There’s a policy document sitting somewhere in your shared drive. It was probably last updated when a “global assignment” meant one thing: a high-potential employee, a generous package, and a two-to-three-year stint abroad.
That world hasn’t gone away, but it’s no longer the whole story. Today’s relocations look a lot different. Short-term rotations. Project-based deployments. Commuter arrangements. Virtual assignments. Lump sum and lean programs. Each one lands differently from a compliance standpoint and from a human one.
The Gap Nobody’s Talking About
Here’s what I keep seeing: companies are sending people on non-traditional assignments with less support than they’d give a traditional expat, assuming shorter means simpler. It usually doesn’t. A 90-day assignee often arrives with a hotel booking and a project brief, and not much else. No destination orientation. No local context. No one who’s told them what to expect.
According to Mercer’s 2025 Talent Mobility Report, 68% of employees say wellbeing support is one of the top three factors in their decision to accept an international assignment. When they arrive underprepared, productivity suffers. So does their willingness to say yes the next time.
A Few Things Worth Reviewing in Your Program
- Is destination support available when employees need it? Not just pre-departure, but once they’re on the ground and questions come up?
- Are you calibrating support to destination complexity, not just assignment length?
- Are accompanying partners getting any support? Even on a shorter move, a partner who’s struggling affects your assignee’s focus and performance.
- Are virtual assignees included? Understanding a destination matters even when you’re not physically moving there.
A Special Note on Lump Sum Programs
If your company has shifted to lump sum or flex moves to control costs, your employees still need good destination information. They just must find it themselves. That’s exactly the problem. They spend hours researching unfamiliar cities, make decisions without reliable local context, and carry more stress than their managed counterparts.
The company saved money on the package and quietly paid for it in productivity and employee experience. A lump sum doesn’t have to mean no support. It means the support needs to be scalable and available whenever the employee needs it.
The Destination Coverage Problem
Supporting assignees heading to London or Singapore is relatively straightforward. But what if they’re going to Guyana or Ahmedabad, India? More and more programs are sending people to secondary cities, regional hubs, and emerging markets that haven’t historically been part of their core footprint. Those are exactly the destinations where assignees arrive least prepared and where the cost of that gap is highest. Your policy doesn’t need to be thrown out. It needs to be extended to cover where your program is operating today.
Living Abroad’s International Relocation Center covers 240+ destinations worldwide, supporting assignees at every phase of their relocation from initial research through daily life on assignment. If you’re not already familiar with our service, we’d love to show you what we cover. Explore our destination coverage → learn more.
Written by Cathy Heyne, GMS-T, President
