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Simon Stanaway

Hello everyone. My name is Simon Stanaway. The EY America’s Mobility Leader within our People Advisory Services practice. I have with me today Rachel D’Argenio. Hello Rachel. 

Rachel D’Argenio

Hello

Stanaway

Who is our Mobility Markets Leader. And today, we want to speak to you about our observations regarding the state of the mobility function. Hearing from mobility teams that the last 18 months have been extremely difficult, volumes of requests and demands for information have been dramatically increased and the ask of the mobility function is often felt to be beyond their comfort and or knowledge level and the appreciation of their efforts hasn’t been quite been there. Now Rachel, you were sharing with me before that you believe now is an unprecedented moment for the mobility function to shine.

D’Argenio

Yes.

Stanaway

As this is a moment to shift to increase relevance, respect and value within the organization. Could you explain?

D’Argenio

Absolutely, I believe that we are at an amazing crossroads. We have validation that cross-border travel is still important at organizations — from business travel to traditional mobility and new forms of international travel. There’s an opportunity to redefine mobility and expand our remit in line with what most people have been doing anyway for the last 18 months. The mobility function is seen as the glue. It’s our ability to work across functions and leverage global knowledge, which is shown to be key during our response to the pandemic, but it’s also critical as we look forward to developing the strategy for the return to the office, which we at EY are calling Work Reimagined.

Stanaway

I agree. And what I’m hearing is, in many ways, the mobility function shouldn’t even be called mobility any longer. As I reflect on this, you know, should we be, you know, should it be called the People Mobilization Team, Talent Deployment Team, or even like a People Compliance Team. We’re seeing from our clients and they’re now responsible for policies, processes, procedures and executions needed to manage the remote, hybrid and global workforce. And then further to that, you know, our new Workforce Reimagined Employer Survey, we canvassed more than 1,000 business leaders, across 9 countries, 25 industry sectors and still with that focus on mobility, 45% of employers still think that international experience is highly important for the leadership in the future. 50% of employers think that mobility is highly to extremely important for career development, and 49% of employers think that mobility is highly to extremely important for global workforce planning and talent management. Can you explain what you are hearing from the market as well as your reflections on the opportunities ahead for the mobility function.

D’Argenio

Absolutely. This is music to my ears really. On the Talent front, we’re hearing more and more mobility leaders are reaching out to the head of talent to leverage mobility to build capabilities and accelerate careers. This is even more important in this new world where remote work provides opportunities for those who may not have been able to relocate and with a traditional assignment. The issues are complex though and mobility’s understanding of the issues and abilities to bring together key stakeholders from across the company as well as through the external provider network is vital. 

On the Global Workforce Planning front, hearing demand for more types of cross-border travel from the virtual assignee to the remote worker who will travel for business, to the hybrid worker who’s going to cross borders to get into the office, the mobility function will be put to the test without a doubt. But I don’t see this as a cause for great concern because mobility, the function and the people that fill that function, truly understand cross-border movement. These new types of cross-border mobility need to be nuanced without question, but they rely on the foundations that the mobility function knows better than anyone else at the organization. As such, this allows the mobility team to rise to the occasion, expanding their remit and bridging a critical gap within the organization.

Mobility is the connective tissue, if I may quote one of our clients. On the Risk front, we are hearing both an interest in looking at new ways to organize the function as well as deploy people, but I’m also hearing mobility leaders are concerned about the corporate tax risks. They are seeing their organizations introduce new arrangements that create risks that would not have been tolerated before and are wondering how to drive the right attention and focus in anticipation of a return to our new normal, which will include renewed interest from local tax authorities. Again, I see our mobility colleagues as being best suited to tackle these issues hand-in-hand with the corporate tax team, of course, but also with their providers. They are deep in both the employee details as well as the risk areas to know who to bring in and when to bring in those right teams. As a result, they can protect the organization in ways that no one else can.

Stanaway

Great. And that’s great reflections. Thank you so much, Rachel. And of course, on top of all that or maybe really underpinning all of that, is what digital solutions and technology, how does it all fit into an ecosystem, especially when we’re looking at hybrid and remote work with mobility. And on that point, we will share and have a further series of podcasts and we will talk a lot more about that. So, thank you again, Rachel for your time, and we look forward to speaking to you soon. Thank you.

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