Considerations A variety of factors will influence your company's policy development. Married expatriates with children will have very different issues from either single or married expatriates without children. One example of this is that the company will be expected to ensure that the children receive the education necessary to allow them to continue to the 3 grade level once they return to their home country. For many young employees, an international assignment may be viewed as a great opportunity. For an individual close to retirement, the thought of moving the family to another country may appear to create more problems than opportunities.
Different nationalities have differing views of what is equitable.
In the U.S., for example, it is common practice to protect the employee against additional taxes that may be due on personal income as a result of the international assignments. Many European expatriates, however, believe that the company should ignore this issue. Assignments that are considered developmental, because the international experience gained is integral for advancement within the company, tend to offer little in the way of cash incentives. Conversely, if there is a need for an individual's talents in a particular location, and the assignment will not necessarily help the individuals' career, then cash incentives tend to be required to offset the issues around moving a family overseas. Assignments to developing countries require different considerations than assignments to industrialized countries.