Monday, June 25, 2012

Japan Relocation and Global Trends


Japan Relocation Amongst The Brookfield 2012 Global Relocation Trends Survey

The bullet points below are highlights that have been copied directly from Brookfield's website; their summary bullet points of their survey. The narration is added to give a Japan perspective.
  • 54% of international assignees were relocated to or from the headquarters country, the lowest percentage in the history of this report.
This above shows how third country relocations are on the rise. The Indian IT engineer working for a US company is moved from Tokyo to London....... In Japan, we are seeing a rise in non-traditional relocations of many assignees from Asian decent, working for western companies. Non-traditional relocation programs need to be innovated!
  • China, Brazil and India were the most challenging locations for international assignees, not Russia as reported in the past four years. China, Brazil, India and Russia were the most challenging for program managers.
This can be said for Japanese companies too. The H&R Group represents "Lead-S" in China and "Formula Group" in India. We increasingly see more opportunities to help Japanese companies into these locations.
  • 54% of company revenues were generated outside the headquarters country, a record high for the past two years, compared to a historical average of 46%.
This is the trend for Japanese companies too. The strong yen is driving business out of Japan, and forcing Japanese to become more global.
  • For 85% of the respondents, relocation assignment policy decisions were made globally at headquarters; 8% regionally; and 7% by business division.
This is something that is completely the reverse in Japan. Apart from domestic relocation giant "Relocation International" (part of the Relo Holdings Group) there are few global management options available to Japanese companies, and most companies choose to do things locally "in location".
  • At companies where cross-cultural training was offered, it was mandatory at 24% of companies. 85% of respondents rated cross-cultural training as having good or great value.
This is something very much missing in Japanese relocations. There is a strong tendency for Japanese companies and people to continue to run operations like "Japanese" even when they are in Vietnam......I really would like to see a little more "When in Rome do as the Romans do" from our Japanese counterparts.
  • 10% of responding companies assist international assignees with elderly family members. Of these companies 64% relocate elderly family members to the assignment location and 55% support international assignee visits to the home country.
This is a big issue for Japan. It is rare for companies to support employees who have elderly family on assignment, and indeed for expats coming to Japan on assignment, there is no dependent visa for elderly family to allow you to have them come with you.
  • Respondents indicated that 6% of assignments fail. Top causes for failure are the employee leaves to work for another company; spouse/partner dissatisfaction; other family concerns; and the job does not meet expectations.
This is a statistic that I don't know much about for Japanese assignees. Based on the hierarchical society that Japan is, one would imagine that assignment failure would be less than this 6%. Furthermore for expats in Japan, there is very little "hardship" here, so my gut feeling is that failed assignments are much lower for assignees to Japan. 

There is no denying that our industry is changing in some very challenging ways. Our organization is focussed on positive innovation to meet the changes. We won't get it all right, but we need to innovate on many levels.

1 comment:

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