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Much to their surprise repatriates returning from an international assignment typically find adjusting to their home country and their home company harder than the culture shock they had when they first went overseas. And the costs of a bumpy return, also known as reverse culture shock, can spread far and wide: an unhappy and unproductive employee (repats leave their companies at twice the rate of those who don't go overseas), bad publicity for expat assignments inside your organization (people are reluctant to sign up to go abroad when they see what happens when people return), and the potential loss of invaluable (and very expensive) global expertise (when the unhappy repat leaves to work for your competition!) But all of this can be prevented if organizations prepare their employees (and families) for returning home. Knowing what the personal and professional challenges are of coming home doesn't make those challenges go away, but it does make the returnee better prepared to deal with them. Just as predeparture training sets up the expat for a smooth entry into the foreign culture, repatriation training can minimize the impact of coming home. And the softer the reentry, the sooner the employee is back on his/her feet adding value to the company.
