How to tailor talent mobility to your company

In the past, we have often discussed the value of benchmarking and trends information. When Plus gets a benchmark request, we often ask our clients what problem they're actually trying to solve. Just because another company (or even many other companies) is doing something specific, will knowing that really solve anything for your mobility program. When we benchmark, we try to focus on identifying the variables within the “mobility equation”. Then the ultimate solution ties back to the unique needs of each specific company, culture, and available resources for mobility.  

In fact, in this previous post, we asked a challenging question: "Is the road to mediocrity paved with "best practices"?". The two highlights of that discussion can be summed up in the two quotes below: 

1. "Because best practices are available everywhere and don’t require much effort to implement, they’re also being used by everyone. This can make it very difficult for businesses that closely follow best practices to innovate and differentiate themselves from the crowd."
2. "Rather than focus on sure bets and small wins that force us to resort to best practices, we should embrace risk as a measure of opportunity. While risk may discourage us from taking bold leaps, it should also encourage us to harness opportunities."

In fact, that article that from Invision made the bold claim that "best practices propel businesses toward states of mediocrity." It's an interesting way of looking at things, although we do see best practices, trends, and benchmarking as good food for discussion and brainstorming. 

In this new article in the Autumn 2024 edition of Think Global People magazine , Sue Shortland explores “Improving employee experience in global mobility”.  As there are so many elements that impact the employee experience, Sue reminds us of many of the numerous elements that should be considered and that do have an impact and emphasizes the importance of formulating a “well-rounded approach”.  

Her conclusion conjured up the term “tailoring”. As with someone's wardrobe, there is a need to consider things like the environment (weather), personal style, number of options desired or needed, amount of time available to create and upkeep, and money available for spending on the cost of the clothes. A more tailored or customized “fit for purpose” is the generally one of the goals of most mobility programs. 

In her own words:

Prioritising employee experience needs to be balanced against business requirements, objectives and cost control. It is likely organisations will place different emphases on the various actions that can improve employee experience. However, it is important to ensure that attention is paid to all components because to place greater focus on only one or two aspects is likely to have a detrimental impact on others. For example, if an organisation places its main priority on a flexible package, but does not communicate effectively and pays little attention to career prospects, the likelihood of an excellent employee experience is slim.

Global mobility professionals need to ensure they maintain a wide field of vision to consider all the aspects that can contribute to employee engagement through policy design, implementation, communication and talent development. 

And if you're looking for more food for thought on how to take your mobility program to next level? Try one of these other discussions:

20 ways to "juice up" your global mobility program!

Can mobility help solve the skills shortage and talent crisis?

Elevating mobility by dancing to the beat of data and analytics