Global Talent Mobility Survey 2024: The Great Balancing Act

Cartus' Andy Conduit-Turner, Director, Sustainable Growth Enablement, and guests, Terri Bonfiglio, Director, Global Consulting Solutions and Lisa Johnson, Director, Global DEI Solutions explore the findings from the Cartus Global Talent Mobility Survey 2024. 

Our guests:

Lisa Johnson
Lisa represents Cartus in DE&I space as a thought leader and solution facilitator for clients looking to address Global DE&I in their mobility solutions. Among her many achievements—including leading some of the industry’s earliest research initiatives on the topic—Lisa was named one of the Global Mobility Top 100 Professionals in 2021 and was recently named the 2022 Chairperson of the Curriculum Committee for Worldwide ERC®'s Upward Mobility internship Initiative focused on increasing diversity in our industry and she sits on their Editorial Taskforce. She also holds both Worldwide ERC®’s Meritorious and Distinguished Service Awards and is an active member of SHRM.

Terri Bonfiglio
With more than 35 years' experience in the mobility industry, Terri joined Cartus in 2005 and supports Global Talent Mobility teams and our global Consulting Solutions group, the latter of which is responsible for developing and overseeing global client initiatives in the areas of HR and talent technology solutions, program benchmarking, policy design and writing, and group moves. 

Our host: 

Andy Conduit-Turner
Andy has performed a number of roles throughout his global mobility career with Cartus, which followed his own time living and working internationally. After building his skills in both account management and transformation projects, when asked to describe his role today as Director, Sustainable Growth Enablement, Andy’s one word response is, “Questions.” Specifically answering the questions that our partners and the broader mobility community have for us, and asking our own in order to move our innovations in the direction that best serves our clients, as well helping to support the long-term, sustainable growth of our solutions. 

Executive production: Louise Koncowski 

Transcript

Andy: Hello, and welcome to the grand premiere of season three of mobility matters, the one and only official Carter's podcast. I am your new host for this season. Andy conduit Turner, a director of growth enablement over at Cartus. And I'm here with two very special guests today. First, a returning guest those of you who listened to our previous seasons will have met her before, and I'm sure we'll be very glad to see her again. It's Lisa Johnson. Hello, Lisa. 

Lisa: Hi, Andy. Great to be back. 

Andy: Nice to see you, again. Lots of exciting topics. But before we get onto those, we have someone that you and I are very familiar with Lisa, but a first-time guest on the Cartus Mobility Matters podcast. We have one of our Directors of Global Consulting Solutions. We have Terri Bonfiglio. Hello, Terri.

Terri: Hi, Andy. Thanks. So, I'm actually super excited to be part of the conversation. A little nervous, but I'm excited.

Andy: Now we'll take good care of you, Terri, and you're here for a reason. No one knows this stuff better than you. So, let's dive into it. Here, we're beginning a new season by talking about our Global Talent Mobility Survey, which was conducted at the very end of 2023, the dying embers of 2023. And everyone here was part of the team that put it together. Overall, we garnered 138 respondents. It's a brand-new survey for 2024 and we've titled it, for reasons which we will explain shortly, “The great balancing act: Optimizing the employee experience while controlling costs.” 

So, as we mentioned, you're both part of the team that put together the survey. Before we get into the results... Talk to me a little bit about how we put it together, how did you get the answers that we were hoping to get and the insights we're hoping to share with the community here? Terri, we'll start with you. 

Terri: Sure. So, I think that this was actually the first survey of this type that I've participated in and it was great working with the team. And I think from my lens, historically, the survey focused on policy and practices, and while that remains really important, we also knew the pandemic and post-pandemic world had really changed us all. 

So really, metaphorically, our four walls were no longer standing, and employees began imagining a new way of thinking about work and being productive. So, I think that we know that cost is always a critical component, but what we started to hear is that talent had truly become top of mind in the mobility conversations we were having, we want to embrace the importance behind that shift. We recognize this as an opportunity to step back, really forget about those old assumptions, and truly understand the changing priorities that our mobility partners are expected to manage on top of everything else they already manage. So, we thought the survey name really said it all. 

Andy: Brilliant. Thank you. Lisa, how about you? You obviously have some really specialist knowledge that you bring to the table from your DEI experience. What were you thinking when we're putting together the survey and the people that you wanted to reach to get our responses from?

