Less far, less time and probably solo rather than family. Post-Covid expats should favor Europe over America or Asia, where some found themselves stranded when the borders abruptly closed overnight in March.
From London, Alain Taieb chairs the group AGS Mobilitas, a moving heavyweight with 4,500 employees worldwide: “On had a very slowed down, damaged activity, with countries like South Africa where the borders were closed completely, where we could not even enter or leave. In other states such as Korea, Taiwan or Vietnam, we were able to work properly and achieve correct results. In France, we shot at 50%, England at 40% and the Netherlands at 70%.
“Apart from the food, distribution, IT, electronics and internet companies which have experienced a pandemic which has rather favored them, all the rest of the sectors are shaken.”
Alain Taiebat franceinfo
In the world after, and for the societies that will come out of it, Alain Taieb does not predict the end of mobility, but a change of scale: “You can’t go back to being small and stunted in your own corner… The international will be there, inscribed in gold letters forever, but families will be cautious.” “Before, continues Alain Taieb, when they were offered a job in Nairobi or Casablanca, they looked at the sanitary conditions, the schools, the children, and left. Today, with this crisis, they will think twice about it. Executives will rather leave as geographical singles, for six months, and more necessarily for four years with wife and children.
Find this chronicle on the international mobility site “www.francais à l’étranger.fr”