Survey of the Surveyors at AIRINC
by Scott Sutton

These are the typical routines and challenges associated with the job of the Pricing Surveyors at AIRINC (Associates for International Research, Inc.), who travel the world collecting pricing data used by AIRINC to determine comparative living costs for expatriates. This time, the tables were turned on the staff of 22 surveyors based in AIRINC’s Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Brussels, Belgium, offices: I got to “survey” them. I asked them questions and recorded their colorful stories and unique perspectives on a job that truly provides these international globetrotters with an opportunity to see the world. 

AIRINC is an international human resources consulting firm committed to facilitating global mobility and specializing in expatriate compensation. As a research-based consultancy, AIRINC maintains a large database of comparative global costs, which are based on information collected by Pricing Surveyors. This data is analyzed continuously and is expressed through various global cost-of-living products, such as Cost-of Living Differentials (“COLA”), Business Per Diems, and Hardship Evaluations. AIRINC provides corporate clients with data products and consultation, helping them determine equitable pay structures for employees sent to work outside their home countries, whether on a temporary basis or permanently.

What's a typical Survey?

A typical survey entails flying into a city and collecting over 1,500 prices for the products and services that constitute AIRINC’s statistical market basket. Price categories include food prepared at home, food away from home (restaurants), household supplies & services, personal care, domestic help, clothing, medical care, telecommunications, household furnishings, transportation, recreation and entertainment, alcohol, and tobacco. In addition, surveyors meet with realtors and destination service providers to monitor how the local expatriate rental market, including utilities & maintenance costs, has changed since the previous survey was conducted. For most cities, these surveys are conducted every six months.

Surveyors collect prices from outlets where expatriates actually shop. This information is continuously monitored and is adjusted, when necessary, based on feedback AIRINC receives from expatriates who answer Pattern of Living Questionnaires.

AIRINC's Globetrotters

Many people dream of having a job that includes some international travel. AIRINC surveyors get more than “some” -- they spend about a half of the year on the road. While they get the opportunity to travel to far-flung locations like Ulaan Baatar, Mongolia, Chisnau, Moldova, and Papua New Guinea, they are in these locations for only 3 to 5 days at time and must therefore plan their days carefully so that they are able to gather the
data required.

Although some information can be gathered by phone and on the internet, an onsite survey is essential to monitoring the true point of purchase pricing with which client expatriates contend. AIRINC’s in-house staff of surveyors is unique in the industry. Using local data collectors would generate some cost savings, but AIRINC retains its collection model for the following reasons:

• Objectivity – Unlike expatriate spouses or other local sources, AIRINC surveyors are unbiased and impartial. They are not personally affected by the outcome of the pricing analysis.
• In-House Knowledge – When clients ask about the conditions in any given location, there is an AIRINC staff member who can address concerns based on first-hand knowledge.
• Standard and Comparative Analyses – As AIRINC surveyors conduct pricing surveys worldwide, they are able to collect data in a standardized and consistent manner. Therefore, any given survey location can be compared easily against any other survey location.

Despite the grueling schedules, AIRINC surveyors delight in their opportunities to travel worldwide. They are a diverse group in some ways, but they share the common denominators of love for international travel, curiosity about different cultures, independent spirit, and cultural adaptability. They also possess varying foreign language proficiencies, and a facility with and affinity for the analytical component of their work. 

The current staff of surveyors has visited an average of 35 countries. More senior surveyors have visited between 50 and 60 countries. In terms of longest duration on the road, most indicated anywhere between 6 and 7 weeks.  Given the fact that these surveyors are on the road up to four times a year, you can imagine that this type of work would be very disruptive to their personal lives. For these intrepid and energetic workers, however, the opportunity to travel wherever companies send their expatriates far out weighs the short-term personal sacrifices associated with this globetrotting. The average tenure for a surveyor is about 3 years.

Funny Moments

When I asked surveyors to recount amusing stories from the road, there was no shortage of tales. Many surveyors shared memories of accepting invitations from local contacts to join them for some sort of civic ritual or family gathering. For example, Jonathan Nyquist was asked to join a funeral march on the streets of Port au Spain, Trinidad, while in search of automobile capital costs. Matthieu Auzouy fondly remembers being asked to join his driver for a couscous dinner in Morocco. On another survey, a relocation company contact invited Matthieu to a traditional Georgian wedding.   While in Luanda, Angola, Tobi Howell was invited as a VIP guest to a soccer match between Angola and Ivory Coast. During the match he was introduced to the Ivory Coast Ambassador to Angola.

