This article is taken from the Autumn 2024 issue of

Think Global People magazine

Click on the cover to access the digital edition.View your copy of the Autumn 2024 issue of Think Global People magazine.

---

August and September are key moments in the global mobility lifecycle. Historically, it’s when most planned moves happen, families settle into new environments, assignees transfer into new roles and younger family members join new school communities.These Q3 months also lead to a cluster of annual national and global events in Q4 that put workplace mental health and wellbeing in the spotlight. Among them are the UK’s National Work-Life Balance Week (7–11 October), World Mental Health Day (10 October), Menopause Awareness Day (18 October) and International Men’s Day on 19 November, which focuses this year on men’s health champions.With absence and burnout levels high, and rising awareness of a wider range of health issues and their impact on work, employees are asking more from their employers. Are they delivering?

Supporting the human experience on assignment

As any globally mobile family or individual will agree, moving across international borders for work is a stressful experience – as well as a life-enhancing milestone moment. Moving home, workplace, school and community understandably attracts a range of emotions, from joy to grief. Without proper support and acknowledgement, these emotions can tip over into distress, physical illness and assignment failure, with long-term consequences for everyone involved. The challenges of international remote work, hybrid, commuter and split-family assignments, long-term traditional assignments and permanent moves, are well documented. Organisations like Permits Foundation are working hard with legislators worldwide to highlight the important role of paid work in enabling both partners on assignments to have a sense of purpose and belonging that are so important for overall wellbeing.Leading international schools, including members of Safe Passage Across Networks and Relocate Think Global People award winners, put transitions care at the heart of their education communities for all family members too. Mobility technology, including apps and tech-enabled social networking platforms, are increasingly designed to connect people to places. Together, they are improving the overall employee experience, making the relocation and assignment process more manageable and tailored.

---

Read related articles

• Cultivating a mindset of wellbeing and optimal performance
• The global mobility function: well-being, talent and inclusion implications
• How are cost pressures and supply shortages affecting the global mobility market?

---

How well are we doing on workplace wellbeing?

All these aspects are critical for assignment success. They remind us that work and global mobility are fundamental human experiences requiring a human, albeit tech-supported, response. Yet, the latest set of annual benchmarks looking at workplace mental health and wellbeing suggest more can be done to address the wellbeing challenges we all will likely face at some point. They also remind us that wellbeing at work – mental and physical – needs an holistic approach.To support everyone to flourish in the workplace and wider society, successful wellbeing at work policies are based on a policy framework that responds to the emotional and physical demands of every human life stage. Among leading employers, these might include mentorship and coaching for first moves into the workforce, career progression and international assignments; policies for parenthood and elder care responsibilities; support in policy and practice for the menopause and andropause, as well as mental, physical and financial wellbeing. Support also accounts for external and personal events that cannot be planned for – like bereavement, financial difficulties, relationship breakdown and ill health. It means training leadership, front-line managers and colleagues at every level of the business so everyone can be honest and real about their needs in the moment.Yet research still shows that women, people from ethnic minorities, people who identify as LGBTQ and people with disabilities are less likely to have their wellbeing issues understood or met. Millennials and Gen Z too are also more at risk from mental ill-health studies show. Importantly, they want to work for employers that embrace and live the ideals of good work and that encompass, for example, the CIPDs’ seven tenets of wellbeing: health, good work, values/principles, collective/social, personal growth, financial wellbeing and good lifestyle choices.This holistic view of ‘good work’ as defined by the CIPD involves job design that offers autonomy supported by good management and defined by clear outcomes that deliver fair reward and benefits. A report earlier this year by employment lawyer Winckworth Sherwood, based on the views of 250 HR leaders and 1,002 employees, shows that for employees, ‘good work’ is one of the biggest protective factors in promoting mental wellbeing and reducing sickness absence. It is followed by fair pay and reward, and then the ability to work flexibly. These broadly align with employers’ views, except that they accented fair pay and reward ahead of good work.Interestingly, on financial wellbeing, WTW’s latest ‘Global Benefits Attitudes Survey’ shows “a significant gap” between the financial wellbeing support employees want from their employer, and the priority employers are placing on financial wellbeing initiatives.  Helen Gilchrist, head of defined contribution consulting at WTW, said this is an opportunity for employers “to align their focus with employee value, cost pressures and talent objectives to address how their benefit programmes align to retirement and financial wellbeing initiatives”.To this point about where responsibility sits, and what employers can do, two-thirds of employers and employees canvassed for Winckworth Sherwood’s survey agree that there is still too much emphasis on individuals taking care of their mental wellbeing, rather than changing the corporate culture to make it more supportive. This makes leadership important across the organisation so people can be real and open around seeking help without stigma or fear.

Mental health in globally mobile populations

This level of openness can be particularly difficult on assignment because of cultural norms, uncertainty around support networks and the expectation to hit the ground running. It is therefore vital employers take a mindful approach to workplace wellbeing in the global context. With an integrated, holistic approach to wellbeing the goal, how close are employers to getting this right for both globally mobile populations and employees at large?An excellent starting point to show where global mobility and employers with mobile employees can enhance their mental wellbeing offering is the latest instalment of AXA Global Healthcare’s annual benchmark report, ‘A Global State of Mind’. It compares the experience of people working in their country of birth with those born overseas.The sample of 1,458 is drawn from 16 countries, including the UK, Ireland, China, the US, Germany, Italy, Thailand, Philippines, Japan, Turkey and Mexico. This gives a great insight into the key relocation hotspots. Overall, it finds that the number of people reporting mental wellbeing struggles is at the same level today as a year into the pandemic. A full 80% of overseas employees report experiencing at least one mental health symptom and almost half (49%) are struggling with burnout – being overwhelmed physically, emotionally and mentally – as a result of their job.The impact on retention, succession planning and the costs of assignment failure is clear. AXA Global Healthcare's findings revealed that 81% of globally mobile workers have at least one exit strategy from their current job to help them manage the impact of work on their mental health.

