how do you make sure you send the candidate most likely to live up to the challenge? This was the question on the minds of three readers who recently posted discussion threads on the topic in the Global HR Forum on Workforce Online. Responding to their inquiries, we asked an authority on the subject to share her perspective. Here she outlines a strategic approach to expatriate selection. She includes an overview of how assessment tools can aid the process. Dr. Paula Caligiuri from Rutgers University in Piscataway, New Jersey, researcher on the topic of managing global assignees, says: Selecting global assignees is both a critical and frustrating topic for global HR professionals. Most human resources professionals agree that not all employees sent on global assignments will succeed. Some will flourish, while others, unfortunately, will fail. Seasoned global HR professionals may pride themselves on the fact that they can predict the outcome of an assignment — after just a few interactions with a prospective assignee. They have developed the sixth sense for selecting global assignees. Despite the sixth sense that these HR professionals may have, the unfortunate reality is that most are unable to stop a risky global assignment from moving forward. Frequently, an assignee is chosen within the business unit based only on the person’s technical or managerial skills. HR has little involvement, except to process the appropriate paperwork. This typical scenario is both myopic and deleterious for organizations valuing the strategic management of their human talent worldwide. Appropriately, this scenario is beginning to change in many multinational organizations as global HR is becoming more integrated into the overall global business strategy. In fact, research suggests that your involvement in the global assignment process is related to better bottom line success. As a function, global HR is becoming more involved in the strategy and practice of managing the global assignment process. Many global human resources professionals have started their strategic roles with improvements on the global assignee selection process. The process outlined below is a description of what global HR professionals in these strategic multinational organizations are doing to select their international assignees. The most effective process for selecting global assignees involves four distinct phases:

Phase One: Allow for self-selection. Employees who may be on the track for a future global assignment should begin the decision-making process about a year or more before a position becomes available. (The way companies identify this group will vary.) In this self-selection phase, employees introspectively question whether they are right for a global assignment, if their spouses and children would be interested in relocating internationally, if this is the best time for them professionally, and so on. The greatest criticism of self-selection is that candidates and their spouses will not be honest. I have found this criticism is unfounded given that most people are very honest with themselves — if they know that the information is private and confidential. People would rather learn for themselves that they may not have what it takes for a global assignment, rather than go through formal company-initiated testing — a process they are likely to fake to save themselves the embarrassment of failing the test . Given that the consequences of being unsuccessful on a global assignment are high, people will seek out information that helps them predict the likelihood of their success living in another country. During self-selection, your employees and their families can be honest with themselves without fearing negative repercussions from the organization and without the pressure of having to make a quick decision. Self-selection instruments such as The SAGE (Self-Assessment for Global Endeavors) and The SAGE for Spouses (both by Caligiuri & Associates in Edison, New Jersey) can help employees and their families through the decision-making process. Some organizations, such as Plano, Texas-based EDS, have made a self-selection instrument generally available on their company’s intranet to encourage self-assessment among those who may not have previously considered a global assignment. Other organizations, such as Wilton, Connecticut-based Deloitte and Touche LLP, give the self-selection instrument to targeted employees. Then human resources is available for follow-up discussion meetings after the employees have taken the instrument. In either case, the purpose is for HR to provide information and assist in the decision-making process — without evaluating the candidates’ potential. Phase Two: Create a pool of candidates After the self-selection process, employees should have the option of putting themselves in a candidate pool. You can organize this candidate pool in an electronic database. Each multinational organization may organize the database differently, depending on its staffing needs. Some examples of employee information for the database include: the year the employee is available to go, the languages the employee speaks, the countries the employee prefers and the jobs for which the employee is qualified. HR, in this phase, creates and manages the database. It’s imperative that you include all possible candidates who may be considered for a global assignment in the database. Phase Three: Assess candidates’ technical skills Once the business unit has identified a position, you should scan the database for all possible candidates for a given global assignment. This short list is forwarded to the department requesting the assignment. It’s now the job of the sending manager to assess each candidate on technical and managerial readiness relative to the needs of the assignment. You can offer guidance in phase three to help the sending manager identify the knowledge, skills, abilities and experience needed to perform a given job. In this phase, the job requirements of the global assignment should be the focus. If a global assignment is for director of production in China, for example, assess candidates on their records as production managers, not on their cultural skills or competencies to operate in China. (The exception to this would be if a position had been analyzed for the necessary global competencies. It has been my experience that this is done very rarely. Phase Four: Make a mutual decision. In this final phase, the sending manager has identified one person as an acceptable candidate based on his or her technical or managerial readiness. You know the candidate family is willing to accept the assignment because it has placed itself in the candidate pool. At this point, an assignee has been tentatively “selected.” To offer a realistic preview to these tentative global assignees, organizations have matched repatriate families with the selected families. The purpose is for the repatriate families to share experiences and difficulties. As a caution, the repatriate families doing the previews should be chosen carefully. Find repatriates who had positive experiences but who are also realistic about the challenges of the assignment. If possible, match families with children of similar ages. An honest discussion between repatriates and future assignees gives the assignees more information and an additional opportunity to deselect if they feel that a global assignment is not right for them. Often, these meetings are encouraging and supportive — strengthening a family’s commitment to the assignment. Some organizations, such as Brampton, Ontario-based Northern Telecom, conduct a more thorough assessment of the selected assignee and his or her family, in an attempt to ensure their assignees’ success. Some consulting organizations, such as Thornhill, Ontario-based FGI Global Relocation Services, conduct a pre-departure family assessment. The relocating family and a family counselor determine what, if any, accommodations the family may need to be successful in the host country. Then human resources works through the counselor to provide the family any necessary accommodations detected in the assessment process. This is a very proactive strategy. Post-selection preparation. Many consulting organizations offer thorough cross-cultural preparation to prospective global assignees and their families. These cultural preparation programs, while falling under the heading of training, sometimes uncover specific cultural concerns. From an assessment standpoint, HR can use this knowledge to prevent a potential problem when the family is on assignment. In the extreme cases, a family realizes that its decision to accept the assignment was a mistake. Employees may, even this late into the process, deselect. As with Phase One, I recommend that the decision to refuse an assignment in this phase be made by the assignee and not by the organization. Fortunately, for organizations going through the first three phases, a deselection at this stage is a very infrequent occurrence. In conclusion, there are three themes in this global assignee selection process. The first is to plant the seed as early as possible. You will get the best possible candidates when you cast a large net and engage individuals’ decision-making processes long before a position becomes available. The second theme is to involve the family from the very beginning. A global assignment will disrupt the lives of every family member — and each member will influence the assignment positively or negatively. The third theme is to allow for deselection at every phase. Traditional selection methods simply do not work for global assignments — unless a thorough job analysis is conducted for each assignment. The decision needs to be mutual among the employee, his or her organization, and his or her family. Organizations should convey to their employees that a global assignment is not right for everyone. Global Workforce , July 1998, Vol. 3, No. 4, pp. 28-30.

