Global Human Resource

Strategies to Reduce Expatriate Turnover

Keyona Dennis-Wooden

Strayer University

Professor Sandy Hughes

7/30/17

Strategies to Reduce Expatriate Turnover

Internal Memo

TO: Charlie Brown

FROM: K.Wooden

DATE: July 29, 2017

SUBJECT: Strategies to Reduce Expatriate Turnover

There is a shortage of skilled and experienced workforce, and as a result, there exist a cut-throat competition culturally flexible employees with specialties (Dowling, Festing & Engle, 2008). Since business has to go on as usual for every organization determined to succeed, there is a need to face international business challenges strategically to ensure employee retention. Enclosed herewith please find two detailed strategies applicable to reduce expatriate turnover. Implementation of these strategies will work effectively to ensure a high employee retention rate.

Encl.

Strategy 1: Compensation Strategy

The practice of compensating expatriates is one of the most effective ways by which an organization can demand certain attitudes and behaviors (Dowling et al., 2008). Although expatriate compensation practices may be extremely expensive for most organizations, a decrement in compensation packages for expatriates may lead to a decrease in global experience and know-how, placing an organization in a less-competitive position (Dowling et al., 2008). Therefore, to retain employees and ensure that the employment contract is not compromised leading to a change in perceptions about our organization, adopting a well-designed compensation strategy is more of a need than a want. For instance, a package including cost-of-living adjustments, benefits and double rates for expatriates. Dowling et al. (2008) argue that due to lack of proper compensation employees have developed job insecurity characters which have led to the breaking off of the socio-emotional attachment between them and the employer. When this point is reached, there’s no doubt that our employees will leave the organization and go to better-paying ones even if the relations are merely transactional.

Strategy 2: Family Repatriation Support

Through supporting employees repatriate their families to their home countries organizations create a strong socio-emotional relationship with its employees (Mäkelä. & Suutari, 2015). Therefore employees feel ethically responsible of carrying out international tasks up to completion. Moreover, employees build trust on the relationship they have with their employees and as much as they give priority to their families, they are also willing to negotiate on terms (Mäkelä. & Suutari, 2015). Existence of such relationships enables organization to tap all expertise as employees are willing to work to completion of their project. Therefore, adopting a family repatriation support strategy works efficiently to reduce expatriate turnover.

References

Dowling, P., Festing, M. & Engle, A. (2008). International human resource management: managing people in a multinational context. South Melbourne, Vic: Thomson.

Mäkelä. & Suutari, V. (2015). Work and family interface in the international career context. Cham: Springer.