Leaving home? Surely this is a mistake; repatriation is about going home, or even coming home. Or is it?

If you expatriated with a major multinational, it is likely that the company sent you and your family for relocation orientation. Only recently have firms begun to arrange for h repatriation orientation. After all, why should they? You're going home. You've probably been home at least once a year during your assignment. This should be easy.

Study after study indicate that more than 60% of repatriates find reverse culture shock, the shock associated with returning home, equal to or greater than the culture shock at assignment. Linked with this is the staggering proportion, typically quoted in the range of 50% to 75%, of assignees who move to another company within 18 months of their return.

Planning for your repatriation, reflecting on your experiences and clarifying your expectations will help you reduce reverse culture shock. You can "leave home" and "come home" with new perspectives and energy.

You settled into your host country. Generally, this occurs after the first home leave. While you may have continued to be intrigued or baffled by the cultural and business differences, you were no longer doing battle against them on a daily basis. You may even have reached the stage where the flip answer to "Where is home?" was "here". Your host country became your home.

Moving back to your home country represents another disruption. In a family, responses often range from "how soon?" to great sadness. More often, each family member will have a range of feelings as they consider what they are looking forward to and what they may seem to be losing.

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About the Author Sherry Read is leading the life she desires in Shanghai. She leads Read Solutions Group, a firm dedicated to helping successful professionals (and especially expatriates) achieve greater levels of excellence. If having a coach to assist you in navigating the hurdles of change sounds interesting, you can contact her at sherry@ readsolutionsgroup.com or find out more at ReadSolutionsGroup.com.

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