Budding relationships: formal global buddy programs can help ease the transition for expatriates and improve retention and productivity

HR Magazine, June, 2005 by Eric Krell

Another set of challenges resides in the host office. When Laura Ponticello, a human resource and leadership adviser at 4C Co., a consulting firm in Skaneateles, N.Y., took an assignment in London, the former Global Crossing vice president encountered difficulty when holding meetings.

"I discovered that [organizational] level is very important in the U.K.," she notes. "Had people understood that I occupied a senior level, they would have been more inclined to attend the initial meetings I held."

"This is where the expatriate's lack of understanding of the host workplace culture can lead to some messes pretty early on," Dwyer points out.

Enter the buddy program, the success of which depends on the selection of the buddy and the degree to which the program has been formalized and embraced in host-office locations.

"Too often, it ends up being more of a 'warm-body' program where, if you have a 98.6 degree body temperature, you can be a mentor," Dwyer reports. KPMG International's buddies, who typically have international experience and occupy a similar professional level as their counterparts, are selected by the host-country performance manager of the international assignee--a term the accounting firm uses in place of "expatriate."

Although "buddy" sounds informal, the term was specifically chosen at Balfour Beatty and KPMG to formalize the role while distinguishing it from a mentor or friend. Informal buddy programs often fall flat, Kreicker notes, because the host manager given the task may lack the necessary intercultural awareness or may simply walk away from the volunteer assignment.

Tony and Ferdi's Excellent Adventure

Balfour Beatty's buddy program was conceived to address a shortage of qualified engineers and quantity surveyors (i.e., cost accountants or supply chain managers) in the United Kingdom.

When railway executive Keith Hampson prepared to import 40 new hires from South Africa to the United Kingdom starting in October 2002, he set an optimistic goal of limiting the portion of new hires who would return to their home country to 20 percent.

The acculturation program Hampson's team devised, which included opening bank accounts for each new hire, is instructive for HR executives who oversee their organization's investments in long-term international assignments.

The buddies assigned to each new South African hire shared an office or project location but did not work directly with their counterparts. All host buddies received a cultural awareness course, conducted by IOR Global Services, before each of the three waves of South Africans arrived, and the new hires and their buddies participated in joint cultural awareness training sessions. Buddies were also granted considerable flexibility to leave work to help the new arrivals shop for homes, select schools and conduct other personal business.

Balfour Beatty's Marsh e-mailed newcomer Heugh as soon as the quantity surveyor's contract was finalized. When Heugh, 35, arrived in the United Kingdom in 2004, the 60-year-old manager introduced the man he now calls "Ferdi" to his three, 30-something daughters. They, in turn, recommended schools for Heugh's two daughters and helped him find a house.