Our hosts PwC along with Dr Victor Sogo of Melbourne University organised an excellent discussion for FEM participants around the changing role of Global Mobility. More specifically, mobility is evolving, driven by advancing technology, transformations in the way people and organisations work and by a fundamental shift in the political and regulatory environment. What will the future of mobility look like? How to best take your mobility program forward into the future?

PwC research tells us that mobility levels have increased by 25% over the past decade and is predicted to grow a further 50% by 2020. However, unlike the traditional and formal mobility types we will continue to see an increasing number of global workers move in more fluid and informal ways.

A discussion of megatrends:

• Demographic and social changes .e.g. Millenials and their very different expectations
• Climate change and resource scarcity
• Technological breakthroughs
• Rapid urbanisation
• Shift in global economic power

And particularly the huge changes in regulatory and political environments require a proactive approach that can only be sustained and risks minimised using technology and excellent data sources. Not addressing these issues can result in visas not being issues, fines being imposed or entry blocked for assignees and even organisations.

We then had an excellent discussion around developing global leaders vs expatriate leaders and how crucial this was to succession planning of global organisations. What the perceived risks were by employees on the management track regarding overseas assignments:

• Organisations place little value/reward on global mobility
• Workers moved overseas lose critical visibility
• Senior managers’ fear of losing talent on international assignment
• Headaches of expatriation: family and cultural
• Lack of competencies, monitoring and evaluation frameworks for international assignments
• Weak or flawed candidate identification and deployment systems
• Overall perception that international assignments can be too risky for your career

And then some suggestions for building the right infrastructure (see slide deck).

We closed the session off with a discussion around the future of global mobility. Global Mobility will need to work with other parts of the business to deliver the right people to the right place at the right time for the right cost.

Click here to download the slide deck.

Want to know more about the Melbourne Chapter Meeting or receive updates on future events? Please email Aysegul Kayahan