With a better grip on the Covid-19 pandemic, economies around the globe are springing back into action. The end of lockdown restrictions has also seen the lift of border restrictions and re-opening of many major airports; as a result, corporate relocation is once again becoming an important commodity with Fortune 1000 companies processing employee transfers. However, the perception of travel has changed drastically and corporate mobility programmes will have to adjust accordingly.
What Does This Mean for Global Businesses?
Employee experience and duty of care come at the very centre of any planned move. HR teams, global talent mobility specialists, and relocation & travel management companies are changing their strategy when it comes to employee experience (known as EX) focusing on safety, mental health and personalisation of corporate relocation and short term assignments.
Why Is It Important to Boost Morale and Keep Employees Happy?
Now, more than ever, companies are realising how crucial it is to retain their top talent.
Did you know that 78% of HR leaders are more concerned about talent shortage today than they were a year ago?[1] Couple this with the fact that it costs more to hire and train new talent than it does to find ways to retain valuable employees.
As we find stability in a world that’s been rocked to the core by the recent Covid crisis. HR forces have acknowledged that the focus of employee experience needs to be on helping staff members with a work-life balance and mental wellbeing, particularly in the context of corporate relocation. To keep business moving, we ought to keep employees at the centre of global mobility strategies and policy making.
What does this mean for mobile employees who need to leave their homes to work in a new country? It means that we need to change the way we move people.
Covid-19 has reminded businesses how important it is to put their people at the centre of their talent management strategies. And, global mobility and HR teams need to realise that international recruitment is more than just about moving people to a new destination and providing moving or tax support. The health, safety, and happiness of employees must form the foundation of every aspect of corporate relocation. Ultimately, the goal should be to deliver a seamless, stress-free, and safe relocation journey from the point when employees receive relocation packages to the time where employees are assisted with the integration into their new environments.
By making employees the central focus in every corporate move, we make them more open to expat assignments and international recruiters. This way, we can help to retain the talent that has become invaluable.
A majority of employees expect their employers to actively assist them with cash allowance, temporary housing, spouse and family support. How can companies and relocation experts assist in increasing employees support initiatives?
Planning Ahead
Often, companies neglect their relocation packages because they are intricate, time-consuming to deliver, and expensive. However, if you have a solid relocation strategy in place from the start – you are more likely to hold the attention of employees. A promising relocation package will also prompt top talent into working for you, making it a benefit that’s worth planning ahead for.
Spend time researching the top countries you are likely to recruit to so that you can help your travellers seamlessly settle into unfamiliar surrounds. Look for vendors such as moving companies, airlines, and accommodation specialists and put them through a strict verification process before you use their services. The more prepared you are when it comes to moving employees, the more centred, focused, and driven they will feel.
Open and Fair Negotiations
When it comes to creating a company culture that thrives, then “the door is always open” approach works best. Employees need to be heard, and when it comes to relocation packages, we suggest that you leave room for open and fair negotiations.
Unilever’s Approach
Unilever — a truly global company with its workforce of 155,000 employees — conducted a very extensive survey of their mobile workforce and created a dedicated collaborative tool called the Opinion Space when re-strategising their Mobile Programme. This allowed Unilever’s international population to contribute to the shaping of the company’s culture and vision for global talent mobility.
By involving employees in the planning procedure, companies are more likely to refine the moving process – so that all parties are left feeling satisfied. Consider allowance-based and lump sum type of relocations combined with clearly defined health and safety protocols and use of only verified vendors.
Creating Transparency and Openness within Cultures
Transparency should form part of the planning and negotiation process. Any surprises or lack of involvement in the process can be extremely distressing to employees who may already be upset about the prospect of moving.
Let employees know the details regarding the move, choice of temporary accommodation and your relocation policy from the onset. Be prepared to answer questions openly and do not hide information. Your failure to be transparent may be more off-putting than your answer, particularly to employees relocating with family.
Employee Health and Well-Being
In light of Covid-19, health standards around the world are at an all-time high. This means that companies have become more responsible for endorsing safe and healthy practices both within and out of the workplace. Make sure that you verify your vendors to ensure that they are duty of care compliant, clear, and transparent with their health and safety protocols.
You may also want to ensure that employees have access to a 24/7 emergency and support line, online guide to navigate the city and information about healthcare facilities when they arrive at their new destination.
Knowing the importance of employee experience, AltoVita has established its own central approach that ensures a seamless journey for corporate travellers. More than just a travel agent, we give companies and their staff the freedom to instantly book their own short and long-term verified accommodation as well as other services that can be used to refine the relocation process. Our Enterprise Solution, combining a cloud-based portfolio of duty of care compliant properties and a 3-tier quality control, is suitable for fully managed and lump sum relocation as well as corporate travel.
Curating & Automating Relocation Processes
AltoVita takes care of businesses by pre-vetting and verifying not only the vendors but also each property listed on our platform. This means that HR and global mobility teams do not have to do tedious investigations to ensure that the services they are going to make use of are compliant with new health and safety regulations and duty of care.
For example, we have partnered with a global baggage shipping company SendMyBag to minimise the hassle of moving excess baggage and avoiding crowds and queues at airports. Travellers can now simply book their luggage collection from home and set up a new delivery address abroad.
We as well help travellers with trusted transportation from the airport to their temporary accommodation in deeply sanitised vehicles. Our partners have enhanced their disinfection procedures and safety protocols to deliver a stress-free journey.
Ultimately, we have preselected all our vendors to ensure a duty of care and quality consistency. At the same time, we can also give employees choice and autonomy to customise accommodation and travel services.
Improving the Employee Experience: Focus on Lifestyle
We believe that employees should feel comfortable both at work and at home. When relocating, this comfort should remain consistent across all destinations – and that’s why we provide a curated list of travel and relocation services that make new adjustments as hassle-free as possible. From safe airport travel and temporary housing solutions to verified childcare, online doctors, and grocery deliveries ahead of arrival – we’ve thought of everything to make sure comfort is a key component of employee experience.
References:
[1] Dynamic Signal. The Best Employee Engagement Statistics You Should Know