This episode brings three observations that are really three future directions for this podcast and my work: 1. Frameworks Are Relevant Across Contexts 2. The Travelling Parent and Home-Based Parent Experience Time Apart Differently 3. The Role of Organisational Support.

For those who listen regularly, please note that for the next 6 months, I will be posting 1x/month until December 2026 instead of 2x/month.

Three Observations/Future Directions

1. [02:32] Details change, Adapt to Context but Frameworks Remain

• Details change:
• expectations for example of the role of the father so this may change expected involvement when he travels
• International Business Travellers may have slightly more control over schedule than rotation workers
• A parent may be home 1x year vs a parent who comes back every weekend
• Episode 62: The 5 Pillar Framework: Individual, Couple, Parenting, Transition, Risk Factor (emergencies & dangerous locations) I go through how you can use the Five Pillar framework if you are deciding on a split family assignment/non family duty station or if you are already frequently travelling for work.
• Blog The One Family Framework -A 3-Step Strategy Guide for Parents Living Apart - Rhoda Bangerter
• Read why I am not choosing to be sector-specific (FIFO, Aviation, Humanitarian, Foreign Service, Military, Business Travel):Parents Who Work Away - Rhoda Bangerter

2. [09:30] Different Angles to Time Apart

Time apart is never experienced in exactly the same way by everyone in the family. The travelling parent, the home-based parent, and each child occupy different positions within the family system, shaping what they notice, carry, and need. A travelling mum may experience more social stigma about leaving her children, a travelling father may feel increasing disconnection.

Focus for future episodes:

• home based mum (incl personal wellness, development, experience of transition, emergencies or dangerous locations)
• home based dad (incl personal wellness, development, experience of transition emergencies or dangerous locations)
• travelling dad (incl personal wellness, development, experience of transition, emergencies or dangerous locations)
• travelling mum (incl personal wellness, development, experience of transition, emergencies or dangerous locations)
• Children (young children, teens)
• Couple relationships

3. [13:54] Organisational Support

• The role of HR: is there reluctance of verbalising challenges - Maybe an organisation doesn’t want the families to want too much. Questions of where duty of care starts and where private sphere begins.
• Strategic HR Prof Benjamin Bader Professor of International HRM and co-founder of MasteringGM® asks the question:Do organisations want strategic HR?

“Challenge can feel uncomfortable yet challenge is often where strategic value emerges”

“Mobility sits at the crossroads of talent, cost, risk, compliance, employee experience and business growth”

• These unaccompanied postings, Short Term Assignments, International Business Trips are where risk lies, where unnecessary costs lie, where employee experience and talent lies.
• Studies have shown that conflict between work and family is negatively correlated to job satisfaction (Dorio et al., 2008) and can have detrimental effects on health (Greenhaus et al., 2006), specifically on stress and burnout. (Allen et al., 2000). Guttormsen (Guttormsen, 2018) points out the importance for sending organisations to know more about these assignments and their constraints in order to avoid mismanagement or difficulties in “sourcing talent”.
• Do organisations track recruitment for these non family postings?
• Is the organisation willing to look into these postings and staff demands and to test if intervention makes a positive difference? Are you tracking wellbeing? Do you really want to know about illness and FBT? Loneliness and non-family posting? More Work-Family Conflict? Or More Enrichment?
• Do you want to track retention?
• There are ways to support your employees that are not costly eg intranet (document for foreign services)
• Perceived Organisational Support Increases Employee Commitment

Perceived Organizational Support (POS) is the extent to which employees believe their employer values their contributions and genuinely cares about their well-being. Perceived Organisational Support (POS) Theory shows the positive correlation between how the employee sees their employer as supportive of their well-being and their level of commitment to said organisation (Eisenberger et al., 1990; Eisenberger et al., 1986). Organisational support is also vital as demonstrated by Mutter on the stay behind family. (Mutter & Thorn, 2021)

Level of staff commitment was first measured via the Organisational Commitment Questionnaire (OCQ) (Mowday et al., 1979). Commitment is measured according to these three factors: “willingness to exert effort”, “desire to maintain membership in the organization”, and “acceptance of organizational values” which cover both staff behaviour and attitudes towards the organisation. Perceived Organisational Support is measured by the Survey of Perceived Organisational Support (SPOS) and measures how much the employee perceives the organisation would support them.

Real and Perceived Organisational Support (POS) towards the staff member and their family can be mutually beneficial. As the staff member perceives and experiences voluntary support from their employer, their commitment to that organisation is likely to increase. Absenteeism and turnover costs will likely decrease. (Eisenberger et al., 1986; Rhoades & Eisenberger, 2002)

Organisations may have financial compensation, hardship allowances or additional home trips in place. Beyond that, not many organisations have a coherent and explicit support policy. Staff are left to their own devices even as the job spills over into their family time and space and vice-versa.

