How can global mobility be more aligned with our neurobiology?

This article in the Harvard Business Review, "Forget Flexibility. Your Employees Want Autonomy," hit home hard as it pointed out that what employees really want is the flexibility to exert their autonomy. The article does a great job of explaining all of the various versions of hybrid work from those that have low flexibility and low autonomy to those with high flexibility and high autonomy. Employees who are granted high autonomy by their organization by definition have greater access to flexibility because of the lack of geographic restrictions imposed on their work. They suggest companies carefully consider the degree of autonomy as they ponder what their employees really want and what the company really needs. 

In their study, 59% of workers said they would not work for a company that required them (i.e. mandated them) to come into a physical office five days per week. “Mandates feel like a violation of autonomy, which is one of the most important intrinsic drivers of threat and reward in the brain,” the authors note. Autonomy allows the employee self-determination, the ability to choose and be in control of their own agency. "If we think of entrusting employees with greater autonomy as the encouragement of self-determination, we can expect a greater degree of satisfaction, fulfillment, and engagement at work because the outcomes are likely to be perceived as the result of their own inherent ability."

Now we are really getting into the neuroscience of it. We have looked at the SCARF model from David Rock in the past (thank you, Jon Harman: "This is your brain on relocation") when considering the relocation and assignment journey of employees. In fact, the "A" in SCARF stands for...autonomy! Ultimately, if we believe that greater autonomy is good for workers, in my mind it stands to reason that it would also be good for the mobile employee as they determine how they want to move through their journey. 

So, how autonomous are employees able to be in your mobility program? We hear some cheer for lump sums, and while that allows for employees to get their money and spend it how they want (flexibility), it also often comes with a bigger burden on making it all happen. How many of your employees are experts in relocating? Probably only a few at best. And how much time does that take from them?

What about core-flex? It definitely adds in some increased flexibility over the old school tiered policies, but again, it allows for a certain degree of autonomy though choices are usually pretty limited and the level of control is also limited. Once selected, benefits are typically hard to change and these programs still often require exceptions to be requested, which is the opposite of autonomy.

As Jon Harman said previously, "As organizations, there’s an opportunity to step back and look at the whole relocation process and how it is managed and how our policies are structured and decide how can we make this experience less threatening and more rewarding for our assignees." A program that is grounded in good neuroscience will offer more choice and more control, and raises the level of employee autonomy. So it is more than flexibility. Consider how your global mobility program can be more aligned with our neurobiology. You could start by checking out our groundbreaking benefit selection tool, Point C, during a live demo later this month.