Worldwide: International Mobility And Future Of Expatriates

Introduction

International Mobility has evolved over the years due to globalization, proliferation of new information technologies as well as the high demand for human talent everywhere in the world. From Europe to Asia, Africa to North America, individuals have traversed the globe to meet the everincreasing need for transfer of knowledge and specialized skills in various parts of the world.

However, there is no gainsaying the fact that recent developments, including the still raging COVID-19 pandemic that has given rise to changes in working arrangements, have had certain effects on International Mobility and the future of expatriates.

In this publication, we will examine the evolution of international mobility and how it has been impacted by recent developments in the global space. We will also share an outlook for the future and highlight the emerging trends in International mobility which may have far-reaching implications on the future of expatriates.

The Evolution of International Mobility

• The world as a global village - In 1964, Marshall McLuhan coined the phrase 'Global Village' to describe how the world is connected as a result of modern communication. With technology came globalization, which has helped to conquer time and distance, using cars, trains and planes, and make it easier to travel anywhere around the world.
  Globalization has also enabled people to interact and transact business across borders. These interactions often result in the need for physical travel and visits to various locations to meet with business partners and other stakeholders.
  Some of these visits result in the establishment of businesses in the new locations and transfer of international staff to run the businesses while the process of engaging local staff and onboarding them fully is ongoing. Oftentimes, these international staff continue to hold the reigns of the organizations in order to protect the interest of the international investors.
• Need for knowledge and skills transfer as a driver of International Mobility - A critical driver for International mobility is the need for the transfer of knowledge and skills which may not be readily available in the developing nations. These nations need specialized skills to develop their economies and have made provision in their laws to accommodate the employment of experts from advanced economies. These experts are expected to physically travel to the locations to not only be involved in implementation of various projects but to also transfer their skills to the local employees, who will then be able to take up the roles occupied by the expatriates after a specified period of time.
  The Nigerian Government has established an expatriate quota policy in this regard. Based on the terms of the policy, an organization is required to assign at least two Nigerian staff to understudy an expatriate. The Nigerian understudy is expected to go through a process of training and be upskilled to a level that they can then take over the quota positions previously occupied by the expatriates.

Impact of Recent Developments on International Mobility

• COVID-19 Pandemic and its effect on the supply of migrant labour
  The COVID-19 pandemic, which has bedevilled most nations of the world, has significantly impacted the supply of migrant labour that is the driving force of a globalized economy.
  Many nations have implemented various forms of lockdowns to curb the spread of the virus that has reportedly resulted in the death of more two million people, with the United States of America reporting the largest number with more than five hundred thousand deaths as of the time of this publication.
  The United Kingdom, which implemented a nationwide lockdown in February 2021, has reported more than one hundred and twenty thousand deaths due to the raging pandemic. Many other countries have imposed travel restrictions limiting the entry of nationals of countries with high incidence of the virus. For example, the Brazilian authorities published a new note (or "ordinance") in the country's official gazette on January 26, 2021, updating the travel restrictions for foreign nationals arriving in Brazil. According to the note, "Due to a new SARS-CoV-2 variant in South Africa that has coincided with a powerful surge in infections in the country, travel restrictions have been updated to prohibit all flights from South Africa".
  Other countries have also imposed various forms of restrictions as the world continues in its quest to distribute vaccines that should significantly assist in efforts to curb the spread of the virus.
  These measures have impacted significantly on the ability of individuals, especially expatriates, to travel to their physical work locations to provide the required support, where physical presence is critical for work to take place.
• Tightening borders and Control of illegal migration
  All over the world, measures are being implemented to control the incidence of illegal migration. In the European Union (EU), many irregular migrants originally enter the EU legally on short stay visas but remain in the EU for economic reasons after their visas have expired. To address this, the EU has developed an integrated border management strategy, which aims to maintain high levels of security by using information technology (such as the Visa Information System) and biometric features (e.g. fingerprints) for identification. The EU Commission also continues to take strong action by ensuring that each country controls its portion of EU's external borders.
  In Nigeria, President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR, on Tuesday, 4 February 2020, officially launched the new Nigeria Visa Policy 2020 (NVP 2020) as the new guidelines for entry and exit of migrants. According to the President, the NVP 2020 is expected to address, among other matters, current immigration-related challenges such as illegal migration and expand opportunities regarding bilateral and multilateral relations with other countries.
  The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) has launched the Border Management Information System, also known as MIDAS, at several international airports in the country. The Comptroller General of Immigration Services, Mr. Muhammad Babandede, has noted that MIDAS is designed to help the Nigerian Government to better understand mobility patterns through its statistical information and ensure that those crossing Nigerian borders do not pose threats to national and international security.
  MIDAS is also expected to enable various states of the Federation to effectively monitor those entering and exiting their territory by land, air and sea while providing a sound statistical basis for migration policy-related planning.
  However, these measures are not expected to significantly impact international mobility as expatriates on international assignments would normally explore the legally accepted routes to secure visas to facilitate their assignments in their new work locations.
• Issues surrounding diversity and discrimination (race, sexual orientation, etc)

