.S. Companies Send Fewer Workers Overseas
- Your chance to expand your professional horizons abroad may be shrinking.
Because of the volatility of the dollar, coupled with recent back-to-back years of economic weakness, many U.S. companies are finding it more painful to send American workers overseas. The situation has created a cost vise for companies that are trying to expand their global presence while seeking to keep expenses down.
"The bottom line in all of this is that companies [that] are sending people from one country to the next have a whole different playing field," said Rebecca Powers, a senior consultant in the international practice at Mercer Human Resource Consulting in New York. "In the long term, it doesn't make sense for them not to do it, but in the short term, they're paying closer attention and cutting costs when they can."
The net effect on expatriates is that they may see the length of their assignments and the number of cohorts overseas reduced. Workers lobbying to be transferred abroad may also find it more difficult to get an assignment, as companies are increasingly relying upon local hires, which can cut costs. Motorola Inc. and Cisco Systems Inc. are among the companies that have confirmed they have pared back their expatriate population in recent years.
Shorter Assignments
In 2003, about 62% of companies surveyed had 50 or fewer expatriates deployed, a level that hasn't been seen since 1997, according to data by GMAC Global Relocation Services, an Oak Brook, Ill., firm that assists corporations with relocation. Also, about 70% of all assignments were scheduled for a year or less, more than five times the level of short-term assignments in previous years, the research showed. The study, conducted in November, polled 134 multinational organizations, most of which had corporate headquarters in the U.S.
HIGH LIFE
The costliest cities for expatriates, according to a recent survey by Mercer Human Resource Consulting.
Rank 2004 Rank 2003 City
1 1 Tokyo
2 7 London
3 2 Moscow
4 3 Osaka, Japan
5 4 Hong Kong
6 6 Geneva
7 8 Seoul, South Korea
8 15 Copenhagen
9 9 Zurich
10 12 St. Petersburg, Russia
Source: Mercer Human Resource Consulting
The exact number of U.S. expatriates isn't known, but the State Department estimates it at about 3.5 million to four million.
One company that has shortened the length of expatriate stays is Avaya Inc., a Basking Ridge, N.J., provider of communications systems. Avaya two years ago moved toward six-month stints partly to manage costs, said Deborah Kline, a company spokeswoman.
This year, overseas assignments are expected to pick up somewhat, but don't necessarily count on a return to lengthy stays abroad. Overall, long-term international assignments of between three and five years can cost companies more than $1 million, when taking into account relocation, salary and administrative expenses, according to Sara Costello, manager of global strategy and programs at the Society for Human Resource Management, an Alexandria, Va., organization that co-sponsored the GMAC study.
Some overseas opportunities are being cut altogether. In the discretionary case of the "six-month expatriate where you're trying to take a fast-track person and expose him or her to a global opportunity," companies are holding off, said Tom Casey, a principal at Mellon Financial Corp.'s Human Resources & Investor Solutions, based in Ridgefield Park, N.J.
This is particularly the case in cities where the cost of living has gotten more expensive. For instance, currency fluctuations -- notably involving the U.S. dollar and European and Asian currencies -- over the past year have made London significantly more expensive for expatriates, behind only Tokyo, according to Mercer's 2004 cost-of-living survey. Following closely behind in the organization's ranking of the costliest cities for American workers to relocate are Moscow; Osaka, Japan; Hong Kong; and Geneva. Mercer compiled its ranking by comparing prices on 200 items including food, clothing and housing in 144 cities.
The U.S. dollar's volatility is also leading some employers to restructure pay and benefit packages. For example, companies are considering tying compensation to a market-weighted basket of currencies instead of to the weak dollar, said Robert Wesselkamper, a practice director in the Chicago office of Watson Wyatt Worldwide. Some companies also are reducing housing allowances and reviewing cost-of-living adjustments.
The current geopolitical climate is also pushing firms to hire more workers in foreign countries instead of relying on staff from the U.S. Amid the continuing American presence in Iraq, the U.S. is "perceived very differently today," said Fran Luisi, a principal at Charleston Partners, a Rumson, N.J., executive-search firm for human-resource professionals. "Many organizations are overly sensitive to being perceived as too U.S.-centric."
Corporate Ladder
Of course, as companies expand globally, some find it necessary -- regardless of the cost -- to ship employees overseas. These employees are often high up the corporate ladder, and thus harder to replace.
Some multinational corporations are actually extending international assignments. In the late 1990s, General Electric Co. significantly slashed the number of expatriates overseas, but the company has added to this figure in recent years and is now nearing its previous level. Also, GE is extending the length of time that executives stay on domestic as well as international assignments, according to Peter Stack, a company spokesman.
Some say a longer-term approach, such as GE's, increases employee productivity. While many are cutting back, some companies are looking to extend standard two-year assignments to three years, according to Mr. Casey, of Mellon's Human Resources & Investor Solutions. "In the first six months, you're getting used to the language, but your productivity, your value contribution" rises the longer you are in the country, he said.
