Overcoming the relocation challenge
As I work into the evening I can look at my watch and know that my children are being shuttled to tennis or music lessons after school. On the weekends, planning play dates between soccer practice and skating sometimes is as tricky as scheduling a confidential meeting with a senior-level candidate.
I am struck this year-as I usually am-by the number of new families who arrive and the number of families who leave every year. Part of the autumn ritual seems to be introducing yourself to new faces in the community. Amid all of the hope and excitement of the new surroundings though, a sad fact remains that transfers-especially international transfers-can be very difficult and painful for many families.
According to ERC, a Washington D.C.-based nonprofit that focuses on the relocation industry, corporate transfers are on the rise again. And, according to their estimates, the difficulty of transferring is often underestimated by families. While most families manage and cope, and many thrive, studies show that students of transferring families are 35 percent more likely to fail, and 77 percent more likely to have behavioral problems than children who stay in one place.
There are a variety of factors that play into the difficulties that families have. Especially on overseas transfers, it is rare for a spouse to find employment in a host country, which is especially true in a less developed country like Poland. This can lead to frustration, as careers are abandoned or put on hold.
Children are often not consulted-especially when their father/mother is in a high-powered career. This is a mistake that can lead to long-term consequences. Even if the transfer is not negotiable, it is important to ask the children their opinion, to discuss how they feel about it and even negotiate with them about it (especially older children, who after all are stakeholders in the process).
Meanwhile, during the last few years of economic slowdown, corporations have cut back on the services and support they offer to their transfers. Even international assignments, once given substantial perks, have started to see a reduction in the benefits and services offered-especially within some multinational corporations who begin to view an international assignment as a key career step.
Typically, relocation support includes house-hunting and acclimatization trips, as well as help in finding and enrolling in schools. Very rarely though are arriving foreign families actually aware of the support services available beyond this. They are, naturally, very positively surprised when they realize the breadth and quality of life in Warsaw. For instance, medical care and social activities are nearly as abundant here as in many American communities.
However, outside of Warsaw the situation is not the same. Whereas the capital has developed a social and cultural infrastructure similar to most European capitals, Poland's other large towns mostly lack resources for expatriate executives-whether this be comparable schooling and housing or medical and other support services.
Some executives coming to Poland but not to Warsaw choose to commute-leaving their families based in their hometown while they travel and work at the job site during the week. Whatever the trials, the solutions tend to work best for families that are disciplined in making time to be together.
Matthew Tebeau, the Managing Partner of Ray and Berndtson Poland and the Baltic States
I am struck this year-as I usually am-by the number of new families who arrive and the number of families who leave every year. Part of the autumn ritual seems to be introducing yourself to new faces in the community. Amid all of the hope and excitement of the new surroundings though, a sad fact remains that transfers-especially international transfers-can be very difficult and painful for many families.
According to ERC, a Washington D.C.-based nonprofit that focuses on the relocation industry, corporate transfers are on the rise again. And, according to their estimates, the difficulty of transferring is often underestimated by families. While most families manage and cope, and many thrive, studies show that students of transferring families are 35 percent more likely to fail, and 77 percent more likely to have behavioral problems than children who stay in one place.
There are a variety of factors that play into the difficulties that families have. Especially on overseas transfers, it is rare for a spouse to find employment in a host country, which is especially true in a less developed country like Poland. This can lead to frustration, as careers are abandoned or put on hold.
Children are often not consulted-especially when their father/mother is in a high-powered career. This is a mistake that can lead to long-term consequences. Even if the transfer is not negotiable, it is important to ask the children their opinion, to discuss how they feel about it and even negotiate with them about it (especially older children, who after all are stakeholders in the process).
Meanwhile, during the last few years of economic slowdown, corporations have cut back on the services and support they offer to their transfers. Even international assignments, once given substantial perks, have started to see a reduction in the benefits and services offered-especially within some multinational corporations who begin to view an international assignment as a key career step.
Typically, relocation support includes house-hunting and acclimatization trips, as well as help in finding and enrolling in schools. Very rarely though are arriving foreign families actually aware of the support services available beyond this. They are, naturally, very positively surprised when they realize the breadth and quality of life in Warsaw. For instance, medical care and social activities are nearly as abundant here as in many American communities.
However, outside of Warsaw the situation is not the same. Whereas the capital has developed a social and cultural infrastructure similar to most European capitals, Poland's other large towns mostly lack resources for expatriate executives-whether this be comparable schooling and housing or medical and other support services.
Some executives coming to Poland but not to Warsaw choose to commute-leaving their families based in their hometown while they travel and work at the job site during the week. Whatever the trials, the solutions tend to work best for families that are disciplined in making time to be together.
Matthew Tebeau, the Managing Partner of Ray and Berndtson Poland and the Baltic States
