What are the key priorities for global mobility over the next two years?

When something as profoundly disruptive as a global pandemic hits, it probably should not be surprising that the amount of change and impact sets off a whole wave of dynamic concerns and behaviors that ultimately change our focus and priorities. A new survey shared by Human Resource Executive explains that there has been a "massive shift" in HR leaders' top 5 priorities for 2021. 

"In 2020, the survey revealed that the top HR priority was employee experience, followed by leadership development, learning transformation, next-generation leaders and people analytics. Now, the top priority is employee wellbeing/mental health, followed by DEI, leadership development, employee experience and managing remote workers."

How, then, are mobility teams adjusting their priorities, and are we seeing the same level of adjustment (i.e. a massive shift) in priorities too? The mobility landscape continues to be challenged to stay actively aware of the global pandemic scene from the opening/re-opening of borders, to the resumption of business travel, to how to support a company's adjusted work model. Program cost for many remains a focus or has become an even higher level priority, while many still are focused on improving the employee experience. 

Have the priorities in your global mobility program shifted? Participate in our latest Mobility Minute Survey: "What are the key mobility priorities for the next year?" and we'll share back the results with you! We can also then compare those results with a recent PwC report on what companies said were their biggest priorities over the next two years. Their report was more focused on business travelers and commuters, but here were their top five priorities:

1. Risk and compliance
2. Employee experience
3. Cost management
4. Program and policy strategy
5. Operational (process) excellence

We are staying in tune with what companies are saying about business travelers, frequent business travelers and commuters, and see them as potential indicators of mobility overall. If you have been wondering if business travel will ever be back to where it was pre-pandemic, here are a couple of quick factoids from PwC's findings:

• 69% of companies anticipate that business travelers will increase or stay the same over the next two years
• 79% of companies anticipate that frequent business travelers will increase or stay the same over the next two years 
• 89% of companies anticipate that commuters will increase or stay the same over the next two years.

Looks like many see business travel, frequent business travel and commuters hitting the road again. Somebody want to cue up a Willie Nelson song?