HR Duties and Responsibilities

Responsibility for the Expatriate Well-Being

Multinationals require to send some of its employees abroad at times to places where probably it requires their expertise or to enable them to gain international experience. In such cases, it is the duty of the human resource department to ensure that employees working abroad are offered proper incentives that attract them to serve abroad (Thakur et al., 1997).

The human resource department can ensure that expatriate jobs are attractive by offering a range of benefits that significantly override those offered to the other employees. The benefits should reflect the special situations of the expatriates. They should be designed in such a way that they respond to the vast array of challenges that the expatriate may face. Such benefits include relocation, accommodation, language training, and expatriate family’s benefits, expatriate training on culture and expatriate counseling (Thakur et al., 1997).

Incentive Packages for Expatriates

Relocation and accommodation benefits

The human resource department should ensure that it facilitates the expatriate’s relocation to the host country. In addition, it should ensure that it offers an accommodation allowance that eliminates the changes in housing costs. In cases where the cost of housing is very high, the department should offer subsidies to the cost or even offer free accommodation. In addition, the department should also take into consideration the whole family of the employee.

Language and Culture Training

Some employees may be moving to countries that speak a different language and have a different culture. In view of this, the human resource should offer training on the foreign language and the culture of his/ her destination. This training should be offered before, during and after the relocation. It is worth noting that repatriation assistance to aid them in readjusting should be exercised (Stahl & Bjo%u0308Rkman, 2006).

Cross-cultural training

This training is essential in ensuring that expatriates expectation are met. They are important in focusing the changes and re-adjustments that the expatriates need to perform before they move abroad. The human resource should ensure it continuously help the expatriates in overcoming the challenges that arise due to change in culture (Kontrimas, 2006). For instance, when moving to a country like Dubai is vital to train the expatriate on the expected differences in the Islamic culture of the Emirates.