全球化時代的海外工作 Working abroad can prove addictive

Grace Oh’s first day in Paris was verging on surreal. She had just moved from L’Oréal UK to the company headquarters to become senior marketing manager for Asia-Pacific. She now had 14 national teams to deal with and markets to learn — 15 if you include France. And her first task was to decide on the desired “click sound” for a range of lipstick tubes. Presented with an assortment of clicks: “I then had to brief the factories as to the specific sound I wanted...I thought this may be part of some initiation ritual!” (It was not).

格雷絲攠(Grace Oh)來巴黎的第一天幾乎不像真的。她剛剛從歐萊雅(L'Oréal)英國分公司調到總部，成爲亞太地區高級市場經理。她如今有14個國家的團隊要領導，有14個國家的市場要了解——如果算上法國，那就是15個。她的第一個任務是爲一個系列的口紅確定擰開時用什麼樣的“咔嚓聲”。收到各種各樣的咔嚓聲之後，“我得向廠家說明我想要的具體是哪一種……我當時以爲這或許是上任儀式的一部分！”（其實並不是）。

Now back in the UK following a promotion to marketing director of Yves Saint Laurent Beauté, UK & Ireland, she looks back on her two years in Paris as formative.

如今她回到了英國，晉升爲伊夫聖羅蘭美妝（Yves Saint Laurent Beauté，簡稱YSL）英國和愛爾蘭的市場總監，回顧在巴黎的那兩年，她覺得那段經歷對她的職業成長產生了深遠影響。

“I was exposed to so many more people and ideas than you would be [working] in your home country... more we become global, the more we have to understand others cultures. That’s what I found so rewarding.”

“那時我接觸了那麼多的人和想法，是留在國內（工作）肯定接觸不到的……我們越國際化，我們就越必須瞭解其他文化。這是我覺得受益匪淺的地方。”

According to Mercer, the global consultancy, close to 75 per cent of multinational organisations are expecting long-term expatriate assignments to remain stable or increase over the coming two years.

全球諮詢公司Mercer表示，目前將近75%的跨國企業預計長期外派工作將在未來兩年保持穩定或者有所增加。

Shruti Uppala, economist at the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) and co-author of the report “The value of global careers to the UK”, believes that taking global positions is becoming more important to executive careers: “As globalisation increases and more trade takes place between countries... need to understand how different markets work and how other cultures work”.

英國經濟和商業研究中心(CEBR)的經濟學家以及《海外工作對英國的價值》報告的共同作者施勒提烏帕拉(Shruti Uppala)認爲，接受外派工作對走上高管崗位越來越重要：“隨着全球化的推進、以及國與國之間的貿易日益增多……管理者們需要了解不同的市場如何運作以及其他文化的基本規則”。

Nine out of 10 employers report that having employees with global experience improves their organisation’s bottom line.

九成的僱主稱，擁有曾在海外生活過的員工提高了公司的利潤。

Almost two-thirds of employers believe global experience also makes employees more adaptable and about half say it made staff more inquisitive, open-minded and self-motivated, according to CEBR research.

CEBR的研究顯示，將近三分之二的僱主認爲，海外經歷還提高了員工的適應能力，約有一半的僱主稱海外經歷使員工更愛思考、心態更開放、更有上進心。

Yves Duhaldeborde, director at Towers Watson, the consultants, believes expats often go on to be great advocates for the organisation. “Even when they rejoin their home office, they remain very motivated and very positive. When done well, there is a huge benefit to companies of giving people that exposure”.

諮詢公司韜睿惠悅(Towers Watson)的董事伊夫尠阿爾德博爾德(Yves Duhaldeborde)認爲，外派員工通常一直都會是公司重要的擁躉。“即使當他們重新回到國內公司，他們仍然非常上進、非常積極。如果實施得當，安排員工外派會爲企業帶來巨大的好處。”

On an individual level, global career experience boosts annual earnings by 2,700 on average. But pay is not the only motivation.

在個人層面上，外派工作經歷平均可以使員工年收入增加2700英鎊。但是收入並非唯一的動力。

According to the employees surveyed by CEBR, the top three benefits of global career opportunities are building a broader network of contacts, becoming more respected and valued within the organisation, and taking on more responsibility.

接受CEBR調查的僱員們稱，外派工作機會3個最大的好處是：建立更廣的人際關係網、在公司內部更受尊重和重視、被委以重任。

“They know that if they move and do well, they will be very marketable within the organisation,” says Mr Duhaldeborde. “These are very driven people and personally very motivated to progress.”

“他們知道，如果他們接受外派並且表現出色，他們在公司內將更受賞識，”杜阿爾德博爾德稱，“這些人都非常有進取心，非常想提升自己。”

David Norton, head of investment services at financial advisers AES International, based in Dubai, believes moving from the firm’s London office, “has resulted in a broader remit of responsibility for me. It opens your eyes i is a cultural melting pot so you’re naturally exposed to a great variety of backgrounds and mindsets... in this environment they are allowed to flourish rather than fitting to the established, English norm in London”.