美国公司外派员工数量减少
美国人在海外开拓职业空间的机会可能正在减少。
由于美元波动不定，以及最近美国经济连年低迷，许多美国公司发现将美国工人送到海外正成为一件越来越棘手的事情。那些试图拓展海外业务同时又竭力控制费用的公司正受到成本的钳制。
Mercer Human Resource Consulting驻纽约的国际业务高级顾问瑞贝卡?鲍尔斯(Rebecca Powers)说，“关键之处在于这些向海外派遣员工的公司所面临的环境与以前完全不同了。从长期来看，他们不外派员工是没有道理的，但在短期，他们更关注眼前，并且尽可能削减成本。”
海外员工由此受到的影响是，他们也许会发现其海外工作任期缩短以及周围外派员工数量减少。那些争取到海外工作的工人可能也会发现获得委派更加困难，因为美国公司正越来越依赖当地雇员，以降低成本。
摩托罗拉(Motorola Inc.)和思科系统(Cisco Systems Inc.)证实，它们在过去几年削减了外派员工的数量。
据GMAC Global Relocation Services公布的数据，在接受调查的公司中，2003年有大约62%的公司外派员工数量不高于50人，这是自1997以来的最低水平。GMAC Global Relocation Services是伊利诺伊州一家帮助公司重新安置员工的公司。该研究显示，与此同时，大约70%的外派员工任期不高于1年，这一比例是5年前短期外派工作比例的5倍多。这份报告是GMAC在11月对134家跨国企业进行调查后得出的结果，这些跨国公司总部大多都在美国。
美国外派员工的具体数字不得而知，但是美国国务院估计人数在350万至400万人之间。
新泽西州通信系统提供商Avaya Inc.就缩短了外派雇员在海外的工作任期。该公司发言人德宝拉?凯林纳(Deborah Kline)说，Avaya两年前将海外工作任期缩减为6个月，部分原因就是出于管理成本的考虑。
预计今年海外委派工作数量将会有所增加，但是这不一定意味著海外工作任期会重新延长至以前水平。据Society for Human Resource Management负责全球战略和计划的经理沙拉?考斯特劳(Sara Costello)说，总体而言，3-5年的长期海外委派将令公司花费超过100万美元，这其中包括重置，薪水和管理费用，Society for Human Resource Management是GMAC所进行的上述研究的联合发起人。
一些海外工作机会被整体缩减。Mellon Financial Corp.旗下Human Resources & Investor Solutions的负责人汤姆?凯瑟(Tom Casey)说，在6个月海外工作任期的情形中，公司竭力寻找一个高效员工，让后将他派往海外，这些公司正在踌躇不前。
在生活成本越来越贵的城市，这种情况尤其明显。比如，据Mercer的2004年生活成本调查显示，过去一年汇率的波动－主要是美元和欧洲以及亚洲的货币－－已经将伦敦变外派工作成本极为昂贵的城市，排名仅次于排在首位的东京。该组织对美国工人外派城市按照生活成本进行了排名，仅随伦敦其后的分别是莫斯科，大阪、香港和日内瓦。Merce是在对144个城市的食品、服装和住房等200件商品的价格进行比较之后得出这一排名的。
美元的波动性也导致一些雇主重新安排了薪酬和福利。比如，Watson Wyatt Worldwide芝加哥办公室的执行总监Robert Wesselkamper说，一些公司考虑将补贴与按市场权重计算的一揽子货币挂钩，而不是与贬值的美元挂钩。一些公司还减少住房津贴，并考虑对生活成本做出调整。
眼下的地理政治气候也促使公司在外国雇佣更多工人，而不是依赖美国的雇员。Charleston Partners的弗兰?路易斯(Fran Luisi)说，“由于美国至今仍占领伊拉克，美国在当地人心目中的形象与以往有了很大的不同。”Charleston Partners是针对人力资源专业人士的一家猎头公司。“许多组织对于被认为过分倾向于美国极为敏感。”
当然，随著公司全球业务的扩张，一些人认为不论成本高低都有必要将员工输往海外。这些员工通常是公司梯队中较高层的人员，因此很难找到替代人选。他们可以被视为公司全球业务增长的推动力量。
一些跨国公司实际上在扩大其全球外派幅度。在20世纪90年代，通用电气(General Electric Co.)大幅削减了海外的外派雇员数量，但是该公司近今年又增加了外派员工数量，现在已接近以前水平。同时，通用电气发言人皮特?斯泰克(Peter Stack)称，通用电气延长了管理人士在国内以及海外工作的任期。
一些人称，类似于通用电气这样的长远做法能提高员工的生产效率。Mellon旗下Human Resources & Investor Solutions的凯瑟说，尽管许多公司都在收缩，但是一些公司正考虑将两年期的标准外派任期延长到三年。她说，在开始的6个月，你开始适应当地语言，但是当你在这个国家呆下去时，你的生产率、价值贡献就会增长。
