K2 Advisory recently partnered with an organisation to review their well-established global mobility program.
Key Objectives:
- Review the global mobility (GM) offering and align with the overall HR and business objectives to ensure GM are best placed to support the company’s international growth strategy
- Reposition EMEA HR’s focus from a transactional to a more strategic approach
- Bring the GM programme up to date and ensure it is competitive in the market
- Develop the management tools and processes in order to enable GM to deliver efficiently
- Create a competitive advantage by attracting, developing and retaining the best people
Top 3 Challenges:
The GM structure was regionalised, with each region having its own processes, programme administration and point of control, making a globally consistent approach challenging.
Internal resource limitations within the GM function meant that whilst there was a strong intent to facilitate change, the people with the critical skills needed to develop the solution were in short supply and not readily available.
The changing profile of candidates and assignment types within the business meant that current policies needed to be reviewed to ensure they were fit for purpose.
By engaging an external partner and removing the resource barrier, GM could continue to serve the business whilst K2 focused on driving the project to deliver the team’s end goal. Next steps were to understand the brief, get to know the culture of the organisation and identify the key stakeholders.
A Strategic Solution:
Strategically aligned core with flexibility: We proposed a scalable solution which could be implemented in the EMEA region first; once embedded, it could then be adopted and rolled out regionally. We continually asked “Will this be relevant in the rest of the world?” and engaged across regions and stakeholders.
Smarter policies & packages: Policies and packages were reviewed to ensure they were competitive enough to incentivise potential candidates, as well as align more closely with the company’s growth plans, reduce admin and enhance flexibility.
Effective processes: Simple, compliant, clearly defined future state processes were mapped, resulting in the reassignment and centralisation of transactional elements of the programme. Ownership and accountability were clearly defined.
Clearer roles & responsibilities: Key points of responsibility were identified and accountabilities defined to ensure clarity for everyone involved in the mobility process.
Stakeholder Engagement: Communication and active engagement were key to bringing GM closer to the business. Training gaps were identified to ensure HR Business Partners were upskilled and equipped to deliver a seamless mobility experience to their assignees and business stakeholders.
Results:
Taking the time to really understand the client organisation and culture led to the building of a strong relationship with K2 that continues beyond the Advisory project.
Engaging enabled the GM team to continue with their day-to-day roles, while developing and implementing a future state framework. Timely communication and the implementation of competitive, fit-for-purpose mobility policies with defined move drivers helped to align and drive the talent agenda.
A scalable framework, reduced risk, increased compliance and an enhanced assignee experience made for a successful project. But ultimately, the real win is a happy, confident client who believes in their mobility programme, who values K2 as their trusted advisor, and whose GM function is recognised for delivering strategic value to the business.
