THE TOP 7 REASONS YOUR
EXPAT STRATEGY IS FAILING
And what you can do to turn things around.
It’s a global economy, and with more companies expanding internationally, the need to
relocate employees overseas is becoming increasingly important. With the cost of relocation
averaging about $400,000 per employee1, avoiding the failure of these expatriate assignments
is critical.
Recent surveys have found that approximately 75 percent of all expat assignments fail2.
In fact, some Fortune 100 companies routinely accept a failure rate as high as 90 percent3.
At a cost of $3 billion annually4, not counting the damage to corporate reputation and ruined
careers, the failure of expatriate assignments demands urgent attention from any company
doing business overseas.
So, what are the reasons for so many of these failures?
1 Not speaking the local language.
A recent survey of senior managers in the global mobility
industry found that more than 61 percent believe that not
knowing the local language is the biggest obstacle to
successful expat assignments5. However, only 37 percent
of respondents said their company offered language
training as a standard part of their relocation program6.
61
%
In a survey of senior managers in the global
mobility industry, 61% of respondents indicated
that knowledge of the local language was the
biggest challenge that future expats face.
If being able to converse in the local language is so
important, why are companies so reluctant to offer
adequate training? Cost is often a primary concern.
With standard one-on-one language immersion programs
costing up to $6,500 per employee7, it’s easy to see why
companies are hesitant to make that kind of investment.
Traditional language immersion programs can also be time
consuming, with some lasting as long as eight hours a day
for more than two months. This can be daunting for the
employee, as well as the family members who may be
going through the training with them.
But language training is key to giving employees the
skills and confidence they need to succeed in their new
assignment. It also helps families to adjust to life in the
new country, and gives everyone the sense of freedom
and accomplishment needed to make the new location
feel like home.
Some organizations are dealing with both the time and cost
barriers of traditional immersion programs by investing in
more flexible, and affordable, language-learning solutions,
such as those offered by Rosetta Stone. The average cost
of this kind of training is much more affordable, typically 10
times less than in-person training.
—The Global Mobility Language Survey 2011,
Rosetta Stone and the Forum for Expatriate Management
2 | RosettaStone.com/Business
White Paper | Expat Strategy
2 Picking the wrong candidate.
4 Offering survival-level language skills only.
One of the most critical factors behind expatriation failure
or success is picking the right person in the first place.
Companies should take the time to carefully evaluate the
skills and personality traits of candidates to determine
whether they will be able to thrive in an overseas
assignment. Too many organizations make the decision to
relocate an employee based solely on whether the person
is professionally qualified for the job, without considering
whether that person has the necessary traits to be
successful in a foreign environment.
Language training needs to be comprehensive enough to
prepare candidates to converse in a variety of business
and social settings. Even if candidates are well versed in
English as a second language, for example, knowing
specific business and industry jargon will make all the
difference in an expat’s professional success.
So, what determines whether an employee will be
successful in an overseas assignment? According to
Bruce Alan Johnson, author of the book Carry a Chicken in
Your Lap—Or Whatever it Takes to Globalize Your Business,
key traits include:
• The employee’s ability to handle differences in culture,
religion, gender roles, race, and language
• How well the candidate can adapt to thinking in multiple
time zones
• How adaptable they are to different ways of living and
thinking
• Are they eager to learn the language of the country that
will be hosting them? Fluency is not essential, but the
ability to learn a foreign language is critical.
3
Not
giving enough time to prepare for an
overseas assignment.
While in the past, organizations might have given
employees months to prepare for an overseas
assignment, this critical training period has been reduced
to weeks in many organizations. With less time to prepare,
traditional classroom-based language immersion
programs aren’t able to prepare candidates as thoroughly.
And while companies may not be able to offer more
preparation time to their employees, they can benefit
from implementing more flexible, self-paced, interactive
language training. These types of programs allow
employees to move through the program faster, and
provide companies with a means of tracking an
employee’s progress before sending them overseas.
It’s also important for employees and their families to
learn the nuances of a local dialect in order to network
successfully and feel comfortable in casual conversation―
such as during their morning commute on the train, or
when encountering friends or colleagues at the local
coffee shop.
