Different types of expats

[larabell]

Originally Posted by jamesc

I belong to a third type of expat which I know quite a few of. I was employed directly in Japan by a large multi-national and was considered to be a 'local hire'...

I wonder if that isn't actually becoming more prevalent in today's economy. I was brought over on assignment at first but about 3 years later, when things started to get a bit tight in my industry, the company offered me a choice of returning to the US or converting to a local hire. I chose to stay and my boss helped negotiate a bit of a salary increase and a small lump-sum to help with rent for the first year so that the change wouldn't be quite as dramatic. When I changed companies two years ago, I was brought in strictly as a local hire with no special benefits at all. The guy who replaced me at my old company (a friend and coworker of mine who I recommended for the job) was shipped over from the US but since expat status needed special approval, he was actually transferred to the Japan office with the same status as someone who had been hired locally -- that is, no special benefits.

My previous company, just after I came over, had a grand total of 12 expats on "temporary assignment" in the Japan office. They soon caught on to the costs of doing business that way and right now that same company has no expat employees in Japan at all. Their policy now is that an employee is only offered expat status and benefits if the assignment is short term (one year or less) and vital to the continued operation of the company.

Of course, all this is against the backdrop of Silicon Valley based high-tech. Salaries in this industry are almost certainly higher than average and Tokyo's cost-of-living isn't as shocking when you're coming from the San Francisco / San Jose area, anyway. I wouldn't be surprised if there aren't more of us "local hires" in the high-tech rank-and-file here in Japan.

I wonder, though, if the same trend is happening in the area of top management (ie: company presidents, controllers, etc) where companies hiring non-Japanese prefer to do so from the pool of existing local residents as opposed to paying through the nose to bring someone over from HQ. The folks at those levels often make enough to survive quite well here, even without additional help from the company. I know of two current company presidents who were hired locally by their current companies but I have no idea what kind of package they were able to negotiate.

[synthia]

What happens in the US has changed, too. Companies don't transfer people as often, and if you move to another company, you may only get a few thousand dollars allowance for covering your moving expenses, or none at all.