Plus Relocation

What can your company do to help employees with repatriation?

It’s a common misconception that repatriation is easy. Senior Global Mobility Counselor Kari Cinker looks at helping your employees comfortably return home in this Relo Tip Tuesday.

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Complete transcript: “Hi, I’m Kari Cinker, senior relocation counselor here at Plus. And today, I’m going to be talking about the repatriation process.

Just as every assignee will have a unique experience living abroad, every assignee will have a unique experience coming home. A lot of people think the repatriation process is easy, but in fact, many assignees returning home find that reintegrating is even more difficult and stressful than moving abroad. Having personally reintegrated into the U.S. myself after living abroad for several years, I can attest to the challenges of repatriation.

To support these employees, mobility programs should have a formalized repatriation process that:

• Clearly defines the timeline and logistics for the return home. This will lessen the stress on the assignee.
• Helps put the completed assignment into perspective for the assignee. How will it influence their personal and professional lives moving forward?
• Provides context for the return home to a once-familiar home environment and helps the family members adjust, too.
• And, determines how to use the assignee’s new experiences to the best of their advantage, both professionally and personally.

These programs help the returning assignee consider some important issues, such as:

• How do I define home? How has my concept of home changed? Just because you’re away from home doesn’t mean that everything stops, and for some people it can be hard to come home to the changes that have happened while they were away.
• What have I learned during my assignment? And how can I put this knowledge and perspective into work?
• And, how do I jump back into my personal life? Remember, not everything stops when you’re away from home. It takes time to reacclimate with friends and family.

Hopefully, this helps your mobility program support your repatriating employees and make their transition as smooth as possible. Thanks for watching!”