This paper is a supporting human resource (HR) plan for an organizational strategy of expansion to sub-Sahara Africa. In this connection, it is essential to consider a variety of aspects associated with the identified topic including a number of relocating employees, commissary, employees’ family issues, and housing peculiarities.
First of all, the organization should determine the number of employees that would be relocated to the expansion country. Taking into account that having employees in sub-Sahara Africa region, the HR department faces new challenges such as deployment and knowledge and innovation dissemination, it is appropriate to relocate approximately 20 percent of employees. Second, the organization should design a commissary for groceries so that employees might purchase their accustomed products. Banking and currency exchange should also be adjusted for employees in the foreign country so that they can control their finances in a convenient manner. Moreover, each employee should be given a widely accepted credit card. According to the Human Development Report 2015 (2015), “recent estimates indicate that there is a global shortage of 13.6 million care workers, causing extreme deficits in long-term care services” (p. 5). Therefore, speaking of the urgent care stations, they would contribute to the timely and relevant health care delivery as the identified region might have some problems with the availability of medicines and staff.
Another issue regarding the employees’ relocation is the length of the foreign assignment. The optimal time period is one year as this length benefits both the employees and the employer in the framework of the rapidly changing requirements of globalization. In their turn, the employees become socially protected and receive enough time to thoroughly elaborate their decision to extend or terminate the contract. On the other hand, the length of the contract might be longer in case of the consent of both parties.
Sometimes, the employees move abroad with their families. Then the company should organize children’s school arrangements. It might be new schools or local ones adapted for the new children to some extent. However, it seems to be a good idea to visit private schools of the country. To mitigate the adaptation challenges, the organization can assist in finding private schools as well as provide their tuition.
What is more, housing of employees should be determined in advance to avoid misunderstanding as sub-Sahara African housing might be quite different from the employees’ home country housing. It is crucial to examine the infrastructure of the relocation place paying attention to the electricity, sanitation, drinking water, and other aspects that might impact the quality of life. As a result, the organization would find the most suitable and affordable housing for its employees. With this in mind, the organization might offer a number of apartments to give the employees a choice to select the most suitable one. In case the cost of housing is high in the foreign country, the organization should provide an increased housing allowance to support the employees’ economic situation (Human Development Report 2015, 2015). However, as an alternative way to resolve housing issue, the organization might procure apartments or provide mortgage assistance and corporate second loans. Nevertheless, this decision should be resolved only through the precise housing market analysis of the host country. In addition, the relocation bonus would help to adapt to living costs and housing costs in particular.
Reference
Human Development Report 2015. (2015). Web.