GMAC Global Relocation Services will offer a free online “Webinar” presentation and analysis of its 10-year Global Relocation Trends Surveys on Nov. 22.
The interactive Webinar, which begins at 10 a.m. CST, will analyze relocations trends and data going back a decade to the first time the company published its trends survey.
In 2003, for instance, GMAC Global Relocation Services found that 40 percent of companies surveyed offered education and training support for employees’ families. In 1993, the first year of the survey, only 15 percent offered education and training support for families.
Company officials point out that this is in response to many employees’ hesitancy to accept overseas assignments due to family concerns and job-related issues, and that a growing number of companies in America and throughout the world are offering programs and services aimed at easing the transition to a new country.
Rick Schwartz, president and CEO of GMAC Global Relocation Services, said the biggest shift observed in relocation trends was the length of expatriate assignments. In 1997 (the first year GMAC examined assignment length), more than 80 percent of expatriates spent between one and three years on assignment. By comparison, in 2003 the overwhelming majority of assignments – fully 70 percent – were for less than one year, as companies’ attempted to contain costs in an increasingly competitive international business environment.
The Webinar will also review other relocation industry trends, including:
- While the number of female expatriates almost doubled between 1993 and 2003, men still accounted for the vast majority of expatriates overall (82 percent in 2003 compared to 90 percent in 1993).
- The percentage of married expatriates dropped from 64 percent in 1993 to 55 percent in 2003.
- Fewer expatriates are heading off to assignments with children in tow: 59 percent in 1993 compared to 51 percent last year.
Oak Brook, Ill.-based GMAC Global Relocation Services, a subsidiary of GMAC Home Services, is a provider of global relocation and assignment management services.
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