 In this topic we are going to talk about another component of pre-departure training and that is provision of training for non-traditional expatriate assignments. You would remember from previous topics we talked about what are non-traditional expatriate assignments. Those non-traditional assignments include virtual assignments, they include commuters, they include international travelers. So all these are non-traditional expatriate assignments and what type of training is given to them and what is the situation about that, let's take a look at that. In theory, all staff should be provided equal opportunity for training. Pre-departure training should be provided to employees who are going on a short term assignment or non-standard assignment such as commuting or international business travelers. But this is something which is not happening. The data shows us that insufficient training is provided to non-traditional expatriates. However, the trends are now changing because of technology-driven training methods. Why training was not being provided to these non-traditional expatriate people? It's because it is something which requires a lot of cost, which requires investment and because international travelers as well as non-traditional expatriate assignees, they do different types of jobs. There is a lot of diversity in the type of jobs that they perform. For example, if a person is going on short term assignment, he may be moving around in 10 different countries. Now, giving training to that person regarding 10 different countries is something which is very much costly and it requires a lot of investment. But now, because of technology-driven training methods, it is possible to give training about diverse type of topics, diverse type of areas and in diverse type of ways. So people can be trained just by sitting on a computer or using their smartphones. They can access videos on YouTube. They can access material on learning management systems. They can read through it. They can interact with people. They can chat with the instructors. There are so many different ways which are technology-driven and that is why training which used to be very much costly and that was curtailed is now being given because of the technology-driven methods. So a Brookfield survey, we have talked about Brookfield Global Survey many times. It reports that 32% of the companies, they used media-based or web-based alternatives for training of these non-traditional expatriate assignees. And the data shows us that 28% they used media or web-based programs as additional forms of support for in-person programs. So additional forms, in-person programs were also there, but additional support was also provided. Then 28% used it for portability anywhere, anytime you can give the training. So portable methods, you can open it on your smartphone, you can open it on your laptop and 28% used it for this particular purpose. 17% used it as a standalone alternative because of web-based training, 17% were only giving web-based training and no other alternative. 9% of them, they said that they are giving it for time efficiency and 6% of them said that they are giving it for cost reason. So this is about the pre-departure training which uses web-based programs or media-based programs. It is very important for international business travelers to be given some kind of training and these web-based programs can be utilized for these international business travelers because why? Because they form the largest proportion of international business human resource. The international business travelers participate in the most international business and they play a vital role in introducing and marketing new product and market information. So the international business travelers go to different countries, they explore the market, they introduce their products, they take information about the resources there. So training of these people is a very important and important act. They are also involved in training of the host country nationals for several types of tasks because these international business travelers go to different places for troubleshooting, they go for short term assignments, if there is a skill gap, they go there to fill up. So these people are very much vital source for the organization. But there is a scanned amount of literature which is available regarding how these international business travelers get trained. What literature tells us is that they usually get trained on the job and gradually they understand the cultural dynamics. So because it is difficult to give training regarding various different type of countries and diverse cultures, they actually get trained on the job. But we are also seeing that web-based and media-based training methods, they are now becoming a part of the training methods and people who are on these mobile kind of assignments, they can take use of and they can utilize those methods and they are able to learn and train themselves through those particular methods. So this is about the non-traditional expatriate assignees and how they are trained.