Reality Check for Would-Be Expatriates Moving to Work Abroad

Thanks to the ‘Expat Mood Monitor,’ a survey by Halifax International into what life abroad is really like for British expatriates, we have been given a reality check to pass on to all would-be expats thinking about moving to work abroad.  This couldn’t have come at a more appropriate time – because today we learn that the UK is the worst place to live in Europe – but before everyone packs their bags to leave Britain, they need to know that things aren’t perfect abroad either!

It seems that anything and everything, from working conditions to the bills you pay when you live overseas, can be just as bad as they are in the UK!  So if you are going in search of a ‘dream’ lifestyle overseas, maybe you need to forget it and take a reality pill instead!  Only that way can you be assured that you will be well prepared for emigration.

Whilst life abroad can and will be different on so many levels and can offer you a challenge and an opportunity, relocation will not necessarily be the answer to all your questions or a solution to all your problems!  In this article we’re going to lay out the realities of what life may well be like for you if you move to work abroad so that you can get any fanciful notions out of your mind right now, and therefore be much better prepared for adapting to your new life overseas.

According to the European Quality of Life Index from uswitch.com and as reported in the Daily Mail, Britain is the worst place to live in Europe!  However, before you see this as the final straw and begin planning your new life abroad to escape every aspect of life in the UK, you need to know that actually, Britons already living and working abroad don’t find many things all that different to home.

Halifax International has surveyed 400 Brits who are living around the world in order to bring us their ‘Expat Mood Monitor’ report again.  And the findings are interesting to say the least – especially because Halifax themselves have attempted to put a very positive spin on the findings.  For example, Halifax is heartened to discover only a 2% increase in those who are paying more for their food abroad than they were a year ago – however, we’re depressed to realise that this actually now means 90% of the expats surveyed are paying more for their food abroad than they were a year ago because in the last survey 88% were already paying more. 

It just goes to show that there are lies, damn lies, statistics and then the interpretation of statistics!

So what else do you need to know as a potential expat contemplating a new life living and working overseas?  Well, 59% of expats have witnessed a real depreciation in terms of their available disposable income in the last 12 months, 63% have seen their investments fall in value and over a third of expats surveyed said that for them, the working week overseas was at least as long as it was in Great Britain.

Therefore, going to live abroad may not be as idyllic and perfect as you first thought.  You have to face the fact that working hours can be long, the pay packet can be less – or at least worth less as it is eroded by anything and everything from fuel costs to your day-to-day living expenses, and that certain aspects of employment abroad can be worse than in the UK.  Note: 15% of expats surveyed said they specifically missed office banter and 13% stated that they missed the standard of accessible technology that they were used to in Britain.

Now, if you can accept all of these facts and weigh them up alongside the very real truth that apparently the UK is now officially the worst place to live in Europe - with long working hours, short holidays, a lack of sunshine and rising bills, and you then realise that actually, living and working abroad you’re less likely to have to commute as far for example, you’re on the way to seeing that things can be better but not wholly different abroad.  If you realise that you’re less likely to get tied up in red tape and office politics at work abroad and you can accept that a degree of efficiency in the work place will be lost in favour of longer holidays and better weather, then yes, you’re on the right road to having the correct, healthy attitude about what a relocation could really mean for you.

Only if you’re willing to see and accept both the good and the bad realities of living and working abroad will you be in the correct frame of mind to take the decision to relocate…