Expat Families and Settling In: It's the Little Things

It can be difficult as a Global Mobility Professional to know how to support your assignees and their families in the early days of an assignment.   Of course you want to make it easier for the expat family to get settled, but on the other hand you don’t want to appear paternalistic or interfering in family life.

In the first few weeks of an assignment, the family has to learn to navigate the basics of life (e.g. food purchasing, recycling rules and getting everyone where they need to be) as well as the logistics of the move in  (e.g. unpacking, utilities connections).  Small issues have a disproportionate impact on how the family navigates the transition. Let's take grocery shopping; it's normally done in half an hour but can take twice that time or more and leave the accompanying partner feeling inadequate for taking so long to accomplish a simple task.   So why not make it easier?   Here are some simple and low cost actions you can take to help smooth the way so that the family can get the basics out of the way and get on with living their lives in their new environment.

1. Additional leave for the expat assignee The burden of the move in and settling in tasks tends to fall to the accompanying partner as the assignee is typically “in at the deep-end” with the assignment.  A few additional days leave that can be taken to assist with some of the key move in tasks can be invaluable to the family, particularly when younger children are around.  Directing legions of movers to get things in the right place while simultaneously ensuring that your children out of harms way is much easier if there are two of you.   If additional leave is not an option, at least try to ensure that the assignee has a “honeymoon period” with little or no travel expected.
2. Access to a discrete individual who can help with local language  In the early days of the assignment, the family will have to deal with communications in the local language and in many cases their language skills will be inadequate to deal with them.  Assignees often ask their assistants to help them but this is not always possible nor is it always appropriate.
3. Organise a “mentor”, preferably another expat, who can show the family (in particular the accompanying partner) how to navigate the day-to-day challenges of life in a new country.  We’re not talking about a destination services provider showing the accompanying partner around for a day, we’re talking about someone whom the family can call and ask questions (“where is the nearest hospital?” in the inevitable moment where a child needs stitches or someone contracts food poisoning), someone who can also do some handholding around everyday tasks when needed.  It helps if the mentor is in a similar family situation as they will be able to provide more and relevant information.  Finally, in the absence of a local mentor, a current and comprehensive list of local services can go a long way towards helping.  You can download a starter list to be populated with local information here
4. Provide a list of reliable babysitters and babysitting services to families with young children.  This may not help immediately as children may not be comfortable being left with a new babysitter or in an unfamiliar environment, but getting started quickly with a reliable babysitter allows the adults to get things done without the additional stress of having children around or worrying about the quality of care they are receiving.
5. A temporary local SIM card for the accompanying partner  In many countries, the accompanying partner can’t sign up for a local phone contract until all immigration formalities are complete.  While the assignee is typically given access to mobile communications immediately as a work tool, the accompanying partner may be left without or relying on expensive roaming on their home contract.  Since a landline may not be connected either, restricted mobile communications can limit what the accompanying partner is able to do.

One concern expressed by Global Mobility professionals is that by providing this level of support, dependence will be created.  However, we have seen that getting the family efficiently through these small, routine issues; issues that have an inordinately negative impact on mind-set, frees them up to devote their energies to the really important stuff, like the new job and the emotional, professional and cultural transition.  Being supported in this way allows individual family members to create a foundation of good will and empowerment for the critical business of building a new life.