18 May Ensuring a Positive Mobility Experience While Controlling Costs

COVID-19 has been the main driver of business decisions for the past few years. It impacted numerous aspects of the mobility space that kept mobility professionals constantly on edge. They have been strategically tasked with creating adequate and up-to-date plans for the future of mobility.  

Cartus Pulse Survey shares its clients’ views and insights on mobility policies, back-to-office plans, and mobility objectives in the Year 2022. It reveals that 39% of 62 Cartus clients are considering a mobility policy re-design this year. Flexibility, cost, and a renewed focus on talent are highlighted as the top reasons mobility professionals are considering the re-design.  

Most new talent management practices and strategies are formed by employee-centric ideas. It’s no surprise when asked about their top global mobility priorities, most respondents emphasize the need to assure that relocating families were provided with safety and support.

Other priorities include compliance of remote workers, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), sustainability, and assignee experience.

The reality is that employees have gained a significant amount of influence over making huge business decisions. That’s why global mobility professionals are reevaluating their existing mobility programs whether they offer top-notch and competitive practices that support the needs of the company and the evolving needs of the assignee.

Where to place employees

Deloitte UK agrees that placing the employee at the center of mobility strategies is the optimal business decision. The firm expounds that though other factors drive a positive mobility experience, it is imperative that the experience meets the demands of the user – the employee, or to be more exact, the assignee.

An irresistible mobility experience utilizes a human-centered approach with an organization’s strategy and culture while placing the whole mobility journey around the employee’s needs to deliver a high-quality experience.

Deloitte UK suggests taking the following steps as a start:

• identify the mobility experience challenges by accounting the potential pain points in the whole user journey
• listen and understand every entity in the end-to-end mobility journey, including assignees, non-assignee employees, service providers, and business leaders to have a more in-depth understanding
• analyze the existing mobility experiences and identify gaps to fill
• focus on the efforts of parts in the mobility journey which will contribute the most significant impact on the overall experience
• create tailored solutions that meet the demands of employees and that are financially realistic and organizationally feasible

Another important thing to point out is the need to develop a method of measuring the mobility experience. The firm explains that historically, businesses have done little to measure mobility experience. And if they did, it is often conducted by third-party entities through one-time surveys that don’t provide sufficient information for mobility professionals to undertake comprehensive analysis.

Now, many experts in the mobility space are revisiting their scope and themes to provide them with specific measures that contribute to the overall mobility experience. Deloitte identifies four key areas companies can measure:

Operational support. Structure of operation and satisfaction with external vendors

Personal Well-being. Employee resilience and focus outside of work life

Financial Welfare. Rewards, benefits, and other support provided to the employee

Professional Engagement. Successful integration into the host location and career progression

Controlling Costs: A Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) Case Study

Other than ensuring a positive mobility experience, global mobility professionals were tasked to manage mobility spending. To better visualize how companies can approach mobility spending in today’s circumstances, let’s take a look at how HPE hit targets in both mobility experience and mobility spending. 

HPE admits that one of its biggest assets is its people and it isn’t willing to compromise employee experience even in the middle of a pandemic. Kerwin Guillermo, Global Head of Employee Mobility, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, states that the pandemic has presented organizations with an uncommon workforce environment where it is extremely critical to retain existing talent and attract new global talent. 

Furthermore, he takes pride in HPE’s initiatives in catering to the needs of its employees which ultimately leads to better employee engagement which then leads to the success of its business objectives as well. He claims that the company has been enjoying success in its mobility program without compromising spending goals.

Take a look at what they have been doing to achieve this feat:

HPE’s Global Mobility Program used differentiated investments

HPE’s program empowers managers to design relocation packages relative to business strategy and employee needs. Benefits are segmented into Basic, Moderate, and Enhanced with respect to move strategy, job level, and family size.

Performance-based pay to help retain talent & control costs

HPE has successfully crafted a Pay for Performance program that takes into account relocation performance and incentives. Incentives are rewarded to the employee who demonstrates exemplary performance toward the predetermined goals set for the assignment.

Holistic engagement program to achieve a positive employee experience

HPE employees are heavily involved in discussions with their managers at each step of the relocation process. Managers are given the responsibility to clearly communicate the purpose of mobility to each employee. Additionally, the firm views each step of the mobility process as an opportunity for growth.