Offi ces throughout America, Asia-Pacifi c and Europe

newsletter

Issue 46

BEST PRACTICESSecurity for expats across Central AmericaStephane Tetreau, Group Head of Human Resources, Pantaleon Guatemala

See Security for expats across Central America on page 2

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Contents

EDITORIALA global HR Think Tank dedicated to expat partnersAlain Verstandig, NetExpat President

McKinsey is right: big data, small data, whatever the size, informati on is key in our 21st century; and this is even more so for Internati onal Mobility. Exchange of practi ces is behind the best in class mobility policies. What BNP Paribas is doing in expat partner assistance, what Roche is doing in intercultural training, and what Mars is doing in coaching: all resulted fi rst from the sharing of best practi ces.

I’m not talking about benchmarking, which has been available for years. I’m

talking here about a community made of senior HR decision makers, within leading global organizati ons, who are ready to think together, and to exchange ideas to help one another’s corporati ons decide on how they support their expat partners.

NetExpat and our friends from PartnerJob have this year launched a very

successful “Global HR Think Tank”, covering everything to do with accompanying expat partners. During our monthly 45-minute conference

calls, we grow from testi monials from a

fortune 500 corporati on, from experts and from interacti ve Q&A sessions. All this is then followed up through a dedicated

LinkedIn community.

If you would also like to learn and contribute, join us at

thinktank@netexpat.com. This is completely free: all you need to do is to bring your experience

and knowledge and be ready to share...

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needed to transfer technical skills across our plants or in leadership positi ons to help the group grow internati onally. Our main challenge at Pantaleon is to build a real internati onal talent pool including expats from other Lati n American countries. Pantaleon has grown mainly by acquisiti on with a rather reacti ve way of building its internati onal talent pool.

AV: Moving talent across Central America must be a real security nightmare.

ST: Defi nitely: Pantaleon operates in countries which are relati vely safe like Honduras, relati vely unsafe like Guatemala to unsafe, like Tamaulipas in Mexico. Being an agro-industrial group is defi nitely exposing all our employees to higher security risks due to the

Alain Verstandig: Stephane, you have lived in 8 and worked in over 20 countries, you speak 5 languages and and you have many years of HR experience behind you at Schlumberger. You are now in charge of all HR matt ers at Pantaleon group based in Guatemala. What an internati onal journey!

Stephane Tetreau: Indeed Alain, I feel so lucky to have had these 17 years of HR experience behind me in all HR functi ons within Schlumberger. I currently have the privilege of heading the HR functi on at Pantaleon group which is an agro-industrial group employing 25.000 people with offi ces in Guatemala, Mexico, Honduras, Nicaragua, Columbia and Brazil.

AV: What is internati onal mobility for Pantaleon?

ST: We have a litt le over 50 expats and 150 internati onally mobile employees who are mainly from Guatemala and Nicaragua. They are mostly

Page 1A global HR Think Tank dedicated to expat partnersAlain Verstandig, NetExpat President

Page 1Security for expats across Central AmericaStephane Tetreau, Group Head of Human Resources, Pantaleon Guatemala

Page 2It takes ti me to adjust!Kath Jordan, Accompanying Spouse from Parker Hanni� n Corporation is interviewed by Sally Walker, Senior Consultant at NetExpat UK

Page 3L’Oréal Internati onal Mobility: a winning formulaDidier Guillot, Human Resources Corporate Director in charge of International Careers and Total Rewards Direction, L’Oréal Group is interviewed by Anne-Laure Budin, Director NetExpat France

Page 4Talent Management in Asia Pacifi cNico Reynders, Vice-President HR Asia-Paci� c, UCB Group is interviewed by Sam Pinney, NetExpat APAC Regional Manager

Learn more about NetExpatwww.netexpat.com

Central America is a subtle trap for expats from other Central American countries who are not fully briefed

Stephane Tetreau, Group Head of Human Resources, Pantaleon Guatemala

fact that Pantaleon’s plants are located in completely remote places and isolated fi elds. We can be far from citi es, hospitals and infrastructures.