Perceived Organisation Support makes a difference to employee recruitment, commitment, and retention. (Eisenberger et al., 1990; Ghosh & Ray, 2023; Nandasena & Rebecca, 2023). Even more so if perceived to be non-coerced but at the discretion of the company (Eisenberger et al., 2020)

Are your staff afraid of admitting to family challenges for fear of losing or putting their position in jeopardy? Importance to develop trust in support mechanisms.

Prof Kate Hutchings “Sophisticated technologies allow people to be able to connect even when they're in remote locations. But I don't think this should mean that organizations give up all responsibility for supporting people in a split family expatriate situation”

Do you know how many non family postings you have in your organisation? Who tracks travel? And has your organisation mapped absences and travel days? Do your staff do back to back travel?

Contact Rhoda: [email protected]

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Buy the book: Holding the Fort Abroad

Your partner's job opportunity in another country seemed like an exciting idea, but lengthy work assignments mean you're holding down the family fort - alone.

OR Your partner is working and living in another country, and you feel like you are shouldering all the home responsibilities alone.

You may be wondering:

• How can we be a family when we're miles apart?
• Can I cope, alone, when troubles arise?

I believe there are answers to the above questions, and the answers start with you. In this context, it's more important than ever to invest in yourself, to care for yourself, to set your own goals and to watch yourself grow. Equally important is to nurture your relationship with your partner and learn to parent together.

These unaccompanied postings, short-term assignments, international business trips are where risk lies, are where unnecessary costs lie, are where employee experience and talent lies. Welcome to Holding the Fort Abroad, the podcast for families where when parent works away from home and for those who support them. My name is Rhoda Bangerter. I'm here to help you build connections across the distance. And today's episode 100, which is a major milestone— milestone, yes, I'm saying that right. I was looking at figures from Alex Sanfilippo on LinkedIn, and actually, he's just contacted me to be a guest on his podcast about podcasting, which will be interesting. And I saw that he had some figures out. Chance of reaching milestone 100 episodes was 7.44%.

So I feel very grateful. Thank you to all the listeners who have participated, who've been enjoying these episodes and listening. Thank you to all my guests. over all these episodes who have shared their stories very openly, very vulnerably, very authentically, uh, the good and the more difficult. And I'm looking forward to continuing more episodes to bring this very particular life to the forefront, to highlight, um, this life where one parent works away from home sometimes both parents work away from home and are traveling, how do you juggle all of that? Sometimes also when you live outside of your country of origin, which is why the podcast is called Holding the Fort Abroad. For today's episode, I would like to really give you 3 observations from the 100 episodes, but also from all of my work over the last years. Which are really future directions of where I'm going with the podcast, but also with my work. And it's mostly, it's mostly slight shifts.

So it's observations, but it's also just slightly organizing how I present things, maybe differently, slightly differently, to align with what I'm seeing and how to better serve you, those who are living this as well. So it's also, I suppose, these observations are going— are interesting because they highlight the reality. So I'll tell you what the 3 ones are. The first one is that details change, right? Context changes. So if I'm speaking to a group of mums in Senegal who are the home-based mums, the home-based parent, I'm going to slightly— the details and the context is going to change slightly than if I'm talking to a group of mums maybe in another part of the world, right? In Europe, for example. It's this you don't have maybe access to the same home help. You don't have the same expectations maybe of work or not work. I know in Switzerland, I was just talking to a mum tonight and she was just like, nothing is set up to help a mum work.

So it's not going to be— you're not going to be facing the same potential challenges if you're in Switzerland and you're thinking, okay, my husband in this case, um, is, is traveling a lot, has got a very demanding job. Um, but then my kids— she was telling me he's 8, and I think they have school every morning and only 2 afternoons. So then it's up to the, the, the, the home-based parent and family to take care of him, or you pay for, uh, childcare. It's— the setup is different. So Details change, but it's the same frameworks, it's the same, it's the same needs, um, it's the same, same pillars, the same— you need to watch out for the same things. The second one is different angles to time apart. So we have different roles. I'll kind of unpack all of that.

So I want to, in future episodes and in my future work as I'm organizing how I'm presenting things, it'll be more from different angles of whether you're the home-based mum, the home-based dad. I'll go through all of that. And then the third one is the other major player, which is organisational support. So it's my third observation and also my third sort of future direction. I'll go through organisational support. Role of HR. I'll unpack all of that. And then another thing to say before I just dive in, for the next 6 months I will be posting once a month until December 2026.

