The interviews were excellent. The first few weeks were even better: fresh ideas, lots of energy, and exactly the international perspective your team was missing.
Then, somewhere around month five, something shifts. They speak up less in meetings. Small mistakes start to slip in. They look tired and a little withdrawn. And when you ask how things are going, the answer is always the same: “Fine.”
You start to wonder whether you got the hire wrong.
You probably did not. What you are most likely seeing is one of the most predictable phases of moving abroad. It tends to arrive at exactly the moment your organization expects them to be fully up to speed.
Here is the encouraging part: this phase is temporary. How you respond as a manager can make it shorter and lighter, and far less likely to end in a resignation letter.
What is actually happening
Most people who move abroad go through an adjustment curve. The first months feel exciting. Then the novelty wears off, and a dip follows, often somewhere between month three and month twelve.
Here is why it hits so hard. Back home, much of daily life runs on autopilot. Your brain knows how to shop, commute, make small talk, and get things done without thinking. Abroad, all of that suddenly takes conscious effort. By the end of the day, you have less energy left.
And the timing could hardly be worse. Probation is over, the onboarding attention has faded and expectations are rising.
The load you do not see
From the outside, your new hire has a job, an apartment, and a good salary. What you may not see is everything they are carrying alongside the work.
Working all day in a second language. Even fluent speakers find this tiring. Every meeting, email, and hallway chat takes more effort, and that tiredness builds up week after week.
No social circle yet. Colleagues are often their only local contacts. Evenings and weekends can feel lonely in ways they would never mention at work.
A family that is not settling. If a partner or children are struggling, your employee carries that home every evening and back into the office every morning. When a partner cannot find their footing, it is one of the most common reasons an international move falls apart.
Unwritten rules at work. How feedback is given, how decisions are made, what is expected without anyone saying it. Misreading these creates quiet stress and self-doubt.
Admin that never stops. Registration, taxes, insurance, and schools, all in an unfamiliar system and often in a language they are still learning.
Any one of these is manageable. All of them at once, on top of a demanding new role, is a lot for anyone.
Why they will not tell you
So why do you keep hearing “fine”?
Many international employees feel they have to prove that hiring them was the right decision. Some have a visa tied to their job, which makes admitting difficulty feel risky. And in many cultures, sharing personal struggles with a manager is simply not done.
The struggle stays invisible, often until the day they resign.
This is where you come in. You cannot remove the dip, but you can make it much easier to talk about and much quicker to move through.
What managers can do
Name the dip before it arrives. Tell new international hires that a low phase after a few months is normal and expected. It takes away the shame, and when the dip does come, they know they can talk to you about it.
Check in on the person, not only the performance. Ask how they are settling in, how the family is doing, and what has been harder than expected. Then really listen. One honest conversation can tell you more than months of performance data.
Make the unwritten rules explicit. Explain how your team gives feedback, makes decisions, and handles disagreement. What feels obvious to you is not obvious to someone who grew up with a different rulebook.
Offer a buddy outside the reporting line. This is someone they can ask the questions they would never ask their manager, from “Is this normal here?” to “Where do I find a dentist who speaks English?”
Be flexible during peak admin moments. A few hours off for a registration or visa appointment costs you very little and builds a lot of loyalty.
Consider support for the transition. Coaching during the first year helps international employees move through the dip faster, with less impact on their work and their well-being.
None of this needs a big budget. Most of it takes attention and a manager who asks the right questions at the right time.
Why it is worth it
Losing an international hire after a year means paying for recruitment and relocation all over again and losing the knowledge and relationships they built. Too often, it happens over a problem that could have been solved.
Supporting them through the dip does the opposite. You keep the person you worked so hard to find. And you get back the version of them you saw in the interviews: engaged, confident, and bringing the perspective you hired them for.
How to start
This is the work I do. I coach international employees in Germany, the Netherlands, Aruba and Curaçao through exactly this phase, and I help managers and HR teams build onboarding that takes the human side of relocation seriously.
Book a free 30-minute discovery call, and we will look at what would help your team and your international hires thrive.