12 Aug Pursuing Best Talents Require Power of Analytics, Customer Service, Branding

Data-driven decision-making. The power of analytics. Employee diversity and inclusion. Mobility acquisition. Emphasizing employee experience.

These are the key words and new realities you and other global mobility specialists have to accept and master in order to continue succeeding in this brave new highly digitized world that is emerging. We have gone past the age of the supercomputers, the Internet revolution (which they say is the fourth industrial revolution that has happened to mankind), and even artificial intelligence. Whatever new technological innovation that emerges from Silicon Valley or any of the dynamic international tech hubs that constantly seek to build them, every change, product, and movement now comes under the Digital Age.

What is the Digital Age? At its most basic, Cambridge Dictionary defines it as “the present time, when most information is in a digital form, especially when compared to the time when computers were not used; when most information is in a digital form, especially when compared to the time when computers were not used.”

The IG Global Group gives more descriptive definitions:  the digital age is the current era where computers and technologies that are connected with the internet have influenced every activity in society and are present in all social, economic, and business sectors. No field of expertise or lifestyle aspect is untouched — education, science, employment, training, entrepreneurship, communication, shopping, and entertainment, all these and more are affected by the seamless connection between data, devices, and the communities that created them, and which they in turn empower.

That includes global mobility specialization which covers assignee recruitment, training, and retention. The good news for all global mobility specialties as far as this subject is concerned is that, to an extent, they have an edge over other professionals in other industries. With the digital age restructuring many companies to become more mobile and global, global mobility specialists have already created their own niche in spotting and sourcing top talents from around the world. They know how to work remotely and leverage travel as a means to improve the talent pool. While many firms now are just grappling with issues like gender, race, and creed, global mobility specialists have long learned how to include inclusivity and a respect for diversity in their programs.

That’s the good news. Now let’s look at the learning curve that global mobility specialists have to experience and master as the digital age is encroaching on their workplaces.  Deloitte names three new trends:

Analytics is a must

Analytics as a field of study is no longer an option, but a must. Given the tons of data that are coming their way, with every chat message logged and every retention or attrition rate analyzed, global mobility specialists must learn how to work with all this information coming their way. While nobody expects them to become data scientists, they have to be able to spot the patterns that analytics is showing them, and work with that knowledge to create future strategies or avoid future disasters. The performance of assignees, the next booming hub for promising global talent, the cost of overseas travel measured with actual results of the given objectives, the number of talents hired and rejected in preferred areas like Northern California— all these and more can be learned through analytics.

Global mobility specialists can borrow a page from their human resource colleagues. According to another research by Deloitte, 14 percent of HR professionals who use predictive analytics to select top-performing candidates credit it with gains in efficiency, building a pool of talent, and cost reduction.

Get sum experience of employees

• Using employee experience to increase the chances of assignee success. Forbes names employee experience as one of the top HR trends for 2017; it also says that 83 percent of HR managers in one survey named it as a huge influence to a successful performance. Employee experience is more than just getting feedback from your assignee as to how he views his new workplace or colleagues, or getting his suggestions on how to improve business processes. Employee experience is getting the sum total of his experience, which takes into account every aspect of his work and lifestyle: from his interaction with his colleagues, the design of his workplace, the culture he deals with, the tools he uses, and the shareholders and clients he provides services for. Employee experience means seeing his day-to-day duties through the assignee’s eyes and using that to connect with him to create more productivity and satisfaction.

Employee experience, once documented and studied, can also be used to improve the work processes and lifestyle of the next generation of assignees.

Position companies as employer of choice

Again this goes beyond the traditional practice of just leveraging on the Fortune-500 status of your company and expecting your assignees to fall into line just to get recruited. But enhancing the employer’s brand is more important than ever. The stakes are higher in the digital age when every flaw of your company can get exposed by a mere tweet (especially if it goes viral).

At the same time, one must not underestimate the power of digital marketing and social media to show assignees why it is in their best interest to work with their companies. CEO World says that this is one untapped resource for recruitment; because while 74 percent of top companies do have digital tools at their disposal, only a third of their managers actually use it to position their companies as an employer of choice.

Global mobility specialists might have to go beyond their conventional boundaries and work with their marketing colleagues and social media experts to track down and recruit the best assignees or talents out there.