Insurance packages specifically designed for expatriates - once an after-thought for busy corporate administrators - are becoming a key feature in competitive expatriate compensation packages. Estimates indicate that there are approximately 18 million working expatriates worldwide. Add their families and dependants, and that number swells to approximately 30 million. Canada is one of the primary exporters of expatriate talent, along with the U.K., France and the U.S. Expatriate workers are valued employees: higher-than-average income earners with promising futures, on temporary assignments that average three to five years. These employees eventually amass high levels of disposable income, largely because of generous financial incentives and expense coverage provided by employers. Typically, they earn more than their counterparts in the home country even before adding the additional expense items associated with the typical expatriate assignment.

FOREIGN STRESS

While an expatriate assignment may represent a lucrative career advancement opportunity, it is hardly without its challenges. While companies make significant investments in order to offset the financial burden of uprooting a worker and his/her family to another country, the stress and anxiety associated with relocating country-to-country in an unstable world can take a significant toll. In fact, fewer than 50% of employees remain with their companies following repatriation, with assignment failure, including family concerns and low satisfaction levels among the expatriate's partner or "trailing spouse," being primary causes.

To compensate for potential hardships, companies provide their expatriate employees with generous packages that include home-leave travel allowance, cost of living adjustments, tax equalization payments, schooling and housing allowances and a "hardship allowance" if the post requires location in a "developing" country.

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About the Author Daniel Anber is president and chief executive officer of XN Holdings Incorporated. Prior to joining XN Holdings Inc., he served as vice president at Chubb & Son USA where they made him responsible for the Chubb E-Commerce Expatriate Program. Mr. Anber received a Science degree from Jean-de-Brebeuf College in Montreal and studied Mechanical Engineering at the University of Montreal. Mr. Anber is fluent in French and English.

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