The top three challenges for employers looking to expand their mobility programmes were identified as cost pressures , compliance and increased program complexity .
The recovery since the economic meltdown of 2008 has been slow and has spooked many larger corporations form heavy investments in assignments . Cost management is a key pressure on mobility professionals but rather than mobility volumes shrinking or even budgets being reduced , the largest focus is now on demonstrable effective assignment management and ROI .
Changing governmental regulation in every area from tax to immigration is placing increased pressure on mobility professionals and we have seen a big increase in the number of key functions being outsourced to external consultants . 78 % of those polled in the Global CEO Survey cited over regulation as a big concern . The Global Mobility Effectiveness Study reported that 40 % of respondents did not have formal risk control frameworks in place to monitor payroll and social security compliance and 64 % reported incurring avoidable penalties for non-compliance in 2012 . Mobility programmes are increasing in volume , but also in complexity . The traditional long term assignment is being supplemented with a wide variety of assignments types which can generate the most value for the corporation .
What conclusions , if any , can we draw for the future of mobility providers across the spectrum ?
The value placed on international experience by today ’ s high potentials and tomorrows leaders is not going to change . This coupled with an increasingly conscious corporate environment , will , in my opinion , raise the levels of services required to support international assignments . As companies become more aware of the war for scarce talent , and the need to keep their employees loyal and happy , so supported assignment management should follow , despite the cost pressures placed on HR to deliver more for less . The research is clear that the reasons behind the drivers of increased mobility programmes are two fold ; to attract and maintain the very best talent and to continue to expand the operations of the company to increase market share . Common sense would dictate that the cost pressures associated need to be weighed up in a more complex matrix than simply ROI . The notion of Return on Productivity makes more sense and would enable procurement to look at more than just the bottom line . In a perfect world , maybe !