Family Support on Assignment: More Than Moving Together

An employee may be the one accepting an overseas assignment, but we can’t assess the experience without considering the family—whether they relocate together or live apart.

Reading AIRINC’s 2026 Long-Term Assignment Survey prompted me to reflect on how family support is evolving, and how the global findings compare with what I’ve observed in my advisory work in the APAC region.

What Partner and Education Support Do Companies Provide?

The survey reports that 75% of respondents provide partner assistance, either routinely or in some cases, up from 63% in 2022. Support can include career counseling or continuing education, with services and reimbursement more prevalent than cash allowances.

Education support is also widespread: only 5% report providing none for dependent children in the host location. However, coverage can depend on the availability of suitable local schooling or case-by-case decisions. The share reporting no education cap has fallen from 64% in 2022 to 53%, highlighting the balance between support and cost control.

I read this as a reminder that supporting families does not require an unlimited commitment. It does require clarity about what is covered, and why.

In some APAC policy projects I’ve supported, these benefits have been less established than the global findings might suggest. That does not necessarily mean families receive no support. Sometimes, the emphasis is elsewhere.

How Does Home Leave Support Employees and Families?

The survey’s home leave section makes an important distinction. Among home-leave providers, 73% offer one annual trip for accompanied assignments. For unaccompanied or split-family assignments, frequencies vary more widely, including one, two, or four trips, as well as arrangements based on distance and location.

In APAC advisory projects, I’ve seen organizations prioritize frequent trips home over partner assistance or host-country education support, sometimes offering travel more often than the commonly reported frequencies. Unaccompanied long-term assignments are not unusual in the programs we support. I suspect the additional travel is intended, at least partly, to help employees manage family separation.

I’ve also worked with a few companies that provide a family separation allowance alongside other assignment compensation, including hardship allowances. I would not, however, assume that an additional payment alone addresses what the employee and family need.

Start with the family’s circumstances

Encouragingly, I’ve seen companies that previously offered limited family support begin to revisit their policies. This connects directly to the growing focus on employee experience as a measure of mobility success.

The discussion should go beyond whether to add an allowance. For an accompanying partner, career assistance may be relevant. For a family relocating with children, schooling may be the priority. For those living apart, the ability to spend meaningful time together may matter most.

I would start by asking employees what makes the arrangement difficult, then assess whether the available support addresses those concerns. For home leave, that includes whether workloads and leave arrangements actually allow employees to use the trips provided.

Family support is part of giving an employee the conditions to succeed—not simply an optional addition to the package. An unaccompanied assignment should not mean an unsupported family.

This is the final post in our series exploring AIRINC’s 2026 Long-Term Assignment Survey. Taken together, the findings show that while the fundamentals of long-term assignments remain familiar, companies are continuing to make targeted changes in response to cost pressures, talent expectations, and the employee experience.

Want to explore the findings in more detail? Watch the recording of our webinar, Long-Term Assignments, for a closer look at how organizations are structuring LTA policies and compensation, including assignment allowances, family support, taxation, and more.