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Early Repatriations & Downsizing
Relocation and human resources (HR) professionals are coping with a massive number of issues in managing their global expatriate staff. For many, increased pressure from their procurement departments and reduced budgets are leaving them no other choice than to persuade some of their expat employees to return home early (or worse yet, initiating forced repatriations) or transition them into early localization. Many of the assignees have children settled in schools in their host country and are reluctant to leave, or are not ready or willing to be localized, making it difficult to maintain staff motivation and morale.
Blake jersey "We are seeing an increase in early repatriation in Europe and many are a result of redundancy. These cases can be challenging,” noted Shan Norman from London. Warwick Anderson from Australia added, "the bottom line here in Australia is that companies have placed freezes on the majority of middle and senior management movement.”
In France, a number of companies are downsizing which is causing a rise in unemployment and consumer confidence. Michel Van Riel from Paris, shared some positive insights: "Some banks are planning a return to France of their expatriates mainly from the U.S., and we have received positive signals from several clients that the number of expatriates relocating will not be affected by the present economic climate.”
Comparing January and February 2009 with the same two months of 2008, Crown saw a 27% increase in the number of people moving to the United States and Canada, suggesting an increase of repatriations. In New York, Bob Leotti commented, “I’ve seen changes in corporate relocation departments such as expats being sent back home or a reduction in the relocation department itself, especially in the financial sector.”
Las Vegas has been one of the hardest hit economies in the United States. Scott Lax explains, “over the last 10 years, new construction accounted for about 30% of the Las Vegas economy. Many of these investments have been put on Blake jersey hold indefinitely and the associated jobs have also been put on hold?or disappeared completely. With the industry under so much stress, many people are moving away from Las Vegas.” Bill Whaley from San Francisco added, “the job losses have been greater than anticipated with multinationals going through major staff reductions since October of last year."
Relocation professionals in the United States as a whole are also coping with unprecedented domestic relocation issues. The mortgage crisis Blake jersey is making it difficult for employees to sell their homes. In fact, some of them are in a negative equity position (when they owe more on their mortgage than their home is worth). For employees that are unable to sell their homes, corporate clients are implementing creative solutions in their efforts to relocate employees who are needed to fill important roles throughout the country. Home selling strategies, temporary housing benefits and special monetary concessions are just a few of the strategies being employed by relocation professionals managing domestic mobility programs in the United States.
Economic Impact on Southeast Asia
According to Andrew Soon, “in Singapore, redundancies nearly tripled from 3,180 in the third quarter of last year to a record quarterly high of 9,410 workers in the fourth quarter as the global economic downturn worsened. As a result, Singapore has unveiled a raft of recovery schemes in efforts to boost the economy.”
“So far I haven’t seen a large impact in Malaysia, but of course there are some people going home. Some corporate projects have been put on hold but existing projects are continuing. Malaysia has become an attractive location for many corporations looking to set up their Asia regional headquarters which has softened the impact of the global economic conditions.” noted Ronan Kelly from Kuala Lumpur.
The Philippines has not experienced a definitive increase in outbound moves, but is starting to see an outflow of mid level managers. According to Camilla Brooks, “the industries most affected are construction and banking. Despite the significant growth of Business Process Outsourcing (BPOs) in the Philippines in the past few years, there are some signs of a slowdown in their growth. Although it’s unclear, this slowdown is likely to be short-term as companies will continue to be attracted to the cost-saving opportunities from BPOs.
Leon Hulme from Seoul gave his insights on the economic impact in Korea. “The Korean Won (KRW) is one of the worst performing currencies in Asia, being as much of a concern in Korea as the global financial crisis is.” Many Koreans and Korean Americans are returning home to provide financial support to their families who are impacted by the weak local currency and unable to make ends meet.”