Expat assignments fall short

Singapore - Companies are increasingly favouring short-term assignments as their international assignment programme, says a survey of more than 300 human resources executives worldwide.

The 2007 KPMG Global Assignment Policies and Practices survey by KPMG shows that 80% of executives surveyed are sending international assignees on short term assignments. Forty-nine percent of participants also believe international assignment programmes take too much effort and time to carry out.

Ooi Boon Jin, executive director of the International Executive Services Practice of KPMG Tax Services in Singapore said this trend is because conventional long-term expatriate policies often do not support the needs of the business or assignee.

“As companies worldwide seek to manage their international assignment costs more effectively, this could also mean more international assignments into Singapore which are short-term in nature.” Ooi added that the assignments last typically less than a year, with families left back home instead.

Andrew Soon, regional corporate services director of Crown Worldwide said that the nature of the industries also played a part in the length of the assignments. “We find more employees working for short term assignments in the semiconductor and engineering sector.” While the company saw no decrease in expatriates who relocate to Singapore with their families, Soon added that most families now relocate at a later date.