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Repatriation is the unexpected encounter with the familiar. Coaching of Repatriating Families - "Homecoming: Seizing the Opportunity" is a two- to four-month GROVEWELL service culminating in a one-day coaching workshop that usually occurs four or five weeks after the assignee and (if any) family are back in their home country. This service is of several months' duration because GROVEWELL contacts the family well before its departure from the host country. An insightful Self-Study Guide is sent to family members, and a questionnaire is e-mailed for the family to complete and return. These items help the family prepare mentally and emotionally for a type of life event that many others have quite unexpectedly found emotionally disorienting. The questionnaire (which is confidential) not only provides useful information for GROVEWELL's coach but also aids the family in preparing for the unexpected challenges of returning home. The one-day "Homecoming" coaching workshop itself usually occurs about a month after the family's return to its home country. Our services end when, about a month after the workshop, the coach phones the family and offers follow-up coaching assistance and a final measure of encouragement. When necessary, GROVEWELL can instead deliver a one-day "Heading Home" coaching workshop before the family's return to its home country. However, GROVEWELL urges its clients and coachees to plan, if at all possible, for the coaching workshop to occur at least three weeks post-return. For details about GROVEWELL's process, click here. Use BACK to return. GROVEWELL's long experience in delivering this service reveals that many repatriating families have issues that requiring confidential airing with a trusted advisor. Therefore, we offer this service for one family at a time. The objectives of our "Homecoming" service are for assignee and family...
The GROVEWELL coach who builds the relationship with the repatriating family prior to their return home, and who facilitates the one-day "Homecoming" workshop, is a mature professional with international corporate experience who herself has been an adult member of a repatriating family on at least one occasion. Special repatriation coaching for
children is also available.
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Business researchers know that recently repatriated employees have a high rate of turnover. Studies routinely reveal turnover averages such as 20% within one year and up to 50% within three years. "Repats" who leave their company are usually very senior, very experienced, very able people who prove hard to replace. Some end up working for a competitor. In the Business Section of The New York Times dated 17 May 2000, the following was stated in an article entitled "Return of the Native Executive": Every year, thousands of executives arrive home from foreign postings and bolt to greener pastures, often at a cost to their employers of $1 million or more that was invested in training and overseas expenses. Just as alarming for corporations is the defection rate of returning managers. Twenty-five percent leave within a year, double the proportion of departures by those who never go abroad. And the returned managers who leave typically go to the competition.At GROVEWELL , we advocate that firms view the money spent on expatriate assignments -- a seven-figure sum, usually -- as not only a cost but also an investment. If you focus on your firm's long-term global objectives, then it makes sense to think of all your expatriates as people who not only are doing work but also are acquiring valuable knowledge and skills -- competencies that you would do well to continue using because you paid for them! GROVEWELL advocates a "Double Duration Rule": If your firm supports an expatriate for, say, three years, it should view his or her investment pay-back period as being at least six years long; the three years abroad and the three years after he or she returns. Using a recently repatriated employee's burgeoning knowledge and competence involves not only giving him or her a globally-oriented new assignment, but also -- and equally important for your firm's long-term global growth -- finding ways to capture the returnee's knowledge, apply it as appropriate around the world, and disseminate it the use of other employees who are trying to help your firm globalize. If you engage Grovewell to consult
with your firm regarding repatriation, this investment perspective is what
our associates will bring to you. We'll help you find ways within
your structure to maximize the substantial investment you have already
made in these employees. You will be happy because you'll be
harnessing paid-for potential. And the returnees will be happy because
it will be their potential being recognized and harnessed.
Additional Information GROVEWELL's partners are the co-authors of "The Dark Side of Repatriation," published in Benefits & Compensation Solutions in May 1997. To read, click here. This article addresses both individual and corporate issues. For details about GROVEWELL's repatriation process, click here. For additional information regarding GROVEWELL's understanding of and approach to expatriate performance and adjustment issues, click here. To obtain specific information,
or to inquire about engaging GROVEWELL's
services, contact info@grovewell.com.
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