Fitting In Is Crucial Both When Leaving For Overseas Assignments And Returning

In a recent article, I explored the various benefits of living abroad, both for us as human beings and also as employees. Doing so is not without its challenges, however, whether involving language difficulties, culture shocks, administrative obstacles, a lack of social contacts, or general homesickness.

A recent survey conducted by banking giant HSBC in support of its Unforeign Exchange campaign showed that it can take up to 8 months before somewhere can truly begin to feel like home, with around a quarter of respondents saying it took over a year.

Settling in

Given their extensive experience of traveling, it's perhaps not surprising that digital nomads were among those who were able to settle relatively quickly, but even they took around six months or so to feel at home.

"In our facility in Lisbon we have a large number of digital nomads because the Portuguese government has done such a great job of attracting nomads to the city, but while they're obviously experienced with traveling around, we still make an effort to help them to settle in," says Ceinwen Jarvis, Global Head of Marketing at co-working space Second Home. "As part of the onboarding process for each new member, we try to understand who they are and what they're trying to achieve, and the community at each of our facilities is great at helping people to meet new people, learn how the system works, and so on."

HSBC has attempted to tap into the experience of these frequent movers as part of its Unforeign Exchange campaign, with a wide range of people who move frequently for work and pleasure providing tips on how they have managed to make the process a success.

Creating a home

"A core challenge isn’t so much a practical matter as a psychological one – creating a home," says Geoffrey L Cohen, Stanford Professor and author of Belonging – The science of creating connection and bridging divides. "Home is a psychological state as much as a physical place, defined by a sense of belonging – a feeling of being an accepted part of a larger community."

Among the various suggestions Cohen makes, most revolve around the power of community, both to provide people with a support network to help during the transition but also to help to understand and integrate with the local community.

This latter point is worth focusing on, as there have been a number of concerns raised by natives that digital nomads in Portugal haven't really integrated at all. Instead, they form a kind of nomad bubble where they mix well with each other but seldom come into contact with native Lisbon residents.

To overcome this, Cohen highlights the power of volunteering, as this not only ensures that people mix with locals but also gains an understanding of the various issues and challenges locals face. This point was reinforced by Cohen's Stanford colleague Jeffrey Pfeffer, who showed that volunteering not only helps us build bonds with our fellow volunteers but also helps us to align our own purpose and values with that of the area and the cause.

Civic-minded

This has the potential to then become a virtuous cycle, as research from the University of Chicago shows that time spent living abroad helps to make people more civic-minded.

This manifested itself in things like volunteering, where those who had studied abroad would actually volunteer rather than merely state that volunteering was important.

“Those students who go abroad report more often actually taking the actions to participate as opposed to just believing that they should participate,” the researchers explain.

Overseas assignments

For companies either sending employees on overseas assignments or allowing them to work remotely, however, the time required to successfully integrate is often not an option. For instance, Capgemini's Flex Abroad program allows employees to relocate to another country, but only affords them 45 days each year.

Many overseas assignments are for specific projects or for training purposes, so can typically last between three and 12 months. While this is long enough to perhaps move beyond the "living out of a suitcase" phase, it might not be long enough to create an indelible connection to one's adopted home.

While shorter assignments may not be sufficient to truly feel at home overseas, it does nonetheless appear to impact those involved, as data from Brookfield Global Relocation Trends shows that nearly 40% of returnees leave their jobs within a year of coming back home.

This discontent is driven in large part by employers often treating people the same way upon their return as they did when they left, despite the overseas assignment having changed them significantly.

Research from Mount Royal University shows that there is a general expectation among returnees that their employer will adjust the work they do to better reflect the new experience they'd gained overseas. For instance, they would be much more interested in strategic involvement and desperately want new ways to deploy the knowledge they picked up.

With data showing there is a rise in the number of employees sent on overseas assignments, it seems increasingly important not only for managers to take an active role in ensuring employees integrate successfully into their adopted community, but also to make concrete steps to ensure a better integration when they return.