Analysis of Expatriation and Repatriation Challenges at Nordic Oils

This report examines the issues faced by an employee of Nordic Oils during a long-term expatriation to Columbia and the subsequent repatriation to Finland. The report highlights the challenges related to the extended duration of the assignment, cultural adjustments, family integration, and workplace diversity. It discusses the impact of these issues on the employee's family and the company's productivity, leading to the employee's resignation. The report provides recommendations for the organization, including pre-departure assessments, consideration of family needs, and post-repatriation support. It also suggests that the family take responsibility for adjusting to the repatriation process. The report references relevant academic literature to support its findings and recommendations.

Running head: EXPATRIATION AND REPATRIATION
EXPATRIATION AND REPATRIATION
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Executive Summary:
The purpose of the report is to highlight the issues faces by one of the employees of the company
due to the expatriation of him to another country for a long period than usual. The discourse
discusses the issues in detail. In addition, the following piece of writing presents a number of
recommendations to the organization as well as to the family for avoiding such situation in
future.

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Table of Contents
Introduction:....................................................................................................................................3
Identification of the Issues:..............................................................................................................3
Conclusion and Recommendation:..................................................................................................4
Reference:........................................................................................................................................6

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Introduction:
The company Nordic Oils is operating its business in Finland and in five other countries.
The company is into the expatriation for more than thirty years, but the recent expatriation of one
of the employees and his family to Columbia has emerged several issues. Moreover, due to the
emergence of the issues the employee had resigned the company which has affected the
productivity of the firm. Therefore, the following report discusses both the surface and
underlying issues encountered by the employee and his family along with the suitable
recommendation for the same.
Identification of the Issues:
The difference of the expatriation of Pekka and his family was significant enough in
terms of the time span of the expatriation. The previous expatriations conducted by Nordic Oils
were spanned not more than two years. On the other hand, this assignment of Pekka is of five
years. Along with this, the employees were given opportunities to visit their home during their
work terms. This is the primary key differences that are apparent. However, there are some
underlying differences that are appearing the severe issues and the same has caused one of the
good employees to resign (Kraimer et al., 2012).
Despite the expatriation of the Pekka has been proved to be successful and productive for
the company, the same has created many challenges for the family of Pekka. One of the major
issue is that the while living in Columbia, the family has elevated and broadened their mind and
thoughts. Therefore, they faced severe challenges in coping with the mentality of the people of
Finland (Mitrev & Culpepper, 2012). People of Columbia have boarder and friendly mentality.

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In addition, people of this country possess expressive thoughts. The family of Pekka found it
difficult to adapt to the reserved mentality and social norms of Finland on return from Columbia
after five years. On the other hand, Pekka’s two sons also encountered challenges to make new
friends in school as well as experienced rejection for aggressive nature that they adapted while
living in Columbia (Vance & Paik, 2015). Their mother as well as their father also faced the
same challenges in her workplace. While Pekka’s wife faced rejection from her friends, Pekka
faced workplace diversity in his workplace. In addition, they had to tighten their expenses due to
the high cost living in Finland unlike Columbia.
Conclusion and Recommendation:
As the Hr of the company I should have inspected the possible effects of the expatriation
of Pekka and his family to Columbia for five years at a stretch. The difficulties that the family
had to face after their return to Finland from Columbia caused Pekka to resign from his position
in Nordic Oils (Kraimer et al., 2012). At the same time, it was the effect on Pekka and his family
indirectly causes the company to lose a loyal and productive employee from the organization.
Being the HR needed to consider the effects of the expatriation before the departure as well as
after return of Pekka along with his family.
Being in the position o HR, I should have taken a thorough inspection of the economical
condition of Columbia before sending the employee for a long period of time. At the same time,
the company should have taken into consideration about the lifestyle of the family which was
affected by the expatriation (Nery-Kjerfve & McLean, 2012). On the other side, after the return
of the family to Finland, Pekka was demoted to his previous position whereas his previous
employees were promoted which made the work of Pekka less significant. Therefore, the

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implication suggests that the company for adjusting the repatriation of the family of Pekka,
needed to increase the salary though promoting his to a higher position. In fact, the success of
Pekka over the five year foreign project proves his potential and eligibility of him for the
promotion, which would make the livelihood easy for his family in Finland.
Apart from the company’s responsibility to help and support Pekka and his family for a
smoother repatriation, it is also suggested that the family itself should have taken some
responsibility in terms of adjusting the repatriation process. The family should have remembered
that the foreign assignment will end after five years and they have to come back to the native
place again. Therefore, not only the company is responsible for throwing them into a difficult
situation, but also the family to certain extent can be blamed for the same (Nery-Kjerfve &
McLean, 2012).
The family should have maintained their usual and similar family expenses while living
in Columbia (Mitrev & Culpepper, 2012). The cost of living in Finland is high and it is clear that
before departure the family maintained the livelihood with limited expenses. The five years of
living in Columbia had made the family expanded their budget which created trouble for them
after their return to Finland. Therefore, the maintenance of the same and limited budget would be
helpful for their repatriation. On the other hand, they have broadened their mentality while living
in Columbia which caused hazards in their acceptability by the people of Finland including
former friends and colleagues. The recommendation implies that the family should have
remembered their primary and usual social practice so that they do not have to face any problems
on their return.

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Reference:
Kraimer, M. L., Shaffer, M. A., Harrison, D. A., & Ren, H. (2012). No place like home? An
identity strain perspective on repatriate turnover. Academy of Management
Journal, 55(2), 399-420.
Mitrev, S., & Culpepper, R. (2012). Expatriation in Europe: factors and insights. Journal of
International Management Studies, 7(1), 158-167.
Nery-Kjerfve, T., & McLean, G. N. (2012). Repatriation of expatriate employees, knowledge
transfer, and organizational learning: What do we know?. European Journal of Training
and Development, 36(6), 614-629.
Vance, C. M., & Paik, Y. (2015). Managing a global workforce. Routledge.