Out of sight, out of mind

Working overseas

Sending your employees on secondments to overseas territories can bring valuable experience and insight into the business. But is HR making the most of these people’s new-found knowledge?

If there’s one thing the economic turbulence of the past few years has proved, it’s just how interconnected the global economy is. Established organisations operating in traditional markets can no longer afford to remain siloed in their own country, or to cling to an old-fashioned perception that business empires can be run solely from headquarters in a home nation.

Developing your future leaders

From a leadership development perspective, the value of sending talent abroad on tactical secondments to develop leadership skills has never been more important. Our research into talent mobility in the financial services industry found that nearly 90% of chief executives in the sector are looking to significantly expand their operations in faster-growing emerging markets over the next 12 months – with South America, Africa, Asia and the Middle East the most likely destinations – while more than half intend to increase the number of staff they send out on assignments.

Jon Terry, HR Consulting Market Leader for global financial services at PwC, says most organisations still tend to take a short-term view towards secondments. “Things have improved somewhat,” he says. “In recent years companies have realised that for individuals to develop and grow their own individual skills, secondments and new experiences in new environments with new responsibilities are an important aspect. But the main driver in most organisations is still around filling gaps.” In emerging markets, this can be counterproductive, he says, as it removes the immediate need to build up teams of local talent.

Keeping your talent

Just as worrying is the potential impact a poorly planned or managed secondment process can have on those individuals the business – and HR in particular – would like to develop, with many choosing to leave the company altogether shortly after they return home.

Often, this is the result of failing to adequately match the secondment with both the individual concerned and the skills which the business hopes to develop, suggests Lucy Povah, international business development manager at talent management company A&DC.

A lack of contact with individuals while they are away is another common failing, running the risk of employees feeling isolated while on secondment and completely out of the loop once they return.

An all-too-predictable consequence of this out-of-sight, out-of-mind approach to assignments is that once individuals do return home the business has no clearly defined role for them; let alone one that will actively make use of the new skills that have been picked up.

You can read the full version of this article in issue 24 of Hourglass magazine, which will be published in January 2012.