How mature is your international onboarding?
Twelve statements. Four minutes. One score out of sixty, and a report telling you which three things to fix first — and what to do about each one on Monday morning.
Why this is worth four minutes
Almost every company with international employees does the same two things well and the same two things badly. The legal side and the arrival are handled. Everything after week three, and everything involving the family, is left to the individual.
That is not negligence — it is a structural blind spot. Arrival has clear deliverables, obvious owners and a hard deadline, so it gets managed. Integration has none of those, so it gets left to the person with the least capacity to manage it. The result is a pattern you can set your watch by:
By the time an international hire tells you they are leaving, the reason they are leaving is roughly a year old. That is what makes it fixable — and what makes it expensive to ignore.
Score your organisation
Score each statement from 1 (not true at all) to 5 (completely true, consistently, for every international hire — not just the ones who ask). Answer as things actually are, not as the policy document says they are. The scan is only useful if you are honest with it.
1.One named person owns international onboarding end to end, and everyone knows who that is.
2.We have a written, repeatable process — not a folder of what we did last time.
3.Support is planned and budgeted for the accompanying partner, not offered on request.
4.Line managers get a briefing before their international hire starts.
5.Every international hire is assigned a colleague as a buddy, with a defined role.
6.Language learning is offered, paid for, and protected in working hours.
7.We have structured check-ins at 30, 60, 90 and 180 days that are actually held.
8.We know how our international hires’ retention compares with our local hires.
9.We would notice disengagement in month five, before it becomes a resignation.
10.We support the household — school, healthcare, housing — not only the employee.
11.Our international hires can describe a realistic next step in their career here.
12.If our HR lead left tomorrow, this process would continue unchanged.
What your score will mean
Most companies we speak to land somewhere in the first two bands. That is normal, and it is not a verdict on your HR team — it is a reflection of how rarely anyone is given ownership of the eighteen months after the contract is signed.
Every international hire is handled personally, from scratch, by whoever is available. It works until it doesn’t, and it does not survive volume or staff turnover.
A real process exists for arrival. Everything after month three depends on the individual and their manager.
Good process, consistently applied, with visible ownership. Usually still weak on measurement and on the family.
Onboarding is a managed, measured system, and a competitive advantage in recruitment.
This scan is a structured self-assessment, not an audit, and the report is general guidance rather than legal, tax, immigration or employment-law advice. Always confirm with an official source or a qualified professional before acting.