How do you support developmental assignments?

Tax equalization, immigration support, and a COLA are commonly provided for both move types. However, developmental assignments target a specific type of employee: emerging talent, typically below age 35, that shows growth potential to the business. Retaining talent and fostering a positive employee experience is always important for Mobility, but even more so in developmental assignments; should the employee leave the organization shortly after repatriation, the business would receive no return on their investment.

Mobility can support their developing talent by understanding that young professionals are in a different stage of their lives than mid-career professionals, and they expect and require different support from their peers.

To better understand the wants and needs of young professionals, we held a discussion with AIRINC employees under 35 to share our personal values and professional perspectives. In this series, we’ll be posting some insights on how Mobility can tailor their policies and practices to better support the talent that the business invests in. This week, we’ll look into accompanied assignments.

Mobility professionals already know that nearly all expat assignments are allowed to be accompanied, meaning the employee is permitted to bring their spouse or partner along for the assignment. Though developmental assignments are a type of expat assignment, they may not need the same accompaniment status. For example, if the young professional is in a romantic relationship, they might struggle with the decision of bringing along their partner or spouse. While bringing a partner on assignment provides valuable support for the employee, their partner may be working on rising in their own career.

Most individuals under 35 are still working at developing their skills and discovering what their career path may look like, so taking a 2–3 year pause to support their partner may be detrimental in the long run for both salary and skill development. In a discussion with AIRINC peers, many 20-somethings shared that an unaccompanied assignment would likely work best for their personal situations. Ranging in relationship status from newlywed to long-term relationship, they all agreed that a temporary long-distance relationship (with a clear end date to the assignment) would be preferred over a disruption to their partner’s career.

We’ll be sharing more insights about developmental assignments in the weeks to come. Keep reading to find out more!

If you have any questions, please contact Grace Kernohan. You may also download the whitepaper here.