Is it time to reimagine mobility?

In our 2024 Global Mobility Trends survey, participants shared that they expected the biggest relocation increases to come from International Short-term Assignments (STAs), International Permanent Transfers, and Employee Self-Initiated requests to move.  Even for International Long-term Assignments (LTAs), which have been decreasing for years, basically half (49%) of companies expect a new increase in this very expensive type of relocation. 

And according to the EY 2024 Mobility Reimagined Survey, almost two-thirds (64%) of employee respondents around the world say they’re more likely to stay with their current employer after a long-term cross-border assignment, while 92% believe such experiences can be “life-changing”. 89% of employees say international mobility is essential for business continuity and resilience, up from 74% last year. So it seems that employees are excited by the possibility of international mobility experiences, making cross-border moves effective for attracting and retaining key talent! 

EY's summary: Having an effective international mobility function and program in place is critical to creating a dynamic and empowered workforce! In fact, mobility strategy and deployments are central to talent attraction and retention.

At the same time, there are a number of problems for relocation. Economic volatility and geopolitical crises top the list. Another concern is that the EY study noted how only one in four participants said they have a fully-developed talent mobility program. In other words 75% of companies are failing to take advantage of a truly mobile and agile workforce. 

In order to join the 25% that are effectively moving people and have an “evolved mobility function”, EY explains that there are 5 drivers that will lead to better outcomes. These are:

1. Strategic alignment: connecting workforce mobility strategy with broader organizational objectives
2. Talent linkage: using mobility for talent attraction, retention, and development
3. Digital focus: extent of automation and digitization of mobility processes
4. Flexibility: agility in the customization of mobility experiences, including options of program types and benefits
5. External expertise: co-sourcing or outsourcing of select processes

The reports explains the benefits to the “evolved mobility function” of focusing on these 5 drivers. 

“Mobility functions that focus on the five drivers are 2.3 times more likely to say mobility helps organizational resilience; 2.2 times more likely to say mobility improves their sustainability agenda; 1.5 times more likely to say mobility helps address talent shortages; and 1.3 times more likely to cite positive mobility return on investment (ROI) and response to talent shortages.”

It seems that even since last year, there has been a big step forward in the contribution of global mobility at both the strategic and tactical levels. With a renewed focus on workforce mobility comes a need for increased visibility. That's why nearly all employers (98%) say they are tracking domestic and international employee movements, compared to just 49% of employers in last year’s survey. And surprisingly, nearly all mobility professionals are tracking ROI in some way. There's no universal way to calculate ROI, but the largest number of employers (64%) track performance ratings, with cost (56%) and the function’s impact on business revenues and finances (54%) being the next most common metrics for ROI metrics.

According to EY, past mobility models that focused only on business travel or long-term relocation are not necessarily fit for today's more digital, integrated and strategic purpose-driven mobility function. Evolving workforce mobility to provide a cross-border approach with multiple options that is high-impact, efficient, and cost-effective will promote growth for the business and for talent. Check out their advice of the Five Actions to Drive an Evolved Mobility Function.