How Employers Can Strengthen Resilience in a Globally Mobile Workforce

For multinational employers, globally mobile employees play a critical role in international growth. These individuals often bring strong motivation, adaptability, and problem solving skills to their assignments. Yet despite this inherent drive, expats face stressors that can gradually erode resilience and impact assignment success. The latest Cigna Healthcare International Health 2025 vitality and well being research offers new insight into how employers can better support their global talent.

What Employers Need to Know

Cigna Healthcare’s annual International Health Study has tracked global health and vitality since 2015, measuring the factors that allow people to feel energised, motivated, and capable of meeting daily challenges. Vitality is not a subjective measure—it's a multidimensional index based on behavioural, emotional, physical, and social inputs [2]. Resilience, closely linked with vitality, reflects the ability to recover quickly from stress, illness, or setbacks.

Globally mobile individuals consistently show a vitality advantage compared to the general population. About one in five (21%) demonstrate high vitality, representing a strong foundation of adaptive capacity and performance potential.

The 2025 data also reinforces what many employers suspect: resilience is strengthened by family support, adaptability, and the ability to bounce back from difficulty—all traits expats rate highly. Yet these strengths can be compromised when chronic stress accumulates. Without adequate support, the pressures of international relocation can drain vitality and weaken resilience.

The real toll of stress on globally mobile employees

Stress remains a defining challenge. In the 2025 study, 45% of expat respondents reported disrupted sleep, 34% lost interest in activities, and 33% reported feelings of depression. Over time, this combination erodes emotional capacity, dampens motivation, and chips away at resilience.

These impacts are not just personal. They influence productivity, assignment satisfaction, and retention. When globally mobile employees do not receive the support they need, the ripple effects extend across teams and business outcomes.

Six challenges that undermine expat resilience

According to the latest Cigna Healthcare International Health 2025 survey [1], six critical factors most commonly hinder resilience among globally mobile employees:

1. Financial pressure is the number one barrier
   Financial strain is the top challenge, with 45% of globally mobile respondents citing financial concerns. The biggest drivers include personal finances (39%), cost of living (38%), and family finances (37%). These pressures directly affect perceived assignment success.
2. Managing work-life balance
   One in four globally mobile employees report work-related challenges and difficulty managing work–life balance. Long hours, time zone strain, and high expectations can quickly overwhelm even highly motivated employees.
3. Community belonging and loneliness
   Nearly half of globally mobile respondents report lacking companionship, which can be an indicator of emotional and social strain. Reduced social connectedness undermines a key driver [2] of vitality and contributes to loneliness, stress, and lower mental well being.
4. Navigating and accessing healthcare
   Globally mobile individuals tend to delay or be denied medical care due to cost or system complexity. One third delay care because of long wait times, and many report that delays affect their health and work–life balance. Barriers to mental health care, including provider matching, insurance acceptance, and appointment availability, remain a persistent challenge.
5. Homesickness, culture shock, and language barriers
   Adjusting to a new environment can influence feelings of control and competence. Homesickness, cultural differences, and language challenges compound daily stress and are often linked to lower perceived assignment success.
6. Gaps in pre-move preparation and ongoing supportNearly three in four globally mobiles wish they had more support prior to relocating. Common unmet needs were employment assistance (40%), housing support (35%), health insurance advice (24%), and healthcare navigation (19%). Many expats start assignments under resourced, leaving opportunity for employers to consider further support.

Five employer actions to support expat resilience

Employers play a pivotal role in helping globally mobile employees maintain resilience as they adjust to new environments. The following five actions can help close common support gaps and enable expats to thrive on assignment.

1. Support personal and family finances
   Reduce financial uncertainty by clearly communicating covered relocation costs and incorporating transparent benefits briefings into the pre move experience.
2. Design assignments for sustainable work–life balance
   Set realistic workload and time zone expectations, discourage “always on” cultures, and equip managers to regularly check in on workload pressures.
3. Build social belonging from day one
   Support early connection by signposting local community and expat groups, encouraging language learning, and offering buddy or mentorship programs to reduce isolation during the transition period.
4. Work with benefits providers to make healthcare navigation a core benefit
   Partner with healthcare providers to offer navigation support, virtual mental health access, and clear guidance on local healthcare systems and coverage before employees and families arrive.
5. Standardise pre move readiness and ongoing check ins
   Implement structured pre departure programs and regular 30/60/90 day touchpoints to surface issues early, as well as continuously improve the globally mobile onboarding experience.

Globally mobile employees bring a distinct vitality advantage, yet that advantage is fragile. Financial strain, heavy workloads, loneliness, and healthcare barriers can quickly drain resilience and affect employee well being, productivity, and retention. Employers who invest early and consistently in support set their global workforce up for sustained success.

By addressing these resilience barriers head on, organisations can empower globally mobile employees to thrive abroad, elevating both individual well being and business performance.

Sources:

1. Cigna Healthcare - Cigna Healthcare International Health 2025 survey, globally mobile data cigna-healthcare-international-health-study-2025-final.pdf (2025)
2. Evernorth – Vitality Index https://www.evernorth.com/our-solutions/vitality-index (2026)