International assignments, including expatriation, have been argued to be an essential aspect of MNC operations. What are the main problems associated with expatriate assignments? What steps can MNCs take to ensure that these assignments are guided by and do not contradict their diversity management policies and practices? Please provide examples from MNCs to illustrate your answer, and cover more than one equality characteristic.
The report provides an assessment of the problems arising with expatriate assignments and the degree to which these assignments are not consistent with Multinational’s equality and diversity policies and practices. Two of the recognised equality characteristics that have to provide illustration are sex and sexual orientation. Over the years, much attention has been given to various aspects of international assignment including the performance of the expatriates, training for cross-cultural encounters, staffing criteria and suitability of women for these global assignments (Tung 2008, p. 91). While previous studies have concluded that women succeed in countries dominated by the male gender, their utilisation by multinational companies for international assignments has been limited (Tung 2008, p. 91). Thus, it is vital to examine the challenges or factors hindering highly qualified women from being involved in international duties. For many multinational organisations, expatriation is a key strategy for broadening and maximising usage of global talent, improve diversity levels, and increase the performance of the firm (McPhail, McNulty, and Hutchings 2016, p. 1). For instance for Coca Cola, the need for expatriates according to the firm is to satisfy two reasons which include filling specific skills that are not available in a certain location such as where an expatriate of polish decent from Chicago was sent to Poland after the company started new operations. The second reason for the expatriate program at Coca Cola is for development of the employees (Anfuso, 1994). Therefore, expatriation is a vital strategy for multinationals operating in a competitive market, but it requires effective management. Coca-Cola has been consistent through its leadership in advocating for gender equality. The companys Coke’s Global Women Initiative seeks to empower women in all parts of the world.
Nevertheless, when recruiting for vacant positions, many multinational companies despite the need for qualified people fail to tap from the LGTB (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) expatriates talent pool. In their study, McPhail, and McNulty, (2015, p. 731) concluded that in some places it was impossible for an LGTB expatriate to work. Therefore, understanding the barriers, opportunities, and challenges that women and LGTB face in expatriation is critical towards compelling multinational companies towards designing human resource strategies that do not contradict diversity management and policies.
Problems associated with expatriate assignments: Female and LGTB Expatriates
Selection Process
The first challenge that both women and LGTB expatriates face is during the process of recruitment and selection. According to Sarkiunaite, and Rocke (2015, p. 23), the selection process of expatriates is more complex compared to local employees. In selecting the international candidates, many multinational companies begin with recruitment which is later followed by analysing the candidates external and internal environment in addition to evaluating the required competencies, the suitability of the candidate before finally selecting the candidate who is more qualified (Harvey, and Novicevic 2001). For example, LG has developed a formal process that aids in determining the fitness of an employee for an international assignment (Black, and Gregersen, 1999). Singh (2010, p. 310) states that the most frequent used criteria for selecting the candidates include having personal motivation to working and living abroad, linguistic, interpersonal, and work-related skills, knowledge and cultural empathy of the specific country, capability to make adjustments to the new environment, and preceding international experience. Sarkiunaite, and Rocke (2015, p. 23) states that it is of importance to determine the candidates marital status during the selection stage and their family situation considering that the success of the expatriates largely depends on the support and opinion of the family members. Theoretically, competencies for the job and the personal traits are key to being selected for the international assignment as concluded by a study done on Finnish expatriates around the globe (Mitrev and Culpepper 2012). Honda is an excellent organisation where competencies for an international job are critical regardless of the sexual orientation or gender as the company determines the strengths and weaknesses of each employee before selection (Black, and Gregersen 1999). At Honda, the practice is that regardless of the sexual orientation or gender, skills and knowledge on the global vacancy determines who is selected. The practice is important in a diverse world. Nonetheless, in many multinationals, the selection of expatriates is different. In relation to women, stereotypical assumptions are made regarding the willingness of women to work internationally where they are considered liabilities (Culpan and Wright 2002). Selmer and Leung (2003) observed that in Western countries, stereotyping of gender is displayed as lacking faith in the success of women expatriates in addition to the fear of failure and success. The stereotyping could be explained through statistics where 89% of the female expatriates are single compared to 27% of male expatriates (Fischlmayr & Kollinger 2010, p. 459). According to Fischlmayr (2002, p. 775) decisions on selection are made by personnel managers using stereotypical assumptions an aspect replicated in an interview research where the respondents felt that compared to younger women, older women elicited dissimilar reactions from the personnel managers.
For the LGTB community, while strides have been made to accommodate them during the selection for international assignments, in some countries homosexuality is illegal and in other countries, it is punishable by death (Silver 2014). Therefore, some multinationals hesitate to deploy LGTB’s in countries where the dominant culture is against this kind of sexual orientation. According to Gedro (2010), LG workers are marginalised and often stigmatised representing part of the workforce that is unequally protected and those seeking for international assignments required to ‘come out’ to their employers to be selected for these opportunities. According to Moeller, Maley, and McPhail (2017), international assignments provided by multinational organisations increased by 25 percent from 2000 and by 2020 the figure is expected to grow by 50%. When multinationals are selecting employees for international assignments they are likely to ignore LGBT if there is a likelihood that the destination country could refuse spousal visas where the marriage is for same sex. Reasons for failure to be selected also include likelihood of restrictions to healthcare and other benefits (Moeller, Maley, and McPhail 2017).
Handling of the Assignment Itself
Women and LGBT employees seeking to be expatriates do not only face challenges or ‘discrimination’ during the selection for international assignments but also when handling the assignments if they are selected. Expatriate adjustment and adaptation is a critical aspect towards the ultimate failure or success of the assignment abroad. According to Caligiuri and Lazarova (2002, p. 763) all expatriates require three forms of support including instrumental, informational, and emotional. To prepare the expatriates to face the new working and living environment in the new country, multinationals often arrange pre-departure training that includes the culture, language, and business training among others. Nonetheless, for the few women in international assignments, there is need to overcome certain challenges that are often recurring. The lasting theory as to why few women are selected by multinationals for jobs abroad is perceived work-family conflict. While gender bias is against the policies for all multinational companies, it occurs frequently under disguise. Gender stereotypes are persistent among multinationals where questions such as what if she is pregnant or not tough enough and what her husband refuses to go; are constantly asked. As a result, women expatriates might be ineffective because of the prejudice from foreigners. Some historical myths that exist in some cultures could provide female expatriates with hard time coping with their jobs. Another challenge that women expatriates have to face is concerning the length of the assignment. According to Adler (1994), female expatriates have to deal with the issue of limitations of their assignments. Some multinationals offer female employees temporary international assignments as they fail to trust that they will be successful. Other challenges include the lifestyle options where they have to make hard choices on some aspects such as whether to have children, when and where to get married, among others (Linehan, and Scullion 2001). For many married female expatriates, handling the relationship with spouses and the larger extended family is one of the most difficult lifestyle options to manage. Finally, gender cultures is a challenge that women expatriates have to face. Often, because of their gender, women in international assignments are subjected to a personal treatment compared to their male counterparts. Therefore, female workers have to manage their gender while at the same time performing their duties. For instance, in some cultures, women are considered homemakers and mothers while men are naturally breadwinners. Such a culture affects the selection process as well as the hours to work and promotion aspects. Subsequently, as Treleaven (2016) reports, some cultures contribute to male chauvinism against the female expatriates situations that are challenging to successfully work in.
On the part of the LGBT expatriates, working in countries where homosexuality is considered illegal is a major challenge. Nonetheless, LGBT employees still experience issues in nations where same sex marriages have been accepted. Some people in the society are still opposed to it and when working as a foreigner many problems can arise. According to Moeller, Maley, and McPhail (2017) Saudi Arabia, Russia, Indonesia, and Nigeria are becoming challenging destinations for expatriate assignments for multinational organisations. Nonetheless, a company like Earnest & Young has been identified to be offering support to LGBT expatriates as one of the firm’s equality policies (Alsop, 2016). Earnest & Young presents the few organisations that openly show the necessary support for the LGBT employees particularly when they face discrimination in that have declared this type of sexual orientation illegal. E & Y understands that compared to a typical expatriate, an LGBT employee is likely to face more hardships such as difficult workplace climate, and the perception of lacking career opportunities. Moeller, Maley, and McPhail (2017) argue that studies have shown lesbians face unique challenges during development of their careers including identification of the right job. Considering these components, the experience of a LGBT expatriate on international assignment can be a lonely and frustrating experience. Consequently, many LGBT employees may decline global assignments, as they fear lack of support, discrimination, and stigmatisation by the legal system in the hosting country and colleagues. Vance and McNulty (2014) concluded that LGBT expatriates are faced with a common problem of lack of easy access to interaction with similar people. For HR professionals, supporting and compensating LGBT expatriates is challenging from a policy perspective specifically when the benefits enjoyable in the home country cannot be replicated after deployment to an international assignment (McPhail, and McNulty 2015, p.742). Therefore, even before relocating to the host nation, the uniqueness of the LGBT employees provides challenge to multinational organisations. According to Woody (2007), hidden sexuality leads to a double cost; first caused by the stress of having to remain alert and secondly, reduced productivity because of low trust levels. During expatriation, both the LGBT employee and the MNC might incur another cost when the sexual status is unexpectedly “known’ in a host country that is unwelcoming.
