Sat, 20 March 2010
Some experts say messages zipping through the cosmos are 'little more than space spam', while others warn against alerting possibly hostile neighbours of our presence.
Blogger Tom Carroll was amazed by his first trip to a notary in the UK. Prepare yourself – and your wallet – for a real spectacle.
EC vice president Viviane Reding insists that the time for talking about a UN agency for women’s issues is over: “It’s time to act.”
Text size
ORC's 2007 Expatriate Work-life Balance Survey, the top-ranking survey of the Expatica HR 2007/2008 Top 5 Industry Survey Awards, reveals that expats work longer hours abroad than at home and that female expats have higher work-related stress levels than men.The concept of work-life balance has become well-known, particularly in Europe. However, before ORC Worldwide conducted the 2007 Expatriate Work-life Balance Survey, little research had been done on assessing the impact of work-life balance within the internationally mobile community.
The survey ranked as number one in the Expatica HR 2007/2008 Top 5 Industry Survey Awards, scoring highly as a ‘hot topic and a topic of interest to HR professionals as well as for readability and quality of data. Also noteworthy is that, for the first time, the survey sought responses from expatriates themselves, and not corporate human resources (HR) departments.
Here are some of the investigation's main findings.
Expatriates work longer hours abroad than at home.
When it comes to working in a foreign location, survey results show a clear divergence between company policy on work hours and actual practice. Although it was usual to have a stated hours-of-work policy, nearly two-thirds of the expatriates surveyed work longer hours abroad than they did at home. Expatriates worked on average an increase of 13.4 hours per week. Survey respondents cited several contributing factors, such as the volume of work, lack of local support, cost pressures to perform well and, in particular, business travel.
International assignments disrupt family life, causing dissatisfaction among spouses and children.
International assignments clearly intrude into family life. Expatriates’ families voiced dissatisfaction with assignees’ travel schedules, long hours at work, and the limited support given to families during periods of separation. Nearly 5 percent reported that their families returned home earlier than anticipated, and of that number, 30 percent cited the work and travel schedules of the expatriate as the reason.
Overall, companies have weak work-life balance policies.
Work-life balance initiatives were not, on the whole, available to—or taken up by—expatriates. Only 21 percent say that their organisations had either a formal or an informal policy on work-life balance.
How sad to hear that some expats are "not interested" in learning the language/culture of the country in which they're working. Stress? Sounds more like whining to me. Perhaps this lack of interest should have been expressed when they were interviewed for the position abroad. I am sure that more motivated candidates could be found.
This handy guide includes information on business hierarchy, negotiations, and etiquette in the UK.
We look at the new 'points system' introduced by the British government for immigration
Relocating abroad? Our guide offers international movers a practical checklist of what needs to be done before you make the move.
A critical insight into the mortgage market for expatriates and reviews lenders in the UK.
Twitter
LinkedIn
Facebook
Flickr
General rating: Not rated yet
Rate article:
Add my rating