NEWSFLASHES

Driven from paradise

Marieke Kolthof, Marketing Manager of LEX EXPATspecialist, a recruitment and selection agency for expats, went on a business trip to Singapore and Peking in October 2008. She came home with a portfolio full of vacancies from those countries. Around Christmas, a few of those had been put ‘on hold’. In spring this became ‘nobody is to be appointed until further notice’. Shortly thereafter, the same companies prematurely recalled a part of their expats to the Netherlands.

The story of Kolthof is illustrative: the credit crisis is now also affecting Dutch expats. “We are extremely busy but this time with expats that are looking for a job. I’m being called on my mobile by people that I met once a year or so ago. “Marieke, do you know who I am?” They have been made redundant or suspect that something is about to happen and are looking for a way out.”

“The question that companies are now asking themselves is whether they actually need an expensive expat at location X?” says Nannette Ripmeester, Director of Expertise in Labour Mobility. Her company provides advice to multinationals about the communication with their expats. “All our customers are currently closely examining their expat file. Who is where? Can we not do the job with local staff? The crisis is being seized upon to set their house in order.”

Nobody knows how many expats there are. Ripmeester estimates that 20,000 to 30,000 Dutch employees have been posted abroad by their employers. “People think that a huge number is involved but with 1,130 expats worldwide, Philips is one of the largest expat employers of the Netherlands. Heineken, for example, has 400.

” It’s anybody’s guess how many expats have to pack their bags before the end of their contracts. Companies regarding which it is known that they have had to reappoint a huge number of people such as dredging company Van Oord do not wish to comment. Ripmeester estimates that the customers of Expertise in Labour Mobility have up to now recalled or have not posted abroad contrary to the made plans 10% of their people.

Isamar van Hilten, Director of Partners in Relocation (PIR), has seen no less than a quarter of her customers decide to speed up the return of their expats. PIR offers assistance when making the arrangements for an international posting that range from drawing up expat policy for companies to finding an orthodontist and has offices in Eastern Europe. “We are seeing two trends. Expats try by any means possible to stay where they are because they fear reorganisations at their headquarters. However, when companies decide to restructure, often whole departments are handed over to local staff.”

The reasons to implement cut-backs in the expat file differ. First of all, the credit crisis is leading to new strategic choices mainly in heavily affected lines of business such as the financial sector, industry and construction. Kolthof: “Take Dubai for example. This was a huge excavation site. Now, projects are only being completed when they have been sold by 70%.

“EXPATS TRY BY ANY MEANS POSSIBLE TO STAY WHERE THEY ARE BECAUSE THEY FEAR REORGANISATIONS AT THEIR HEADQUARTERS.”

The result: construction companies are leaving. “If at all possible, they transfer their capacity to, for example, South Africa where there is great demand due to the 2010 World Championship. If this is not possible, work stops.”

Ripmeester mentions ING as an example where the number of expats had explosively increased the last few years. “ING has announced that it will restrict itself to its core business. This will have consequences for the markets in which it still wishes to be active and those where it does not.” In most cases, the cut back of the expat file is, however, purely an economy measure, says Ripmeester. “Expats are expensive.” 

Hendrik Jan de Kluiver (46)
He worked for 18 years for dredging companies in the United Arab Emirates. He will be returning to the Netherlands at the end of the academic year.

“After having completed Technical College I was given the opportunity of managing a project in Ghana for the Nederlandse Kabel Fabriek. This was fantastic. I was only 25 but had all the freedom I could wish for including final responsibility. Afterwards, I found working in the Netherlands oppressive. When I had the opportunity to work for Gulf Cobla in Dubai, my wife and I immediately packed our bags.”

“Just over a year ago I was asked to be the CEO of the National Marine Dredging Company, based in Abu Dhabi. It was a challenging step to take and it did not seem to be too risky. At that time, everybody needed people. Should I not like it, I could go somewhere else in no time at all. It did not go well. The management board and I clashed and I handed in my resignation in January. I, of course, knew that the credit crisis had hit hard but I did not expect it to be this difficult to find work.”

