Is it right for you and your business?

Why This is an Important Question Right Now

The idea of a single source to manage all talent mobility services is not exactly a new one. Historically, a one-stop shop for employee relocation meant exactly that: a centralized, single source delivering most of the services, perhaps with a small number of key partners. Now, however, complexities around how, where and when we work and rapidly evolving geopolitical forces call for far more nuanced levels of knowledge and expertise. Few, if any, companies can truly provide all of it alone. In the past, tax, social security and immigration responsibilities may have been somewhat siloed. Today, as we have managed through several global crises, there is much closer communication between clients and service partners, facilitating faster, more agile responses. What has also changed is the level of collaboration that different service providers must engage in with one another: leading to the new type of one-stop-shop solution we see today.

In the current environment, defining exactly what a collaborative outsourced solution means will be different for every company. Global mobility leaders can start by taking three key steps:

• Assessing their current business needs to determine where and what levels/types of external expertise make the most sense
• Researching the best alliances to deliver that expertise
• Securing stakeholder buy-in for their recommendations

In research Sterling Lexicon conducted in March 2024, a majority (74%) of GM leaders indicated seeing the value that can be gained by using the right blend of specialized providers, coordinated through a single point of ownership and accountability.

There is no doubt that eliminating multiple contracts, SLAs and KPIs can help organizations achieve greater efficiencies. There are also several benefits to leveraging distinct types of expertise without having to administer multiple agreements with different terms and conditions. Where we see hesitation come in, however, is typically in one of two areas: not knowing where to start, or discomfort with turning over certain responsibilities currently managed internally.

Assessing Business and Employee Needs

It might help to remember that every organization is already using some level of external expertise to help run the business. IT, customer service or call centers, website design and maintenance or accounting are a few examples of the more common services relinquished to outside partners. For global mobility, external expertise is often used to help manage some of the compliance-related activities, such as immigration, tax or data security and protection. Our research confirms that the more commonly used external services right now include:

Immigration (93%)
Relocation Management (78.5%)
Tax & Social Security (71%)

Beyond that, many GM leaders may not fully see what is missing. Determining what specific mobility services to outsource – and who is best suited to deliver them – requires mapping current and future business and talent needs.

Some of the most important questions to start with are:

• What are the primary strategic drivers for mobility in our organization?
• What are the primary goals? Increasing acceptance rates? Offering greater flexibility and choice? Expanding into new territories?
• What expertise do we currently have in-house?
• Where are our biggest talent and skill gaps?
• In what regions are we attracting, recruiting and retaining talent to fill the gaps?
• Are there any future mergers, acquisitions or expansions planned?
• How are our employee population demographics and needs shaping assignment/hiring policies and benefits?
• What is currently working well? Where are we experiencing pain points?
• What are the most important values and goals that define our company culture?

Another important thing to keep in mind is that the right questions to ask must address your business and employee needs simultaneously. International experience or permanent transfers are increasingly attractive career catalysts for many employees, but what success looks like for them will ultimately depend on so many personal and individual circumstances. To make the best, most informed decision for you, your company and your people, it’s essential to put the time into getting this mapping exercise right.

Exploring the Best Fit

Once you have a clear picture of your own business and talent mobility needs, and which outsourced services would deliver the most value, the next step is to bring together potential providers to understand:

• What areas of expertise they have and where
• How they will collaborate with you and one another, avoiding overlap of services
• How they will communicate with you, your mobile employees and each other
• What technology solution will be deployed and how it will integrate with your own systems
• What the values and cultures of each provider are, and how closely they align with each other’s and your own
• How you will benefit – specifically what time or process administration efficiencies and/or cost savings your organization can gain

Perhaps one of the most important determinations of all is: who will be the ultimate owner? Having a single point of accountability in the collaboration will not only help ensure seamless communication and process efficiencies but will also likely help all other stakeholders more readily embrace the idea.

The right balance and blend of people, services and technology is critical to success, and all three of those things play an equally important role in the one-stop-shop model. To make it work in today’s environment, it is essential to conduct thorough preparation in advance to ensure APIs, compliance checks and communication between all participants are working seamlessly. The more clearly defined the policy parameters are – as well as the roles and responsibilities of each member of the partnership – and the more collaboration there is between all parties, the better the global mobility experience will be, for employers and employees alike.

Securing Buy-In

Once you define what a one-stop-shop model could look like for you and your employees and identified which and how many partners you want to participate, how do you convince your leadership team to move ahead? This brings us to a question that has been asked and debated for a long time: is global mobility truly seen as a strategic contributor to the overall growth of the business? Will your recommendations be given genuine consideration? The good news is that we have seen considerable progress in this evolution of the mobility team, particularly in recent years as business leaders continue to grapple with talent shortages and an increasingly complex workforce and geopolitical landscape. Our recent research also confirms this but demonstrates there is still a bit of work to be done. When asked whether global mobility is seen as a strategic partner in their business, 82% of respondents indicated yes, while 18% reported that is not yet happening.

As business leaders look to different approaches to fill talent gaps and build their leadership pipelines, GM teams and their partners should be considered consultative experts, advising on short- or long-term assignments, business travelers and commuters, local hires and permanent transfers. Now, more than ever, current and prospective employees are consumers, and a company’s talent strategy is tied to its overall brand reputation.

Another interesting trend is that we see a direct correlation between the perception of strategic importance or value of mobility and the level of risk connected to each activity. For example, conversations around compliance with labor, immigration and tax laws are taken very seriously, while some of the so-called “softer services” associated with moves may be lower on the agenda when it comes to strategic planning. There is an opportunity for GM leaders to leverage the conversation around risk to show their value – and raise awareness about the importance of choosing the right blend of expertise to mitigate it.

Gaining stakeholder buy-in will also be easier if you can demonstrate efficiencies with data. It’s critical to know where your current pain points are, what you and your team are spending the most time on and where costs or exception requests may be escalating. Once you have that information, you can demonstrate the possible time, administrative burden and cost savings of a coordinated one-stop shop when compared to a more fragmented approach. Gaining insights from other companies and peers who have successfully integrated this type of model can also help you build your case.

Summary

The converging forces of ongoing labor shortages, evolutionary workforce models and the rapid integration of technological and human contributions to business mean the focus on talent is perhaps as strong now as it has ever been. The aim of the one-stop shop is to give you the ability to tap into expertise on the ground in a field that does not have to be tied to a single provider but defined by what you and your business needs. There won’t be a “one size fits all” approach when it comes to outsourcing aspects of global mobility management. But as the role of GM becomes increasingly complex and assignment types and international hires continue to evolve, there is a growing demand for the right blend of knowledge and skill sets to meet the challenges.

One strategy for testing whether a collaborative, one-stop-shop is right for your business could be to try it using a phased-in, incremental approach or limit it to a particular region or assignment types at first.

If you feel the new version of the one-stop shop model could help your business position rightly for future readiness in this rapidly changing environment, you are not alone. The good news is that there are plenty of knowledgeable people with the right resources to help you get started.

Author: Sascha Meissner – Director Client Solutions at Sterling Lexicon. His extensive experience in mobility solutions is enriched by his personal insights, having lived abroad and navigated the complexities of international relocation firsthand.