NEWSFLASHES
Expat entrapped from all sides |
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Because of the worldwide recession the multinationals cut their expenses on expats. And the governments also impede more and more on a international career.
More than two thirds of the international companies expect that they will send fewer employees abroad. This is shown by a global survey conducted by the London consultancy office Brookfield among HR managers of 180 multinationals.
Uncertainty
According to the researchers this is the result of the continuing uncertainty about the worldwide economic visions. But it ‘s also a signal that the companies are struggling with finding the right candidates. Who applies at a time when the chance of finding an interesting job for the accompanying ambitious partner is minimal?
International HR manager Peter Janssen of the postal and express company TNT confirms that also in the Netherlands several companies take a critical look at their expats. “People think about ‘moderation’ of the conditions, such as the compensation for the ‘cost of living’, housing or cutting back the mobility premium”, says Janssen.
Protectionism
Employees therefore are allowed to go less abroad. And on top of that, people don’t like to see them coming. The British government, for example, is trying to limit the inflow of non-European knowledge immigrants. Just before the British declaration scandal loss face of the Minister of Home Affairs Jacqui Smith, she promised to adapt the point system which is used to identify which non-European immigrants are eligible for a residence permit. The purpose ? Reducing the number of visas, which achieved a record of 164,635 in 2007.
Coming to the Netherlands is expensive
Bart Maes, a labor lawyer specialized in international labor, mentions a trend that is going on in the Netherlands: with an increasing pressure on employment, the legal status of a knowledge immigrant is under pressure. He sees an subtle example in the recent policy change of the Immigration- and Naturalization Service, IND.
In a newsletter of March, the IND suddenly announced that they will raise the salary criteria with indexation in a prolongation application of the knowledge immigrant. This means that when a knowledge immigrant who gained € 45,000 at the introduction of the regulation, now has to earn €4,000 more to qualify for a prolongation.
“This never happened before”, says Maes. “You were eligible for a prolongation with the same salary as long as you still have the same employer.”
Work or go
If the employer finds the knowledge immigrant too expensive, or he finds an other reason to fire him involuntary, it is quite difficult. Within 3 months a new job has to be found, otherwise transportation will follow. “While a Dutchman can sit home in the ‘WW’ (a Dutch social security for unemployed persons), waiting for better times, the knowledge immigrant has to hurry, hurry a lot,” says Maes.
Partners
According to the research of Brookfield, the partners of the expats are increasingly under pressure. The chance of a job for the accompanying partner decreased to a minimum. This influences the functioning of the expat. ``The most important reason of a failed expat mission is the ‘`dissatisfaction’ of the partner.
Fewer young expats
The young expats suffer too. The part of employees younger than 30 years old is the lowest in the 14 years that Brookfield investigates the expat trends. According to Janssen this comes from cutting the expat missions that are part of management development programs.
Although he stresses that at TNT this doesn’t happen, because the number of expats is already limited by ‘critical people at critical places’, he calls this trend ‘not smart’. If the market is picking up again, you will have lost your key-talent.
Source: Het Financiële Dagblad
Author: Ariane Kleijwegt
Date: 10th of June 2009
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