One of the paradoxes of Central America is that even if we all speak Spanish and have a lot of history in common, our daily realiti es in terms of security are very diff erent from one country to the other. For example, in Guatemala, you

never drive a car with a foreign tag: many of our expats have not been informed about this and two of them have been assaulted and found ti ed in a fi eld, hours aft er their car was robbed.

In Nicaragua, you would easily share your personal

informati on, as in Europe; you defi nitely don’t do this in Guatemala where protecti ng your personal data is absolutely vital.

In some Central American countries you could drive your car with open windows, or use your cell phone in the street, in others this would put you in life threatening situati ons.

You need to add to this a defi nite level of fatalism inherent to

Central America: you don’t have to wait long before you hear the expression “Dios es grande”, meaning “God is Great - you cannot control your life because God does it”. So these risks linked to security, life and death conditi ons have long been left unaddressed.

Central America is therefore a subtle trap for expats from other Central America countries who are not fully briefed: locals would assume that they know the basic survival rules, while our expats would completely underesti mate risks… This is how many expats end up learning through unfortunate personal experience!

AV: How is Pantaleon as an employer tackling this?

ST: Pantaleon, like many other Central American industries, did not have much expat support

in place unti l recently. This is changing as we all realize that employees’ security is a serious matt er: we’re building structured security and

safety trainings for our expats before departure. Internati onal mobility is now becoming part of the agenda here and things are substanti ally improving: we’re putti ng in place relocati on services, sett ling in programs and spousal assistance support. We’re making sure that our expats only use pre-screened service providers from hotels to car rentals and banking insti tuti ons. Building our internati onal talent pool means ensuring that they stay safe in the fi rst place!

Sally Walker: Kath, a year ago you faced a challenging repatriati on!

Kath Jordan: Yes Sally, when we moved from the UK to the USA, the assignment was planned for 2 years, and I was excited about the opportunity. Eventually, those 2 years turned into 6! It was a big learning curve for both my husband and me, but the experience made us stronger than we ever thought it could. We had our second child during our ti me in the US and it really felt like home in the end.

Coming back to the UK was actually more challenging than preparing to move away in the fi rst place. The excitement of the unknown that we felt when moving abroad was just not there going back. In a

way you know exactly what you’re returning to – or at least you think you do!

In those 6 years, I got involved in voluntary work and was part of an expat community where there was a buzz every day: You knew that you could go out, meet people and there was always something to do. Being the fi rst in my group of expat friends to go back home, I had no one to give me advice or tell me what to expect.

SW: What did you fi nd were the main challenges of coming back to the UK?

KJ: We simply didn’t expect it to be as challenging as it was: friends and family had moved on, just as

we had. Although we came back to our old surroundings, it felt alitt le lonely at ti mes. Being in theStates as an internati onal, people

are always interested in whoyou are and admire you for what

you’re doing. You’re “diff erent” in some way, and that can make you feel special, parti cularly when you’re feeling down.

SW: So it’s been almost a year. Aft er we spent some ti me together soaking up all the emoti ons, we quickly moved into the practi cal things: identi fying your transferrable skills, updati ng your CV/resume

and we used LinkedIn to connect you to other people. How do you feel now?

KJ: I really feel like my life is back on track! I’m so thankful to have had the opportunity to have this NetExpat repatriati on support with you Sally. I knew that I’d be able to take care of my family, but I really needed someone to help take care of me too!

It’s been so valuable to have you, who entered my life as an external professional.

When we fi rst met in person last October, I was busy organizing everyone else’s lives, while mine was a mess!

To all of you who will soon come back home: keep pushing, have confi dence in yourself, and get rid of the negati ve thoughts. And remember: it takes ti me to adjust!

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REPATRIATIONIt takes ti me to adjust!Kath Jordan, Accompanying Spouse from Parker Hanni� n Corporation is interviewed by Sally Walker, Senior Consultant at NetExpat UK

Security for expats across Central Americaconti nued from page 1

Building our international talent pool means ensuring that they stay safe in the � rst place!

You don’t have to wait long before you hear the

expression “Dios es grande”

� e excitement of the unknown that we felt when moving abroad was just not there going back

In a way you know exactly what you’re returning to – or at least you think you do!

