Employees’ career paths

By looking at the issue of transition, we can study career paths in relation to two major social evolutions.

Key words: entrepreneurship, global businesses

First, the change in work and consumer habits and technological progress is leading to a decrease in the number of salaried staff in favor of other forms of work organizations, particularly self-employment.

The multiplication of “über” type jobs in various economic sectors raises several questions as regards the transition from the status of employee to entrepreneur, for both the companies and individuals concerned.

This shift in employee status will be addressed in consideration of the employee’s financial capacity and professional reputation, decisive variables for transition in several professions. Particular attention will be given to the impact this transition has on the company the employee is leaving.

This study will be conducted in partnership with a colleague of the Paris-Dauphine University.

In addition, many companies, whatever their size, become global entities. The geographical distribution of their activities needs to be verified by expat employees.

But the transition to the status of expat is difficult for personal and family reasons, meaning that the pool of volunteers, and therefore corporate development, is limited. Expatriation effectively represents a twofold challenge in terms of social relationships and networks. On the one hand, expats must mourn the social relationships they lose when they depart, and on the other, they must be capable of rebuilding a social network, source of support, when they arrive. The aim of this study is to explain how and by what means social relationships are forged during the expat period, understand the nature and characteristics of the links established and the nature of the support provided by the social network at different moments of the adaptation process.

The challenge is to understand the levers in terms of human resources policies that multinationals can rely on, even as they are finding it increasingly difficult to convince employees to go on expat due to the upheaval it causes in the social, professional or academic balance of spouses and children.

Contacts: Antoine Renucci (antoine.renucci @ univ-pau.fr), Olivier Mérignac (olivier.merignac @ univ-pau.fr)