The proportion of employees seeking out international experience is continuing to increase. To facilitate this and engage staff, companies must offer attractive and experiential international opportunities. HR and GM teams are working together more closely than ever to ensure success. GM technology is playing a major role in this collaboration.
Real Time Data Analytics
In today’s technology landscape, we are becoming increasingly able to access the information we need at the click of a button. This is particularly true in the consumer market and is now becoming an expectation in the business world. Many organisations utilising GM technology find great value from providing their HR colleagues access to specific areas of the system. Giving HR the power to access instant, real time reports on their assignee population, and run scenario-based cost estimates or full cost estimates for a specific individual in a matter of minutes is becoming more common. It is enabling them to respond to business requests much faster than ever before.
This data can also, through collaboration with HR, help GM to shape and evolve their programme and policies to continuously be able to meet the needs of the business. This is where GM team have a significant opportunity to offer strategic guidance to the business.
“With the ability to store all assignment information in one centralized location and easily run reports, the team is in a position to provide meaningful feedback and quickly make programme changes to support business requirements in new locations or in support of new practices and policies.” - GM Manager, Oil & Gas Company.
New Analytical Opportunities
Integration between technologies opens up a whole range of new analytical opportunities for HR and GM. Aside from the standard mobility data that HR needs to support the business, GM teams are now able to utilize technology to pull in broader data sets to enable more powerful reporting and analytics and enable HR to access more strategic analytics.
For example, connecting performance management platforms to GM technology can bring in performance or job grade data for a few years pre-assignment. During the assignment and post-assignment to enable the impact of the international assignment on an employee’s performance. Rate of promotion and movement within the business to be assessed. Linking this type of data to a business case focused on personal and professional development can really help evidence ROI from the assignment experience.
GM technology can also flag upcoming repatriations well in advance to help HR and the business to have adequate time to plan properly for an employee’s return to the right role the home location. And hopefully improve employee retention rates, through data analytics, employee survey results and automated HR/GM notifications.
What Can GM Technology Offer HR Business Partners?
“International opportunities play an important role in the development agenda – Global Mobility needs to partner closely with the Talent & Leadership Development teams to design programmes and meaningful solutions in order to be successful.” - Head of Global Mobility, Engineering Company.
Talent Management and Development
There are many successful examples of mobility and talent development teams working together to achieve great things, such as designing rotational assignment policies to access different areas of the business globally (and cost effectively) as part of a graduate programme; or managing project employees such that they become part of a global talent pool that is centrally managed and is ready to be deployed anywhere, anytime, with minimal down time between projects. Utilising GM technology can go a long way to facilitating and supporting these initiatives.
Technology can also be used to collate information from the employees themselves through surveys and pulse checks. This not only helps to gauge employee experience during the assignment (important information for GM and HR alike) but can add a more subjective data set to help answer questions about suitability and adaptability traits and help identify those who may be a good fit for future, and perhaps more challenging international assignment opportunities.
“I envisage gathering a set of predictive analytics that will help us identify employees who can withstand and deliver on their role in tough locations. I want to gather information that will answer: How well do they tolerate ambiguity? How well do they deal with security challenges? Are they easily disconcerted? How well did they adjust in previous moves?” - VP Reward, Media & Technology Organisation
In Conclusion
HR and Talent managers expect access to on-demand tools and real-time data to facilitate true collaboration with their business leadership and GM teams. And now, with access to today’s automation and digitized tools, companies have the opportunity to build and connect their global mobility ecosystems with HR and their extended stakeholder networks. Through integrated technologies and advanced data analytics, HR managers are provided with real-time information to support evidence-based decision making and agility, helping them manage global talent efficiently and effectively.
To read more on this topic, read the full article in International HR Adviser Magazine, or contact us to learn how Equus solutions can empower both GM and HR teams to run their programs smarter and more efficiently.
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With over two decades of Global Mobility experience, including managing in-house programs for major corporations in the financial services, consumer goods and technology sectors, and servicing a range of clients as a consultant, Tim is a consummate Mobility professional. In his role as VP of Technology Solutions, he works closely with Equus clients to apply the company’s technology to optimize their programs and solve their complex Global Mobility challenges. Among Tim’s many areas of expertise is using Mobility to facilitate talent development. Tim was recognized as “Global Mobility Professional of the Year,” voted on by his industry peers at the FEM EMEA EMMAs at the end of 2021.
