When Rainbow Talent Says “No” To Relocation and How to Handle it in Global Mobility Policies
Londoners Michael (48) and his husband Rob (35) received an offer to move to Hungary with Michael’s work, but they declined it due to a new law that discriminates against gay couples. They decide to move to Zurich, Switzerland instead. Michael enquires with his employer, a global bank, and they have a great role for him in the business development area.
He feels safe at work in Zurich, and his career continues as if he had not left the country. He regularly gets promoted, and his salary increases steadily. He plans to retire in the UK, so he keeps his pension ties with the UK, and the bank offers him a long-term assignment contract to Switzerland with initially three years and an option to extend up to five years.
Rob, on the other hand, has a hard time finding a job. His last name is Vracovic, and his slightly olive skin tone always seems to turn people off. Even though he is at a B2 German level and has a master’s degree in Digital Marketing, he does not land any interviews and, after 12 months of job search, feels depressed and lonely.
Nowadays people view their career differently, employees realistically see themselves changing jobs multiple times during their careers, and more often than not candidates find their employer rather not vice versa. The war for talent is on and companies are competing on a global scale.
This makes it extra hard on talent acquisition and mobility professionals who are trying to hire the top talent for international relocation. The same goes for domestic relocation within large and industrialized countries such as the US, Canada, Brazil, etc.
Aligning Global Mobility with Talent Acquisition and Talent Development
But what must your company do to solve these complex talent issues, fill the gap in assignment readiness, and strengthen the employer brand? In a simple sentence, global mobility and talent acquisition must work collectively. If your organization wants to build a strong talent pool and leverage it to the fullest to meet critical business needs, thoughtfulness and agility must become your key elements. Those incapable of adapting to this increasingly necessary change risk falling victim to a lack of key skills.
Integrating Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging Goals and Metrics
Looking at the gaps in talent mobility practices, we find a sense of repetition: we need more Inclusion. Employees are also expressing stronger views on diversity and inclusion. Millennials, for example, see inclusion as a mandatory part of corporate culture, defining how the company listens to them at work. But reaching diversity quotas is obviously not enough. If they want to see and make a difference, companies should embrace Inclusion.
When Rainbow Talent actively participate and manage to give their contribution at a strategic managerial level, it’s a sign that the gap is finally closing. Do you need to shift from a purely moral to a pragmatic perspective on the issue? An increased participation of women and minorities in the workforce doesn’t only allow for the emergence of new role models, new ideas and perspectives. It also provides cost-saving opportunities since a wide talent pool means more choices to find candidates.
Using Global Mobility for the Organizational Talent Brand
Some companies have mobility as a key part of career development discussions. In fact, in many organizations, mobility is a career accelerator, meaning that sometimes mobility is required to ‘jump’ to the executive level. Many candidates look at this very opportunity when job hunting. This is especially true now that the global workforce has seen a change in demographics.
The “ability to learn and progress” is now the primary driver of a company’s employer brand, and Gen Z and millennial workers say expect a global assignment during their career.
Thus, Global Mobility can strengthen the employer brand by offering continuous opportunities for learning and growth through international work experience.
Ensure you don’t overlook that portion of your talent pool who is dreaming about an international relocation. A worst-case scenario would be offering a posting to a person whose life mobility does not fit and then skipping over another qualified candidate because of the assumption that that person is not mobile when they could be so.
Read more here:
https://globalpeopletransitions.com/why-transform-global-mobility/
What are the best practices to secure a “YES”?
1 – Offer Pre-Decision Coaching
I won’t get tired of saying this any soon. Employees don’t always want to talk through these issues with their employers, and having an external source helps them be honest about what they need to make the relocation successful and how to overcome the potential obstacles. In this phase, the working spouse receives support in assessing the job market and gets advice on advancing their career in the new location. Pre-coaching is also useful to better understand how to deal with kids’ education, or elder care concerns.
2 – Prioritize Support Throughout Assignment
Make it clear upfront how you will support your employees through the assignment. It will make them more confident in giving a yes.
Companies have successfully established mentoring programs at the host office, offering cultural training to make the transitions as smooth as possible and connecting the Expat with a coach who can help leverage their international experience in a new role when returning to the home country. It is also critical that you support families to integrate into the new country and to find the resources they need.
I call this the HUMAN TOUCH. Expats and Expat Families won’t be the only ones to benefit from it. It is a proven fact that enhancing the Expat Experience (XX) drives strong performance.
3 – Tie Talent Development To Mobility
Companies do not always do a good job in linking mobility to talent planning. Your company cannot afford to have mobility and talent management work in silos if it wants to stay afloat in the global war for talent. If your organization ‘sees’ its global talent and deploys it in a prompt, cost‑effective, and compliant manner, you will gain a significant advantage on the competition. You will also be better prepared to adapt to any potential talent sourcing disruptions.
To accomplish this effectively, companies are placing greater importance on analytics and cognitive technologies that provide full visibility into the internal and external global talent pool.
4 – Consider Your Employee’s Career Goals
You need to plan. With a long-term clear career plan laid out for all your returnees you’re more likely to register higher retention. In fact, employees are eager to know what their jobs will look like after the assignment. They want to know you have their best interests at heart. Too often, they are disappointed with their roles within the organisation upon returning. An international assignment does not have any value on its own and you can consider it a true success only if your Expat stays with you for another 24 months after repatriation. When employees can visualize how the relocation will help them achieve their goals they are more likely to embark on the adventure.
With recession and declining opportunities we must not only work better to help our employees have a fulfilling career but also understand more about how we can support their dual career partners.
5 – Build a More Inclusive Global Mobility Policy
A major barrier to effective global mobility management is the siloed nature of HR departments. Despite technological advancements, many leaders still rely on outdated tools like Excel spreadsheets to manage assignments. Angie envisions a more streamlined process, where comprehensive platforms integrate assignment management and vendor coordination to reduce transactional workloads and improve the expat experience.
We advocate for empowering expatriates to take charge of their career development. By working with career coaches, expats can make strategic decisions that align with their professional goals. Furthermore, Angela Weinberger suggests elevating the role of Global Mobility Managers. These professionals, often undervalued and under-compensated, should receive higher compensation and more strategic responsibilities, potentially reporting directly to executive leadership to enhance their impact. By building more inclusive global mobility policies, we can enhance both the expat and global hiring experiences further.
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“Integrating talent management in global mobility and global mobility in talent management, particularly in succession planning, still hasn’t yielded a good solution.”
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DO YOU NEED HELP FINDING A JOB?
Are you looking for a career opportunity in Zurich and still need help landing an interview? Do you have a work permit and Swiss address but still need help getting people to call you back? It’s not you; it’s us.
With a highly competitive job market,
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You apply to jobs where you know the brand.
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You end up humbled, confused and you certainly wonder if it was the right decision to move to Switzerland for love.
That is the straight path into the #ValleyOfTears.
What if I told you that…
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🇩🇪 English is not an official language here, and you can’t learn German professionally in six months. (Just kidding, you know that.)
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