Lisa: Absolutely. So, you know, a lot of what Terri was just talking about really rings true and wanting to get people to think about new ways of working, but also, you know, recognizing that some of our standards are great, and, you know, “the greatest hits” that we have in global mobility still exists. So, looking at, well, what stayed the same and what has changed, and really, what came out in a lot of the questions around talent was looking at what are those emerging employee needs. 

And I love the title of the, “The great balancing act,” because I feel like that is sort of classic tension that global mobility has had for a long time, which is, you know, finding that balance between recruiting and retaining talent, enhancing the employee experience, on the one hand, and then being focused on rising costs, which we've all been living for the past few years ourselves, even in our daily living, right, and the macroeconomic challenges, managing exceptions. So, you know, we talk about it being a “balancing act,” because for every company, I think both angles will hold true, you got to do a little of both, but depending on your company's strategy, and even depending on the global mobility manager or the global mobility teams’ comfort zones, you’re gonna lean more towards one than the other. So, you really can't ignore one without the other. And so, I really love that we've pulled those two areas together. 

Andy: Wonderful. Thank you both. Now, as much as you've all got wonderful speaking voices and reading voices, we're not here to read the report cover to cover to everyone today, it is going to be available online. The link will be in the show notes and on all of our other materials that people can read the responses in full and some of our insights into the data that we gathered. But I know it's very hard to get anyone to choose a favorite statistic, of course, all of them are our favorites. 

To begin with, if I could, if I could press you… What was your favorite or the most outstanding statistic that really jumped out to both of you? To give you a little time to think about that, I'm not going to ask a question I'm not prepared to answer myself. So, one of the major stats for me that I was really intrigued by was, especially with our relationship with technology today, all of the interest in technology, all of the efficiencies that can bring you cannot spend two minutes on the internet without tripping over an article about generative AI these days. It was really interesting for me to read the stats and just the sheer volume of responses. 

90+% that suggests that while there is an interest in technology, so many of our respondents didn't feel that at this time a soul technology solution was the direction that they wanted their mobility program to go, to deliver the experience that their people needed. And the experience they wanted to deliver to people as they look to attract, retain, make their talent effective in their roles, make sure they can move effectively and do their jobs. So, yeah, that was one of my standouts. Lisa, let’s come back to you… Any favorites that really stuck out to you? 

Lisa: Well, I can't not just come in on what you just said. I agree that was really cool. And I do know, that probably 10 years, a decade ago, we had disruption in our industry where there was a company that came in and said it's technology only, and it just got a lot, it drove a lot of us in our industry to move towards technology investments and to really look at what that meant. But the recognition was that that just technology by itself, in the world that we live in that is so about empathy about, you know, supporting people in different moments of a move. Tech doesn't, we can't predict exactly which moments they are because it will be different for different people that it still requires, having the human touch there. And so, I agree that stood out that 90% of companies are not looking for technology. 

But let me give my favorite stat because I definitely have one and it's a little different. But yours is really good. I, you know, a lot of topics came together in the findings. And one of them was the number of companies that identified of their top four drivers for adding flexibility to mobility and attracting talent, changing employee needs and changing employee expectations were three of the four drivers for adding flexibility to a program. And as somebody who works directly with our clients on making sure that their policies and their programs are more inclusive, to meet those changing needs. It represents a really exciting moment. So, I want to just give one example, that comes out of that we've been working with a number of companies, and many of you are listening today are making your policies more inclusive. And really, that means making sure that those flexible benefits, or our newly emerging benefits need to meet the needs of most of your employees. So, a little more than a year ago, we started talking about the single parent and single employee support in the form of something really, really simple. And that was a flex opportunity to bring a friend or family member with the employee on the final move trip. It's one round trip ticket to help the employee get settled to help the children move into their rooms to help them get to their new schools, because we know that that employee of yours is going to be focused on their new job. It's just an exciting moment career wise, and into a new visible role. So, it sounds so silly if you haven't done it. But I have had a few different roles for international assignments and one has been the accompanying partner and with a child coming along, and I know that it would be so hard to do that and juggle being the employee as well. So, I was really thrilled to see this, this year in the survey. 

And when we asked for examples of emerging flex benefits that had to do with inclusion, that had to do with changing employee needs, that one of the top three most popular examples was that single parents support in the form of a round trip ticket for a friend or family member. And we see that same benefit being applied to many of our clients in employees who have disabilities for example, now an employee in a wheelchair, might be moving to London, might bring their mom with them from China to help them get settled in, and then go back home. So, it's a round trip ticket. And it was exciting to see that emerge as one of the top flex benefits that's coming out. 

