International Secondments

[Mohamedabu]

International secondments have been back-burnered as a result of the pandemic. Does anyone know when will international secondments resume?

 

[TCLA Community Assistant]

International secondments have been back-burnered as a result of the pandemic. Does anyone know when will international secondments resume?

It’s going to depend heavily on locations I suspect. Countries that have stronger vaccine role out programmes will probably have a stronger chance of being reinstated than others.

I wouldn’t expect them to really get back until late 2022 though. Firms will always be risk adverse and ultimately international secondments are not a necessity, so there is no rush to reinstate them.

 

[Mohamedabu]

Thanks for your reply Jessica, that’s very helpful - completely agreed with your views.

A silly question though - even if self-isolation restrictions are in place, why would firms be hesitant to resume their international secondments (assuming there are no other travelling issues or restrictions), since secondees will be able to work as usual once the self-isolation period is over?

 

[TCLA Community Assistant]

Thanks for your reply Jessica, that’s very helpful - completely agreed with your views.

A silly question though - even if self-isolation restrictions are in place, why would firms be hesitant to resume their international secondments (assuming there are no other travelling issues or restrictions), since secondees will be able to work as usual once the self-isolation period is over?

Risk.

Risk that the person gets sick
Risk that they can’t return due to restrictions
Risk that other people won’t be able to visit them so they might struggle more with being on their own
Risk that they have a pretty awful experience if they are stuck in a apartment and can’t actually go to the office if local restrictions kick in

The issue is you can’t make assumptions that the restrictions won’t be in place.

It’s a lot of unnecessary risk for something that ultimately isn’t a necessity.