Critical incidents on the rise for expats on overseas assignments

International global mobility companies are reporting an increase in critical incidents involving expats on assignments overseas.

Terrorism attacks and tax regulation and immigration law breaches involving severe penalties as well as medical issues are high on the list of risks facing companies which rely on expat professionals working abroad.New research released by a leading mobility survey indicates working overseas isn’t the safe haven it used to be. The survey took in almost a thousand business leaders and global mobility teams located in 56 countries worldwide, revealing that 22 per cent of assignment managers have faced one ‘critical incident’ during the past year and 65 per cent have been in similar positions over the past five years.

Worryingly, a total of 12 per cent of human resource and global mobility teams don’t even manage or monitor risks or host country environmental factors. The biggest risk concerns medical issues, according to 40 per cent of the study’s respondents, with heavy penalties for breaking local regulations coming in at 37 per cent. Terrorism risks were rated at 34 per cent and problems caused by political corruption stood at 29 per cent. Disease rated 25 per cent, with death on assignment coming in just below at 19 per cent. War and kidnap rated the lowest risk level at 19 and 17 per cent respectively.

The better news is that policies aimed at mitigating risks are now being used by 68 per cent of global mobility professionals, an increase on 2016’s figure of 55 per cent. As businesses become ever more global, they attract increased risk as well as opportunities for personal development and market success. The downside, it seems, is that companies are slow in realising their responsibility and risk to themselves and employees aren't necessarily aware of their exposure to risk.