Post Magazine

November 2012

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already left my job, moved out of my house and I was living out of a suitcase at my in-laws' house in small-town New Zealand, waiting for the visa to come through." Two days after arriving, she started working, which made her transition a bit easier because the environment was familiar. "An edit suite is an edit suite, it could be New York, New Zealand or Nai- robi," Hinsen explains. "The job made a huge differ- ence. It meant I immediately had people who were familiar to me, because people in post are the same no matter where you go. Everyone was very wel- coming, which was great because the rest of it was really hard. It was exciting, but at the same time it was a bit of a culture shock that I didn't expect." Amazingly, Hinsen says there was a language bar- rier. "No one could understand a word I was say- ing… and I couldn't understand what they were saying. I grew up watching American movies and office is working on the DreamWorks animated tele- vision series How to Train Your Dragon. Moving people across the world is no easy task, and it's not one that DreamWorks Animation takes lightly. It's the job of human resources head Mere- dith Berens and her team to make sure that any DreamWorks Animation employee moving and living in India is taken care of. "I am responsible for the HR functions for all of our offices, and have people on my team who handle the physical reloca- tion, housing and all of the immigration services for those folks. Our Bangalore office is four years old, and I've moved quite a few people, and their fami- lies, to India. Over those years we certainly learned a lot of things and gained a tremendous amount of experience for what is appropriate for India." The first task in the process is visas, which DreamWorks Animation files on behalf of its employees and their families. "We are very Small Tree Shared Storage thats Simple, affordable, & high performance Small Tree Shared Storage unleashes the capability of Ethernet - simpliing your editing worklow while cutting your SAN production costs. Small Tree's high performance products support next generation technology such as Thunderbolt I/O and 10 Gigabit Ethernet. Call for a quote or reach us at www.small-tree.com DreamWorks Animation's Meredith Berens: "Our Bangalore office is four years old, and I've moved quite a few people, and their families, to India." She also has a team on the ground in India, helping those with the transition. television, and I still felt like I was speaking a foreign language. It made me feel more isolated when I was out and about." It took about six months for Hinsen to feel like New York was home. "It was then I realized I had made the best decision of my life. I am so at home in New York and really, really happy." DREAMWORKS ANIMATION While DreamWorks Animation (www.dream- worksanimation.com) is a US-based company with offices in Glendale and Redwood City, CA, the studio has an international presence as well. It has a studio in Bangalore, India, and a small out- post in Shanghai. The Bangalore office, which has 250 Indian employ- ees, is home to 11 American expats. Currently that hands-on in that process," says Berens. "The majority of my team's work happens a good six to eight months before someone departs the US for their assignment." That hands-on relationship doesn't end until the employees have completed their assignment and are back in the states. "I am talking daily with my team in India, and in China [where currently four employees reside]. Next to their mothers, I am probably the person — aside from their supervisors — who speaks to them most frequently, " laughs Berens. In terms of housing, most are placed in fur- nished houses or apartments. Another important aspect for those who move to India is ground transportation, which DreamWorks Animation continued on page 46 www.small-tree.com • www.granitestor.com • 866.STC.4MAC 7300 Hudson Blvd., Suite 165, Oakdale, MN 55128

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