Navigating the increasing complexities of talent mobility
Talent mobility is becoming increasingly complicated to navigate due to complexities with tax, risk and a focus on the global employee experience. Today’s employees also expect flexibility and remote or hybrid work environments. Organizations are challenged to deliver business value while meeting the needs of the relocating employee.
Mercer’s expertise, data and technology can help you navigate these complexities and deliver a positive employee experience while placing the right talent in the right location, supported by the right workforce investment.
At the same time, remote and hybrid working — initially forced by pandemic lockdown measures — are increasingly the lifestyle choices for many employees. They now expect to be able to work from anywhere, not just in the country, but in the world. The new expectations mean that mobility teams now need to manage globally distributed workforces, not just relocation processes.
Understanding the cost of living in different locations is crucial for companies setting up compensation packages, and for employees concerned about their purchasing power abroad.
Talent mobility is a complex subject that is driven by:
- Short- and long-term business goals and needs
- Internal policies, technology and processes
- International workforce upskilling and reskilling efforts, and
- Career management considerations.
Mercer has the expertise, data, and technology solutions to manage that complexity.
41% of C-suite executives believe the fundamental shift in business requires a reset on work, the workforce and the workplace, and 29% of executives want to grasp this opportunity to reimagine their international rotations.
The growing complexity of talent mobility
The pandemic accelerated changes in global talent mobility trends and practices. In response to volatile times, companies need to rethink their workforce mobility strategies.
Agile organizations use talent mobility to unlock skills and build future capacity while engaging global employees with career growth and development opportunities. Providing employees with experiences, stretch roles and cultural expansion enables them to grow and learn while still contributing to the organization in meaningful ways.
At the same time, remote and hybrid working are increasingly the lifestyle choices for many employees. Employees expect to be able to work from anywhere, not just in the country, but in the world.
Understanding the financial, social and cultural impacts of living in different locations is crucial for companies when developing comprehensive relocation packages.
Talent mobility is a complex subject that is driven by:
- Short- and long-term business goals and needs
- Internal policies, technology and processes
- International workforce upskilling and reskilling efforts
- Career management considerations
- Employee experience
Mercer has the expertise, data and technology solutions to partner with you to manage both international and domestic mobility complexities.
Talent mobility supports the business and the individual
For the business:
- Rightsizing and diversifying the international talent pool: Efficient mobility talent management goes hand in hand with decisions about international workforce resizing, reshaping and reskilling. It is as much about managing an international talent pool as about moving people from country to country
- Fostering talent diversity: If gaining international experience is the best way to reach the most senior management positions, the underrepresentation of women and minorities in the expatriate workforce is undermining attempts to improve diversity
- Ensuring the right leadership talent pipeline is in place
- Addressing key skill shortages in critical markets
- Protecting key talent, by deploying them tactically from stagnant markets to more active ones
- And more generally, enabling the continued globalization of functions and business activities
For the business:
- Rightsizing and diversifying the international and domestic talent pool: Efficient mobility talent management goes hand in hand with decisions about workforce resizing, reshaping and reskilling
- Fostering talent diversity: If gaining experience is the path to career advancement, the underrepresentation of women and minorities in the global workforce is undermining attempts to improve diversity
- Ensuring the right leadership talent pipeline is in place
- Addressing key resource and skill shortages in critical locations
- Protecting key talent, by deploying them tactically from stagnant markets to more active ones
- And more generally, enabling the continued globalization of functions and business activities
For the individual:
- The right job: Not all positions are equal when it comes to boosting employees’ careers. The types of positions that are real career accelerators depend on the company and industry sector. Talent and workforce mobility plays a role by allowing high-potential employees to access jobs anywhere in the world
- The right skills: What skills does the employee need to accelerate their career? Is a domestic or international assignment (physical or virtual) the best way to acquire those skills?
