Although multinational companies are increasingly transferring employees to the United States, the United Kingdom, and China more than anywhere else in the world, many of those employees are not fully prepared for their new assignment, according to the “Top 15 International Relocation Destinations & Intercultural Business Tips for Career Survival,” recently released from Cartus Corporation.
Data for the “Top 15 International Relocation Destinations & Intercultural Business Tips for Career Survival,” was culled from Cartus’ worldwide client base, which includes over 64 percent of the FORTUNE 50. Last year, Cartus relocated nearly 160,000 transferees into or out of approximately 165 countries.
Just as important as documenting international relocation trends, Cartus data indicates that transferring employees can sometimes be unprepared to do business in their new destination country. As a result, they may find themselves making a career-damaging faux pas that a bit of advance intercultural awareness would have helped them avoid.
“Every location presents unique challenges in the areas of decision making, relationship building, and preferred communication styles,” said Jenny Castelino, Director of Intercultural and Language Solutions for Cartus. “Our research found that a full 75 percent of companies believe cross-cultural training is important not only for the transferee, but also for the transferee’s family.”
To help companies understand the cultural challenges their transferees often face, Cartus’ Intercultural Training Solutions group compiled a list of important career survival tips for each of the top 15 countries, shown in rank order according to 2012 international relocation volume from Cartus clients:
