Do Human Resource Policies Designed to Improve Employees Work-life Balance - Essay Example

The paper "Do Human Resource Policies Designed to Improve Employee’s Work-life Balance" is a great example of a human resources essay. In the past few decades, the world has experienced heightened globalisation. During this period, organisations have prioritised setting up leaders capable of dealing with the ever-increasing involvedness of running their global operations. Overseeing global talent along with career paths is consequently a decisive challenge in lots of multinational organisations. Individuals, as well as organisations, perceive International assignments as a constructive way of developing global occupational competencies (Brewster & Suutari, 2005).

However, repatriation is one aspect of international assignments that have been somehow overlooked. Most literature on international human resource management (IHRM) for the most part focuses on expatriate settlement in the host country of assignment. Not as much of the required concentration has been focused on preparing expatriates for homecoming, notwithstanding the facts regarding the complexity of settling back at home and reports that nearly all expatriates are unhappy with the repatriation process. In view of the fact that the world is becoming more integrated leading to more global deployment of employees, the repatriation process calls for added attention (Furuya et al 2007).

This paper delves into the repatriation process. It critically evaluates the issues and processes involved in repatriation together with the relevant aspects of the expatriation life cycle. First, I define international human resource management (IHRM).

International Human Resource Management

International human resource management (IHRM) refers to “an extension of human resource that relates to having people working in a foreign country.” Peltonen (2006) defines international human resource management (IHRM) as a branch of management studies that explores the plan and effects of organisational human resource practices from a cross-cultural perspective. Also, it is the ‘process of procuring, allocating and effectively utilising human resources in international business.’

Figure 1: International Human Resource Management Model

Source: Dowling et al (2008)

Expatriation Process

An expatriate is a member of staff who is working for the short term for an organisation while living in a different country. There are seven stages in the expatriate life cycle. Each stage has different opportunities as well as challenges.

Figure 2: Expatriate Assignment Life Cycle

Failure of an expatriate in an international assignment possibly will lead to them being sent back home prematurely. Failure could be caused by; lack of the ability for the expatriate to adjust to the host country culture which leads to culture shock; individual and disturbing problems; the intricacy of the environment; lack of capacity to muddle through with big international responsibilities; along with other relations. The expatriate could as well return home following successful completion of their international assignment (Shelton, 2008).

Working on an international assignment is quite different from working at home. Therefore, managers ought to carefully choose employees they intend to send on an international assignment. Before leaving, the employee should be taken through a period of extensive pre-assignment training, where cultural training should be emphasised to make sure that the employees are familiarised with the existing cultural differences, and thereby lessen the odds of culture shock. Moreover, the expatriate should be trained on language skills since they play an important part in understanding culture in the host country (Bonache & Brewster, 2001).