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Caring for globally mobile and expat employees: 8 steps to success
We know that you want the best for your employees and your business. That’s why Aetna International offers a wide range of health and well-being solutions to help you build a culture of well-being and ensure assignment success.
As well as supporting your employees, we have a deep understanding of how you can drive successful travel and relocation outcomes.
Here is a step-by-step guide of things your organisation can do to help ensure international assignment success, including some of the Aetna International tools and resources you can use in the process.
1. Screening
- Evaluate the employee’s ability to cope with the stress of international relocation:
- Collate references and background checks
- Conduct face-to-face interviews
- Assess language abilities
- Assess vocational, interpersonal, personality and cultural competency
- Conduct standardised medical and psychological screening
Consider sending the employee on a short trip as a toe-in-the-water first experience to gauge their suitability for relocation. This can be especially useful when the employee has never worked overseas before.
Read about “The true cost of international assignments” in our Guide to Successful International Assignments.
2. Medicals
Commission a primary care provider or relocation specialist to conduct a standard medical screening ahead of the pending relocation. This will help flag any of your employees’ medical needs proactively and ensure that chronic disease or medication requirements are addressed. To ensure that illness does not sabotage the assignment, confirm that medications, referrals to doctors for ongoing treatment and other resources are in place well before departure.
Many organisations use a formal health assessment to gauge emotional well-being, work/life balance and physical health – a range of aspects that can affect quality of life now and in the future. The employee’s answers result in the identification of health risks and provide guidance in the form of practical steps and reading material to help reduce risk factors.
Learn more about “The role of physical health” in our Guide to Successful International Assignments.
3. Mental health
A medical evaluation could be coupled with a mental health assessment – both for the assignee and their spouse or partner. If mental health issues go unnoticed or develop and go unaddressed, the entire assignment could be at risk.
Help your employee establish a structured support framework before, during and after their assignment. This could include a spousal support programme and destination services that address unique family needs, if appropriate. This will aid the transition and minimise risk.
- Aetna Mind offers members mental and emotional well-being support. From self-help and online resources to professional support, members will get the right help no matter how they’re feeling. Aetna Mind is built right into our benefits and is available through our secure member portal, called Health Hub.
Find out more about “The importance of good mental health” in our Guide to Successful International Assignments.
4. Medical assistance
When your employees relocate, there’s lots of planning involved. From accommodation and schools to travel arrangements and packing, there are countless details to consider. Health care providers and employers both have a key role to play, one that begins long before an assignment starts. Make sure you have solutions in place to meet the needs of your globally mobile or expat workers before they arise.
– Pre-trip planning
Pre-planning can be especially useful for those employees who are pregnant or managing a long-term condition, immediate health complications or a family member’s relocation concerns. Aim to work with a provider that offers a comprehensive pre-trip planning service, including: a detailed pre-trip planning programme, including information about the health care system in your destination country; and coordination of medical care and help with obtaining prescriptions and medical devices overseas.
Our 24/7 year-round pre-trip planning service can help ensure the health care and well-being needs of your employees, and their families, are considered and covered for their trip or expat assignment. Read more about the value of pre-trip planning.
– Health care access and navigation
Employees and employers alike need to know that if an individual gets ill, they will receive quality, timely treatment wherever they are – or wherever they need to go. Aetna International can help ensure the best health outcomes in the event of a disease/condition diagnosis, as well as the provision for emergency medical care and evacuations.
vHealth makes it easy to arrange a consultation with an internationally accredited doctor, directly from a computer or smartphone, at any time (subject to plan eligibility. Available outside the U.S.). Likewise, Teladoc provides easy access to doctor consults, prescriptions and well-being support from a smartphone (subject to plan eligibility. Available within the U.S. only)
It’s important to provide wrap around health care, from before your employee leaves home, right up to the moment they return and beyond. Other areas of care to consider are care management, maternity management, discharge planning and preauthorisation processes.
Discover more about “Access to quality health care around the world” in our Guide to Successful International Assignments.
5. Health protection
– Emergency medical assistance
Make sure you provide your employees with easy-access rapid support in the event of an emergency. Expats needing access to emergency medical care while overseas may find themselves miles from the facilities and expertise they need. If an urgent medical situation arises, your employee needs to know they have the support of a team:
– Of highly trained health care staff who can call on a network of international health, well-being and medical transport logistics experts.
– Who will work with your employee’s treating physician and family to authorise the best possible treatment, or arrange to evacuate the employee to an appropriate medical centre of excellence if needed, either by air ambulance, ground ambulance or commercial airline?
– Who will get your employee home and repatriate them if needs be?
