Should Anton bend the rules for Anna? Why or why not?

The Expat Dilemma

A spouses misery casts doubt on Streuvels Chemicals entire international mobility program. by Boris Groysberg, Nitin Nohria, and Kerry Herman

As the senior HR executive in charge of managing overseas assignments, Anton Danois made a point of spending time with Streuvels Chemicals expatriate employees and their families. But this evening, dinner at the Lobatos home wasnt going well. Ana Lobato, a Brazilian engineer, had been working at her headquarters assignment in Brussels for more than a year and was doing a great job, but her husband, Oswald, was increasingly unhappy. Right now, Oswald was even more than unhappyhe was enraged. He was glaring at Anton, who steeled himself for the remote but real possibility that Oswald would reach across the table and punch him. Instead, Oswald rose and looked around at his three dumbstruck sons, his wife, and the remains of dinner. Visibly mastering his anger, he made his way down the high-ceilinged hallway to the kitchen and closed the door. It was silent in the Lobatos elegant apartment except for the muffled sound of traffic outside. All eyes came around to Anton, whose hand trembled slightly as he reached for his napkin. In a moment, Ana got up and went to her husband, leaving the boys to stare at their visitor. All Anton had said was that if Oswald enrolled in a Belgian medical school, Streuvels would pay part of the tuition. It was intended to be a helpful comment; Oswalds Brazilian medical degree didnt allow him to see patients in Europe. But Anton hadnt anticipated Oswalds outrage at the idea of repeating medical school, and now he wished he hadnt opened his big mouth. When Ana had arrived in Belgium, she had been full of hope and excitement, ready to share with her headquarters colleagues the expertise she had acquired from high-level positions at polyvinyl chloride plants in Brazil and Argentina.

Streuvels sorely needed her skills and experience as it rolled out plants all over Eastern Europe and Russia. The Lobatos seemed like another set of happy customers of Antons international mobility department. Ana, a star, had fit in from the first day. Her boys had adjusted to their new school, and at first Oswald had seemed to get along just fine, studying cochlear implants at UCL-St-Luc as part of his plan to acquire international stature as a researcher. But it hadnt taken long for things to go sour for Oswald. First the head of the implant lab was out for three months for heart-valve surgery, leaving Oswald without a mentor. Then Oswalds project was folded into another, which made him feel useless. Soon he started complaining about the weather in Brussels. He then announced that his heart just wasnt in the lab; he missed going to work every day in an otolaryngology clinic and seeing patients, but he could not practice medicine in Belgium. Ana emerged from the kitchen, looking pained. It might be better if she began. She didnt have to finish. Please apologize for me, Anton said, getting up to leave. Im so sorry. It must have been a hard week for him, Ana said, following Anton to the front door. Hes always been such a positive person, but lately, well, hes been different. Anton caught glimpses of his short but substantial self in darkened windows on his walk home. He looked like what he was: a business pro with decades of experience. But managing European chemical plants was what he knew best, not overseeing an international mobility department. Hed held the position for three years, and he couldnt get over how unprepared he was to be an HR exec and, specifically, to manage expats. Admittedly, he had a tendency to run off at the mouth and say things he later regretted a trait that had hardly mattered when he was a general manager but was a definite liability in HR. Now he was worried about what was happening with Anas familyworried for the family and for the company.

The Strange World of Mobility Ah, Anton said to himselfthis is more like it. He felt truly at home here. All around him were steel vats with fittings painted in pastel pinks and greens. Yellow plastic drums stood in rows on pallets, a long black hose hung coiled on a hook, and two forklift drivers dodged each other as they moved to and from racks holding thousands of identical lengths of plastic pipe. Antons shoes squeaked on the impeccably clean floor. He spotted the HR head, Maria Claes, and waved. Maria had asked for a meeting, and her only unscheduled moment was right now, during her visit to this plant outside Brussels...