Mercer, a global leader in human resource consulting, and RW3 LLC, a leader in inter-cultural Learning and online cultural training, have joined hands to create a product that will help employers prepare international assignees for expatriate assignments, a Mercer press release said.

CulturalTrainingPassport is an online international assignment tool that provides a comprehensive country-specific cultural training to employees and their families in an affordable and easy-to-use online format, the release said.

The tool allows users to build individual cultural profiles, learn about the eight dimensions of culture, conduct in-depth country research, mentally prepare for life abroad, and complete a confidential assessment of their personal attributes to help them be more effective on their assignments.

“Cultural preparation is a key consideration for organizations sending employees on international assignments,” said Barb Marder, Global Mobility Commercial Leader for Mercer. “Ensuring that employees know about their new environment and what it’s like to do business there results in a more successful assignment. That is why we are excited to be teaming up with RW3 LLC to provide the CulturalTrainingPassport tool to employers to help them more effectively manage their international assignments.”

The alliance between RW3 LLC and Mercer allows expatriates and their global mobility managers to use learning experiences in a country-specific, individual format that can be easily integrated into a global mobility budget.

Charlene Solomon, President of RW3 LLC said, “For years, global HR professionals have realized the importance of providing international assignees with cultural preparation. It is recognized as a key element of success. However, schedules and cost have always been the inhibiting factors. CulturalTrainingPassport eliminates those barriers and provides an outstanding learning resource for companies to help all their mobile employees, not just international assignees, succeed.”