Caitlin Pyett, Director of Account Management,Asia and Consulting Lead at Crown World Mobility
Planning a relocation project, and measuring its success, is too often only viewed through a financial lens.
As we explored in our previous blog, it’s important for mobility teams to look at the broad range of intangible benefits relocation has to offer, too. By making assignees and their wellbeing a top priority from the offset, rather than looking only at the figures and trying to cut too many corners, mobility teams can benefit from less unprecedented costs in the short-term, and happier, more engaged employees in the long-term.
That said, the time does arrive to look at the figures – and relocation’s impact on the organisation’s bottom line – what tangible benefits and metrics should you look at, in order to gage the success of an assignment?
Companies are largely in agreement that relocated employees are more productive which can help deliver higher profits; that opening the global talent pool via global or remote work can foster more diverse teams and innovative thinking; and that allowing employees to experience work overseas, and new frontiers, can lead to higher job satisfaction and engagement in company culture.
But as well as the intangible benefits of waving an employee off on a relocation, what are the tangible advantages that the business can see in its reporting and on its balance sheet?
Assessing the tangible benefits
Measurement, particularly of ROI, is all about looking at the outcomes of a programme, project or scheme. When these are tangible and defined by data or other information that can be analysed, it makes it much easier to determine the success of the time period in question. Digital tools, such as an end-to-end mobility management platform, can also be implemented to help determine overall ROI, making use of detailed reporting to aid in weighing up the tangible benefits of an assignment and providing data on everything from cost estimates and immigration tracking.
Of course, the ROI of each assignment will be different and dependent on the specific duties involved in it. It will, however, have value placed upon them in corporate, individual or mobility fields.
Mobility outcomes can be hard to define as they are often found in the assignee’s legacy. When trying to evaluate the ROI of a programme, managers will look at whether they left the company in the host country in a better position (sometimes financial) than when they arrived, and whether their legacy value is monitored after they have returned home to ensure it lasts. Breaking down ROI shows how complex the process is, as it touches all aspects of a business from the balance sheet to the employee’s wellbeing to the legacy of their work.
Defining a relocation
The whole reason why a person is leaving their home country to go on an assignment is the basis of the approach towards its ROI. The relocation may be focused on the individual’s development or the company’s, which means that identification of value is done at a personal or organisational level.
If it is at the former, it is strategic, as the individual is the primary beneficiary. The relocation benefits their personal development, their career path, cultural and adaptability skills and the likelihood that they will show enhanced loyalty by remaining with the company. Meanwhile, if the value is on the organisational level, it is tactical. Its benefits will be the upskilling of the team surrounding the employee, the cross-pollination of ideas, the socialisation of the organisation’s corporate values and the development of organisational cultural values.
There is a value to the soft skills that are developed on assignment and there is certainly ROI that follows on from these. But if the ROI is the reward, there must be a risk that is converse to this.
Same relocation, different outcome
The value of the assignment is therefore very different to the assignee and to the company. While soft skills contribute to the success of the assignment and their development can be measured and managed, goals and objectives are just as important to the employee and their employer. Having clarity on these targets reduces stress and contributes to wellbeing, which in turn improves productivity.
Similar to measuring intangible benefits, this can be achieved by putting the assignee at the centre of their relocation and outlining the benefits for everyone, not just the individual or the organisation.
