Costa Rica Living With Security Stress. New challenges living abroad

In the old days – and that would be about five years ago – issues of security facing expats typically meant evacuations over civil unrest, natural disasters, or a nasty bite from a mosquito carrying malaria.

Air hijackings did occur, but only planes and not buildings exploded. In this more advanced age of globalisation, those worries seem almost quaint.

As current world events hammer away at people’s nerves before they can even adjust to them, many expats are living in a constant state of acute stress over issues of security. No one needs to be reminded that these challenges include SARS, terrorism and war, all continuously reported live, and with much doomsday hype, around the world on television and the internet.

It’s enough to give anyone contemplating an international assignment a moment’s pause.

But according to recent findings of the annual Global Relocation Trends Survey of human resources and relocation executives, conducted by the American company GMAC Global Relocation Services, 69 per cent reported their number of expats had either stayed the same or increased in 2002. Of the companies surveyed, 35 per cent said their expats numbers were up in 2002 compared to 26 per cent the year before.

James Simon, the president of GMAC, reports respondents to his company’s survey said their primary source of revenue is generated overseas. “As a result, it is not surprising that even with the challenges of war, terrorism, global recession and corporate ethics issues, companies are still increasing the number of people sent on international assignments and they expect that number to grow further during 2003.”

And that was before SARS entered the picture. But while some postpone or cancel travel, even that public health menace has failed to stop the flow of expats, except perhaps to Singapore, China’s Guangdong province and Hong Kong, according to another recent survey conducted by Organization Resources Counselors (ORC).

The impact on international business has been frequent work disruptions and lots of uncertainty and ambiguity. The impact on some expat families, meanwhile, has been stress levels shooting through the roof, especially for accompanying spouses who may not even know who to call in the case of an emergency if the working employee is away on business.

It’s been particularly difficult for expats assigned to Asia who are used to a high standard of global living in cities like Singapore and Hong Kong. A recent article in the Asian Wall Street Journal reported that for many, the stress of SARS and the recent war, for instance, was compounded by an equally stressful bombardment of e-mails and phone calls from friends and relatives.

While well-meaning, the messages were often riddled with misinformation or demonstrated a complete lack of knowledge of geography. Iraq, many expats living in Asia were quick to point out, was nowhere near Thailand for instance.

In Hong Kong and elsewhere, this security stress has led to a host of medical ailments, according to one of the community agencies. Insomnia, stomach upsets, depression, anxiety and fatigue have been common reactions.

According to the GMAC Relocation Services survey, companies have responded to tougher times by carefully assessing the need for the international assignment, using more care in candidate selection, reducing the number of transfers, and scrutinising tax issues more closely.

But they need to go one step further if they are going to send confident, functioning employees and their families abroad, according to Doron Gray, vice-president of Toronto-based Global Impact, a security company that does risk and threat management for corporations worldwide.

“Security training now needs to be built into cross-cultural training,” says Gray, “and that definitely includes briefing the family too.” Although Gray admits not many companies do so.

“The best security is common sense. But we need to elevate the level of common sense with cross-cultural training because what makes sense in one country will not make sense in another,” believes Gray.

“Education is very important, but people have the illusion of being informed by watching television. Too often they are over-saturated, not educated.”

Planning for emergencies is critical, he stresses, because “if you have things in place, you can manage the stress and lead much more effective and happy lives abroad”.

An expat spouse based in South East Asia has managed to cope with her security stress beginning by turning off the television and taking control.

“I simply made a decision on how I was going to handle my fears,” she wrote to me recently. Only a few months ago she was fearful to the point of wanting to grab her young children and run home to Australia after more than a dozen years as an expat. Now, she believes she has learned something about her own built-in ability to manage fears.

“I reached a point where I had to switch off and turn an important corner. I felt that I had learned that ‘fear’ like ‘workload’ needs to be put in perspective. I had to make plans, decide what was relevant to me and my family, and shut out some of it that really wasn’t directly threatening my life. I can’t live in a constant state of anxiety. I guess I just reached a point where I had to move on.”

Robin Pascoe is the author of four books on global living and publishes the popular web site www.expatexpert.com

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Andrew Makarik

to@welovecostarica.com

Andrew Makarik is the main editor of WeLoveCostaRica, a fan of this sunny country. He is also a loving husband and a has a lovely daughter. By being a devoted family man and the biggest Costa Rica fan, he wants to make more people feel at home there. WeLoveCostaRica unites people and helps them find new home or a new travel destination. This website is a friendly community where everyone can find not only information, but also new friends and travel pals. Andrew is also passionate about IT and programming, so he himself maintains a friendly atmosphere in this cozy environment of WeLoveCostaRica.com.