Shevana.com CEO Niels Nielsen Set Another Dimension to Overseas Work Related Relocation Challenges

Nov. 16, 2012 - PRLog -- Driven from his own experience as a management consultant in the telecommunication industry for over 15 years across 60 countries, Niels Nielsen sees employees’ wellbeing and work-life balance as a critical equation building a case for employer companies’ reaction.   In today’s enhanced mobility of labor from one country to another, cultural diversity, work pressure and stressors pose a serious risk on human resources.  “It is increasingly clear that for every time bound engagement abroad, one needs to prepare for the role in globalized conditions, situate into the given occupation and maintain social identity in adaptation to change.  Providing comfortable working and living environment conductive to physical and mental health is the minimum essential for supporting employees during foreign assignments and making transition abroad less traumatic.” says the founder of Shevana.

The concept of Shevana is fostered by companies with sustainable foresight that recognize the growing momentum towards improving employees’ wellbeing in rigid work-life boundaries. The notion of the satisfied employee after relocation comes to the fore with the actual conditions of living, privacy and comfort preventing burnout at work. More than ever organizations in a variety of industries consider home-like alternative accommodation vs. restrictive hotel rooms as a key factor to enable project team productivity and high performance at the workplace.

The wider concept of promoting residential wellbeing as an intrinsic sustainable corporate practice is an area likely to be of interest to management and procurement alike for some time to come. For many companies turning to utilization of Hotels for long-term stays is no longer a fair treatment that allows flexible living arrangements and related conditions. The confinement and size deficiency of hotel room accommodation has adverse effect on individuals’ psychological wellbeing deeply hampering achievement of the employee’s overseas work goals.  

Business trips and absence from home disrupt individuals’ biorhythm and if recent relocation is associated with a positive experience at first then soon employees required to spend lengthy time periods abroad find international moves and adjustment to be difficult. Distance from immediate and extended family, differences in laws, languages, culture and living space are all life changes issues arriving at the foreign post and creating added stress. Employees’ management of perceived feeling of stress and homesickness often fails international assignments when desire to return to their homeland to reconnect with family and friends prevails. The implications of suitable and reasonable accommodation for differing family compositions can be most viable in times of destress and building organizational health.

Shevana of Denmark is the first service provider in Europe looking into sustainable accommodation solutions to improve the life quality and wellness of traveling professionals when working away from home. Serviced apartment home-feel living is a lifestyle choice that minimizes exposure to stress and yields enormous emotional rewards. The wellbeing of employees between home and host countries at its simplest level is ultimately about personal happiness.

Findings:

Stress accounts for $ 95 billion in lost productivity per year;
19% Absenteeism costs £ 11.6B to the UK employers;
Stress-related disorders cost approx . $ 12B to the Canadian employers;
Absenteeism due to stress has increased by over 300% since 1995;
40% of job turnover is due to stress - American Institute Of Stress;
Over 50% of lost work days are stress related which keeps about 1 million people per day from attending work;