Are you involved with your company’s global mobility program and the many moving parts that go with handling successful international relocations?  Busy mobility professionals know that it’s easy for small details to pass unnoticed until things stop running smoothly, especially with all the juggling of local security, healthcare, tax, visas, benefits, and insurance.

One of the key areas of support for an international relocation, no matter the length, is access to pre-departure information.  Another is in-country guidance.  Assignees need to become familiar with their host locations by having access to detailed country descriptions, as well as robust housing information, discussions on schools, and business etiquette and social customs.  They’ll be relieved to know more about their new destinations before they go, as they settle in, and when they do business.

How does providing destination-specific information to your assignees and business travelers benefit your company?

1. Raises assignee & family confidence levels
2. Protects your company’s talent investment
3. Eliminates questions to HR through up-to-date and local destination descriptions
4. Guides assignees through setting up home and doing business in new environments
5. Increases potential for assignment success

Your globally mobile colleagues also need answers at their fingertips and often reach for their smartphones first.  Make sure the information they reach for is not only easily accessible but also vetted and targeted to business users.

With Living Abroad’s International Relocation Center, your assignees and business travelers will never be far from getting the information they need, when they need it, no matter where they are in the world!  Subscribe to the destinations you need – from 1 to 230 – with easy access from all mobile devices.

The best-prepared assignees are happy and productive, so equip them today for success in the future. Delivering on this takes time and research. Thousands of employees and their managers rely on the IRC, allowing users to focus on business goals and eliminating the distraction of random destination research. Informed employees stay happier on assignment, and are more likely to achieve their business goals.

Which of the following is a greeting you might encounter in Gabon?

a.  Raising both hands into the air
b.  Hugging with air kisses (in the French manner)
c.  Taking someone’s offered hand with both hands
d.  Shaking the offered wrist or forearm
e.  All of the above
f.  None of the above

Some of the most dramatic changes in recent history have been in how we develop, seek, obtain, and disseminate information. Libraries, sometimes originally established as repositories for physical books, have evolved to keep pace with today’s needs.

The advent of ebooks and other digitalizations has opened many offerings to library users. Services such as Overdrive, Kanopy, and Pressreader, to name just a few, make millions of ebooks, audiobooks, databases and online courses readily available to library patrons — often from great distances. Many libraries also work toward creating their own digital archives, exhibits, and resources.

While one might think that library physical locations would become less important as a result of these changes, many systems have discovered the opposite is true. Library systems and their branches are often uniquely positioned to encourage the development of groups and serve needs of specific populations. Members of public libraries can learn more about a new location and meet other area newcomers, enjoy meals with discussion groups, participate in events designed for children and families, use space and equipment for telecommuting and developing entrepreneurial initiatives, familiarize themselves with up-to-date technology and research, and take advantage of many other newer offerings designed to advance knowledge and build local community.

Here are four public libraries from around the world that offer a wealth of resources to their users:

State Library Victoria

Melbourne, Australia

Founded in 1854, State Library Victoria is Australia’s oldest public library. It occupies a full city block, and its space includes The Wheeler Centre for Books, Writing and Ideas.  Membership is open to residents throughout Victoria. While State Library is not a lending library, its members can access over 5 million books, photographs, documents, and other materials — and borrow from a library of 16,000 ebooks. State Library also maintains relationships with public libraries throughout Victoria and abroad, and hosts communities and activities for all ages and interests. Many talks and presentations held on site are later available to the general public for viewing online, as are exhibitions, research guides, and even open data sets.