Andy: Brilliant. Thank you, Lisa. And, you know, now I need to now comment on yours. A little bit of sizzle for people who have tuned in for the rest of the season. If flexible mobility is really your thing, it's an area you're particularly interested in. You can join Lisa and myself as part of this season coming up. We will be meeting with Alex von Springer, who is the US Policy Advisor over at Shell, about Shell’s journey with flexible mobility. The way they've designed it with Lisa and the team's help and how they approached it, what the outcomes have been. A full episode dedicated to that discussion alongside Alex. So, coming up in your podcast feeds anytime soon. So, yeah, you gotta come back. It's gonna be a lot of fun. But before we get too excited about that, Terri, I don't want to neglect you, what's your favorite step that you've seen this year?

Terri: Yeah, I so enjoyed listening to what yours were we didn't share these all of you, we just kind of went on our own. But I think for me, and it kind of ties a little bit into what Lisa was talking about as well. But the employee requested moves, I actually wrote, “Wow!” when I was looking at the feedback around those. There was a high percentage of clients that noted and really tying to the flexible approach, right, and making sure that they're listening and understanding their employees’ expectations and the needs of their employees. But what is an employee requested move from client to client, that could be a little bit different today? We're starting to have conversations that are shifting what those used to be. 

So, I think that in the conversations we're having, and the ones that my team members are having, they're really focusing on three specific areas: Of course, cost, right, but it's not just, “What am I spending?” but the value of spend, and “Am I using my money smartly, to really do what I need to do to both capture talent and retain talent?” Flexible mobility, of course, I mentioned that, but the employee choice and the program administration, and the mobility, efficiency, the management of the programs, all of those things are around being flexible, both with how the administrators manage as well as what the employees are able to have access to. And top of mind really, again, is the employee experience, we're hearing that over and over again. And there really is, we've gotten fluid with talent, right? It's, you know, you don't work for one industry anymore, depending on what your skill set is. So, there really is a war on talent, there's a rigor around grooming, like the best of the best. And really the need to better understand the voice of the employee. Because over these few years, as we've gone through this transitional period, I think that these are really challenges that are very valid for mobility managers, things that they're dealing with every day. 

So, one of the things I thought about is it's critical that HR and talent managers have access to programs that are actually going to support the individual needs of their relocating employees and their families, which ties into Lisa's sentiment around really making sure that there's an inclusive feeling that people feel truly supported. And really, what does that mean? And how do you know you're choosing the right types of support? And I think that we don't know, but your employees know. So, I think that one of the areas that intrigued me was that that whole core/flex flexible ability designing what that means today, and an understanding where the choice can play a role in making our managers that are managing these mobilities, lives easier, as well as in really embracing what their employees need. 

And I think that, although we're always going to have some level of traditional mobility, we're definitely seeing a lot more interest in this area. And one of the things that I think is a payback for us is if you run the right program and you do it well, you're actually extending that and creating a new sense of value in your employees’ eyes. I think that you're contributing to increase loyalty, talent retention, and I think that's really amazing. At the end of the day, are we really contributing to our company's return on investment? I think that we are. I think it's really important for us to think the full circle here and not just focus on one piece or another piece, but try to make it you know, holistic for the company and blend it with what the employee’s needs are.

Andy: That's great. Thank you, Terri, and one of the points you made at the very start of your favorites…  that you were talking about, how you were struck by the volume of respondents that mentioned, specifically supporting, personally requested moves by those employees. And tied into that experience piece, which is a really interesting piece that really struck, I think all of us on the call and the rest of our wider team as well that, obviously an employee requested move, something that would traditionally garner less support from the business because it's not necessarily a business-critical move where they are really encouraging someone to go, it's someone who wants to be in a different working location. But of course, potentially a microcosm of events, you know, the ways that people's priorities have shifted following pandemic restrictions, the way people are reevaluating their relationship with their employment and their willingness to work. And of course, the increased flexibility that technologies have allowed that allow people to work in more locations as well. I'm really interested in observing what happens over the rest of the year, with the support of these personally requested moves, because based on those responses were more and more of the people who responded feel like it's going to be a factor in their mobility program. 
 
