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This paper examines these trends based on a comparison of ORC surveys conducted in 1988 and 1998, focusing on a number of specific areas: dual-career issues, assignment duration, preassignment preparation, foreign service incentives, shipping restrictions, home sale, home leave, emergency situations, tax treatment and repatriation.
The majority of expatriates are male, and many of their spouses are working when the family decides to go abroad. Although most employers still do not take any specific action regarding this issue, the percentage of employers that do consider loss of spousal income in the expatriate package increased from 15% to 25.5% over the 1988 to 1998 period. More employers today are partially reimbursing the expatriate for loss of spousal income-7% now compared with 0.3% in 1988. .
Ten years ago, only 7% of ORC's survey participants offered any form of assistance to expatriate spouses in obtaining a job in the assignment location. Today, 25% do so through job-search assistance, 25% help with resume preparation and 21% offer career counseling. .
Dual-career issues have also been significant driving factors in the growing trend toward the use of short-term assignments that last from a few months to less than a year. More companies are recognizing the reality of working spouses, elderly parents and school-age children, all of which may make the employee's family unwilling to relocate. Short-term assignments allow the employee to go abroad without accompanying family members, thus surmounting this problem. In addition, such assignments entail lower costs for the company. .
There has been an increasing interest in short term assignments over the past ten years, evidenced by the 1998 survey. Twenty-two percent of respondents to the 1998 survey report a trend toward the use of shorter assignments within their company. Of those participants with employees on shorter assignments, the average percentage of their expatriate population considered to be on short-term assignment is 15%.