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Please note you do not have access to teaching notes, global assignment effectiveness and leader development.

Advances in Global Leadership

ISBN : 978-0-85724-467-3 , eISBN : 978-0-85724-468-0

Publication date: 24 January 2011

Organizations put significant resources toward the management of global assignments; however, few realize the full benefits that these experiences provide in terms of the development of future leaders. This chapter presents three principles for directing global assignment strategies to maximize effectiveness and supports those principles with research among a sample of leaders at a global organization. First, effective global assignments are powerful sources of leader development and can be implemented to maximize this outcome. Second, assignments differ in their developmental value with some assignments providing significantly more value than others. Third, individuals differ in their ability to perform on assignment. Finally, implications of the research findings and principles for global talent management strategy are discussed.

Moriarty Gerrard, M. (2011), "Global assignment effectiveness and leader development", Mobley, W.H. , Li, M. and Wang, Y. (Ed.) Advances in Global Leadership ( Advances in Global Leadership, Vol. 6 ), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 243-266. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1535-1203(2011)0000006013

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Global assignments : successfully expatriating and repatriating international managers

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• Part One: Strategic Global Assignments
• 1. The Strategic Roles of Global Assignments
• 2. The Process of Making Cross--Cultural Adjustments Part Two: Before the Assignment
• 3. Selecting: Finding the Right People
• 4. Training: Helping People Learn to Do the Right Things Part Three: During the Assignment
• 5. Adjusting: Developing New Mental Road Maps and Behaviors
• 6. Integrating: Balancing Dual Allegiances
• 7. Appraising: Determining If People Are Doing the Right Things
• 8. Rewarding: Recognizing People When They Do Things Right Part Four: After the Assignment
• 9. Repatriating: Helping People Readjust and Perform
• 10. Retaining: Utilizing the Experienced Global Manager
• 11. Managing the Entire Global Assignment Cycle: Establishing Best Practices.
• (source: Nielsen Book Data)