 And it's really interesting that people are recognizing the value of supporting and retaining their talent, do we feel that maybe the level of support may change, you know, things that will help those people who are moving voluntarily be effective in their new roles, or where they're moving more quickly, or to make sure they stay satisfied, even though they're away from maybe the hub of their business? They stay engaged with the community and they stay engaged with their employer, I think it's going to be a fascinating development, especially when you combine it with some of our top reasons for why those companies are expecting growth in the mobility program in the coming years. Top three, number three, in fact, expansion into different markets. We know that in global economies, the areas the hubs that different businesses and different industries are focusing on, of course, driven by where they could grow where their customers will be next, where their talent is going to be next. So, those emerging markets as well, incredibly exciting for all of us, I'm sure. So, Terri, you go, please. 

Terri: I was just going to add, so you’re always sparking a thought for me! So, I was going to add that part of the dialogue that we're having really is around understanding what's new and different around an employee-requested move, there are different ways to tie that to the business. And employees could in some companies look at it as the employee has stepped forward for a position that actually exists. And they're applying for that position versus the business tapping them on the shoulder for that opportunity. Some clients think that's an employee-initiated move. Other employers may say that the employee has stepped forward to say, I would like for a family reason or other personal reasons to live and work from a different remote location, that might be an employee-initiated move. So, there are different reasons why these are coming about. 

But I think tying it back to talent and what you're doing to listen to and respond to the needs of your talent. And the way you can connect with your employee base, to create that longevity in the relationship and really get that return from them is where it creates an opportunity for companies to think differently. So, one of the things that the team is going to be working on as a blog in the near future on this very topic. So, be on the lookout for that. And then the area of cost. We're going to be doing another session in this in this third season, really talking about cost effectiveness and ways that employers can look at redistributing the funds that they're using for relocation.

Andy: Wonderful. And obviously, with that globalization and that market expansion that leads into Lisa, some of your areas of expertise as well in the DEI space, we know that we had over 60% of the respondents there, they talked about focus on all areas of diversity, but just under a fifth within that said they were particularly looking at cultural diversity. So, how do you feel that might play into people moving into new markets as well? There must be a link that must be incredibly important as you're going to be exposing the people to new cultures that they're moving into as well. Right?

Lisa: That's absolutely, I mean, it's an exciting. I mean, the reality is that the reason the number one reason for people to move is that there isn't local talent available, right. But we also have seen some of our clients talking about the importance of underrepresented geographic locations as one reason for moving people that we want to, you know, increase the number of leaders from underrepresented geographic locations and cultural diversity in global organizations has been a priority for a long time. I mean, you know, cross cultural training has been part of the basics of an international assignment policy for a long time as well as language training. And those are still, you know, real high priorities for companies moving their employees around the world to recognize it's not just your technical skills, it's actually doing a great job when you get there feeling like you belong, being included in the new community. 

And so expanding cultural diversity and recognizing the importance of those priorities and those perspectives in developing new solutions in innovation in bringing people together. I mean, even within big markets, like the US, the UK, most countries, have cultural diversity is just expanding and being recognized as a reality. Right? So, that was a great stat that came out of this survey, as well as what is your main area of focus for better understanding and having more DEI confidence. And diversity of all kinds was the top finding, right, we were interested in knowing more about everything we want. We want to be more competent in our inclusive approach to things and understanding what different employee’s needs are. But the cultural diversity was the second highest there, for sure.

Andy: Wonderful, and, of course, what people are doing in terms of culture or the “S” pillar of ESG overall, of course, fits into this renewed focus. And we see massive growth in events, we were all over the last 12 months, talking about how mobility programs are more heavily engaging with corporate ESG priorities as well. So, of course, you'll see us all…. I feel like we're doing a lovely preview for the season! What's the next preview we have? We obviously are going to be doing lots of DEI focus sessions. But we will also be doing some very, very specific sustainability sessions as well, for the environmental portion of the ESG sides of things that corporates are looking at increasingly and filtering down into their mobility programs. 

So again, look forward to future sessions, where we'll be talking about the environmental considerations, upcoming service innovations and ways that mobility programs as a part of a business can really be looking to contribute to what overall businesses are targeting in terms of not only their overall admissions calculations, but looking at what mobility’s impact can be to the positives they can bring to this as well and how we can continue to move people in more sustainable ways. More of that to come, keep a pin in it right now. 

To close us out for today, before we run out of time, I think obviously, for all of us, the big messages, the output from the survey is available now. It will be available in your show notes, it will be linked in anything where we share this podcast as well. Easily found on the Cartus thought leadership [Cartus Insights] website. Please do go and take a read of it, there is an Executive Summary if you want to have a quick view, there will be a Full Report out if you have time for a more extensive read. The team have worked incredibly hard to make sure it is representative of our community and not just a single aspect of it. So, really, really excited for the insights that you will have. 