New York Public Library

New York, USA

Perhaps best known for its location on the corner of 42nd Street and Fifth Avenue guarded by two large stone lion statues, NYPL also serves 17 million patrons from another 91 physical locations throughout Manhattan, the Bronx, and Staten Island. (While Brooklyn and Queens residents are welcome, these two boroughs of the city have their own library systems.) More than 93,000 programs are offered annually, including English language education, job search support, technology skills, art classes, hobby clubs, after school programs for children, and even exercise. Many are free of charge. NYPL patrons also have access to other services. SimplyE allows for quick and easy downloads from NYPL’s collection of over 300,000 ebooks, movies, and periodicals. Culture Pass offers free admission to area cultural institutions. Ongoing public projects, such as transcribing of audio recordings and text on digital images, are among many volunteer opportunities. Membership to the NYPL is open to those who live, work, and/or pay property taxes in New York State, and temporary memberships are available to visitors from elsewhere

Openbare Bibliotheek Amsterdam

Amsterdam, the Netherlands

Twenty-six branches of the OBA serve Amsterdam, Diemen and Ouder Amstel. In addition to robust online and media collections, the OBA has much to offer its members. English language programs and groups are available throughout the system, as are programs for Dutch language education. The central library, located on the Oosterdokseiland in Amsterdam, has cultivated partnerships with Alliance Francaise and Instituto Cervantes. It also offers a unique program called Studyshare. Modeled after the popular “Pomodoro” method of time management, Studyshare participants enter a shared quiet space for a three hour “block.” Each block consists of three periods of study lasting 45 minutes each, with 15 minute breaks between, with each change marked by the ringing of a bell.

National Library Board

Singapore

The National Library Board oversees 27 national, regional, and local libraries throughout Singapore. Memberships are available to residents and to foreigners. Materials and programs are available in the country’s four official languages: English, Chinese, Malay, and Tamil. The NLB offers in-person and online exhibitions, regular research about national reading habits, and recommendation guides for children, teens, adults, and seniors. Courses and activities focused on professional skills, history, creative arts and business topics are frequently and widely available throughout the system. “Play@Library” is a series designed for children and parents, and “STAR” (Seniors Tech and Read) courses help older members to advance their computer and Internet skills.

These examples are brief summaries! When evaluating the libraries to which you have membership, keep in mind that some advice has stayed the same: often, the best guide to a library is a librarian who can listen to your needs, and point you in the right directions.

What do two million children in the United States, 60,000 in Canada, 48,000 in the United Kingdom, and 30,000 in Australia all have in common?

They are all homeschooled.

Roughly four percent of students around the world are homeschooled. Families choosing to educate their children at home are growing. The number of homeschooled children in the UK rose 40% from 2014 to 2017, according to the BBC.

Families cite several reasons for choosing to homeschool. Many parents want to include religious instruction or some nontraditional element to their children’s education. Some children have mental health issues that parents feel are not adequately addressed in school. Others are bullied or negatively influenced by peers. A significant number of parents feel their school options are poor and that they can serve their children’s educational needs better at home.

Some countries – such as Germany – make it illegal, while others like Canada, the U.S., and Australia allow for homeschool regulations by province or state. In some countries, it is legal only for non-residents, such as in Kazakhstan where homeschooled children are mainly expatriates.
For relocating families, homeschooling can be an option worth exploring. Children already being homeschooled can keep the continuity of their curricula while abroad. Students for whom enrollment in a local school doesn’t make sense – due to length of stay, educational offerings, or other considerations – may find homeschooling is a solution.

Along with legality, information and resources vary. Residents of some regions can access well-organized information online, such as the Ontario Federation of Teaching Parents (OFTP) which makes parents aware of provincial regulations, supports their right to educational choices, and provides all sorts of homeschooling resources.

The UK provides a starting point for parents looking to homeschool on this government website. You can search for local council information (England and Wales only) by entering your postal code.

In South Africa, the subject of homeschooling was contentious beginning in the early 1990s and through iterations of policy making it legal. Today, various Homeschool Associations operate around the country.

In the U.S., the Home School League Defense Association (HSLDA) has info on each state’s stance on home schooling. It also details, by state, how to go about withdrawing a child from traditional school, what sort of records to keep, and how to keep up with state assessments.

For parents interested in homeschooling, where do they start? First confirm legality and local requirements. Beyond that, assistance with organization, scheduling, curriculum, testing, reading lists, and creative lessons abound. Online courses can be invaluable. For some families they form the core of an educational day, while others use them to supplement parental lessons. Khan Academy is one source of free online coursework.

This very personal, important decision can be made once the family is educated on all requirements and choices.

Written by Ellen Harris, GMS, Product Manager, Content Group