I think the second week of each month. That will give me a chance to, I suppose, disseminate the content of the episode. And also really kind of use the episodes that are already existing to amplify their reach, basically, so that more people can find out about them. There's a very, very rich library already, many people who have shared their story from very many different angles. Um, so that I just wanted to let you know about that. So the first point, my first observation, which is that details change and context changes, but it's the same frameworks, the same pillars. And as I go forward with different episodes and different, um, research, and as I dig a bit more, I want to make play space for those details that are changing. So across industry, uh, expectations, for example, of the role of the father— this may change in different countries, and depending on what the expectations of the role of a father is, is going to change the expected involvement when he travels.

So I want to make um, space for, for that context change. Uh, there's different sectors looking more in depth in different sectors. I've started already a little bit, but for example, aviation, um, uh, humanitarians, international business travel, military digging a bit deeper and making it more sector-specific. For example, international business travels may have slightly more control over their schedule, but rotational workers and that control or lack of control over schedule might be a particular stressor in a particular sector. And then again, the variation in frequency. So a parent may be home once a year versus a parent who comes back every weekend. So reconnecting over a weekend weekend is going to look very different than reconnecting once a year, and what you do while you're away might look slightly different as well. But the pillars stay the same, the frameworks stay the same.

And in episode 62, if you haven't come across my 5-pillar framework, um, I go through how you can use it if you're deciding to go on a split family assignment or if you're already frequently traveling for work. And then my— the One Family Framework is a 3-step strategy guide for parents living apart. And that's— I've put the link, uh, to the blog in my show notes. And they, they will stay the same. It's, it's, it's something that has emerged from, from all the conversations. And, you know, the first 3 pillars, you're like, okay, it's— they may be obvious: the individual well-being and development, the couple relationship, the parenting, the trend. But then the last 2, the transitions and the risk factors, which are the emergencies and the dangerous locations, those are specific. And even the first 3 that might seem more general actually are specific as you dig into them for this specific life.

The angle is very much for this specific life. So the first— that's my first observation. My first future direction is to continue and develop and make space for these contextual changes within the framework. The second observation and future direction is there's different angles to time apart, right? Time apart isn't experienced in the same way by everyone in the family. And I've talked a lot, I've talked, I do talk a lot about family, families who have, you know, one parent who's away And how do you— how do you— how are you a family when one parent is away? Um, but really, there's the traveling parent, the home-based parent, and each child that occupy different positions within the family system, shaping what they notice, carry, and need. A traveling mom may experience more social stigma about leaving her children a traveling father may feel increased disconnection, right? They're going to have slightly different experiences. And so my focus for future episodes and also how I present things will be to dig deeper into these roles and to present things more in, in those angles. So what is it like to be the home-based mother? Are we talking what is it like in terms of career? What, what, what is it like in terms of support network? What, what is it like? Yeah, if, for example, if, if it's, if it's your husband who's gone, and you're the mum who's staying, what is it? What is that going to be like? How do you live the transition when he comes home? Or what is it like to be a home-based dad? What is it for? How are you going to experience? I've interviewed 2 home-based dads for the podcast, and I've spoken to a few more.

I mean, one of them was saying, oh, I missed a mum. How do they view— how do you view your role if it's your wife who's traveling? And you may be happy, you may— one of the dads was, well, what are your tips and tricks? One of the dads said, don't be afraid of making— of making— being friends with other mums, with the mums. I think that's important for home-based dads to hear, specifically home-based dads. Then what is it like to be the traveling father specifically? Are you going to have any regrets? Are you an involved dad? I don't want to make generalities, but are there, you know, what are your experiences? What do dads experience when they travel? What do mums experience when they travel? Is it slightly different? And so I'm going to be presenting more from your position within the, within the traveling sort of orbit, if I want to put it that way. And then looking at children, is it younger children? What do they, what do they experience? How do they experience it as a toddler? Maybe what is that like? And then as teens? What do teens want? How do they experience it? How have they experienced it? And then there'll always be that, the couple relationship angle. And so within these, these, I don't want to say roles, but within these places where you, where you are situated, According to the travel, then we'll go into the different pillars, you know, the personal wellness, the development, the experience of the transition, and the experience of the emergencies and dangerous locations. Because if I'm a home-based parent and I'm not going to experience the dangerous location the same way as the, the person who's in the dangerous location, if you see what I mean. So that's my second observation and my second future, my focus for my future episodes and future direction.