As we leave, I'm going to set you both the challenge for a final question. What do you feel you'll be most excited to be talking about in the coming year with clients, with new clients, existing clients, the rest of our community events? Where do you think some of the most exciting conversations are going to be coming from? Let's pick on Lisa first, you made eye contact, Lisa.

Lisa: One of them really ties into what you've just been talking about Andy, which is just a strong recognition that aligning global mobility programs to corporate priorities, to the things that are exciting about being part of an organization and that is a lot of the ESG that is a lot of the sustainability initiatives and you know, making our world a better place and part of inclusion and making people feel like, “You knew I was coming, I feel like I belong here.” 

We know that we can't have global mobility policies and programs that exist in a vacuum that sound different from everything else in the company I'm working in, and they really have to be aligned. So, I think that we are increasingly seeing companies making that connection and making their policies and programs feel more like the companies that they represent. And I just love seeing the ways that that's happening and how it's manifesting itself with some of our most creative and innovative companies that we're working with and out there in our industry. So that is going to be really exciting this year to see how it becomes more mature. In itself, just with DEI, we see that companies are less about just getting started and more about making progress. And so, you know, I just love seeing the progress and the way that our industry is embracing change and that'll be exciting to watch this year and be a part of. 

Andy: Exciting times ahead. Right, as they master this great balancing act that we're talking about. And how about you, Terri, are you and your team looking forward to rolling up your sleeves and engineering all kinds of flexible programs? Or is there something else that you're gearing up for?

Terri: Absolutely! I am really excited about the conversations that we're having with clients. And I agree with Lisa 100%, that the connection that our mobility managers and our mobility teams are having with their organizations, and understanding how to connect to the culture and drive programs that are going to support their employees, their talent differently, of wanting to make sure that they're educating their employees around what they have to offer and supporting them, I know that we've had an increased interest in not only reviewing policies, but looking at ways to demonstrate that they're being thought about. 

So, whether we're creating a destination website for an organization. One area that's gotten some piqued interest is intern populations, companies are starting to realize that it's not just getting the intern somewhere, giving them the opportunity to work with the organization, but understanding that demographic. It is not what they necessarily thought it was going to be. That those individuals may not have lived independently, up to this point in time. And that the way that they need to support them is different than just giving them a few benefits or a stipend to live someplace or connecting them with a few colleagues, but actually creating an environment where they're supporting their learning, and thus their connection with that organization. So, I'm really excited to see the things that the conversation is shifting, you know, and I am excited about technology and the way that it supports humans, right, because we're in the human business. But ways that we can make our lives easier, our clients can make their lives easier, and connect us all a little bit further. So, great comments from everybody. But I've really enjoyed participating in this conversation today. 

Andy: Thank you, Terri. And you've inspired a reminder of our entire season three theme here. Our theme for this season of the podcast is, “Managing the process, moving the person,” which I don't know, for me, it really hits on a lot of things you've been talking about. We've been talking about the hard metrics, the costs, the efficiencies, that technology we can bring to moves and how we really manage those processes. But at the heart of what I've heard, both of you say is that people still remain the heart of the industry. They're the heart of the people that are moving and the corporates that we support. They're moving people, not boxes necessarily. And it's really good to always remember that human element as well. I think we're going to be talking about it a lot this season. 

Doesn't time fly! That’s all the time we have today. Obviously, so much more we can cover in this survey, again, can't say too many times, I'd encourage anyone who even is remotely interested to go and read at least the Executive Summary, if not the entire thing. And if you really are time poor at the moment, then why not spend a few minutes taking a look at our infographic report, exclusive to our listeners, which can be found on cartus.com/podcast and provides a really nice snapshot of some of the high-level findings from our Cartus research. 

Once you've taken a look, if there are questions that we haven't tackled, if there are insights that you have further interest in, get in touch. Get in touch with us, [including] the Cartus Consulting Solutions group, which Terri and Lisa are both a part of as well. You can get in touch with those guys directly if your corporate team has a project that you'd like to work on. Or if you just have a topic that you'd like us to discuss on a future podcast episode. You can contact us directly on that one at cartussolutions@cartus.com or connect with any of us over on LinkedIn [Andy, Lisa, Terri]. We all have pages there. Until next time, though, thank you so much, Lisa, thank you so much, Terri. Been a pleasure talking to you. I'm sure I'll speak to you both again before the season is out. Thank you to everyone who's listening. And we will see you all next time.