Everyone wants to make good decisions – from choosing the school that is right for your kids or what food is right for your body. But what about when it comes to your business? Are you thinking the same way? The decisions you make for your business will impact you, your company, and your employees.
How can you and your business leaders make the best decisions in the face of budgetary pressure, timelines, and the immediate need for a response in a sensitive situation? When it comes to Workforce Globalization decisions, AIRINC’s 2021 Mobility Outlook Survey highlights this need for timely, data-supported, business-forward decision making.
In the Mobility Outlook Survey report, we took a closer look at three areas of focus. Below, we share insights from companies leading the way toward Mobility’s modernization.
Making good decisions
Data is helping customers make informed short- and long-term talent decisions. Improved cost transparency, tracking, and planning allows companies to select candidates best suited for international assignments, establish desired outcomes for these moves, and understand capability and required skills for succession planning. Mobility has made progress with advising the business on package selection by sharing its compliance knowledge and highlighting demographic patterns and trends over time.
Most participants noted that the primary purpose of moving talent around the organization is to fill knowledge or skill gaps. In addition, from responses to the question on how Mobility defines success, we can see that 87% of companies prioritize business satisfaction.
Ultimately, good decisions are the result of exploring customer needs and collaborating with customers and external partners to implement solutions that reflect the purpose of Mobility within the organization.
Ensuring effective governance
Simplifying and reorganizing Mobility tasks and approvals is helping to expedite moves, reduce noise, and provide much-appreciated clarity.
For some Mobility functions, governance is solely about compliance. For a growing number of Mobility leaders, it is about balancing oversight and flexibility. Most participants indicate that multiple stakeholders must approve an international assignment before it moves forward. The Host business is typically responsible for absorbing mobility costs and, in 77% of organizations, is noted as an approver of such costs. In contrast, Mobility, which creates and administers the policies, is an approver in just one-third of organizations.
Successful Mobility programs reinforce the Mobility decision-making process with clear governance oversight.
Communicating creatively
The most noticeable area of advancement this year has been the use of digital platforms to communicate with customers, including the use of engaging customer videos, chat features, and digital media, showcasing Mobility’s flexibility and adaptability.
44% of companies that took the survey see an opportunity to improve the way Mobility communicates with employees while 48% are prioritizing better communication with the business.
Communicating with the business has historically been done on a case-by-case basis, but new resources, such as Mobility decision guides, help the business create compliant packages or select policies that balance assignment investment and purpose.
87% of respondents in our survey said that they quantify success by the positive feedback received from the business. However, many participants in the survey responded that they didn’t always engage the business when considering policy changes. In our experience, gathering input from the business and using tools provided by your mobility partners to model the impact of changes on the assignee population enables the Mobility Function to make the best possible decisions.
By focusing on good decision-making, effective governance, and creative communication, you will ensure you and your company are on the path to building and maintaining a successful mobility program.
Learn more about the importance of good decision-making and how other companies are managing their business by reading the complete 2019 Mobility Outlook Survey: AIRINC’s 2019 Mobility Outlook Survey
About AIRINC
We help our clients address expatriate compensation and mobility issues in a complex global environment through advisory services, data services, and technology solutions, while providing our employees with a culture of teamwork, global knowledge, career growth, and interesting solutions to challenging problems.
We understand that people make an organization successful. We empower companies to deploy global talent by leveraging high quality-data, decision-making tools, and thought-leading advice. Our industry expertise, solutions, and consultative approach enable us to partner with clients to deliver value.
We’re here to help. If you have questions, please contact us at info@gtn.com or +1.763.746.4557, or visit our Mobility Tax Services page to see what assistance GTN can provide.
The information provided in this newsletter is for general guidance only and should not be utilized in lieu of obtaining professional tax and/or legal advice.