- The right network: Proximity to top management, the opportunity to exchange and learn from the company’s experts, and more generally, the ability to network with those who can be qualified as the “influencers” within the company is a differentiator. The location of employees (at HQ, in a major regional hub or in a small, remote operation) impacts their ability to build an efficient network
Mercer has helped more than 4,800 domestic and international mobility clients design rewards packages for over 400,000 mobile employees globally.
Designing a talent mobility strategy that works for you
To simplify complexity, design is key.
Using the right data and insights from experience and purpose-built technology, Mercer has helped 4,800 international mobility clients design rewards packages for 400,000 mobile employees worldwide.
We can support you in areas such as:
- Strategy, program and policy design
- Compensation and allowances
- Employee experience
- Policy benchmarking
- Custom advisory solutions
The right data for talent mobility
Designing efficient and transparent compensation packages for your global workforce is increasingly challenging. Highly diversified relocation types and flexible working arrangements are complicating elements, as is your employee value proposition, which can be a decisive factor in winning or losing the global battle for skilled talent.
How do you ensure that you provide the right level of support to your employees to promote equity, efficiently and consistency?
To help you make informed decisions, our market leading data solutions cover considerations including:
Mercer’s talent mobility data solutions
The expert advice you need for talent mobility
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New organizational structures focusing on customer needs and lower costs
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The different pace of business dynamics around the world
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Regional integration and the search for expatriate candidates globally.
Global employee mobility advisory services:
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Mobility strategy and talent management
The greatest challenges in global mobility are in talent management. Mercer can help you bring together mobility and talent management. -
Mobility policy design and update
Behind every successful global mobility program is a well-thought-out policy that addresses business objectives, assignee expectations and market opportunities. The best policies read like a roadmap, connecting objectives with actions and actions with outcomes. They integrate best practices into an organization’s overall culture to keep programs competitive and market responsive, linking mobility with talent management and reward strategies. -
Market benchmark your mobility policy
Can you prove that your strategy for rewarding and managing expatriates is working? Are your policies fair compared to what your competitors are doing? Can you document what you need to get support from other decision makers? -
Mobility policy program implementation and communication
Whether creating entirely new programs or building on existing ones, identifying potential challenges and impacts of the changes on the existing expatriate population is critical to achieving a smooth transition.
Three critical areas — alignment, decision making and implementation — need to be considered.
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Mobility program process review
Given the tremendous cost of expatriates, companies that do not proactively review the effectiveness of their international assignment programs – on a regular basis – run the risk of poorly executed policies, disenchanted and unproductive expatriates, and negative impact on the bottom line. -
Advice for companies new to mobility
Deciding on the types of mobility policies to implement, as well as how to communicate and administer them has become a major challenge for companies going global. The first expat packages and terms are typically negotiated individually at HQ, but when programs gain in scope and size, the need for a more structured approach often emerges in response to varying locations and task requirements. -
Fostering diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI)
Moving talent between jobs and between geographies plays a key role in fostering diversity, equity and inclusion, and HR teams should be at the forefront of developing a diverse workforce.
Domestic employee mobility advisory services
Benchmarking domestic relocation programs
Design and update domestic relocation policy
Purpose-built talent mobility technology solutions
Our comprehensive suite of cloud-based mobility software solutions provides the benefits of digitalization and accessibility for all mobility teams and their global workforces – whatever the age, size, and complexity of your talent mobility programs, whatever your budget.
Find the right digital tools to manage the challenges of daily work – from compliance and cost tracking to optimizing workflows and streamlining firm-wide communication.
Mercer’s talent mobility technology solutions
- 1 Mercer Mobility Platform (MMP)
- 2 Planning and budgeting
- 3 Program management
- 4 Assignee training
Mercer has developed a solution to simplify talent relocation for domestic and international assignments. MMP is a technology platform, built in collaboration with ServiceNow®, that helps manage complex mobility programs by bringing all aspects of talent mobility in one place.
The platform provides an interactive, configurable, real-time data and content experience while simplifying workflows, lowering costs, reducing risks, and tracking the return on investment. Combined with our full suite of consulting services, MMP makes it easier to get the unparalleled support you need in your mobility journey.