A key management issue

In terms of the support on offer, more than a quarter (29%) of expats are dissatisfied with their company’s psychological support services. They are 16% more likely than their native peers to have a negative experience following a mind-health concern. AXA Global Health says this could explain why more than half (52%) of non-native employees would not feel comfortable discussing a mental health concern with their managers.Sadly, managers themselves consistently report higher rates of work-related mental health challenges than the workforce at large. Nearly two-thirds (58%) of non-native managers are experiencing burnout, compared with 52% of their native peers. More than a third (35%) have taken sick leave for this. They are also 23% more likely than native managers to have taken sick leave at least once in the last 12 months.“Managers are cornerstones of company culture, and bear much of the responsibility for cultivating a mentally safe working environment,” explains Samantha O’Donovan, chief people officer for AXA Global Healthcare. “Yet they’re often the ‘squeezed middle’ between the pressures of meeting their people management responsibilities and operational priorities. This latest edition of our ‘Global Mind Health Report’.“Arming managers with the skills they need to offer mental health support to the colleagues they manage, as well as the resources to manage their own wellbeing, will help to make sure this crucial branch of business remains resilient, inclusive and compassionate in the face of mind-health challenges. To learn that a large portion of the non-native community is considering leaving or changing their job for mental health reasons is a major concern for employers and healthcare service providers worldwide.”

Burning out – the business travel perspective

While the opportunity to travel is a key factor in good work for a significant number of people, how it is managed is key. Research from World Travel Protection asked 500 UK-based business travellers about their experiences of this and the impact on their wellbeing.Echoing AXA Global Health’s data on the experiences of people moving across borders on a longer-term basis, almost half (47%) of those in this survey say the opportunity for business travel makes them more likely to stay with an employer and helps build relationships (66%). However, nearly half (46%) say frequent travel adds to their stress and burnout. A fifth (21%) have felt stressed, exhausted (20%), homesick (19%), anxious (18%) and lonely (13%). Younger travellers (18-34) are notably more likely to feel lonely (21%).These impacts increase with travel frequency. People who travel at least once every two months are more likely to report stress and burnout (53%). With the rise of commuter assignments, this needs to be a consideration for global mobility teams: especially when 40% of business travellers say their organisation does not take their wellbeing seriously when travelling and 45% would like their employer to check in on them more at this time.“Disruptions to routines, physical distance from support systems like family and friends, as well as jet lag and time zone differences can worsen stress and anxiety,” says Dr Neil Slabbert, regional chief medical officer (Asia-Pacific) at World Travel Protection.He advises organisations to factor in both physical safety and mental health when considering the support they provide to travelling employees. “Having peace of mind about your safety when abroad can play a big part in how confident you feel when you’re working. Travel-risk management companies can support corporate travellers with pre-trip medical and security intelligence and on-the-ground assistance.”

The road to better health

New research from employee benefits, engagement and wellbeing platform, Perkbox Vivup, released in August finds that people are pushing back and negotiating more tailored support, which managers and employers are picking up on. One in four British managers believe their team members have become more demanding over the past year.In the US, too, Fidelity Investments and Business Group on Health’s annual employer-sponsored Health & Well-being Survey, which includes responses from 160 ‘jumbo’, large and mid-sized organisations, sees employers maintain spending on wellbeing programmes and focus on more areas.“Multiple, interconnected factors appear to support wellbeing spending for 2024, which remains steady,” said Ellen Kelsay, president and CEO of Business Group on Health. “Employers are holistically assessing health and wellbeing investments in the United States and globally and are doing so against the backdrop of expanding employee health needs, mounting concerns regarding chronic conditions and mental health, evolving issues related to social determinants of health as well as overall health care costs, including concerns about affordability.”For those in the Perkbox Vivup study, managers says these rising expectations are a positive sign that employees understand their worth. Over half (53%) of the 2,000 managers surveyed said they are now directly asking their team members what they need from them as their manager. This tailored approach is strengthening company culture: 85% of managers say it has resulted in them having stronger relationships with their team; 86% say it has helped each team member to feel more valued; and 87% say it has improved both employee engagement and satisfaction.Commenting, Perkbox Vivup’s CEO, Doug Butler, said encouraging individuality in the workplace has “clear benefits”, including improved creativity, greater innovation and an overall happier workforce.“Providing broader access to engagement, benefits and wellbeing solutions employees can tailor to their individual needs plays a key part in this. It ensures each team member feels recognised and celebrated for their differences and the unique contributions they bring to the business.”

---

Find out more about the Think Global People and Think Women community and events.

---

Subscribe to Relocate Extra, our monthly newsletter, to get all the latest international assignments and global mobility news.Relocate’s new Global Mobility Toolkit provides free information, practical advice and support for HR, global mobility managers and global teams operating overseas.

©2024 Re:locate magazine, published by Profile Locations, Spray Hill, Hastings Road, Lamberhurst, Kent TN3 8JB. All rights reserved. This publication (or any part thereof) may not be reproduced in any form without the prior written permission of Profile Locations. Profile Locations accepts no liability for the accuracy of the contents or any opinions expressed herein.