A diverse global workforce

The global workforce is becoming increasingly saturated with people of diverse orientations, the effect of which is impacting international mobility in several ways. It is now considered good business practice to promote diversity within an organization. Companies with diversely-assorted employees seem to have better access to a wide range of perspectives on various business-related matters, with regards to gender, religion, race, age, sexual orientation, and so on. Such companies are better positioned to exploit equally diverse consumer bases as they are working with members of those consumer bases.

Global organisations benefit greatly from a mobile workforce and being able to deploy the most talented people for the task, wherever in the world they are needed most, is vital. Many employees see international postings as a pivotal element in their career development. However, diversely-oriented people (especially LGBT) can face additional challenges, as global employees. The results of a recent LGBT diversity survey show that international mobility is significantly impacted because of the cultural ideals and values in some locations, such as criminalizing same-sex activities and implementing other homophobic laws.

Diversity, discrimination and international mobility

Considering the recent happenings in the diversity and inclusion space, there is an unconscious bias that certain categories of employees cannot go on international assignments. This is understandable given the high incidence of discrimination based on race, gender, sexual orientation, amongst others. Consequently, this category of employees is wary of accepting assignments to such locations that are not tolerant of their demographic peculiarities, as they could be discriminated against or be at risk of bodily harm when relocated to such locations. These risks pose a significant barrier to global mobility, and companies, having a duty of care towards their employees, would be unwilling to expose them to such harm. However, this jeopardises the company's global interests, if the technical expertise of such persons is greatly needed in those high-risk locations.

Global organisations are saddled with the responsibility of providing encompassing support during international assignments; as being able to assign staff where their talent is most needed is a key indicator of successful enterprises. However, only few organisations have instituted measures to support their diversely positioned employees on international assignments.

These organizations bear the burden of implementing the right mix of mobility policies for their employees, which may be threatened by the protocols with which different countries deal with matters bordering on diversity. This hampers a company's ability to properly navigate local regulations, thus posing a significant threat for global employees accepting assignments to non-diverse locations of the world.

Another dimension to this is the challenge of identifying all the countries where diverse international assignees could be subject to discrimination or personal harm.

Given the different categories of diversity, ascertaining these locations is an uphill task. Hence, only few organizations would actively encourage mobility of diversely-oriented employees.

In response to some of these issues, employers may offer alternative means of accepting the assignment, such as working remotely. Also, they can propose other career advancement opportunities that give the employee equal advantages and benefits. Such employees are more likely to accept these propositions than defy the attendant risks of relocating to a potentially harmful territory.

COVID-19 inspired discrimination

Interestingly, COVID-19 has led to a rise in anti-Asian racism. Individuals of Chinese (or Asian) heritage are now targets of assaults. Although this festering sore mostly affects those living in certain locations, it has become a huge deterring factor for Asians when making international travel decisions.

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