“Slowly we came to realise that we had to leave. I was a victim of the crisis even though this was indirectly. You cannot live in Dubai without an income. We have three children. The international school costs between ¤10,000 and ¤15,000 per child per year. The rental on our house is ¤60,000 per year. You cannot keep this up for long on just your savings.”

“I am willing to accept a good job in the Far or Middle East or Africa but, in principle, we are going back to the Netherlands. We will stay there until the children can fend for themselves, we owe them that. They are now 11, 12 and 14. They are only familiar with the protected luxurious life of Dubai. The adjustment will also be difficult for them but it is good for them to learn that it is not normal to be taken everywhere by car.”

“I am now in the Netherlands to find a job. You really have to be face-to-face with someone to know whether it clicks. I’m also looking on Funda (ed.: property search website) to find somewhere to live. A lot is for sale but when you do not have a job you cannot get a mortgage. This leads to a lot of tension. I enjoy driving through my home country and I still feel at home here. And yet I’m shocked by how hard people are. People are in a hurry and have become more aggressive. I recently crossed the road on my bicycle a bit awkwardly and immediately someone threw a coke can that hit my head.”

“I will probably have to take a step back in my work. I was responsible for a thousand people and a turnover of ¤175 million. I’ll probably not be at the top of the ladder in the Netherlands. Dutch companies are often undeservedly scared that expats such as I am are freebooters, averse to hierarchy or structure. I hope they see how much experience I have because I really want a job.” 

Mascha ten Bruggencate (36)
Worked for 3.5 years for Fortis Bank in Shanghai, China. Came back to the Netherlands on 23 March.

“When Fortis was split into Fortis Bank Netherlands and Fortis Bank Belgium in the first week of October of last year, a strange situation emerged for me. Formally, I was part of the Netherlands while my local colleagues were a part of Belgium. It was as if suddenly my Dutch colleagues in Asia and I worked for competing banks. During the months that followed, I spoke with the management in Belgium and China and with Human Resources in the Netherlands. I realised in January that I would go back in the spring.”

“I cried buckets on the plane. It was difficult to leave and especially to leave my friends and life behind but I believe that you must make the best of any situation that you cannot change. This is what I’m doing. I’m not allowing myself to sink into some black hole, that kind of dramatics. I see my time in China and everything I experienced there as a gift.”

“My office in Shanghai was on the 43rd floor of the highest building in town but one. I had a lot of responsibility as the Head of Commercial Banking; it was almost as if I was managing my own company. There was always something to experience. I held many meetings with business people, visited many factories in other cities and went to receptions with business missions. There was no distinction between work and my private life. I loved the intensity of it all.”

“It takes some getting used to not having that special position I had. There are, however, also advantages to being part of a well-oiled machine. I recently had problems with my computer but after one phone call, the problem was solved. Now I work as a project employee at risk management for Fortis Bank Netherlands. I started to do something completely different on purpose so that I do not think all the time: but in Shanghai we did this differently.”

“I genuinely enjoy being back. It is nice to have my family and friends near me and to be there when friends have birthdays, marry or have a baby. I missed out on a lot with regard to this the past few years. I have mixed feelings; I am home but I also feel as a tourist in my own town. To shop in Albert Heijn (ed. typical Dutch supermarket) or have lunch with a cheese roll and a glass of milk are highlights. I thoroughly enjoy myself when I’m cycling through Amsterdam. Sometimes I take a picture of the canals, they are so beautiful.”

“I see the Netherlands with different eyes. I’ve, for example, noticed how strongly people stick to their diaries. The expats in Shanghai were always ready to do anything. Make arrangements? Better today than tomorrow.”  

