Brain Drain - Hochschule der Bundesagentur für Arbeit

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4. Course 4: Psychological Separation of People Working and Living
Abroad
4.1 Learning objectives
• Counsellors are familiar with the importance of work life balance in international
mobility. (TAX 3 – supporting competences)
• Counsellors know the conditions for integration of special target groups in selected
countries. (TAX 2 – foundation competences)
• Counsellors are familiar with the effects of psychological separation of people
working and living abroad. (TAX 3 – foundation competences)
• Counsellors are experienced in national and transnational networking to help
people with psycho-social problems in career mobility. (TAX 4 – foundation
competences, client-interaction competences)
4.2 Unit 1: Theories of Separation as Mental Models of Family and
Adult Relations
• Models of family: single people, families without children, families with children,
empty nest, partnership
• Intensity of migration depends on the chase of development of a family. Phase:
1. childless – high mobility of spouses (education, work, housing, resources for the
future)
2. development – more difficult decisions of leasing home – affects decisions
concerning procreation
3. stability – problems due to childcare – increase of needs
4. children leaving home – frequent cases of child migration
5. „empty nest” – moving to live with children – returning to the native country
4.3 Unit 2: Job Related Separation and Work-Family/Work-Life-
Balance Conflicts
• Work-life balance – maintaining harmony between occupational life and private
life, without limiting the need for self-fulfilment, but with full awareness of
multidimensional character of the situation. In this context, the need for selffulfilment
also pertains to other aspects of life than occupational life.
• Goals, time and extent of self-fulfilment – work on determining the hierarchy of
values
• Traits of character and values vs. a possibility of maintaining the work-life-balance
in international careers in situations of separation from one’s family.
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