And then third, the third point is that is the other major player in travel, which is the organization itself, the role of HR, the role of the supervisors. Is there a fear of verbalizing the challenges that staff are going Maybe the organizations don't want the families to want too much. And if you start digging a bit and asking, are you well? Does the organization really wanna hear the questions about where duty of care starts and where the private sphere begins? You know, I remember having an hour-long conversation with someone about, for humanitarian organization, if you are mandating unaccompanied posting and the person has a family, surely your duty of care is also to that family who's quote unquote left behind. I came across Professor Benjamin Bader, Professor of International HRM and co-founder of Mastering GM, and I came across an article, uh, actually it's a podcast of his episode, it's Do Organizations Want Strategic HR? I just noted 2 things he said in there. Challenge can feel uncomfortable, yet challenge is often where strategic value emerges. And mobility sits at the crossroads of talent, cost, risk, compliance, employee experience, and business growth. And I think— I'm sure these unaccompanied postings, short-term assignments, international business trips are where risk lies. Where unnecessary costs lie.

Sorry, this is me now, right, commenting on his 2 quotes. Yeah, so that these unaccompanied postings, short-term assignments, international business trips are where risk lies, are where unnecessary costs lie, are where employee experience and talent lies. And studies show that conflict between work and family is negatively correlated to job satisfaction. So the more conflict there is between work and family, the less job satisfaction there is. There can be detrimental health effects on health, specifically on stress and burnout. And so in the show notes, I've put the different academic articles that refer to this. There's one research that points out the importance for sending organizations to know more about these split family assignments, unaccompanied assignments, and their constraints. In order to avoid mismanagement or difficulties in sourcing talent.

Do you as an organization track recruitment for these non-family postings or for postings that require a lot of travel? Is the organization willing to look into these postings and staff demands and to test if intervention makes a positive difference? Not demands, but staff requirements, say, if they're asking for something. Are you tracking well-being? Do you really want to know about illness and frequent business travel, loneliness and non-family postings? Is there— do these posts have more work-family conflict or more enrichment? Actually, it's not Unaccompanied assignments could have a lot of enrichment. You capitalizing on that? Do you track retention? Perceived organizational support is so important for the commitment of the staff. It's the extent to which employees believe their employer values their contributions and genuinely cares about their well-being. Perceived organizational support shows the positive correlation between how the employee sees their employer as supportive of their wellbeing and the level of commitment to said organization. So there's a positive correlation between how the employee sees their employer as supportive and their level of commitment to said organization. The level of staff commitment can be measured on an organizational commitment scale questionnaire, and it's measured according to these 3 factors: willingness to exert effort, desire to maintain membership in the organization— it's retention— and acceptance of organizational values, which cover both staff behavior and attitudes towards the organization. And then you can measure perceived organizational support with a survey of perceived organizational support.

And it's just very interesting to think, okay, perceived organizational support versus commitment. What are the correlations between those 2? Real and perceived organizational support towards the staff member and their family can be mutually beneficial. As the staff member perceives and experiences voluntary support from their employer, their commitment to that organization is likely to increase, and absenteeism and turnover costs will likely decrease. And again, I quote studies. Organizations may have financial compensation, hardship allowances, or additional home trips in place. Beyond that, not many organizations have a coherent and explicit support policy. Staff are left to their own devices, even as the job spills over into their family time and space, and vice versa. Perceived organization support makes a difference to employee recruitment, commitment, and retention, even more so if perceived to be non-coerced but at the discretion of the company.

I don't know if many organizations are willing to go there. The other side is that maybe staff can be afraid of admitting to family challenges for fear of losing or putting their positions in jeopardy. And it's so important to develop trust in the support mechanisms. Professor Kate Hutchings, for an event I ran a couple of years ago for HR professionals, said sophisticated technologies allow people to be able to connect even when they're in remote locations. But I don't think this should mean that organizations give up All responsibility for supporting people in a split family expatriate situation. And I would add in frequent business travel and international business travel. So do you know how many non-family postings you have in your organization? Who tracks travel? Has your organization mapped absences and travel days? Do your staff do back-to-back travel? Loads and loads and loads of questions here, um, and this is an area that I will be developing and sharing more of. If you're an organization and you'd like to look into it more, or you're tracking it and would like some help, contact me.

I would love to have a conversation with you. I have also developed an intranet template for what you can put up in your intranet if you want to start supporting your staff that way as well. That's an easy way to support staff that are on unaccompanied assignments, and then you can just put that up in your intranet and they can have resources that they can go for. that they can look at and use. So I'm, I'm grateful for this milestone, and I'm excited about the next phase as I pursue and continue to pursue sharing about this life and looking at the benefits as well of being able to be intentional of time together, and also looking at how the organizations can support advocating for that. And also, as I reorganize myself a little bit to present this information and my resources in, in these new ways. Thank you very much for listening.

I hope that you found this episode encouraging and that maybe you found ideas to apply in your own situation. Please leave me a review of what you found helpful, what you would like to hear about, and any other comments you would like to leave. This helps other people find this podcast, and it also gives me feedback, so it's very helpful. Thank you very much, and until next time.