This article is part of a recurring series highlighting recent talent mobility industry reports. If you would like the WERC editorial team to consider covering a specific industry report, email mobility@worldwideerc.org.
Earlier this year, Deloitte surveyed 114 corporate directors and vice presidents from the Asia Pacific, Europe/Middle East/Africa (EMEA), and Americas regions, for its 2024 Global Talent Mobility Survey. The survey, and Deloitte’s analysis of the results, provide insightful and actionable data for talent mobility professionals as we begin to look to a new year.
Roles and Responsibilities: Shifting Landscapes or Business as Usual?
While 84% of respondents said their global talent mobility function had not been recently realigned to another part of the company, a look at the reasons for a shift from 26% of companies may indicate some nascent trends or late-to-the-party outliers. Realignment was driven by two main motivators, according to survey results: to increase efficiencies and facilitate process improvements or to drive talent/career mobility, both indicated by a third of respondents; another 28% indicated reorganization.
Change in Travel Patterns
Temporary international assignments remain a primary focus among companies surveyed, as indicated by 86% of respondents when asked what existing travel patterns fit the needs of their global workforce. But that dipped to 62% when respondents were asked about the travel patterns that organizations will focus on in the future to fit anticipated needs.
Topping that category were international new hires (67%) and business travelers (68%), which accounted for 84% and 80% of responses, respectively, when asked about current needs. According to Deloitte, this aligns with the gradual uptick seen since the pandemic, as more companies encourage face-to-face interactions and are willing to make supporting investments. Domestic relocations also saw a marked difference between present (74%) and future focus (51%).
Evolution of Third-party Support
When asked about vendor support in global talent mobility, 44% of respondents said they are content with their current model, with 18% predicting an increase in outsourced support in the next two years and 10% expecting to bring more activities in-house.
When asked about the option best describing their organization’s predicted activity over the next two years, the majority of respondents believe they will see an increase in business travel, alternative work arrangements, and international assignment/relocation volume.
Program Priorities
The current top three priorities for global talent mobility, as ranked by respondents, were business partnering (67%), employee experience (55%), and managing controls and risk (54%). When asked to look into their crystal balls for future foci, most respondents indicated they were looking to advance “operational excellence and efficiencies” (55%). Business partnering (40%) and integration with talent (37%) also emerged as top concerns, indicating, that “the organization’s talent agenda continues to be a priority for businesses,” according to the report.
Focus on Tech (but Not Necessarily Generative AI)
Technology is expected to have a major influence on global talent mobility. Perhaps surprisingly, though, only a third of respondents said their organizations would invest in generative artificial intelligence to enable global talent mobility over the next two years. Those companies will seek to develop a generative AI strategy, use cases, and roadmap, as indicated by 58% of respondents, while their top priority for leveraging generative AI within global talent mobility will be to create efficiencies (66%).
According to Deloitte’s survey, the most used enabling technology solutions are vendor (54%) and human resources information (46%) systems. Looking down the line, a third of respondents said that their organizations’ global talent mobility technology strategy over the next two years was to optimize or upgrade existing technology, handily outweighing those who said integrating global talent mobility processes and vendors with internal technology systems (18%), and those who said no change and reliance on vendor systems (16%).
Staying Agile to Keep Pace With Trends
The results of this survey, while perhaps not being a wake-up call, are a confirmation of the continuing impacts of the pandemic on work travel patterns. Every aspect of global talent mobility was touched by it, whether it be the growing use of technology, the changing role of third-party support, or alignment with corporate needs in general. Program priorities are shifting to keep up with travel trends. Staying on top of these trends will ensure that a corporate mobility program is agile, efficient, and able to contribute to an organization’s overall growth and success.