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global assignment

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Is a job assignment within a multinational corporation that involves expatriation; that is the relocation of an employee to another country. Specialists in international human resource management identify different types of global assignment. Technical assignments occur when employees with technical skills are sent from one country to another to fill a particular skill shortage. Developmental assignments, in contrast, are typically used within a management development programme and are used to equip managers with new skills and competencies. Strategic assignments arise when key executives are sent from one country to another to launch a product, develop a market or initiate another key change in business strategy. Finally, functional assignments resemble technical assignments but differ in one important respect. Technical assignments do not require the assignee to interact extensively with employees in the host country but this is a requirement of functional assignments and for this reason assignees are often prepared through cross-cultural training.

From:   global assignment   in  A Dictionary of Human Resource Management »

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Global Assignment Policies & Practices Survey Report

Insights on how global organisations administer their global mobility programs

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• Global Assignment Policies & Practices Survey Report

For global mobility leaders of multinational organisations, benchmarking your global mobility policies and practices against those of other global organisations and industry peers can be a powerful tool for reflecting on your current approach and planning how to prepare your talent mobility program for the future. To help, KPMG International conducts this annual survey of global mobility policies and practices of multinational organisations. While the number of participants continues to grow, the resulting database is already believed to be one of the most robust of its kind on a global scale.

The data offers insights into global mobility programs and how they are evolving in terms of mobility, tax and immigration policies, structure, governance, priorities, performance measures, technology, robotics, automation, international remote working and more

Download  the 2023 KPMG Global Assignment Policies and Practices Survey summary report for more on this year's key findings.

Global Assignment Policies and Practices Survey

How global mobility programs are evolving, key findings.

The results of this year’s Global Assignment Policies and Practices (GAPP) Survey sheds light on how global mobility programs are continually evolving. In addition to compliance and global risk management, supporting the organisation’s business objectives, controlling program costs and being adaptable to changing business requirements are clearly the top priorities for today’s global mobility leaders. The global talent mobility function’s contribution to strategic value for the organisation has taken priority; being recognised as a trusted advisor and collaborator to the business.

Many organizations are recalibrating their approach to flexible work arrangements, leaning towards requiring employees to be more present in the office. This shift represents a response to several factors, including the desire for more direct collaboration, and the cultivation of company culture.

Businesses, however, must recognize that top professionals now prioritize flexibility and work-life balance. To remain competitive, organizations will need to blend the advantages of in-person collaboration with a continued commitment to accommodating the diverse needs and preferences of their workforce, all while striving to attract and retain the best talent in this ever-evolving employment environment.

Recognizing the importance of attracting, retaining, and developing top talent as a competitive advantage, the global mobility function plays a pivotal role in making this vision a reality.

This alignment helps ensure the right people are in the right place at the right time, with the skills and expertise to drive the organization forward. By harmonizing global mobility with talent initiatives, companies can leverage international experience, facilitate career growth, and support the evolving needs of their workforce, ultimately contributing to sustained success and an agile response to the ever-changing demands of the global marketplace.

Global mobility functions continue to place a strong emphasis on technology due to its transformative impact on the way organizations manage their global workforce. In terms of global mobility, technology serves as an enabler, allowing companies to optimize the deployment of their talent on a global scale.

By leveraging technology, global mobility functions can not only improve efficiency and cost-effectiveness but also enhance the overall employee experience, making it an indispensable tool for organizations seeking to navigate the complexities of global talent management while remaining agile, competitive, and compliant in the dynamic global landscape.

There has been a notable increase in the incorporation of inclusive language and a heightened awareness of accessibility concerns within mobility policy development.

As organizations strive for greater diversity and inclusivity, it has become essential to ensure mobility policies address the unique needs of all employees.

This shift underscores a commitment to providing equitable opportunities for all, irrespective of individual circumstances or identities.

Organizations are recognizing that mobility policies must be accessible, accommodating, and free from bias, thereby fostering a more inclusive work environment.

There continues to be an ongoing trend of short-term cross-border mobility by companies.

Short-term assignments, often lasting weeks or a few months, provide companies with a flexible solution to address specific projects, knowledge transfers, or market exploration without the long-term commitment of traditional expatriate assignments.

