Companies who see Global Mobility’s Role Aligned to Talent: Who are the 10%?

This year’s Global Mobility Trends Survey highlights a specific segment of the survey respondents with greater alignment to talent management practices whose global mobility programs show signs of delivering new levels of strategic contribution.

In BGRS’s 2016 Global Mobility Trends Survey respondents were asked how they would best describe the role of the Global Mobility function in their company at this time. Nearly half (46%) of the respondents indicate the role as having an operational focus and say that the Global Mobility function is focused on ensuring globally mobile employees receive optimal levels of service support. Another significant portion (44%) relays that the primary role of the Global Mobility function is more advisory in their organization and is to provide expert advice to stakeholders throughout the company. A relatively small group (10%) of respondents report that the role of the Global Mobility function is strategically aligned with the wider talent agenda and actively engaged in workforce planning and people effectiveness.

Even though the latter group of 10% is small, it is significant. For companies where the Global Mobility function is experiencing a connection challenge and remains somewhat apart from the wider talent discussion, this 10% of companies realizes the need for a greater alignment to talent management practices and, as a consequence, their global mobility programs are taking on a different appearance than traditional models.

First and foremost, this group is making noteworthy strides positioning Global Mobility as integral to employees’ careers. Three-quarters (75%) communicate the importance of international assignments to optimizing their employees’ career growth, and they may also have the processes in place to support employees who want to do just that. For example, 81% have a formal process that allows employees to express a willingness to accept an international assignment and 44% have a formal candidate pool, all significantly higher percentage than overall survey respondents as well as others that define the role of Global Mobility as more operational or advisory than strategically aligned to the talent agenda. These companies are also more likely to incorporate formal career planning into the international assignment lifecycle, which is a key consideration especially for companies looking to use their global mobility program as a tool to promote career growth.

Second, companies that consider the role of Global Mobility as aligned to the talent agenda also have more governance and better cost management practices in place. For example, all companies in this group prepare comprehensive cost estimates before initiating assignments. In addition, a higher percentage of these companies track the actual costs of assignments as well as compare estimated costs to actuals at the end of assignments. In addition to solid cost management practices, many more of the 10% have processes in place to measure international assignment outcomes. For example, 38% of those aligned to their company’s talent agenda measure international assignment performance against pre-agreed metrics, and this is double the percentage (19%) of overall respondents and significantly higher than those companies the view Global Mobility in more an operational or advisory role. Eight-three percent (83%) of those companies then consolidate those results on a company-wide basis.

In addition, according to the 2016 Global Mobility Trends Survey, there is evidence that the 10% of companies where Global Mobility is aligned to the talent agenda may be deriving better program outcomes than other companies. For example, the 10% are more likely to report that their attrition rate for international assignees is lower than for their employee population overall and are also more likely to note decreases in voluntary international assignee attrition. Interestingly, these companies are also more likely to have experienced fewer cost reduction efforts than other companies. We speculate that this could well be because these companies have started to succeed more in tipping the balance away from the cost side and toward the value side in the perennial ‘cost versus value’ discussion.

Providing high levels of service to relocating employees and their families is a fundamental expectation for Global Mobility teams. However, meeting the business challenges of today and tomorrow may require many companies to reset resource focus and priority. The 10% of companies we identified who define the role of Global Mobility in their company as strategically aligned to the talent agenda are on their way to breaking through and closing some of the gaps that exist between Global Mobility and overall business and talent management goals. Companies that are at an earlier stage in this evolution can glean insight into how the global mobility program, practices and outcomes of the 10% may differ from theirs. Ultimately, the path of the 10% may provide answers and demonstrate how mobility can ultimately contribute more strategically and more effectively leverage their expertise to help meet some of the toughest globalization challenges companies face today.

Visit the 2016 Global Mobility Trends microsite at globalmobilitytrends.bgrs.com to learn more.