So how can HR departments adapt their global mobility strategies to make such assignments more attractive to Gen Y and millennials entering the workforce, and resolve the startling mismatch between where companies want to expand and where staff want to be located?
HR magazine asked two industry experts for their views. Today Sophie Cecil, group HR director, New Directions Holdings, gives her opinion.
"The PwC report predicts there will be a 50% increase in the next 10 years in the number of workers taking on foreign assignments, as businesses start to think about talent from a global perspective. However, the current mismatch is a cause for concern.
If growth is to be achieved around the world, there will need to be new strategies to match the right talent with the right locations. The report says virtual mobility, long-distance commuting and project-based work are set to become the norm, and relocation periods of the standard three or four years are becoming far less common. In fact, many types of global mobility today don't even require a physical relocation.
This is where the real opportunities are for businesses. With the right technology investment, UK staff can work with Chinese colleagues using virtual conferencing, online collaboration and mobile technologies, without needing to relocate. That's why technology will remain the most significant driver in the way we do business across the globe, and accurate deployment is a huge facilitator for effective working practices.
For those assignments where physical relocation is required, employers must understand their staff's motivations and position packages accordingly, offering the right benefits, progression, training and reintegration processes upon return.
One concern for those considering relocation is that they will lose their role in their home country, so a structured and accelerated development and progression plan for those who show flexibility is a great way to turn a negative into a benefit. Job offers should also come with attractive compensation, holiday entitlement and travel assistance.
The challenge is certainly not an insurmountable one."