- Our (Care and Response Excellence (CARE) team offers end-to-end health and wellness support for expats and the globally mobile. The services operates 24/7, 365 days a year and is available just about anywhere in the world. Emergency medical evacuation and repatriation are included in all our plans.
– Repatriation
Many expats return home to find that their new language skills and intercultural abilities create a reverse culture shock, and they have trouble fitting in again. The loss of autonomy, a new professional approach and changes among their colleagues can make for a challenging reintegration at work. Support both the returning assignee and their family for the best results. Look at the possibility of mentoring and repatriation training. Also, try to utilise their international experience by having them mentor colleagues who plan to relocate abroad. While repatriation support is easy to overlook, it’s the first step in ensuring that the next overseas assignment is a success.
- Aetna Mind offers members mental and emotional well-being support. From self-help and online resources to professional support, members will get the right help no matter how they’re feeling. Aetna Mind is built right into our benefits and is available through our secure member portal, called Health Hub.
Discover more about “Access to quality health care around the world” or find out more about “The importance of good mental health”in our Guide to Successful International Assignments.
6. Personal safety and security
Work to guarantee your employees’ safety while they’re living and working abroad. Forces out of your control, such as political instability, economic volatility, natural disasters and crime, have led to an understandable prioritization of safety and security. Provide safety training, travel monitoring, evacuation procedures and even kidnap and ransom insurances if the location demands it.
Employees can benefit from security reports, especially if they are in high-risk areas. Many providers offer access to services such as: Minute-by-minute updates on global security threats; A 24/7 travel assistance phone line; and SMS alerts and email bulletins.
Aetna Security Assistance, powered by Crisis24, provides these services to our customers and their employees.
See “Safety, security and cultural awareness” Guide to Successful International Assignments.
7. Training and cross-culture support
Work with relocating staff to prepare and detail areas that need attention, from cultural training and advising on what to expect to providing support networks and mental health support. As the move gets closer, provide cultural briefings (social, historical, cultural and political).
Induction and touch points
Create a thorough induction process, including organisational and technical induction. Invest in personnel management (team cohesion, interpersonal, leadership, stress management and conflict management). Once the assignment begins, continued support is essential. Regular staff appraisals (including indicators of well-being) can help ensure the ongoing well-being of individuals and the continued success of an assignment. As well as check-ins, employers can make workshops and training available to employees and help build mechanisms for receiving support from home (annual leave, phone calls home, internet access).
Cross-culture training
The ability to adapt to other cultures is critical to the success of international assignments. Many assignments fail because people don’t adapt to the culture of their new home and the stresses associated with feeling like they don’t fit in.
Research is essential, and many people benefit from an advance trip. This is especially true for employees taking family, as it helps make the destination, and what it holds, less of an ‘unknown’ for children.
Many individuals and families try to immerse themselves in the host culture before they move by reading up about the local history or watching news on YouTube from that area of the world. Experimenting with food from a new destination can help make an important aspect of relocation a bit easier.
Companies that conduct successful expatriation programmes look not only for technical qualifications and abilities but also for an aptitude to develop a global mindset. This includes cultural competency, the ability to navigate the cultural complexity of the multicultural work and marketplace. Cultural adaptability and emotional intelligence directly relate to a higher expat success rate.
- Find out more about cultural awareness. Or check out our Destination Guides.
See “Tools and services that support healthy overseas assignments” in our Guide to Successful International Assignments.
8. Access to healthy living guidance
Research shows that assignments are more successful when employees are healthy, happy and productive. To help them find a healthy balance, it’s important to make sure your employees have the help they need to build healthy habits, whether they’re frequent travellers, new expats or seasoned ones. Some will be looking for inspiration and information on exercise tips and diet guidance. Others while others will need specific information on chronic conditions. Look for a health benefits provider who can motivate, inspire and support your employees to adopt healthy habits for life.
Our Five For Me content is created by our clinicians and provides bite-sized health and well-being tips in five minutes or less. It features dozens of interesting and helpful articles on a range of topics from sleep to nutrition, exercise, pain management and more.
- At Aetna International, we can help your employees:
- Maintain their health, well-being and productivity while travelling for work or living abroad
- Take care of their medical expenses during their assignment
If you’re an employer and want to understand how we can support your employees, get in touch with one of our expert consultants today. Find a contact number for an office in your region here.
"Research is essential. Many people benefit from an advance trip – especially those taking children as it helps to make the destination, and what it holds, less of an unknown to children."
"Employees with secure, confidential access to clinical counsellors, coaches and work-life balance experts have the opportunity to address their concerns before they have the chance to manifest into long-term health problems."
