Your new employee is going to be moving overseas! Develop a cultural information paper that will help them understand how to make the transition. (NOTE: You are able to choose any country–please make sure the county of choice is logical for the position.)
Include in this paper: a short introduction to the country, the local customs, what to expect, and a list of what is needed to work in the country. For example: Certain countries require a work visa. Include the requirements for the work visa. Include country-specific information needed to live and work in that country such as: transportation availability, housing costs, union influence, work week, typical vacation time, and anything specific to the country we would not experience in the US. For example: Some countries the children wear uniforms and go to school all year
Write a five to eight (5-8) page paper in which you: Include in this paper: a short introduction to the country, the local customs, what to expect, and a list of what is needed to work in the country. For example: Certain countries require a work visa. Include the requirements for the work visa. Dr. Vic’s Tips: 1) write about the country by giving a general description of the geographic area, provide brief (two-three sentence) history of the country, and any important cultural, religious, political, conflict, or trade information widely known throughout that country.
2) then write about any local customs from the region you will sending employees – customs can include language, holidays, traditions of the area, celebrated festivals etc.
3) write about the actual experience from what to expect on day 1 though to day-to-day routines, try to be specific here with realistic expectations. You can also write about day-to-day things like local transportation (the bus or metro system) currency needs, where the local grocery store is located, where the nearest in-network clinic or hospital is located, and who to call if anything happens.
4) write about the documents your employees might need, visas, passports, copy of birth certificate, government ID, consulate or Embassy documents, and important contact info from the company. If any of you have every sent employees abroad all of this likely sounds very familiar. To help you out, here is a list of things to consider adding to your paper: include country-specific information needed to live and work in that country such as: transportation availability, Dr. Vic: cover available transportation options both locally and across the country. Trains, airports, local busses, taxi service and always provide an emergency transportation medium like a phone number employees can call to have a taxi or other transportation means come to them. housing costs, Dr. Vic: Cover how housing will be taken care of, for example will there be corporate housing, or will the employee need to find suitable reimbursable housing on their own – sometimes this is a very cost effective strategy for many smaller companies. union influence, Dr. Vic: provide union contact info, if any, and also union expectations. work week, Dr. Vic: Here cover the day-to-day and week-to-week work flow for employees, include work day schedule if different than 8a-5p – for example in some countries the work day lasts past 5:00pm and in other countries it ends before 5:00pm. Cover when lunch is typically taken and also when breaks, if any, can be taken. typical vacation time, and Dr. Vic: here cover vacation expectations especially if it is different than normal – that is, cover if vacation is earned at a different rate – for example if employee will earn vacation hours or credit diffident than normally. Also offer a trusted vacation travel agent phone number in order to facilitate employee’s safety as they might want to travel. anything specific to the country we would not experience in the US. For example: Some countries the children wear uniforms and go to school all year Dr. Vic: here try to focus on work customs and laws that might be different than normal in the U.S. Offer a Hotline phone number employee can call with questions regarding work place expectations. Dr. Vic: overall, concentrate on employee safety and expectation as you write this cultural information paper.
