For those who haven’t gotten the message the golden era of expat assignments is dead. Several friends returning to join me at EMHC and I am shocked to hear how much the expat program has declined. There is little to no financial incentive anymore. In some cases and depending on your personal situation you may actually lose money. The days of everyone wanting an expat assignments are gone. Be very cautious before accepting an expat assignments. Talk to someone who is there RECENTLY as the program keeps getting worse so someone who was there a couple of years ago may give you bad information. After hearing from my friends I went into CC and changed my mobility. No reason to head overseas if there is no reward. In addition an expat assignments are puts you on the hook to repay the moving expenses which are a lot of you end up finding a better job and want to resign. The obligation to repay extends for years after you return to Houston.
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@eb tell me you’re absolutely clueless.
The one good benefit expat assignments still have is that they are not on the dysfunctional campus.
At least us low level CLs won’t have to listen to our overlords brag about how their housing allowance was so high they could buy into the local country club or have their three kids bused across the city to an elite private school, all compliments of their expat package. My personal favorite was the former exec, who was brought back as a contractor for a BS project, talking on the phone to a colleague about inflating the value of his items being shipped internationally so if anything is damaged he can come out ahead since he made thousands of $$ on “damaged” property over his career. Old guard really ruined it for the rest of us…
What projects?
Golden Pass is the only thing going on and it's already off the rails.
Going to be interesting when projects start going off their schedule and wildly over cost and reliability drops like a rocket. DWW will be long gone and the big bets will have lots the jackpot.
The only benefit these days of going Expat is that is an escape from Campus.
Considering millenials and gen z can’t get off their phones and social media I expect you’d be a collective ocean of tears if you had to write an actual letter and wait for a response via US mail. Bunch of pu----s.
Boohoo. Calling grandma long distance was expensive in the ‘80s. Boohoo. Proves you never could have make it as an expat back in the day that Exxon was actually building stuff around the world. Then again, you are the generation that is barely surviving hot dealing and single ply toilet paper. Boohoo.
The EM expat ride was great for decades. Started to unravel 2021. Got much cheaper and less rewarding. Now it's a shell of its former self. Many BTC are ok with it because they really get sc--wed compared to what we got, but they're very ineffective as well.
"By your logic I should have been paid more for moving to hot and humid Texas far from my family in the northeast when I joined ExxonMobil."
One of the reasons, why ExxonMobil offered excessive compensation in the past. And your comment shows that you have never been an expat.
@eb Total BS. I grew up in the 80’s and we wrote letters to family in the next state over because long distance calls were too expensive. By your logic I should have been paid more for moving to hot and humid Texas far from my family in the northeast when I joined ExxonMobil.
There were reasons why prior generations of expats got much higher compensation. Decades ago it was a much greater hardship to be an expat. No internet! Communication with family back home limited to air mail and one company paid phone call per year. No English language TV programming or books. No familiar food. No access to clothing that would fit a westerner. Tropical diseases and no access to appropriate medical care. Treacherous travel conditions.
The world is just easier today in all ways. Doubtful that any of you soft expat complainers today would survive.
@ac 100% and KLTC too.
@OP With Expat duty, you could be assigned to Gaza, or Syria, or a war torn country or moved into harm's way. Is it worth the money to be put in a foreign land who maybe hostile ? No thanks.
It got bad +10 years ago and never got better. Too many hours, to little pay, to disruptive to the family. In 2012 they offered a family expat to Oz. I turned them down and stuck to a 28/28 schedule, then they offered it again. I said no. Then they offered an expat to Nigeria. I did not even bring that one home to my wife, I said no. I struck to my 28/28 and retired after 35 years. I was ready..
@ab Nope. Just shifted. Over for HC10 but a big party now for BTC engineers expiring to EMHC and Permian.
Good. Expat greed to be over and out soon.
Not arguing with you, just saying the long game coming up from college hire to exec is becoming less likely over time. Now an external hire with no industry experience can just skip right over you.
@a6 Doesn’t the golden path to Exec now include checking the box of a role at General Motors? Have to know how to get those government taxpayer funded payouts to cover up your poor business decisions.
Definitely not worth it financially. Only advantageous if you're on the golden path to exec and you need to check some boxes but those opportunities are almost gone also.
@a2 I have seen more marriages end due to this than I care to count. The spouse who gives up their career begins to resent it and then next thing you know there is a divorce. Some people try to do married unaccompanied and that is an even faster way to get divorced or have to deal with an affair.
Expat assignments are career su----e as well. NEVER accept a seconded role. That is a one way ticket to NSI.
It was always a raw deal if it meant a working spouse with a great profession outside of EM had to quit or put their career on hold and potentially never recover their earnings potential after several years overseas… the execs could never seem to fathom that for a dual career couple an overseas assignment could be career ending for the other spouse. And even more risk these days, now that the number of executive positions has shrunk, even if you are willing to move around.
Some countries are really bad. The variation and inconsistency in approach is inexcusable.