A Guide to Family-Friendly Assignment Planning

It is that time of the year again: the end of the academic year is rapidly approaching in many countries around the globe. And as a consequence, there is a long school break coming up. If there is an “ideal time to move for international families”, that long school break is usually it. As a global workforce employer, family-friendly assignment planning is a great tool to improve international talent acquisition and increase the acceptance rate international relocation offers. This article provides you with an overview of what to consider.

Global Academic Calendar Variations and other factors for Well-Informed Decision-Making
If you are a parent of school-aged children, you know exactly at what time of the year you get to juggle your work with your children being at home and wanting your time and attention. But did you know that the end of the academic year, and consecutive vacation, show great variations around the world?

The duration of the long school break can range anywhere from a period of six weeks, to three months. And for the timing: in the northern hemisphere (think: Europe, North-America, and some African and Asian countries including the UAE) the academic year ends around June, with the new year starting in September. While those in the southern hemisphere (think: Australia/New Zealand, Brazil, South Africa, Singapore) end their academic year around December, so their students can enjoy summer from January onwards. There are also a number of school systems ending the school year around March, such as India and Saudi-Arabia.

And then there are the international schools: a number of them choose to align with the northern hemisphere calendar even if they are in a country where the local school system follows a different academic calendar. The intention behind this is to offer a smoother educational trajectory to international students originating from and/or planning to repatriate to the northern hemisphere.

Our advice to Global Mobility/International HR Specialists: you don’t want your internationally mobile colleague with children to be stuck between navigating the needs of their employer and the needs of their children. The more you are able to work from a mutual understanding of everyone’s needs, the better-prepared you are for your colleague’s successful relocation. A good question to ask your internationally mobile colleague with children is: “I noticed that you have school-aged children. Are they joining you on your move, and if so, have you already considered what the ideal time would be for them to move?” Make sure your colleague has all relevant information to make well-informed decisions regarding their children’s needs and wellbeing in the context of their upcoming relocation.

Maximizing Academic Year End Moves: Benefits and Considerations for Relocating Families
You already learned how academic calendars greatly vary across the globe. There are other differences between school systems too. Below information might be helpful to your international colleague with school-aged children that is deciding on when to move their children, and it will help you to better understand why assignees choose to opt for a temporary “split family” arrangement if their contract start date falls in the middle of a school year.

While many more factors play a role in successful relocation, below are five essential benefits of an academic year end move:

Space availability: in many locations around the world, both local and international schools have limited space availability, especially for mid-academic year enrollment.

Educational continuity: at the end of the academic year, a student receives their final report card showing successful completion of that year. For midyear enrollment, some schools opt to “place back” one year as they believe this helps a student adjust to the new school environment. As a consequence, a child may experience a year of academic delay due to the international relocation.

Crucial educational stages: moving around the age in which a child learns to read and write, or close to a diploma program may result in educational gaps that can have long-term consequences. Final report cards help the receiving school in advising what grade level placement prevents such problems from occurring.

Socio-emotional transitions: saying goodbye to friends at one school, and making new ones in the next has a significant impact on a child’s wellbeing. Doing so in alignment with the end and beginning of the academic year provides the benefit of conforming to the natural flow of transitions in schools.

Family time: international relocation brings a great deal of change to families. The academic year end and consecutive school break bring the benefit of time: time to pack personal belongings, time to say goodbye to loved ones back home, time to move and explore the new location, and maybe even a little bit of time to vacation and be a ‘normal family’ as well.

Our advice to Global Mobility/International HR Specialists: the more time a family gets to mentally and physically prepare for an upcoming international move, the better. Many schools allow for registration in advance, reducing the space availability risk. Start now with making an inventory of which international colleagues with children have an assignment end date approaching, and which ones are interviewing for a new role. Make sure you are ahead of the game and check in with all stakeholders (employees and business) to learn about their plans in the coming months.

Navigating Unique Family Circumstances in Family-friendly Assignment Planning
Keep in mind that every family’s circumstances are unique, and that other factors may play a role in their ideal time to move. While school is an important factor in a child’s wellbeing, many others are important when it comes to thriving abroad as a family.

A child may be involved with extracurricular activities, sports, or else that require their presence at a certain time in the year. Your colleague’s partner’s job or other activities may require their presence until a certain date, or it may take time for them to transition their career to a foreign location. There may be personal circumstances, such as an upcoming wedding of a loved one, that require your colleague and their family members’ presence in their home country.

Our advice to Global Mobility/International HR Specialists: most likely the business is pulling you in the direction of needing to have their employee start as soon as possible, while your colleague is being pulled in a different direction because of their family needs. Such misalignment poses a risk to assignment acceptance or continuation. The best thing you can do to help navigate such a complex situation is to determine to what extent your organization’s benefits to internationally mobile employees with children accommodate their needs. And when gaps exist, help identify solutions and see if these can be accommodated with a policy exception.

We are happy to assist you with Family-friendly Assignment Planning next time an employee moves with accompanying family members. Schedule an “Ask My Anything” session for a quick call with one of our Family Relocation Experts.

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