Virginia Stormtroopers story started recently here: Why Developing Future Skills is Crucial Global Mobility Professionals. You are probably wondering why she is now called Virginia Robot. After establishing herself as a rising star in global mobility, Virginia Robot’s work caught leaders’ attention across galaxies. Her success in turning interplanetary chaos into streamlined relocation strategies was unmatched. What she didn’t expect, though, was that her next big challenge—and connection—would come in the form of a particular assistant robot. During her work, Virginia met Tom Robot, a quirky, adaptable AI companion. She told him that she was looking to develop her career globally and that her partner would need to be willing to follow along with her. Tom Robot recommended us, as they had worked […]

Rhoda Bangerter specialises in split family assignments, frequent business travel, and their impact on family life. Rhoda helps parents manage the stress and disconnect from living this life so that they can enjoy the growth and intention this lifestyle can bring. International organisations (foreign service, military, humanitarian and private organisations) are increasingly aware of the specific requirements for staff and their families when on non-family duty stations. Through talks and workshops, Rhoda helps organisations, such as the World Food Program, support their employees when they are regularly sent on international assignments from a month to a couple of years without their partners and children. Having experienced frequent work travel and a split family assignment from the point of view of […]

We discussed how family challenges and marital issues significantly impact the outcome of international assignments. We also saw that many companies list the Expat Spouse’s unhappiness as the primary cause of “Expatriate Failure,” highlighting the importance of the Expat Spouse and Partner career support programs.  We will discuss more extensively the kind of support you can give Dual-Career Expat Couples and why that matters. I have always advocated for Global Mobility Managers to involve Expat Spouses proactively. Sometimes I sound like a broken record, though. I reiterate what I’ve been repeating for years. The days of the passive “trailing spouse,” when they were marginally involved in any decision to move abroad, are gone. Most expats (mobile employees) actively involve their […]

Once, I gave a talk discussing the Expat Experience in Zurich and how to enhance it. Zurich is a typical inbound hub, so many of the ideas in this article will also apply to places like Dubai, London, Hong Kong, or Singapore. As the most populated canton in Switzerland, Zurich is becoming home to an ever-growing population of expats. Today’s typical expats look like this expat couple: Heidi and Govind. Heidi is a Director who works in banking and is a credit guru. She met Govind, her husband, at the London School of Economics. From there, they moved to New York and later to Abu Dhabi. Govind now works for a pharmaceutical company that has stationed them in Abu Dhabi for the […]

Prevent Family Separation in Global Mobility Stop me if you have heard this before. Still, the general belief among people seems to be that separation rates among expatriates are higher than those among native (aka stay-at-home) professionals. I want to point out that this is not the case. The reality is that this idea comes from the fact that the impacts of family separations are much more significant. Consider the difficulty of handling separation and potential custody disputes through geographical boundaries. Discussion among multinational Global Mobility circles is centering on the issue of Dual-Career Expat Couples.  Why You Need To Care About This You may be wondering how their relationships and related problems impact businesses. The answer is simple:  People […]