As we approach the end of the first half of this year, the world has grappled with unprecedented challenges. In challenging times, organizations are typically compelled to adjust their business models to respond. Throughout 2020, we will see many organizations radically rethinking those business models, restructuring their supply chains, and adjusting their people strategies. The new world of work is likely to look very different and, as a result, human resources leaders are accelerating their global organizational approach to structure, working remotely, people analytics, duty of care, employee experience, and engagement to operate most effectively going forward. Many are also assessing talent sourcing, management, and development strategies to ensure agile decision-making and knowledge transfer and increasing the emphasis on succession planning.

Organizations in a wide range of industries, more than ever, require the ability to act with urgency and strengthen operational resilience in their core business areas. This requires optimal return on investment to meet new and different customer requirements. In this environment of volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity, organizations are increasingly looking to preserve cash, and many will seek to replace fixed costs with variable costs. As a result, they will examine opportunities to access external expertise by leveraging flexible service models and the technology that enables it.

Our vision, by your side, looking ahead®, focuses BGRS’s organizational strategy and culture on delivering consultative advice and guidance in a collaborative approach with our clients.

The impact of the pandemic on an industry such as global talent mobility, is indeed multifaceted and highly complex, spanning travel, immigration, tax, healthcare, security, and relocation logistics for both the employee and family, among its many aspects. The ability to respond and adapt quickly in this dynamic environment is paramount. Our vision, by your side, looking ahead®, focuses BGRS’s organizational strategy and culture on delivering consultative advice and guidance in a collaborative approach with our clients. This is now more important than ever. We have been embracing agile approaches to executing our corporate strategy, developing technology and new products in response to the evolving needs of a multigenerational mobile employee base. To that end, our approach has been to build and grow digitally enabled ecosystems, both from the perspective of the employee experience and supply chain integration, which is critical to drive rapid adaptation of the entire end-to-end experience. Robotic Process Automation (RPA) bots and APIs for critical move data sharing among clients, suppliers, and ourselves are recent examples. As future needs evolve, we foresee digital platforms and integrated networks of mutually beneficial partnerships, designed with purpose, proving to be more resilient.

When the pandemic struck, organizations required real-time data to enable immediate decision making. We were able to rapidly support time sensitive information needs as to mobile employee statuses, their requests, and to facilitate many on the ground needs for the employee and their family. Alongside the integration with crisis management, using communication channels to reach clients’ mobile employees and across the whole global supplier ecosystem, the organizations we serve were able to access information they needed quickly from us in order to make critical decisions. As the discussion now begins to shift to re-emerging from the crisis, we are focusing on preparation to support compliance with new requirements to facilitate workforce mobility safely and efficiently.

Finally, as we look towards the future, we are working with our service partners to monitor changing guidelines, analyzing clients’ move activity forecasts in real time, and adapting quickly to ready supply chains and services to successfully navigate the recovery

In the near-term we anticipate elevated focus on employer duty of care and customer centricity. While many organizations have established employee engagement programs, the specific needs of mobile employees aren’t often measured real time. Our global talent development and mobile employee sentiment monitoring tools are being designed to fill that gap. As organizations start to revisit their business models, we are experiencing an increase in demand for program and policy reviews in the context of significant mobility program transformation. We are experiencing high demand for our core/flex offering as more organizations consider flexible benefits policies. These types of programs not only support employee choice, but also allow organizations to flexibly provide additional benefits in a fast-changing environment. While historically flexible policies were complex to administer, BGRS’s consultancy and technology offering make core/flex benefits models a reality and fully accessible to organizations.

Finally, as we look towards the future, we are working with our service partners to monitor changing guidelines, analyzing clients’ move activity forecasts in real time, and adapting quickly to ready supply chains and services to successfully navigate the recovery, especially in light of a potential short term bubble of activity. With the support of our parent company, Relo Group, we continue to focus our investments on the future with a long term view enhancing and developing talent related tools, delivering an unparalleled, flexible customer experience, and ensuring organizational resilience leading global organizations expect from their service partner in supporting critical talent development goals driven by employee mobility.