Brief visits to a foreign destination usually fail to prepare individuals and family for life in a new location because of the lack of any in-depth insight into the culture of that country.  Yet equally, such ill preparation will not facilitate an easy return back home.  Most expatriates expect to pick up exactly where they left off years earlier, in reality only to find this is simply not the case.

When going abroad to work in what might be described as a more ‘challenging location’, it is expected that cultures will be sufficiently different from the norm to create culture shock.  However, when it comes to returning home the usual attitude is ‘What is the problem?  I’m going home. I will easily fit back in with friends and family and my old life style’. At the same time there is every expectation that newly acquired skills and experience will be highly valued.

Few people expect to experience culture shock – or reverse culture shock - when they return to the home country after several years abroad.

However, the core of the problem is that during the intervening years, the individuals involved have been influenced by their new experience.  And at the same time home has changed – family and friends have moved on and the gap left on departure has quickly closed.  Confronting these issues only makes the effect of culture shock even greater and more difficult to adjust to.

Problems invariably materialise both at home and work.

More often than not the workplace will have changed.  The company may have been acquired, merged and almost certainly undergone some internal engineering.  For the returning individual, there is often a loss of status or autonomy – ‘smaller fish in a bigger pond’ - resentment from colleagues – “you’ve come back to do a real job!”  Often the new skills are not required or rewarded.

At home there is generally a reduction in the quality of life, which all family members have to adjust to. The house is often smaller.  Kids have to adapt to a new school and make new friends and adults have to reconnect with old and re-build a new circle of friends.  The family will have changed – births, marriages, divorces and relocation.  Very often the lack of interest amongst family members is as high as work colleagues – the ‘holiday snap syndrome’.

A return home is often also accompanied by financial concerns.  A reduction in salary and cost of living allowances, taxation and property values, food, utility bills are frequently different from expectation.

Even though it is possible to have kept pace with social changes via satellite television and the internet, reality is almost always different.  Why am I not able to get my children into the local school?  What has happened to my NHS dentist?  Why do they ask me about ‘cash back’ in the supermarket?

It is therefore not surprising that the effects of reverse culture shock are as great, if not even greater, than that experienced at the outset of an assignment.  Because it is as unexpected by the company as by the individuals concerned, consideration is not often given to this vital part of the cycle.

Companies are (not surprisingly) reluctant to share information on the success or otherwise of returning expatriates.  It is widely believed that a large proportion of returnees become quickly disenchanted, and if not found a new assignment, leave the company taking huge amounts of knowledge and expertise with them and leaving the company with a huge deficit on the return on investment of that employee.  Figures as high as 40% within 3 years have been quoted.

As always there is a solution. Companies should invest as much time and resource in preparing the employee for a successful return as they do in the lead up to the assignment.  Preparation for coming home should be part of the pre-planning process of the assignment and is an investment worth making.

Many organisations create a ‘buddy’ system.  Overseas employees should be kept involved in the dissemination of company information and developments during the assignment, through inclusion on mailing lists.  Detailed plans need to be formulated around six months prior to return and a repatriation briefing, is essential for all family members and should be an integral part of the process.

© Jeff Toms