How Expatriates Can Strike a Work Life Balance

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Free-Press-Release.com) June 8, 2011 -- Work life balance is an area of concern for companies as well as as expatriates to such an extent that the OCR and the Journal of international management have conducted research which show concerning results and impacts for expatriates, their families, their relationships and their physical and mental health.

The number of hours expatriates work is on average 13.4 more per week than they do back home. Why work more abroad than you do back home? It would seem that there is an eagerness to please the boss, to get an outstanding reference or resume entry, and also a feeling that back home, you have nothing to prove to any one, because you feel safe, surrounded by familiarity, they don't feel challenged, stretched to achieve career recognition.
Research also has shown that female expatriate managers experienced double the amount of stress than their male counterparts, again, why? Well, females have more than one role, they are mothers, bread earners, role models, wives, friends, and there is an added pressure from society for women to do well at all of this, which is just unrealistic from a human point of view, there are not enough hours in one day for all of this.

Families and relationships are impacted so seriously, resulting in people going back home, or breakups ( however the families of women expatriate managers appeared to be less impacted than those of males). What is the solution then? Few multinationals offer work life balance help, so it is down to expatriates to take responsibility for their lives and that of others. What do they expect from living abroad? What is their goal? What can their family gain from that? How can the family settle, bridge the language and cultural barriers? How can expatriates manage their work load to free up time for themselves and their relatives? Furthermore, what makes work so important when abroad? Is it a familiar setting that brings comfort, reassurance, to avoid mingling with the locals, a refusal to come out of a comfort zone? Well, then, why spend most of your time at work when living abroad, and not try and discover the new location to make the most of this one in a lifetime opportunity?  These are all questions they should ask themselves before leaving to relocate, planning for relocation should encompass all those aspects, however there are solutions for expatriates outside of the EAPs that their companies offer, such as coaching. Sylvie Aderibigbe has just published a self coaching book entitled Your Path To Work Life Balance For Expatriates to enable busy expatriates to gain the tools to reorganize their lives and free up time to balance their professional and personal lives.

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