In addition to a considerable salary, the company often pays for accommodation, staff, a car, private schools for children, airline tickets, danger money and bonuses.” A local employee is several times cheaper. Ripmeester compares a Shell expat with a Nigerian engineer trained in Great Britain. “The Shell man is fifty times as expensive. It can be so extreme.” When recalling people is not under discussion, they critically examine conditions. Do we really need to give them a car with a driver? Can we not replace that expensive open ticket by a return ticket at Christmas? Employees are also often posted abroad for shorter periods and younger employees are posted who do not yet have a family.

“ABROAD, EXPATS HAVE A SPECIAL POSITION. HERE THEY ARE ONE OF MANY”

Ripmeester: “Companies were already examining costs critically before the crisis. The retrenchment is now being implemented faster.” Posting to certain countries has now simply become more difficult. The USA, Canada, New-Zeeland, Australia and even Great Britain have tightened the immigration rules. Kolthof: “Their own employees come first.” Expats have to get used to the new reality.

The impending repatriation creates uncertainty, says Van Hilten from PIR. “We specialise in immigration issues. Normally, only companies are interested in this but the last few months we are often being called by individual expats. They want to know what their rights and obligations are. Can I stay in this country if I am made unemployed? Will I keep my right to unemployment benefit? First we had the paperwork and now it has become personal.” We are also often approached for information about an extension of the right of residence. “People start to realise that they have to go back when the foundation of their residence no longer applies. We are seeing more often that partners take on the nationality of the host country so that the family can also stay after having lost their jobs.”

How this will develop in the future? That is anybody’s guess. We will certainly see a small wave of Dutch expats returning this summer, in particular, families with children. Multinationals allow children to finish the academic year whenever possible. Kolthof: “We are now seeing daddies who are looking for a job in the Netherlands while their children are finishing their school year somewhere else.” Van Hilten: “Companies are searching for a natural moment, the end of the academic year, when a rental agreement runs out or when there is a vacancy at head office. After all, you cannot send people back overnight.” Ripmeester does not believe that companies have finished clearing their expat file. “I can see them having misgivings. They are fully aware of the impact that their decision has. Expats are often the most talented people of a company and you do not want to offend them. Moreover, they have heavily invested in these employees. You do have to have a plan for their future.

The question during the crisis is most definitively: what can they do here?” It is this issue that is often not considered sufficiently, says Peter de Bruin of New Options, a company that supervises expats when they return. Settling again in the Netherlands is fairly difficult, he says. Living somewhere else has changed the expat and his family and, after a protracted absence, Dutch society has also changed and friendships have disintegrated. The greatest obstacle, however, is returning to the employer. “Expats are used to working independently and having a lot of responsibility. In the Netherlands, they have to re-integrate in an existing organisation where sometimes a signature must be obtained for every step taken. They don’t fit in anymore in such a culture.” The loss of status is also difficult. “They have a special position abroad while here they are one of many.”

Companies, moreover, are not inclined to directly reward expats for the gained experience. De Bruin: “Expats often go abroad as a specialist, for example, as a finance man, and return as a generalist. Companies find it difficult to give someone like this a place within their organisations. They expect that the expat first proves himself or herself on the Dutch work floor; sometimes in a lower position than when they left. This is a blow for the expat since after all the expat has been proving himself or herself for years.” A lot of disappointment can be avoided by better supervising returning expats, says Betina Szkudlarek. She took her doctoral degree at the Erasmus University based on the issue on how trade and industry deals with returnees.

“When employees are posted abroad, 80% of companies offer their staff training to prepare them for their new life but there is nothing when they come back. The rationale: you are going back home so what is the problem? While the pitfall can be greater, in particular, because nobody expects adjustment issues.” One of three expats leaves their job with their employer within two years, says Szkudlarek. Often, this could have been avoided. “Consider the following: how can both the company and the employee benefit from the experience as an expat?” De Bruin: “I would like to say the following to all multinationals: expats are enterprising people that you can send out on a mission. Use this quality.”
 

Source: Financieel Dagblad, The Netherlands
Date: 8 June 2009

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