Case Study

After several more rounds of long discussions with Linda, they finally decided to move back to Singapore. The needs of his wife, children and mother-in-law were the over-riding factors in his decision. The following months were spent packing and shipping their things and bidding farewells. Other than that, they did not have much time to think about their return to Singapore until the day of the departure. In fact, it did not cross their mind that it was something that they had to be mentally prepared for. After all, Singapore is home, they thought. In England, Mark had been offered the position of Global Strategy Manager at his company. This would mean a promotion and a higher salary and he would continue to enjoy the perks as an expatriate. On the other hand, taking up the regional marketing manager position in Singapore would essentially mean a demotion. He would have to accept a salary cut and would lose all the expatriate benefits. Linda had been pressuring him to return to Singapore.

 Moreover, looking at things on a long-term basis, Mark knew that moving back to Singapore now would be the best option for Linda and possibly also the children. If they stayed abroad too long, Linda would find it even more difficult to continue her banking career. It had been half a year since Mark and his family moved back to Singapore. To their surprise, adapting back to life in Singapore turned out to be not as easy as they had imagined. After getting used to living in a large house with a big garden in the countryside for five years, their apartment in Singapore seemed such smaller than before. Although they lived in a luxurious condominium complex with facilities such as swimming pools, Jacuzzis, saunas, gym and tennis courts, they simply missed the vastness of the English countryside and the lifestyle that they led in England. Mark no longer had his fancy cars and drove a Nissan Bluebird, as he used to do five years ago, before he left Singapore. Linda had to give up her gardening. The children missed their teachers and friends at school. While the whole family was having dinner one evening. Mark’s elder son, Jeremy, suddenly blurted out, ‘I really don’t want to go to school any more!” Me too!’ John, the younger one, followed. Total silence fell upon the dining room. Tears started to trickle down Linda’s face. She, too, was unhappy. All the tensions and unhappiness that had built up over the past six months suddenly came out in the open. She could no longer pretend that it was great to move home.

Questions:

1. Does it make sense to give up an attractive international career and a good life in Europe for a return to Singapore at a lower rank position?

2. What can be done by international HR mangers to handle such situations?

3. What recent developments are happening in developing countries to bring their nationals back to their home countries?