Assignment Letters: More Than Just Paperwork

Failed international assignments are costly in both financial terms as well as employee morale and retention. Clear assignment letters reduce the risk of misunderstandings that can derail an assignment before it begins. By providing clarity upfront a true ‘know before you go’ moment companies give employees the confidence and transparency they need to focus on succeeding in their new role.

Why Assignment Letters Matter

Assignment letters do more than outline logistics. They:

• Provide clarity by spelling out benefits, responsibilities, and policies.
• Shape employee trust: a confusing or generic letter can create uncertainty before the move even begins.
• Reflect company culture: rigid, transactional letters feel very different from supportive, welcoming ones.

Which example introduction below sounds better to you?

What Common Challenges Today

Despite their importance, assignment letters often create more headaches than impact. Teams tell us they struggle with:

• Time-intensive drafting: each letter can take 1-2 hours to prepare + multiple versions as negotiations happen with candidates.
• Policy flexibility & templates: as organizations add more flexibility to policies to improve the employee experience, templates become harder to use. For example, how do you remove language about benefits that aren’t being offered without rewriting the entire letter?
• Error risk: copy/paste mistakes undermine confidence in the process.

All of these are challenges that can be addressed with good technology like Navi.

Best Practices for Strategic Assignment Letters

Assignment letters can be both efficient and employee-centered with the right approach. A few best practices:

• Use clear, simple language while avoiding policy jargon.
• Highlight what matters most to employees: family, housing, allowances, and support.
• Add a welcoming note with a warm tone to remind employees this process is about supporting them, not just tracking costs.
• Create a template with modular, pre-approved language for common variations (home finding, schooling, partner support).

How Technology Helps

What if technology could give you a highly personalized assignment letter populated with relevant information in a minute instead of (1-2 hours)?

Navi’s document builder supports:

• Populating documents automatically with the right employee data.
• Ensuring consistency in language, formatting, and tone while still allowing personalization.
• Providing version control and central storage to improve compliance and record-keeping.
• Delivering results that are faster, more accurate, and more personal.

A personalized letter like the example below can be created in less than a minute:

Assignment letters are not just about compliance, they are the first chance to show employees they’re supported and valued. Technology can help build trust and set the tone for a successful move.
That is one of the reasons why AIRINC recently launched a global mobility technology platform, Navi, that helps generate personalized assignment letters easily.

Need to create an assignment letter template?

Work with our team of mobility consulting experts to get started.

Want to see how Navi transforms this process from hours of manual work to minutes? Request a personalized demo.