Repatriation
Finally, women and LGBT expatriates who have finished their international assignments have to undergo repatriation. Repatriation is the final stage of expatriation where the employees who have worked in a foreign subsidiary must go back to the home country and undergo reintegration to their role in the main company. The process of repatriation involves preparation, relocation and adjustment. According to Paik, Segaud, and Malinowski (2002, p. 636) three major factors affect the process of repatriation; specifically, family, working environment, and socio-cultural environment. Successful implementation of the repatriation process is important for both the employee and the organisation. Often, the problems or challenges that women and LGBT and in this case all expatriates face during repatriation are similar. Some of the problems that have been associated with the expatriation process includes how to deal with large expenses, challenges on which is the most appropriate form of preparation and adjustment, unsuccessful process, and finally issues related to family, individual, and organisation difficulties originating from the international management of career (Sarkiunaite, and Rocke 2015, p. 27).
Among the most challenging aspect of the repatriation of female and LGBT employees is associated with the process of adjustment which is a more difficult task compared to adjusting to life in a new country (Sarkiunaite, and Rocke 2015, p. 28). Benson, and Pattie (2008, p. 1636), observed in their study that the process of repatriation is often accompanied by the fear of that the employee will lose the status they had, feeling underrated, mixture in career direction, no gaining an expected promotion, and facing difficulties in finances. Harvey, and Moeller, (2009) organised the problems that expatriates face during the process of repatriation into two; organisational problems and personal problems. The problems associated with the organisation include being assigned unsuitable back after comeback, lack of acknowledgement, lack of promotions and career prospects, lack of professional freedom, colleagues resentment, and changes in policy and system. On the other hand, the personal problems include issues associated with social adjustments, loss of life standards, family and financial problems. Failure of the expatriate employee to be successful in the process of repatriation, organisations get to lose time and resources invested in the employee. Often, women and LGBT expatriates are unsuccessful in their quest for a comeback because of the disappointments in expatriation process and unexpected changes in the workplace. According to Djordjević (2014, p 129), the return of expatriates to the parent country and company cases negative feelings such as uncertainty, anxiety, and disappointment. At times, expatriates might experience reverse culture shock which can be worse from the culture shock in foreign countries. Before leaving for the international assignments, many women and LGBT employees are prepared to face the unfamiliar situations as they are aware the environment will be different. However, when returning to the parent company, they expect to find familiar situations and environment. Nonetheless, depending on the length of stay, many changes could have happened including the leadership, culture, and strategy among others an aspect which requires the expatriates to readjust to the new environment. They could be forced to find new friends something that can be challenging. One of the consequences of being unable to readjust to the parent company for many expatriates is quitting the organisation. Studies have shown that there is a high turnover of expatriates after returning to the parent company. Repatriate turnover has negative effects on the firm as they risk having their investments transferred to rivals in the same industry (Reiche, and Harzing 2008). Apart from this, the organisation losses human capital and finally, challenges to adjusting and high turnover of the expatriates might discourage women and LGBT workers from accepting international assignments.
