HR Trends: Bringing in Expats

In last month's issue of FirstCuts entitled "Expats of the Caribbean" I wrote about how companies need to do more to prepare themselves to be successful in bringing in expats.

With the advent of CSME and globalization, there are going to be more expats moving around the region, taking jobs in different countries. The burden of ensuring their successful transition lies in the HR departments in each country.

Unfortunately, most of them are ill-equipped to assist expats make the transition (a few have not evolved from being personnel departments themselves.)

They simply don't have the programmes in place to deal with the cultural transition that an expat must make, and many of them hardly understand the nature of the problem.

The fact is, they need to acquaint themselves with the nature of the programmes that their company needs, and will need to deliver increasingly effective solutions to what is bound to be a growing challenge.