Catherwood LibraryILR School

To encourage workers to venture abroad, companies once offered generous expatriate packages that included perks such as private school for their children, annual trips home, cars and drivers, pension plans, and high-rent-district living quarters. Today, in response to the global economic standstill, multinational companies are moving to contain the costs of overseas workers by sending fewer workers abroad, scaling back expatriates’ salaries and benefits, and replacing them with “lo-pats,” workers who are willing to make a sacrifice to work and live in a specific country. Some justify the changes by saying that things have changed since the 1950’s—traveling, which was seen as a hardship, is now seen as more of an opportunity.