I knew that I’d be able to take care of my family, but I really needed someone to help take care of me too!

their car was robbed. In Nicaragua, you would

easily share your personal informati on, as in Europe; you defi nitely don’t do this in Guatemala where protecti ng your personal data is absolutely vital.

In some Central American

You don’t have to wait long before you hear the

expression “Dios es grande”

is interviewed by Sally Walker, Senior Consultant at NetExpat UK

you’re doing. You’re “diff erent” in some

locati on, and part of the happiness of living a rich, family adventure during the ti me spent abroad.

ALB: How do you see the development of Global Mobility at L’Oréal in the coming years?

DG: We don’t talk about globalizati on anymore at L’Oréal, but about universalizati on. Even if the number of expats is high and should remain at the same level in the coming years, boosti ng local talent is becoming our absolute priority through identi fi cati on, recruitment and promoti on. The internati onal component of a career is essenti al for all of our talent and our future leaders. We are constantly looking for people who have the resilience to adapt themselves to the local country they are sent to, and to enjoy and respect it. This is why each of our expats goes through intercultural training and receives extensive language training.

Each of them is identi fi ed through their personality, their successful professional achievements, their adaptability and their contributi on to sharing L’Oréal business ethics. But their duty is also to help identi fy, develop and promote local talents who will later be their successor within L’Oréal’s internati onal talent pool.

ALB: What are L’Oréal’s next challenges?

DG: We need to succeed in the global implementati on of our new internati onal mobility policy. We’ll then have to think a bit deeper about our organizati on and ask ourselves a few questi ons: how and from where should we manage our very top internati onal potenti al, and how will we manage these internati onal talents in a fl exible, modern and innovati ve way? Internati onal mobility is part of the spirit of L’Oréal - it is therefore crucial that our internati onal mobility practi ce stays constantly aligned with our employees’ hopes, and our management’s expectati ons.

Anne-Laure Budin: Can you tell us more about L’Oréal and its global presence?

Didier Guillot: L’Oréal is a global leader in the beauty sector with proceeds of 23 billion euros, and 27 major brands including L’Oréal Paris, Lancôme, Giorgio Armani, Kiehl’s and Vichy, present in 130 countries. With a total of 73,000 employees and 126 nati onaliti es, 58% of our managers are female employees.

In our HQ in Paris, my team of 12 experts manage a total of 1000 expats worldwide. The 10 most represented nati onaliti es are Brazilians, Briti sh, Chinese, French, Germans, Italians, Mexicans, Russians, Spanish and US Americans.

ALB: How did you reach your current positi on of HR Corporate

Director in charge of Internati onal Careers and Total Rewards for the whole group?

DG: I joined the L’Oréal Group in 1996 to initi ally follow an internati onal career in The Netherlands, and then as Head of HR for the whole of Lati n America. I was then transferred to become the Head of HR for Spain and the Iberian Operati ons. Since March 2013, I have been heading internati onal mobility and total rewards for the whole Group.

The fact that I have been an expat myself is a huge plus and helps me understand the personal and professional challenges faced by all of our expats. I’ve benefi ted from mobility services, have been supported as an expat and have met many other expats from the enti re L’Oréal world.

Thanks to this personal experience, and in additi on to

conti nuous benchmarks with major internati onal European and US groups, my team and I have re-considered and built a new and innovati ng internati onal mobility policy.

ALB: How did you involve L’Oréal subsidiaries around the globe in the design of this new policy?

DG: We have regularly involved our internati onal, regional and operati onal HR Directors in the process, to make sure that everyone understood the scope of our work, contributed with suggesti ons and began to share ownership of the fi nal product. The fi nal version of our new, internati onal mobility policy, was presented to our Group HR Directors, and then during a series of regional meeti ngs to our regional HR Directors, who then cascaded them to our local management. All this is extensively documented internally for all parti es, including our expats.

ALB: How is L’Oréal approaching accompanying expat partners?