This trend aligns with the evolving preferences of a mobile and diverse workforce, and as companies continue to prioritize agility and adaptability, short-term cross-border mobility is likely to remain a prominent feature of talent management strategy.

Benchmark your organisation today

KPMG’s Global Mobility Services practice members can provide a personalised benchmarking report allowing you to compare your organisation across key areas of interest. Participants find this useful in evaluating their organisational policies against a specific set of parameters. In addition to key organisational demographics and global mobility policy overview, the survey questions follow an overarching framework of the key phases of an international assignment and transfer life cycle with additional relevant topical categories covering immigration compliance, assignment management technology leverage, automation and robotics and program data and analytics insights.

If you would like to participate in the KPMG GAPP Survey and receive a personalised benchmarking report, please click here . To learn more about how we can help you build an operating model that serves and delivers for your organisation, reach out to us today.

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International Assignments

DOI link for International Assignments

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Although firms have been sending employees on international assignments for decades, systematic understanding is sorely lacking. This volume looks at such critical aspects of the assignment process as the selection process, the training required, factors that affect adjustment, performance and commitment, and how to retain and capitalize on the international experience once employees return home. This book is written for human resource managers and executives whose focus includes the global economy and the strategic role of people in achieving international competitiveness. It can be used as a textbook for courses in International Human Resource Management.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Part | 2  pages, part i introduction, chapter 1 | 23  pages, the strategic roles of international assignments in globalization, chapter 2 | 18  pages, the process of cross-cultural adjustment, part ii before the assignment, chapter 3 | 29  pages, selecting: identifying candidates with global leadership potential, chapter 4 | 15  pages, training: helping people learn to do the right things, part iii during the assignment, chapter 5 | 18  pages, adjusting: developing new mental road maps and cultural skills, chapter 6 | 20  pages, integrating: balancing multiple allegiances, chapter 7 | 16  pages, appraising: determining if people are doing the right things, chapter 8 | 22  pages, rewarding: compensation and pay, part iv after the assignment, chapter 9 | 25  pages, repatriating: helping people readjust and perform, chapter 10 | 15  pages, retaining: utilizing the experienced global manager, chapter 11 | 21  pages, managing the entire global assignment cycle: establishing best practices.

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International assignments: Five steps to seconding an employee overseas

With more organisations seeking business opportunities abroad, international assignments are proving to be a convenient way to ensure that employees with the relevant skills and knowledge are in the right place at the right time. There are many factors with which organisations considering an overseas assignment need to deal before the secondment. Below we set out some of the essential points:

1. Ensure employment documentation is in order

Where an employee will be seconded to another organisation (the “host” organisation) during the assignment, but will remain employed by the “home” organisation for the duration of the assignment, the home organisation should enter into a letter of assignment with the employee. This will set out the changes to the employee’s terms and conditions of employment while he or she is undertaking the assignment. Another document that global employers should consider putting in place is an international assignments policy , which should set out the organisation’s approach to international assignments.

2. Ensure employee is aware of changes to terms and conditions

Often there will be many changes to the employee’s terms and conditions while he or she is undertaking an international assignment , for example changes to salary and benefits. Some employees assume that they will be entitled to certain benefits or they may misunderstand the implications of the assignment. For example, the employee might assume that the employer will pay his or her children’s school fees and for private health insurance. To ensure there are no nasty surprises, it is important for the employee to be clear about the changes to his or her contract of employment, and the changes should be set out in the letter of assignment .

3. Consider immigration requirements early on

Obtaining immigration permission for an employee to live and undertake an assignment overseas can be a long process, and the success of the application may depend on various factors. The organisation should consider obtaining expert assistance with the immigration application. Making preparations early will help to ensure that the organisation can deal with any obstacles that arise and that the assignment can start as planned. Organisations may also need to help the employee with obtaining immigration permission for his or her family where they will be accompanying the employee on the assignment.

4. Consider tax implications

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The tax and social security implications of an overseas assignment for the employer and employee may be complex. Employers should seek specialist advice on these issues, so that they are not surprised about the cost implications. They could also arrange for the employee to receive expert advice.

5. Ensure the employee is prepared

Undertaking an international assignment can be a great professional and personal experience for an employee. However, the success of an assignment is likely to depend on the extent to which the employee is prepared for what lies ahead. Helping the employee to prepare for the assignment , for example by providing the employee, and perhaps their family, with language and culture classes, can help to ensure that the employee knows what to expect and settles in to his or her new role more quickly.

