Expatriates are people who live outside their native countries where they work. However, there are problems which limit their effectiveness in foreign countries, and also affect their contribution to their companies (Collings, Scullion, & Morley, 2007). There are various causes of such challenges. One of the main ones is the lack of the ability to adjust to the foreign environment. When expatriates do not get used to the international working environment, it becomes hard for them to be productive in their jobs. Family problems can also affect the productivity of employees. In some cases, it becomes hard for the spouse and other family members to cope with the foreign environment. When expatriates do not move with their families to the foreign place of employment, they may be mentally disturbed. This may have significant impacts on their productivity. In some cases, the responsibilities of expatriates may be different from the ones they are used to in their home nations. As a result, it may be hard for them to cope with the new task, which may affect their efficiency and productivity in the company. Thus, there are various personal and family problems which have adverse effects on the productivity of expatriates in the foreign country and when they return to their home nation.
There are various consequences of such problems to the employee. One of them is that they may be ineffective overseas. Additionally, they cause detrimental effects to the company, when they do not carry out the assigned tasks as required (Collings et al., 2007). Another consequence of such problems is that expatriates may return to their home country prematurely. This happens when they are no longer able to cope with the foreign environment. The issues faced by international workers can lead them to lose their jobs. When expatriates are no longer able to carry out their tasks as required, the employer companies view them as liabilities. As a result, organizations prefer to terminate their contracts and look for more efficient employees. As a result, the expatriates end up losing their jobs. Such employee’s army also undergoes a lot of stress due to the challenges they face in other nations, which army have adverse effects on their health.
Firms can take active roles in preventing such problems from happening to expatriates. First, they should adopt an effective selection process. This will help to ensure that the people selected to work in foreign countries are the ones able to cope with the international environment without challenges. This can be achieved through conducting amplitude tests on the employees to determine if they can be able to relate comfortably with other people (Collings et al., 2007). Firms should also implement training programs to help the expatriates to understand the systems of international companies. This will help them to cope with the global environments. The training programs should involve cultural language and practical activities. This will give the expatriates a chance to familiarize themselves with people in foreign countries. Firms should also assist expatriates and their families to cope with the foreign environment. This can be achieved by offering international employees with the basic needs in the first few days after joining the organization. International firms should also help the expatriates to return to their home nations after completing their contract.
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