Are we there yet? It’s time to talk about Home Leave

I remember our first Christmas in Australia. It was 2005, the brilliant sun was out in Sydney and the beach was the place to be. The gigantic Christmas tree in Martin Place was missing one thing that was synonymous with the end of year holidays for me having grown up in Colorado… snow.

This month in Mobility Matters I’m writing about Home Leave. The traditional expat benefit that allows the employee to return to their home country. It could be one of the more costly benefits of your program, but it might be one of the most important.

Home leave : Holiday time for a person who works abroad, during which they can go home.        

Most companies with a long-term assignment policy have a suite of benefits that every expat is provided with no matter what. Home Leave is typically on this list. In recent years, some companies have become more flexible with their policies allowing the employees to choose which benefits they would find most useful up to a budget and within a pool of options. Home leave is most likely one that is chosen but why?

Home leave is one of the classic benefits in the basket for many reasons, including:

• It’s hard to be away from your family and friends for an extended amount of time
• The home country should retain some connectivity with the assignee and that has historically been easiest done with a bit of face time in the office

My first trip back to the US in 2008 was brutal. It was winter and all of my airplane connections were a nightmare. I missed one in Tennessee and had to spend a night in a not-so-nice hotel provided by the airline where the sheets were questionable at best. I was reunited with ice, sleet and my loved ones who conveniently live all over the States. ??

That first trip allowed me to reflect on my international experience. As I arrived in my home country which had suddenly become a little foreign I felt a little uncomfortable. I didn’t get some of the jokes because I hadn’t seen commercials or Saturday Night Live in ages. I hadn’t picked up an Australian accent, but my brother was constantly ribbing me about these strange words I had adopted into my lexicon.

I was “home” but not really. Our furniture was in storage and I no longer had a place of residence, so we were constantly the Guest. Welcomed with love but not like it was before.

Perhaps that’s why these periodic trips back to where you came from are important. They help you process and synthesis what is happening to you as you become a citizen of the world. There is no turning back once you start because you are now richer with the nuances of new people, cultures and experiences that have changed you, even if the place you call home hasn’t.

The Trend towards International Hires

I’ve seen many business decide to push employees to become local hires instead of expensive expats that come with a laundry list of benefits.

There are implications from this path. It’s likely the employee will be very committed from Day 1 to making it work because they have decided to adopt this as their new home as permanent as that idea might be for them. But it’s also likely that they will still suffer some of the same pains of missing their family from afar. How do you address this??

Work From Anywhere to the rescue!

This is when your #WFA policy becomes critical for retention. The new International Hire can take advantage of the ability to live and work for a specified period of time in their home country if that is permissible under the terms of your program.

It’s easy to see that this takes the sting away from committing when you know you can return.

What about ESG?

If you have booked a flight recently you know it’s expensive. Getting from Melbourne to Sydney can exceed $500 these days and international flights are more dear than ever.

It’s becoming easier to understand your carbon footprint these days. Adding a flight home for an entire family every year hits the bottom line as a cost in dollars and for the environment.

In a roundtable I hosted earlier in the year we discussed ways to reduce the impact on the planet of mobility programs. One suggestion was to remove the requirement to go ‘home’ and instead offer a budget for a local trip or even a destination that might not be as far away.

There was another suggestion that home leave every other year might be softer on the planet. If part of the purpose is connecting with the home office that can probably be done via zoom/teams now can’t it?

The future of home leave

I don’t think this valuable benefit is going anywhere anytime soon because we are humans that value connection. I am interested to see how it evolves over time with the increase in technology to connect like the metaverse.

Will there be a shift towards requiring some work in the home office with the rise of Work from Anywhere? Would that increase the benefit for all involved?

I hope this holiday season brings you closer to your loved ones however you choose to spend it ??.

We'll be out camping and enjoying the great outdoors.

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American by birth, Australian by choice.?Ursula Lepporoli ?has lived experience. She brings compassion and understanding to the tax and policy expertise she provides to expatriates and employers. Sharing knowledge with the wider mobility community brings her joy. With 17 years of Global Mobility experience she brings a strategic and practical perspective to every interaction. She prides herself on making tax fun but takes the responsibility of cutting through complexity seriously.?Follow her, and?subscribe ?to the Mobility Matters newsletter?here .

**The views expressed above are mine alone and are not tax advice. **