A new perspective on mobility professionals: The role of risk management

From a company’s perspective, the relocation of an employee to another country for a longer period of time sounds quite manageable. However, operating globally and moving multiple employees to different destinations for different time periods becomes a much more complex matter. So we probably shouldn’t speak of relocation anymore; but rather speak about mobility.

The complexity involved in and the specific sets of skills and abilities necessary for managing mobility is reflected in an ever increasing number of service providers that give rise to a new breed of service professional called mobility professionals.

Whether within a company or as an external service provider, the role of mobility professionals is quite broad in scope and resembles many other functional roles within an organization. Specifically, mobility professionals should act as operational managers that manage mobility policies; as talent development officers that identify and recruit necessary candidates; as tax and benefits officers that ensure tax compliance and manage benefit programs; and as procurement specialists that select and cooperate with external service providers. All these activities face a substantial amount of risk, for example if mobility practices don’t fit with a new assignment context, or if tax regulation changes in one country. Thus, it becomes evident that mobility managers should be involved in risk management across multiple areas.

This view is echoed in a recent article published in the HR Magazine, in which the author Eric Krell argues that ‘the more mobility professionals discuss the nature of their role, the more the mobility function sounds like an exercise in risk management across multiple realms, including compliance, employee relations, talent management and more’. He therefore characterizes mobility professionals as ‘global risk managers’ and highlights the main risk areas.

First, mobility professionals must address the area of security and logistics. When managing relocations across similarly developed and geographically close countries security and logistics may not be an issue. However, ample evidence suggests the emergence of new markets in developing countries. For example, new expatriate destinations include the BRIC countries and African and other South American countries. Entering these developing regions may certainly create different issues, starting from the shipment of household goods, and finishing with unfamiliar cultural norms and hostility towards cultural diversity.

Second, managing mobility goes hand in hand with managing compliance with laws and regulations in the host country. As more destinations emerge, mobility managers should learn and adjust to regulations of the different countries. This area is especially critical as incompliance may lead to monetary fines and some governmental restrictions. Naturally, having expertise in regulatory requirements of every destination country is not possible, which is why mobility managers should act as partners, mediators and negotiators with different external service providers.

Third, following the economic crisis of recent years, cost reduction is one of the main risk areas within international mobility. Cost reduction initiatives put pressure on mobility professionals, as they need to come up with less expensive alternatives without damaging assignees’ perceptions of equality, expatriates’ satisfaction, and attractiveness of the international relocation programs. Facing the cost reduction challenges, most commonly mobility professionals come up with less costly assignment types, such as frequent business travel and so-called ‘flexpat’ programs. Moreover, the benefit packages may be revised and adjusted to assignees’ proficiency levels and assignment types. However, these approaches can lead to a different set of problems, like perceptions of inequality, differences in expectations, or differences in tax compliance.

As a fourth risk area, the author discusses family related issues. Today, more than ever assignees request their family members to accompany them on an assignment. The current generation of expatriates may be called ‘the sandwich generation’ that is in the 40-50 age bracket, which means they are quite likely to have retired parents and children that are studying or unemployed, all of whom require care. Moreover, in case of dual-career couples, which are the norm rather than an exception nowadays, the mobility manager also needs to account for career possibilities of an accompanying partner.

Fifth and finally, the article states that there is a war for talent. Speaking of highly talented professionals, there is a demand for them on both national and international labour markets. Thus, attracting and recruiting candidates for moving abroad may be quite a challenge, as these individuals often have multiple opportunities and are very carefully evaluating the cost-benefit relations of changes to their careers and, inevitably, personal lives.

Having identified the main risks, the author states that ‘in the brave new world of mobility risk, preparation and anticipation are vital components’. Given the importance of preparation and anticipation skills, several more specific coping strategies are proposed. Specifically, the article asks practitioners to be safe, monitor constantly, act early, and partner with experts.

The first two strategies relate to information management through different reports, technology and personal contacts with employees. All of these sources can help in being constantly updated on the whereabouts of expatriates, their cost management and compliance with governmental laws and regulations. For example, the author mentions the practice of Ernst & Young, who recently launched a GPS-powered smart phone app called TRACer that can track the real-time location of expatriates and business travelers without transmitting personal information. Act early calls for early anticipation of potential issues and their management. Working abroad is a challenging situation ‘per se’, which also suggests that bringing any ‘domestic’ issues abroad might only exacerbate the situation. Last but not least, partnering with experts should be an inevitable part of the successful role of mobility professionals. Having a network of trustworthy and professional partners broadens the possibilities of acting correctly and efficiently in different situations.