DG: Generally speaking, the accompanying expat partner’s career or life project represents the number 1 mobility challenge at L’Oréal. This is even stronger for us as 38% of L’Oréal expats moving abroad are female, and in most cases their partners and children are joining them. So, we systemati cally share and communicate the NetExpat coaching and support programs off ered by L’Oréal to each of our accompanying partners. The successful integrati on of the partner and the family is absolutely essenti al to the professional and personal success of our expats. It is an enabler of successful and respectf ul integrati on in the host

CORPORATE VISIONL’Oréal Internati onal Mobility: a winning formulaDidier Guillot, Human Resources Corporate Director in charge of International Careers and Total Rewards Direction, L’Oréal Group is interviewed by Anne-Laure Budin, Director NetExpat France

International mobility is part of the spirit of L’Oréal

� e fact that I have been an expat is a huge plus and helps me understand the challenges faced by all of our expats

� e successful integration of the partner and the family is absolutely essential to the success of our expats

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is interviewed by Anne-Laure Budin, Director NetExpat France

Sam Pinney: Nico, tell us about UCB in the Asia Pacifi c region.

Nico Reynders: UCB has around 20 expats in Asia and most of them are based in our regional APAC headquarters in Shanghai. We also have expats in Japan, India, Korea and Australia. Most of them come from our subsidiaries in Australia, Belgium, France, India, Japan, South Korea or the US. 68% are male expats and all of them have senior managerial positi ons.

SP: What are you looking for in a UCB Expat?

NR: Their technical competence is obviously very important. We also look for expats who are culturally aware and able to easily adapt to their host country. Their communicati on skills are key: we have a strong, corporate culture at UCB, which needs to be shared and explained by our expats around the world. Therefore, they need to have very good connecti ons with our HQ as they have messages to deliver and the whole UCB culture to explain.

UCB sends expats on assignment to fi ll functi onal gaps, but we also look at the career development of each expat. UCB employees

receive plenty of learning and development opportuniti es, to ensure that when they return from assignment, they come back with valuable knowledge that they can share.

It’s important for each UCB expat to have a clear career path with defi ned “landing spots”. One key challenge is to manage the

repatriati on phase properly: each successful returning expat should be in a key job, where he or she can apply all the learnings from the assignment. However it’s not always easy to provide the dream job upon repatriati on. Planning is defi nitely crucial here: every repatriati on should be discussed well in advance, ideally no later than 12 months before the end of the assignment. What comes aft er expatriati on for the UCB employee not only has a huge impact on them and their family, but also on the way internati onal mobility is perceived by all UCB employees.

SP: How easy is it to get people to move and do you see a diff erence in countries across Asia?

NR: More and more people are willing to move to APAC even though we’ve started to see concerns regarding polluti on, specifi cally in China. Employees realize that Asia is one of the places to be. Regarding mobility within the APAC region, family ti es play an important role in Asia and have an impact on people’s readiness to relocate. Also, culturally speaking, Asia is far from being a single block and has a huge diversity of its own. For example, it’s someti mes easier to move a European employee to China than a Korean or Japanese one.

SP: UCB provides support programs to help accompanying expat partners: can you tell us more?

NR: We all know that if the spouse and the children are not happy, it will have a direct impact on the happiness and performance of our expats. It’s therefore important for UCB to ensure that the accompanying spouse becomes a parti cipant in the assignment, and fi nds his/her place abroad.

UCB has adapted its internati onal mobility policy to include moti vati ng and successful spousal support, either by helping partners to fi nd work abroad or helping those who do not wish to work to just enjoy the whole experience of living abroad for a few years. Our last revision of the expat policy was actually specifi cally aimed at increasing that support.

NetExpat is a global leader in assessing, training and coaching expatriates and their partners. We provide expat partner support, expat coaching, intercultural training and expat assessment to over 200 multi nati onal corporati ons in 68 countries where we have a local presence. Our ulti mate goal is to assist corporati ons and expats in achieving successful international assignments, whether the move is for three months, three years or on a permanent basis.Web site: www.netexpat.com e-mail: info@netexpat.com Au

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CORPORATE VISIONTalent Management in Asia Pacifi cNico Reynders, Vice-President HR Asia-Paci� c, UCB Group is interviewed by Sam Pinney, NetExpat APAC Regional Manager

It’s important for each UCB expat to have a clear career path with de� ned “landing spots”

UCB has adapted its international mobility policy to include motivating and successful spousal support

is interviewed by Sam Pinney, NetExpat APAC Regional Manager