Bar Huberman

Bar Huberman is a principal employment law editor at XpertHR, working on a number of resources including the good practice guides, line manager briefings and webinars. Before joining XpertHR in 2009, Bar was a solicitor at a firm in Brighton. She specialised in dispute resolution, including workplace disputes, and non-litigious employment law.

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I am so very pleased to see that Point 5 has made it onto the list. I am a cultural trainer and executive coach who delivers trainings to individuals, couples, groups and children who are moving abroad and/or being repatriated. The training is an integral part of the move. It no only delivers information about the country, city/town but informs client(s) what to expect when they arrive, assisting in the adjustment process. Happy home life, happy work life balance.

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A Big History of Globalization

The Emergence of a Global World System

• © 2019
• Julia Zinkina 0 ,
• David Christian 1 ,
• Leonid Grinin   ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0278-2619 2 ,
• Ilya Ilyin 3 ,
• Alexey Andreev 4 ,
• Ivan Aleshkovski 5 ,
• Sergey Shulgin 6 ,
• Andrey Korotayev   ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3014-2037 7

Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, Moscow, Russia

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Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia

Higher school of economics, national research university, moscow, russia, moscow state university, moscow, russia, faculty of global studies, moscow state university, moscow, russia.

• Situates the dynamics of globalization in the broader Big History context
• Presents world history not as a combination of separate national histories, but as a holistic process involving the emergence and spread of globally significant phenomena
• Offers an extremely long-term perspective on globalization processes

Part of the book series: World-Systems Evolution and Global Futures (WSEGF)

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This book presents the history of globalization as a network-based story in the context of Big History. Departing from the traditional historic discourse, in which communities, cities, and states serve as the main units of analysis, the authors instead trace the historical emergence, growth, interconnection, and merging of various types of networks that have gradually encompassed the globe. They also focus on the development of certain ideas, processes, institutions, and phenomena that spread through those networks to become truly global.

The book specifies five macro-periods in the history of globalization and comprehensively covers the first four, from roughly the 9th – 7th millennia BC to World War I. For each period, it identifies the most important network-related developments that facilitated (or even spurred on) such transitions and had the greatest impacts on the history of globalization.

By analyzing the world system's transition to new levels of complexityand connectivity, the book provides valuable insights into the course of Big History and the evolution of human societies.

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Introduction

Disconnected, fragmented, or united? a trans-disciplinary review of network science

Hierarchies of Global Networks

• History of Globalization
• Big History
• World System
• Ancient Globalization
• Global Networks

Table of contents (12 chapters)

Front matter, introduction: big history context.

• Julia Zinkina, David Christian, Leonid Grinin, Ilya Ilyin, Alexey Andreev, Ivan Aleshkovski et al.

Introduction: Globalization Context

Archaic globalization: the birth of the world-system, global dynamics 1–1800 ce : trends and cycles, proto-modern and early modern globalization: how was the global world born, early modern globalization and world dynamics: global growth, global crisis, and global divergence, the early modern period: emerging global processes and institutions, modern globalization: global technological and economic transformations in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, global sociopolitical transformations of the nineteenth century, global sociocultural transformations of the nineteenth century, the first “golden age” of globalization (1870–1914), conclusion: the big history of globalization told in ten pages, back matter, authors and affiliations.

Julia Zinkina, Sergey Shulgin

David Christian

Leonid Grinin, Andrey Korotayev

Ilya Ilyin, Alexey Andreev

Ivan Aleshkovski

About the authors

Bibliographic information.

Book Title : A Big History of Globalization

Book Subtitle : The Emergence of a Global World System

Authors : Julia Zinkina, David Christian, Leonid Grinin, Ilya Ilyin, Alexey Andreev, Ivan Aleshkovski, Sergey Shulgin, … Andrey Korotayev

Series Title : World-Systems Evolution and Global Futures

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-05707-7

Publisher : Springer Cham

eBook Packages : Social Sciences , Social Sciences (R0)

Copyright Information : Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019

Hardcover ISBN : 978-3-030-05706-0 Published: 26 April 2019

eBook ISBN : 978-3-030-05707-7 Published: 12 April 2019

Series ISSN : 2522-0985

Series E-ISSN : 2522-0993

Edition Number : 1

Number of Pages : XVIII, 284

Number of Illustrations : 3 b/w illustrations, 71 illustrations in colour

Topics : World History, Global and Transnational History , Globalization

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