Another category of memorable experiences involved those spontaneous and absurd moments that could only take place on the road in a remote area. For example, Daryl Andelin recounted an entertaining evening of karaoke with the only other patrons of a hotel bar in Shekou, China - an intrepid British couple on holiday. 

Surveying entails getting around a city fast and efficiently to visit outlets that are frequented by expatriates. In most First World locations this means using public transportation such as subways and taxis. However, in Third World locations it is common to pay for a local driver for reasons pertaining to safety and/or language/cultural barriers. Nathena Ouimet told a story about her driver getting caught in a pothole at an intersection in Luanda, Angola. Amid the noise and confusion, two men had to physically lift the car out of the hole. Laura Haslee felt a combination of fear and amusement at having to travel by motor bike taxi wearing a tank top and flip flops through the chaotic streets of Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

The surveyors shared many funny and sometimes embarrassing vignettes that took place while they were collecting pricing data. For example, surveyors must collect clothing prices for both men and women. Jason Coscia was in a store in Chengdu, China , pricing shoes, but he was denied access to the prices because the shopkeeper felt that his feet were too big for the shoes he was examining. Trying to secretly price ladies’ shoes, Jonathan walked into a mirrored wall and fell down. He no longer went unnoticed by the storekeeper!

As expected in situations requiring cross-cultural communication, misinterpretations and embarrassing gaffes occasionally occur. I heard stories involving translation errors or erroneous trips to the restroom of the opposite sex. There were also embarrassing occurrences that could take place in your home country, but somehow make you feel even more conspicuous in a foreign land. For example, on the day Jason was wearing business attire to meet with a realtor, he was splashed with water from a muddy puddle while waiting to cross a street. Stopping in Taipei on her way to Kuala Lumpur, Catherine Lavry was horrified to discover that she had a huge hole in her slacks. She was unable to find other clothing at the airport and had to wait until she arrived at her hotel in K.L. hours later to change.

Challenging Circumstances

In most locations, surveyors are granted free access to various outlets to collect prices.  However, some locations prove to be particularly challenging due to language barriers or suspicious shopkeepers.  Veteran surveyor Allison Baird felt that Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, was one of the most difficult survey locations. Apparently, her room was bugged, her phone was tapped, and she was followed around by a man wearing a trenchcoat - straight out of spy novel! Daryl cited Libreville, Gabon as a tough place to survey due to language barriers and a limited inventory of items from which to gather prices. Mathieu also reported communication challenges in Farsi-speaking Teheran. In contrast to most locales, in Teheran he was not able to conduct any of the survey without the help of a translator.  Steve Sintra had difficulties surveying a grocery store in Pattaya, Thailand, not for cross-cultural communication reasons but because the shopkeeper thought Steve was working for a rival grocer and was trying to gather pricing information to drive him out of business! Catherine reported that she ran into very suspicious shopkeepers in Chisnau, Moldova, and Nathena had trouble getting permission to survey a supermarket in San Salvador, El Salvador. For language issues and suspicious shopkeepers, Christina Sotoca listed Beirut, Tel Aviv, and Tashkent as being particularly challenging locations. Jason did not have to overcome shopkeeper resistance to survey a supermarket in Chengdu, China, but instead had a difficult time dealing with curious shoppers interrupting him to find out what he was doing.

Given the fact that AIRINC has surveyors roaming the globe every few months, often to developing nations, there were plenty of stories of instances where surveyors found themselves in situations that made them feel a bit uneasy. For example, Allison recalled arriving in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, at 3:00 a.m. on a delayed flight and  requiring a police escort to get her safely to her hotel. Daryl never felt completely comfortable in Lagos, Nigeria, despite having a driver and interpreter at all times. Matthieu recounted an incident in the Central African Republic , in which his driver was stopped by a gun-wielding policeman. Steve was unnerved at the sight of machine-gun armed police in Bogota, Colombia. 

