The Stamford Advocate
February 22, 2005

By Vesna Jaksic

At GE Real Estate, a human resources official once hosted a German employee’s family for a Thanksgiving dinner. UBS Investment Bank has hired consultants to teach new foreign workers how to pay their utility bills and work through the maze of an American school system. And at Allied Domecq Spirits North America, British employees have connected with their country’s love for soccer by playing games against their American colleagues.

Fairfield County hosts many companies with global reach, so hiring foreign workers is a common part of doing business. While work papers play an obvious role in this process, companies also smooth these transitions by providing services such as language courses and cultural training, or reaching out to foreigners by celebrating their holidays and linking them with fellow countrymen. In today’s global economy, cultural exchanges travel in both directions, as companies from abroad have also found ways of putting international stamps on American soil.

Stamford-based GE Real Estate, which sells and leases commercial real estate, provides services such as language classes and cultural assimilation training for foreign employees and their families, said Nancy Abbott, vice president of human resources for the GE Commercial Finance, which includes the real estate division.

“When you’re bringing someone out of their comfort zone, out of the support system in the U.S., you’re not bringing just the employee, you’re bringing the whole family, the moms, the dads,” she said. “I mean, we’ve moved their dogs and cats.”

Abbott said the company also tries to connect foreign employees with other families upon arrival to the United States. For example, while working for the company’s Nashville, Tenn. office, Abbott said she once invited an employee, his wife and three children to her home for Thanksgiving because they arrived from Germany only several days before the long holiday weekend.

Most foreign workers in this area come from India, followed by Eastern Europe and China, said Raj R. Mahale, a principal with Syed & Mahale LLC, a Stamford law firm specializing in international corporate outsourcing and business immigration.

Considering the cultural differences between those parts of the world and the United States, it is no surprise that expatriates said spousal resistance, family adjustment and children’s education were their toughest family challenges. That’s according to a November 2003 relocation trends survey of 134 companies sponsored by the New York City-based National Foreign Trade Council, the Alexandria, Va.-based Society for Human Resource Management and the Oak Book, Ill.-based GMAC Global Relocation Services.

In an increasingly global corporate climate, companies have come up with creative ways to help their foreign workers adjust, said Sara Costello, manager of global strategy and programs for the human resources society. For example, one European company recently established a “spouse network,” helping employees’ partners connect in their new country, she said.

UBS, a Swiss financial company with its Investment Bank headquartered in Stamford, links its new foreign workers with a destination services firm, which can guide them along the process of finding a home, paying utility bills and even explaining their city’s garbage pick-up rules, said Larry DiGiacomo, regional head of international assignment services. DiGiacomo estimated that 200 new foreign workers come to the company’s three tri-state offices each year.

Diageo North America, the world’s biggest liquor company, receives about 30 foreign workers annually in Stamford, where it employs close to 1,200 workers, said Laura Pastiva-Santos, a human resources manager for internal assignments in North America. Diageo provides those workers, who are now moving to new headquarters in Norwalk, with services such as area orientation, educational advisers and immigration experts, she said.

Sometimes, simple activities and programs can also help foreigners feel less homesick. At Westport-based Allied Domecq Spirits North America, the world’s second largest adult beverage company, workers coming from the company’s United Kingdom global headquarters sometimes get together and play soccer games against American employees, said Dave Karraker, vice president of corporate communications.

GE Real Estate once had a “cultural fair” in its Enfield office, where employees brought food from different countries, including traditional Indian recipes during a major Indian holiday, Abbott said.

At UBS, activities such as Chinese New Year’s celebrations help employees feel more at home, said Valerie Izzo, UBS’ manager of employee programs in the Americas.

“Employees are having the opportunity to connect with folks who may be from their region or their country to share some of their own heritage,” she said.

But while many companies do a good job of helping their international workers adjust, immigration challenges in the post-Sept.11, 2001 world have made it more difficult for human resource departments to keep up with employees’ stricter visa requirements, which can lead to many problems during their stay, said Mahale, the immigration attorney.

“When you need a job, you come to a new country, you’re excited, HR is trying to educate you, but many HR departments don’t understand the law and are not clear on the law,” he said. “Sometimes individuals are misinformed of their rights.”

The 2003 relocation trends survey found that, for the first time in its 10 year-history, the United States made the list of most difficult countries for expatriates, ranking behind only China and Japan. Most of the complaints stemmed from progressively tougher immigration laws. The report, which surveyed companies employing 4.5 million people in nearly 7,500 offices worldwide, found 60 percent of companies provided cross-cultural training to their employees, 60 percent supported language classes for employees’ spouses and 13 percent provided assistance for their workers’ elderly relatives.

Bringing foreign workers to the United States helps Americans learn about other cultures, but the cultural exchange is a two-way street. Whether it’s a chance to savor Swedish meatballs at Ikea or an opportunity to taste a British brew in Diageo’s employee pub, international companies often plant their roots in their American offices.

UBS’ Stamford office has artwork and posters with European flavor and the entire headquarters aims to give employees a taste of the company’s Swiss heritage.

“You clearly see the European influence – lots of glass, very open space, lots of light, a very European design,” Izzo said. “Obviously there was a lot of influence from Zurich on the design.”

When Diageo moves from Stamford to Norwalk in two to three months, its new building will resemble the company’s global headquarters in London, said Gary Galanis, Diageo North America’s vice president of corporate relations. The open-space design will also be reflective of European-style office space, he said.

“It encapsulates the culture and the feel of Diageo London,” he said.