Companies that are competing in global markets inevitably have a large need for effective employee mobility. Although it has become increasingly difficult with the tightening of visa and work permit regulations, and despite the global economic slowdown, there is growing anticipation that there will be a rise in international assignments for global workforces over the next two or three years.

A new survey from a global professional services company, Towers Watson and Worldwide ERC®, discovered that nearly 50% of multinationals expect to increase traditional international assignments. The survey found that 45% of global multinationals expect traditional expatriate assignments to increase through to 2014, while only 18% expect them to decrease. More than half (54%) of those headquartered in the U.S., 43% of those headquartered in Asia and 26% of those headquartered in Europe said that they expect these assignments to increase.

It is also predicted that international assignments will increase by 50% by the year 2020 due to country based organisations expanding into the global market.