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Global Relocation: 7 Ways to be Seen as a Strategic Business Contributor
Businesses need to be agile and innovative to be competitive; global talent mobility plays a significant role in making that happen. When designed and implemented effectively, mobility programs facilitate everything from productivity, talent acquisition and retention to business goals, growth and revenue. Yet so many businesses still choose to view mobility as an isolated function within the organization instead of a strategic internal partner. How can internal teams and HR professionals change that perception?
Mobility’s Value
When we consider their impact on productivity, talent retention, and overall profitability, relocations do a lot more than move an employee from one place to another. But the benefits don’t stop there if you also consider their added impact on market growth, cultural awareness, mobile employee loyalty, brand reputation, DEI initiatives, and the increased innovation that has been linked to organizations with diverse, engaged mobile workforces.
HR and mobility professionals bring additional benefits to the table: Because they work so closely with mobile populations on a daily basis, they’re in a perfect position to support other business functions like career development and succession planning, training and orientation, compliance support, budgeting, and global or domestic expansion/contraction.
The Gap Between Perception and Mobility’s True Value
Despite mobility’s clear value, some leaders still fail to see its potential for extended impact, leaving mobility and HR professionals facing significant challenges when trying to provide positive employee relocation experiences to employees and value to their organization. Without clear evidence of the long-term benefits and a strategic narrative that aligns with corporate goals, gaining leadership buy-in for necessary investments can be difficult.
Several factors contribute to this misalignment:
- Lack of Alignment with Organizational Goals. When mobility goals aren’t clearly aligned with broader organizational objectives, leaders may fail to see the strategic value of mobility programs.
- Insufficient Data Tracking. Without the right data, it’s difficult to prove mobility’s true impact on a company’s bottom line.
- An Imbalanced Focus on Up-Front Savings. Many decision-makers focus on immediate cost savings, without considering the downstream costs that can accumulate due to a lack of investment in mobility (e.g., poor employee experiences, compliance issues, inefficiencies, and the hard costs and administrative hours needed to troubleshoot when things go wrong).
- Under-communication: Mobility and HR professionals are experts in their field, but they may not be skilled at promoting themselves or the overall value their expertise effectively brings to the company
Want to learn more about how Suddath can help you present a business case for mobility and position yourself as a strategic business partner?
Shifting Perceptions to Secure Mobility Buy-In
At Suddath, we understand the challenges mobility and HR teams face when proving the strategic value of talent mobility. Below, we offer seven suggestions for shifting leadership perception, securing organizational buy-in, and elevating mobility’s strategic involvement in business outcomes.
- Offer solutions before they’re asked for. Does your current mobility policy offer the same set of benefits to every mobile employee, regardless of their job tier, family size, or origin and destination combination? Consider sharing how much money the business could save by implementing a core/flex program. Have you noticed a pattern of early assignment terminations? Start tracking and reporting on data patterns that could explain why — then share your findings and a suggested solution with leadership. The more you proactively point out opportunities for improvement, efficiencies and cost savings, the more leadership will want to involve you in strategic planning for the business.
- Present yourself the way you want to be seen. For mobility to be seen as a valuable contributor to your organization’s overall success, you’ll need to present it that way. When colleagues share their departmental objectives, offer ways you, your team, or mobility as a whole can support them — or point out ways they already have. During budget planning or strategic business discussions, be sure to steer conversations with corporate strategy in mind and present talent mobility as an investment toward achieving growth and profitability goals.
- Track the right data: To assess the success of a group move or suggest cost-saving measures on a moving program, you need to be tracking data that will support your story; your suggestion also needs to align with organizational goals. For instance, if your company wants to improve employee retention, tracking metrics like employee satisfaction and retention rates, post-relocation could be helpful. In this fictional example, you could demonstrate that employees who received comprehensive relocation support were 25% more likely to stay with the company for over a year, compared to those who didn’t receive the same level of support.
- Tell compelling stories: Having the right data is crucial, but to truly make your claims and suggestions compelling, you’ll need to turn your data into relatable stories. Use real-life examples and narratives that resonate with stakeholders. For instance, instead of just presenting raw data, consider sharing a story about how a well-supported relocation led to a significant increase in employee productivity and satisfaction. By encouraging stakeholders to connect emotionally with the data you’re sharing, they’ll be better able to understand its real-world impact on the business.
- Point out the downside of up-front savings: While tracking costs and employee metrics are important, don’t forget to note any extra administrative hours your teams spend when there’s a lack of investment in mobile employees, process improvements, or relocation benefits. These gaps can lead to costly exceptions, troubleshooting, and problem-solving. By documenting unexpected costs and administrative hours, you can show how initial cost-cutting measures might result in higher long-term expenses, making a strong case for more strategic investments in your mobility programs.
- Showcase mobility wins: When it comes to changing perceptions, modesty won’t get you anywhere. Demonstrate the value of talent mobility to leadership whenever appropriate, by sharing mobility success stories. Compile results from multiple moves to show cumulative impacts. And whenever possible, demonstrate broader business benefits by presenting metrics, cost savings, and satisfaction scores from employees and clients.
- Enlist the help of your service providers: A skilled moving and relocation services provider can be your greatest ally when shifting perceptions at your organization. For instance, at Suddath, we don’t just have a wealth of data and expertise to share with our clients, we’re also happy to help you build and present a case for mobility’s value to your leadership and decision-making stakeholders. This support can alleviate some of the burden on your team and ensure that the strategic benefits of mobility are clearly communicated and understood.
Shifting perceptions about the value of talent mobility requires consistent effort and communication, but with consistency, persistence, and support, mobility teams can be viewed as strategic partners in organizational planning and success. To learn how Suddath can help you present a business case for mobility’s value and position it as a strategic partner in organizational growth, contact us by clicking the button below.