金融諮詢機構AES International常駐迪拜的投資服務負責人戴維蘒羋(David Norton)認爲，離開倫敦辦公室“讓我被委以重任。它也會開拓你的眼界……迪拜是個文化大熔爐，所以你會自然地接觸各種各樣的文化背景和思維方式……在這種環境下，它們可以自由發展、而不用適應倫敦那種標準的英式規範。”

Global moves are far from easy, however. Mr Duhaldeborde recalls a French business leader assigned to a factory in China.

然而，外派工作絕不輕鬆。杜阿爾德博爾德回憶起一名被派駐中國分廠的法國企業高管。

“He was a very talented guy, but within a few months things turned really bad. He had the whole population on that site against him.

“他非常有才能，但是他調去那裏還沒有幾個月，情況就變得非常糟糕了。那裏的所有人都不支持他。

“It turned out [that it was because] he was going home at lunchtime to have lunch with his wife rather than using the staff canteen. That was seen locally as ‘he doesn’t like our food, he doesn’t want to mix with us’, so he lost the trust of his colleagues. That’s just an example in the importance of preparing people in what to expect in terms of the culture.”

“結果證明，出現這種情況是因爲他中午總是回家和妻子一起吃午飯，而沒有在員工食堂用餐。當地人覺得這說明‘他不喜歡我們的食物，不想和我們打成一片’，因此他失去了同事的信任。這只是一個例子，表明讓人們爲自己在當地文化中將要面對的東西做好心理準備非常重要。”

Even Ms Oh, a fluent French speaker before taking the short hop across the channel, found her first three months difficult. “The culture of living in Paris was a very different experience from visiting in my day-to-day role I was dealing with India, Australia, China... very quickly understand that it’s more about listening at first. It’s not about asserting your opinion, it’s about understanding what their needs are.

在接受調任前，格雷絲攠葙法語已經很流利了，並且從英國到法國只用跨越一道英吉利海峽。儘管如此，她仍然覺得調到法國的頭三個月很難適應。“在巴黎生活與在巴黎旅遊相差甚遠……我的日常工作是與印度、澳大利亞、中國那邊的人打交道……你很快就能明白首先要傾聽。不是堅持你的觀點，而是理解他們的需求。”

“You do feel lonely at the start, until you become trusted and make friends. I think that would be true in any geography or culture,” she admits.

她承認，“一開始你會感到孤獨，直到你得到人們的信任並交到朋友。我覺得無論在任何地方、在任何文化中都是這樣的。”

In Dubai, Mr Norton says: “From a bureaucratic perspective, everything takes longer and it can be very frustrating. Having someone on call for those first few months is very helpful, to talk through issues and reassure you.”

在迪拜，諾頓稱：“從官僚主義的角度來看，所有事都會耗費更長時間，可能會令人非常沮喪。在最初數月中安排某個人隨時待命會很有幫助，可以跟你一起釐清問題並給你打氣。”

Once you gain in confidence, global roles can become addictive. Boston Consulting Group research of expats shows that most already have some international work experience and 64 per cent would be willing to go on to another country.

一旦你建立了信心，外派工作可能會讓人慾罷不能。波士頓諮詢公司(Boston Consulting Group)針對外派員工的調查表明，多數人已經有過在海外工作的經驗，64%的人願意再被調往另一個國家。

Mr Norton agrees. “I always assumed my next move would be back to London, but now the UK is less of a pull.”

諾頓表示同意。“我曾經總認爲我的下一站會回到倫敦，但是如今英國對我的吸引力已經減弱了。”

You do not have to move to a foreign country to take a global position. Ms Uppala contends that global careers include any role involving “speaking regularly to colleagues and clients in other markets. English is the language of business... it is very easy with IT software these days to stay in one place and be able to communicate with other people... prevalence of needing to physically move country could decline as we become more globally connected.

你不一定非要調往外國才能得到海外職位。烏帕拉認爲，任何要定期與海外市場的同事和客戶交流的工作，都可以算作海外工作。英語是企業的通用語言……如今藉助互聯網軟件，人們待在一個地方與其他人交流易如反掌……隨着全球聯繫日益緊密，實際搬到另一個國家去的必要性可能會降低。

“The business culture may formally be very different, but if you communicate over phone and email you do learn the processes and how to go through it”.

“企業文化在形式上可能大相徑庭，但是如果你通過電話和郵件溝通，你確實能夠了解這種流程以及如何完成任務。”

Ultimately, it comes down to the individual. Those seeking a more culturally immersive experience will seek them out. But those that do not or cannot, can take on global positions from home.

最終，這取決於個人。那些尋求更多身臨其境的海外體驗的人會找到辦法。那些不想體驗或者適應不了的人，可以在本土接受海外職位。

“I am 35 now”, says Ms Oh. “I would hate to think that my career is now fixed in just one market...I would like to believe I would have this adventurous spirit even when I’m 60.”

“我現在35歲，”奧稱，“我不願意認爲自己的職業生涯如今被限定在一個市場了……我情願相信即使到了60歲，我還會有這種冒險精神。”