Analyzing Expatriate Challenges in Employment Relations in India

This report examines the challenges expatriates encounter in employment relations while working in India, focusing on cultural differences, communication issues, and the experience of working at Reliance Industries. The report highlights the increasing presence of multinational companies and foreign direct investment in India, which has led to a rise in expatriate managers. It discusses the pros and cons of using expatriates, including their knowledge and experience versus the higher costs and potential legal complexities. The report also explores the experiences of expatriates in India, including their enjoyment of the culture but also the challenges related to family life and communication barriers. Finally, it delves into the specific challenges faced by expatriates, such as difficulties with phone connections and finding a comfortable home environment, and concludes with a discussion of the issues and recommendations for expatriate management. The report uses the case of Reliance Industries to illustrate these challenges, drawing on various academic sources.

WHAT CHALLENGES IS AN
EXPATRIATE LIKELY TO FIND IN
EMPLOYMENT RELATIONS
WORKING IN INDIA?

INTRODUCTION:
• For successful entry in a foreign market, proper communication
is required with an unfamiliar partner so that the adaptation
becomes easier.
 With the increase in globalization, it is easy for individuals to go
beyond geographical boundary and conduct business
operations. There is difference in working style of workers at
national and international level.
It is essential for Expatriates to understand it, so they are able to
understand changes in better and relevant manner.

INTRODUCTION (CONTD):
This report is based on Reliance industries Limited. This
association was founded in 1973 by Dhirubhai Ambani. This
organisation has different products of petroleum, natural gas,
textiles, telecommunication, media, etc.

MULTINATIONAL COMPANIES IN
INDIA :
• The increasing flow of entry of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI)
in India is seen as a very important indicator of presence of
MNCs in India.
• This has increased the flow of investment making the entry of
expatriate managers easier in India.
• However, their entry is often reinforced depending on the
cultural differences they have to go cope with while working in
India.
• Analysing the distribution of FDI in India, it has become very
clear that United Kingdom, Germany and Sweden and some
other foreign countries have become an important source of

MULTINATIONAL COMPANIES IN
INDIA :

Pros and Cons why use
expatriates in India
Working in India is bit easy and flexible because lifestyle of
people are easy and there is more familiar environment as
compared to foreign country. So expatriate are satisfied while
working at Reliance Industries.
This is a big organisation, where people from different region or
culture work together. There are many different occasions which
are celebrated in premises such as festivals and also some of the
activities are conducted on regular basis.

Pros
This makes them familiar with individuals working at Reliance
Industries. Some pros for expatriate in India are as follows:
Having better knowledge: Expats who were working in foreign
countries have knowledge, experience and information
about the same company.
Upholding same practices: Expats were upholding the same
practice which they are going to do in India. So it will save
the time to train them about rules and regulation of
company as they were already familiar with the same.

Cons
Although there are pros in using expats in India as it will bring
new talent in India. Further in this context there are some cons
of hiring people from foreign countries. Some of them are
discussed below:
Expats are expensive: Expats are two to three time expensive
than hiring employees of local region. As employees are
switching from foreign to India they demand for higher
salary.
Legal documents can be problematic: When expats are moving
toward India. There migration document is required.

EXPERIENCE OF EXPATS IN INDIA
:
Expatriate are the people, who outside country fore working in
India or for some other purpose. There are different aspects
which has to be considered by expatriate while they are working
in India.
Apart from the foreign national embassy staff members and
other organizations that operate internationally based in India,
the expatriates come from countries whose companies have
invested in India. Therefore, based on the country of origin of
FDI, one can conclude that expatriates from South Korea,
Germany, United Kingdom, and the United States form the
majority of expats working in India.

EXPERIENCE OF EXPATS IN INDIA
:
Experience of expatriate are good while working and
undertaking their projects. They came India for the period up-to
Twelve year. While working at Reliance Industries, expatriate
have following experience-
Enjoy culture but treated as foreigner- As some of the expatriate
working in India at Reliance Industries, they enjoy culture of
India.
Not ideal place for family- Expatriate does not have good view
about India in context of their family. Cultural values, religion
norms, etc. are different.

Contd....
Communication issue- Communication is the main core aspect
which helps to communicate with individuals of local region.
There is language issue among expatriate and local employees.
Experience of expatriate while undertaking project or
assignment- While conducting assignment or project at India,
expatriate are satisfied, but they have view that people are stuck
to some specific area.

CHALLENGES FACED IN INDIA :
There is a limitation on the data provided regarding the
experience of expatriates in India as it is mostly focused on
European Managers and the United States. After conducted
research in his earliest known publication on expats in India and
the same is dealt with the cultural aspects of Germans working in
India. A group of German expatriates based their work on a steel
plant in India that was operated and controlled. It has provided a
great deal of insight on the challenges they faced, however, the
research was too old to be useful.