To provide this level of comprehensive language
training, companies should select a language solution
with industry-specific content, and one that accounts
for colloquial expressions and nuanced cultural meanings,
such as several of the e-Learning solutions offered by
Rosetta Stone.
Candidates
aren’t prepared for
5
cultural differences.
One of the primary reasons overseas assignments fail is
that candidates aren’t able to navigate business and social
situations successfully. Both inside the office and out,
cultural differences can be a major stumbling block to
employees who haven’t received adequate training in
cultural norms and traditions. The best language
programs will include cultural training that will allow
employees to better understand their cultural biases,
compare and contrast with those of the country they are
traveling to, and gain familiarity with business etiquette
and customs. Through the Rosetta Stone partnership with
Aperian™ Global, companies can provide online business
culture training for assignments in over 80 countries.
Even with less time to prepare, giving candidates a solid
foundation in the local language will make a successful
expat assignment more likely.
3 | RosettaStone.com/Business
White Paper | Expat Strategy
6 Family’s inability to adjust.
Family adjustment can be a hard situation for businesses
to address. When an employee relocates his or her family
to another country, finding adequate housing, enrolling in
new schools, and adjusting to a new language and culture
all create stress on everyone involved. To help ensure
success, organizations should offer as long of a transition
period as possible to help the employee and their family
prepare for the move.
When an employee relocates
his or her family to another
country, finding adequate
housing, enrolling in new
schools, and adjusting to a new
language and culture all create
stress on everyone involved.
Language and cultural training should also be provided to
the entire family to make it easier for them to integrate
into their new community. Help finding housing, enrolling
schools, and connecting to local community services
should all be offered in advance to make the transition as
easy as possible. Also, connecting the family to veteran
expatriates in the area will give them a supportive ear and
guiding hand when they need it.
7
Stress and responsibility overload.
Often the move to an overseas assignment comes with a
major leap in job responsibilities. If possible, efforts should
be made to minimize responsibilities in the beginning of an
assignment to allow the expat time to adjust to their new
surroundings. As their comfort level increases, new
responsibilities can be added. Although a gradual rollout of
duties may be difficult, it can maximize the chances of
success, and minimize the cost of having to replace a
failed expat assignment.
Someone within the organization (most likely HR) should
also make frequent check-ins with expats to find out how
they are doing, acknowledge their successes and
struggles, and make sure they feel heard, appreciated, and
connected to the company. Frequent communication can
alert HR early to an expat who may be unhappy and
wanting to leave the overseas post, while the problem can
still be addressed.
Improving the odds of expatriate success
Living and working overseas is not for everyone. It is a
major life change, and there are bound to be some
failures. However, organizations can take several simple
steps to help maximize the success of their expatriate
programs. Carefully evaluating candidates before sending
them overseas and providing them with comprehensive,
flexible, and cost-effective language training will help form
a solid foundation for making any expatriate program
more successful.
1 Article: “Internationally Speaking,” by Bruce Alan Johnson (http://resources.
RosettaStone.com/CDN/us/pdfs/Biz-Public-Sec/Internationally-Speaking.pdf )
2 Ibid
3 Ibid
4 Ibid
5 Article: “Lack of Language Skills is Biggest Obstacle for Expats,” by Leah Hyslop.
August 31, 2012. (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/expat/expatnews/9511398/
Lack-of-language-skills-is-biggest-obstacle-for-expats.html)
6 Ibid
7 Article: “Is Language Training Worth It?” by Jessica DuBois-Maahs. June 26, 2013.
(http://clomedia.com/articles/view/is-language-training-worth-it)
About Rosetta Stone
Rosetta Stone is a global leader in technologybased learning. We offer our clients scalable
language and learning solutions for individuals,
single classrooms, and entire organizations.
Our solutions have been implemented in over
20,000 schools and in more than 17,000 private
and public sector organizations, and they are
used by millions of learners in over 150 countries
throughout the world.
CONNECT WITH
ROSETTA STONE
RosettaStone.com/Business | (800) 811-2755
©2014 Rosetta Stone Ltd. All rights reserved. Rosetta Stone and related trademarks and
logos used herein are the property of Rosetta Stone Ltd. and used and/or registered in
the U.S. and other countries. BUS-ExpatStrategy-WP-1404