Nathena got a scare in Zimbabwe when the country was going through a currency conversion and there were strict laws in effect regarding how much currency an individual was allowed to possess. The taxi in which she was traveling was stopped by armed police and searched. The policeman was convinced that Nathena was carrying old currency and was very angry that he did not find any. Catherine had a nerve-racking survey in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, during a time of political unrest during the first anniversary of Aristide’s resignation and departure from the country. She recalls her driver making the sign of the cross before taking her out to survey. The fact that Cristina’s driver in Tel Aviv was armed only served as a reminder of the potential danger that existed.   

Hazards

Over the years, surveyors have occasionally gotten sick or injured. Despite having the necessary inoculations, surveyors must contend with occasional intestinal bugs and the effects of the flu. In rare cases, more serious events have occurred, such as an emergency appendectomy in Athens, Greece. Lara  Gilman shared a harrowing story that began with an accidental fall into a flooded manhole in Equitorial Guinea. She injured her finger and had it sutured in a local clinic. While on her next stop in Sao Tome, she removed her bandage to discover that the wound had become infected. She begged to get on the next flight to Europe, and a couple of days she later managed to return to the U.S., where she learned that she had localized gangrene that required immediate surgery. Fortunately, she was able to save her finger.  

There are also many exciting stories that emerge from the “down days” that surveyors use to recharge. Laura has fond memories of feeding crocodiles at a crocodile farm in Darwin, Australia. Cristina recounted an exciting afternoon of rafting down the Nile in Kampala, Uganda. Jonathan thoroughly enjoyed snorkeling in Aruba. From visiting Roman Ruins in Palmyra, Syria, to hiking in the Tian Shan Mountains in Kyrgyzstan, the surveyors often find themselves with once in a lifetime opportunities. 

Of course there are also times when no matter how exotic the locale, surveyor “down days” include quieter pursuits like reading and relaxing in hotel rooms. More often, however, surveyors try to spend any free time they have connecting with locals and experiencing their culture. Another popular pursuit is to get outside the cities and take in some of the natural beauty of the host country.

A hunger for adventure

The surveyor job is not for those lacking a thirst (or hunger) for adventure.  This is evidenced by some of the unique foods that surveyors have sampled on the road.  Tobi recalls eating “live and wiggling” squid in Korea, which made earlier meals of dog stew and locusts seem bland to him.   Laura drank shots of cobra blood in Taiwan and ate silkworms in Cambodia. Jonathan tried reindeer in Scandinavia and water bugs in Thailand. Matthieu has eaten snake, crocodile, and shark on the road, while Nathena recalled a memorable dinner of beef tendons in China. In addition to snake soup in Taiwan, Jason sampled raw horse meat in Japan. 

Not all surveyors have adventurous palates. As a vegetarian, Catherine prefers the thrill of a juicy mango, while Daryl likes to stick with the local interpretation of McDonald’s cuisine.

Surveyor's Top global vacation spots

Given the extensive travel required of surveyors, these folks are perfectly suited to comment on what they consider to be the top global vacation spots. When asked where they would like to return for vacation, there were some recurring top location choices such as Brazil and Australia.  These locations were cited for natural beauty and the friendliness of the people. In the category of tropical island paradises, Nathena felt that Fiji offered a diverse landscape and a truly relaxing atmosphere. Allison voted for Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean, describing it as a craggy volcanic island with impossibly green vegetation and high wispy waterfalls. She also raved about the interesting mix of cultural influences: African, Indian, Malay and French.

What was most striking about the responses to the question of where the surveyors would like to return for vacation was the incredible diversity of answers. From Buenos Aires and New Zealand to Mali and Kyrgyzstan.  From the Dominican Republic and Norway to Sao Tome and Mongolia. Other preferred locations were Cape Verde, Gambia, Malawi, Turkey, Iran, Morocco, South Africa, Beirut, Damascus, and Maputo, Mozambique. For these fearless travelers, there are lots of great destinations awaiting their return!

Returning Home

After weeks on the road, even the most exotic locations become less exciting to these perpetual travelers. The desire to return home and settle into more predictable routines grows stronger. When asked what they miss the most while they are on survey, many surveyors mentioned clean tap water and the ability to prepare their own meals (especially salads). Being able to do laundry on a frequent basis was also missed. Less expected were responses like having access to a sewing machine, eating authentic hamburgers (not meatloaf), and watching U.S. sports games on TV. What is probably universally missed but shared honestly by Jonathan is that he simply missed sleeping in his own bed.  

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