The pandemic has led to many companies strengthening their commitment to Employee Experience (EX) in order to recruit and retain the best talent. We’ve seen changes in what is appealing to employees as they (and we) re-prioritize what is important to us in our lives and careers. And as a result, more focus given to empathy, inclusion, mental health and well-being, as well as tackling climate change.
Global Mobility teams are no exception! They must continue to adapt with speed and agility to keep up with the demands of a multigenerational workforce and shifting priorities. So don’t wait to get started with improving EX for your Global Mobility program and team. The following 5 actionable steps can be taken to begin the process.
5-step action plan for improving Global Mobility Experience (GMX) today:
1. Make mental health and well-being front and center in your program and policy communication. Not a footnote.
While providing Employee Assistance Program (EAP) handouts and other health benefit information is a positive approach, it is considered passive support. Make a switch to active support which can include regular check ins with assignees or posting a short video of a senior leader sharing their own challenges or strategies for well-being. Developing a video about assignee mental health for onboarding at the start of an assignment, or hosting a quarterly virtual seminar on the topic, can also be a way to move ahead.
2. Define inclusive GMX.
The award-winning Global Mobility programs in the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DE&I) space start by measuring who is getting the international job opportunities in their organization and identifying the gaps. While categories of diversity can be measured in many ways, we suggest starting with gender, race, LGBTQ+, disabilities, and employees from emerging markets. Once you have some numbers (% of assignee population), even if it is not an empirical study, gather more data and start asking questions. Why aren’t more types of employees getting international opportunities and what can we do to change this? Set a challenge. Focus groups, Voice of Customer (VoC) interviews and partnering with business leaders can all help to identify ways to move ahead that consider your organization’s culture and DE&I goals.
3. Make your program and policy flexibility an asset, not a barrier.
By making your program and policy flexibility an asset, you are supporting DE&I goals and allow for many employee lifestyle choices. It is important to question if your Global Mobility stakeholders know when and why you have incorporated flexibility into your program and policy. Start by highlighting and educating your stakeholders on flexible options put in place to meet different needs within your business. However, if your flexible policy approach offers business partners choices without any education or guidance on different employee and family needs, you might be allowing unconscious bias, cost containment or a lack of awareness to become a barrier to the options. Is there a symbol or logo from your company’s DE&I strategy that can sit next to DE&I flexibility options in policy guidelines? Adding this is a simple, visual way to start raising awareness.
4. Eliminate the most annoying tasks for your Global Mobility team.
Eliminating the most annoying tasks for your team is a simple method that you can activate as a team leader to make your employees happier. While simplifying and improving processes through technological investments and enhancements is important for EX, it is not always a quick win. An everyday task or requirement that brings the morale of the team down may end up resulting in burnout. One of the most empowering and quick team activities is to start by asking everyone to write down one task or process that, if it went away, would immediately make their job better. Often you will get the same response from several team members that you can use to help you decide on a change.
5. Build CSR into your Global Mobility program.
By building CSR into your Global Mobility program, you are connecting with your company’s values. When given a choice, people increasingly want to work for companies that care about social issues that they care about. The same is true for customer loyalty – people will spend a little more on a brand that shares their values. Your company may have investments and employee benefits that support this reality, but does your Global Mobility program?
Sustainability in Mobility is a hot topic, but it’s still being defined in terms of how to incorporate it into the industry. Examples of this include plastic bins instead of cardboard and virtual home surveys instead of in-person. It also includes housing options that allow for assignees to bike to work when they must go into the office, offsetting air travel with green initiatives, donating to local causes in your assignee communities, etc. What will your Global Mobility program start doing this year to activate this important new GMX strategy?
Industry insights
If you have any questions regarding this article, enhancing the Employee Experience, or would like to find out more about other services, please contact Lisa Johnson (Global Practice Leader, Consulting Services) at ljohnson@crownww.com.
Crown World Mobility’s latest white paper “EX priorities in the wake of the pandemic” offers a more extensive exploration into what Global Mobility professionals anticipate in terms of the big Employee Experience trends. Download it here.
Listen to Lisa Jonson, Liana Ciatto (Vice President, Global Account Management at Crown World Mobility), Tommi Rantanen (Head of Global Mobility at Volvo Car Corporation) and Hélène Salle (Executive Compensation and Global Mobility Vice President at Coty’s) share their own future predictions for Employee Experience and Global Mobility on this recorded webinar.
