India was named as the second most challenging country for expatriates to live and work in within a recent research report issued by the Economist Intelligence Unit in association with Regus.
The report, which was based on a survey conducted with over 400 expatriate executives in 77 different countries in July, revealed that of those expats living in India, 34% believed that they should be awarded an additional living allowance. This was second only to Nigeria, with 37% of expatriate based in this African country believing that their posting was worthy of a hardship allowance.
It seems that, it many cases, the individual’s demands for a hardship allowance are not being met. According to the survey, many overseas postings are initiated by the employees themselves and, for this reason, employers are no longer under pressure to lure their staff abroad with attractive benefits packages.
Discussing recent trends, Yvonne McNulty from Monash University commented:
“Expatriate assignments used to be very much company generated. Companies selected individuals. This tradition has now been turned on its head, and many assignments are now self-initiated.
“Young expats are happy to take the ‘local plus’ package. In some industries it is simply essential to move away.”
Despite the calls for a hardship allowance, the report revealed that India remains a popular expatriate destination with 16% of expatriates surveyed having plans to relocate there as part of career commitments within the forthcoming year.
China was also popular with expatriate executives with over 1/3 of those surveyed being based there and the report revealed that 80% of expats surveyed believe that a period of time working overseas will boost their career opportunities.
Source: Up or Out. Next Moves for the Modern Expatriate.
