While companies have been sending employees overseas for decades, the places and the faces have drastically changed.
Traditionally, the majority of expatriates were males leaving the United States and going to Europe or Asia with their families, said Jim Simon, chief executive officer at Simon & Associates, a business consulting firm.
“In the last five years, we have seen many more women who are executive ex-pats that are going overseas with a male spouse or partner trailing,” he said.
According to the 11th Annual Global Relocation Trends Survey, issued by GMAC Global Relocations Services and the National Foreign Trade Council, women accounted for 23 percent of the international assignees in 2005, up 5 percent from the year prior.
That workforce is also getting younger, with 54 percent of expatriates under the age of 40.
London, Germany and France traditionally were the primary destinations for transfers, but these European locals are slowly taking the backseat to emerging markets.
“In the last five to 10 years, we have seen an increase in moving people from the United States to Singapore, China, India and Mexico. This comes from call centers located overseas and a surge in manufacturing overseas,” said Peter Matischak, director of sales and marketing at Arpin International Group.
The up-and-coming places to relocate employees are Eastern European countries — Poland, Czechoslovakia and Romania. “The Western European countries are too expensive and places like London and France are outsourcing to these countries. Turkey has also become a huge trend for manufacturing because of lower labor costs,” Matischak said.
Moving workers abroad has become increasingly expensive, costing companies up to three times the employees’ salary. These astronomical costs have forced businesses to reexamine global relocation and find creative ways to transfer employees.
Historically, relocations were long-term endeavors that lasted anywhere from three to five years, said Lisa Johnson, director of Cartus consulting.
Now more companies want to move employees for shorter terms and for alternative assignments.
Short-term assignments, which can range anywhere from three to nine months, are significantly cheaper since the employee may rent temporary housing or stay in a hotel room rather than buy a new home. These employees are also allocated a smaller living allowance and granted fewer perks.
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Though major changes are taking place in the global relocation industry, there are still plenty of opportunities for international assignments.
The global trends survey revealed that 47 percent of respondents reported an increase in the size of their current expatriate population in 2005 compared with 31 percent in 2004, and 54 percent anticipated additional growth in the coming year.