It has been a widely held heuristic that stints overseas are beneficial to one’s career, due to both the experiences you gain and the connections you make.  This stands to reason as we live in an increasingly globalized world, but a recent study suggests it might not be all its cracked up to be.

The findings share a similar rationale to that behind studies suggesting that employees who work remotely don’t tend to be rewarded with pay rises and promotions to the same extent as their office based peers.  It literally is a case of being out of sight, out of mind.

Out of sight

The study found that whilst overseas stints can provide an employee with valuable experience, they are also deprived of the kind of face-to-face time at central office that is so important if they wish to progress their careers.

The authors spoke with executives from over 150 multinational companies across four European countries, whilst also doing some desk-based research on the background of both company and executive.

They were looking in particular for the amount of time it took each executive to reach the top job, whilst also measuring the time spent on overseas assignments.

The analysis found that the initial benefits of an overseas stint were quite evident, with the executive obtaining a huge amount of knowledge and experience that translated into a rise in their career progression.  This would then reach a plateau however, with the authors contending that the executives were too far from HQ and thus unable to put in the kind of networking required to make the next step.

The findings suggest that HR departments should be spending a lot more time and energy ensuring that people that are stationed overseas have more ability to stay in contact with what’s happening at headquarters so that their organizations can secure the benefits of such diverse experiences.