25 Jan Top 3 Organizational Priorities in Mobility Growth — with Cost in Mind
How much has mobility become the critical lever for mobility growth? It turns out mobility has shown significant organizational growth (53 percent), cost management (19 percent) and talent development (13 percent). In the latest report by Sirva’s annual report, they are ranked as the top three organizational priorities.
Without mobility, in fact, organizations would not be able to enter new markets or expand in existing markets.
Furthermore, 80 percent of organizations rated deploying talent as “extremely important” or “very important” to the overall success of the organization; 49% of participants rated career/work experience outside of an employee’s home location as a key requirement for career advancement.
Without mobility, organizations would not provide the opportunities that the talent market demands for professional development and career advancement.
It’s better then to understand the cost of all this growth, especially when most participants, 48 percent to 72 percent (reflects variations for different move types), are unable to quantify how much was spent per relocating employee.
While the cost for policy support such as household goods shipments, housing allowances and home sale incentives may be clear, many overlook the “invisible” costs related to administering the program.
About 17 percent to 37 percent indicated they spent under $10,000 for: employee contact, file management and support; third-party suppliers for service delivery; and internal headcount (mobility/relocation full time equivalents).
In fact, when looking at spend related to policy support, SIRVA’s data revealed the average relocation packages costs over:
- US$1.2 million for long term
- US$520,000 for short term
- US$189,000 for permanent transfer
To streamline these costs, it’s imperative for organizations to increase the efficiency of their mobility programs while providing better support to business stakeholders and relocating employees.
SIRVA’s report suggested the following tips for understanding the cost of recruitment:
Understand your mobility scope of services
The following questions need to be addressed: What services are the mobility function (directly or indirectly) delivering to customers and employees? Do these services leverage core competencies of the team and is there a more efficient way to deliver? Does the mix of services delivered (strategic advisory services, operational program administration) align with the defined mobility (and organisational) strategy?
Leverage on partnerships
Partner with internal or external subject matter or process experts. This can help elevate mobility to a more strategic level or reduce cost by providing the option to leverage the knowledge, expertise, global reach and operational infrastructure of each partner.
Review mobility team roles
Are mobility team roles defined and tiered according to the skills and capabilities required to support mobility customers and employees? Do mobility team resources possess the appropriate competencies and credentials to deliver against defined responsibilities?
Keep up with changes and challenges
With mobility challenges changing frequently and differing by region/country, ensure mobility subject matter experts understand key challenges and changes and are well-versed on mobility research and trends.
Make use of technology
Consider implementing available technologies (internal or external) to automate tasks, processes and workflows and to provide self-service options (as appropriate) to business stakeholders and relocating employees. Ensure the technologies used provide enough transparency to activity status and information to minimize engagement with mobility resources. Integrate native systems with mobility-focused systems and ensure the technology you use enables management reporting.
Document processes
Clearly define process roles and responsibilities – including service level agreements (SLAs), performance expectations (quality), control points and escalation procedures. At the same time, ensure mobility resources have enough lead time to prepare for and manage a pending relocation.
Report and track return on investment (ROI)
Sirva’s report highlighted that 64 percent of organizations do not track ROI. If your organization falls into this group and you’re looking to start tracking, here are some steps to follow:
Step 1: Define what ROI means to your organization.
Step 2: Define what data points you require to capture ROI.
Step 3: Look at the systems needed to pull data and who receives the reporting output.
Step 4: Ensure your mobility data provides real-time insights and information that can be used to impact organizational directives, resourcing decisions and proactive talent management to support the business.
Step 5: Consider how the ROI data can be used to influence and inform future decisions regarding deployment.