Steps MNCs can take to ensure that these assignments are guided by and do not contradict their diversity management policies and practices
There are numerous steps that multinational companies can undertake to ensure that international assignments are guided by and do not contradict their diversity management policies and practices. One of the first steps is ensuring that adequate preparation is offered to the employees leaving for a foreign country. The cost or expenses involved in international assignments are two to three times what an employee would have incurred when in the parent home country. According to Black and Gregersen (1999, p. 54) one of the problems that increase the issues expatriates face is the inability of multinational organisations to consign the role of selecting expatriates employees, training, and offering the necessary support to the human resource department. At times, the HR individuals tasked with managing international assignments lack the adequate knowledge because they have never worked in any foreign country. Therefore, to ensure that employees sent for international assignments, multinationals should ensure that part of the human resource personnel have experience of being an expatriate. Such a scenario ensures that they understand what female and LGTB employees face in a foreign country and put in place better mechanisms to reduce the said challenges.
Multinational organisations should understand that they have a duty to care for the needs of the expatriates including their health, security, and safety (Claus, 2011). According to Mujtaba, (2007) McDonalds developed an international human resource strategy that seeks to offer training to expatriates before and after deployment as a method of reducing the challenges they have to undergo. Through this strategy, McDonalds has been able to experience consistent growth in every continent often attracting skilled and knowledgeable employees. Moreover, investors are willing to risk their money in the McDonalds brand. Being an American multinational that is popular globally shows how effective the human resource management of the company is towards managing domestic and expatriates. Through effective HRM the company has been able to establish good rapport between the expatriates and local employees. Therefore, multinationals should have a duty to care and plan ensuring the integration of the HR, legal, travel, and health perspectives into the company’s structures and practices (Rendeiro, 2012). Moreover, it should be aligned to the strategic direction of the firm which is in line with the model of HRM developed by Ulrich in 1997 (Friedman 2007). The model emphasis on the responsibility of HR professionals to offering protection to their employees, listening to the concerns they have and responding to all needs for improved job satisfaction. For instance, at Coca Cola China, the company has put in place flexible benefits programs for all its employees including the expatriates (Black, and Gregersen 1999). Having strategies that do not favour local employees or expatriates is a vital step towards ensuring a good relationship in the working place. For Coca Cola, achieving equality in the workplace prevents locals from viewing expatriates as foreigners with special treatment. Women and LGBT employees will experience less difficulties in working environments where performance earns reward and not favouritism. The human resource planning should prioritise crisis and evaluation planning to ensure that the ethical interests of the firm are protected while at the same time improving the commitment and performance of the expatriate employees. Duty of care for the HR professionals means that before an employee is sent abroad for the international assignment, the inherent risks and location that are likely to be faced should be reviewed in relation to the features unique to the person such as LGBIT or a female worker. Sometimes, the organisation should outsource to specialists who have more knowledge on expatriation and have them provide up-to-date situation on matters culture, law as well as safety concerns in the host nation (Cartus, 2012).
Another critical step that a multinational should undertake includes ensuring that employees bound for international assignments undergo through a cross-cultural training program. A cross-cultural training helps in making adjustments in the host nation while at the same time increasing job performance, reducing the stereotype thinking, decreases chances of culture shock and encouraging intercultural team building. The cross-cultural training differs in length, content, and intensity depending on the type of multinational. Nonetheless, some common features are identifiable such as explanation of how the culture in the host country differs, the similarities between the cultures, and what is most critical when seeking to adjust. Information on the host nation can be provided through informal meetings, shadowing, overlaps, or look-see visits. Additionally, meeting with an individual from the country severally prior to leaving is useful. A critical aspect of familiarising with the culture of the foreign nation is understanding the language skills. Therefore, the multinational should enrol employees to the particular language courses months before leaving. Becoming proficient or having basic knowledge of the language of the host country is beneficial in a number of ways such as showing the natives of the willingness to learn their language which they highly appreciate in addition to communicating.
Another step that the multinational should take is ensuring that the human resource follows up with the expatriate regularly and learns what challenges face them and how the organisation can be of help. Expatriates should not be ignored specifically when women or LGBT employees raise concerns of discrimination. Multinationals should be able to investigate and take immediate actions for the benefit of the company, the individual and the rest of the employees. Finally and also a vital step is having multinationals develop repatriation strategies that are effective. The HRM should design and develop a repatriation strategy that seeks to accommodate the needs of the highly qualified expatriate. According to Chew, and Debowski, (2008, p. 7) an ideal model for repatriation has four stages that include review and policy development, repatriation agreement, and implementation, development and implementation of the repatriation programs, and review of the repatriation program.

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