Improve efficiency, save money, improve the experience?

As an ideator, I get a jolt of energy when I see ideas that connect. So, today as I read my daily newsletter from Morning Brew, a mini-lightning bolt of a connection sparked me to share this post today which aims to explore what global mobility teams said was again their top initiative for 2024…streamlining processes and finding efficiencies. 

The Morning Brew newsletter shared the following:

“Good morning. It’s Opening Day for Major League Baseball, marking the second season a pitch clock has been enforced to speed up the game. In their first year, the clocks were impactful: The average nine-inning game was 24 minutes shorter than in 2022. Multiplying that across the 2,430+ games played during the season, it means more than 40 fewer days of baseball were played in total. With results that impressive, don’t be surprised to see pitch clocks added to other areas of society. Let’s get a 10-second timer on people choosing their sides at a restaurant.”

I couldn't help thinking about how much I appreciate the pitch clock. I played college baseball, and because of the pitch clock, I could dictate the tempo and speed of the game. But as a spectator, I was unenthused about the length of major league baseball games before the introduction of the pitch clock to that level of play. A 4 hour baseball game was just too much of a commitment!

The information about the pitch clock reminded me of user testing we did with some companies back when Point C came out. We knew that because of Point C's ability to eliminate exceptions, there would be a cost savings due to saving time normally spent on exception management being used for other processes. Internal stakeholders often have to get involved in exception requests as well. We interviewed the people at one company and added up the time spent on exceptions by mobility team members, hiring managers, recruiters, and HR staff. When they implemented Point C and made exceptions a thing of the past, we estimated that they were saving 695-785 hours, or 87-98 days of work per year! 

Half of that time was specifically saved by recruiters. On top of that, they were no longer spending mobility dollars on exception requests, putting that money directly back into budgets. Needless to say, they were excited to show this amazing stat to their company. Fast forward to today - with no exceptions for the last 4 years, this company has now saved nearly an entire year of work hours just by using Point C. 

Mobility programs today are looking for ideas that will increase efficiencies, with the goal of saving time and money. While many are willing to look at smaller process changes that create incremental efficiencies, some are willing to consider bigger more systematic (even radical) possibilities that have a bigger impact. Certain technologies and integrations can also make a huge difference. 

After our trends survey last year revealed that the biggest focus for global mobility teams was streamlining and seeking efficiencies, we looked more closely into specific areas where mobility programs wanted to find time and cost savings. Here is a link to the report and a summary of key take-aways:

• While very few programs rated themselves as terribly inefficient, most (84%) felt that they could definitely find greater efficiencies. 72% of companies reported having numerous areas to focus on.
• “Cost estimates, budgeting, and financial reporting” was seen as the area with the most potential for creating greater efficiencies. Dig into the report to see which three areas tied for being next on the list.
• The top five pain points centered around the reduction of time and effort in training and navigating stakeholder experiences. Page 3 shares valuable insights and commentary from participants related to efficiency improvements.
• Participants shared that assignment programs take a greater degree of effort to manage than one-way moves, and commuter assignments were rated as requiring the highest level of effort to manage. Mobility professionals looking for the greatest increase in efficiencies may want to rank their own programs as they explore how to make the biggest impact.
• The report concludes by sharing who mobility is bringing into the streamlining process, how technology is being leveraged, and the ultimate goals and outcomes for efficiency initiatives.

Since finding efficiencies was also ranked as the #1 priority for mobility teams in 2024's survey, it may make sense to review the efficiencies report  again. And if you are looking for the potential of creating an even bigger impact, then you might want to consider Point C.