Assimilation and Review Policies

Assimilation policies will provide for the adaptation of expatriates to overseas posts and their progress in them to be monitored and reviewed. This may take the form of conventional performance management processes, but additional information may be provided on potential and the ability of individuals to cope with overseas conditions. Where a number of expatriates are employed it is customary for someone at headquarters to have the responsibility of looking after them.

Re-entry Policies 

Re-entry policies should be designed to minimize the problems that can arise when expatriates return to their parent company after an overseas posting. They want to be assured that they will be given a position appropriate to their qualifications, and they will be concerned about their careers, suspecting that their overseas experience will not be taken into account. Policies should allow time for expatriates to adjust. The provision of mentors or counsellors is desirable.

Pay and Allowances Policies 

The factors that are likely to impact on the design of reward systems as suggested by Bradley et al (1999) are the corporate culture of the multinational enterprise, expatriate and local labour markets, local cultural sensitivities and legal and institutional factors. They refer to the choice that has to be made between seeking internal consistency by developing common reward policies in order to facilitate the movement of employees across borders and preserve internal equity, and responding to pressures to conform to local practices. But they point out that: ‘Studies of cultural differences suggest that reward system design and management need to be tailored to local values to enhance the performance of overseas operations.’ As Sparrow (1999b) asserts: ‘Differences in international reward are not just a consequence of cultural differences, but also of differences in international influences, national business systems and the role and competence of managers in the sphere of HRM.’ 

The policy of most organizations is to ensure that expatriates are no worse off because they have been posted abroad. In practice, various additional allowances or payments, such as hardship allowances, mean that they are usually better off financially than if they had stayed at home. The basic choice is whether to adopt a homebased or host-based policy for expatriates.