Why are stakeholders important in global mobility?

It might be tempting for a global mobility team, particularly one that is experienced in moving people across the world, to operate somewhat on its own mandate. The world of global mobility is complicated enough – and adding more input and opinions can feel counter intuitive. When the global mobility programme is running smoothly, why would you risk changing anything? 

The benefit of wider consultation 

 Put simply, getting input and perspective from others is essential if you want your mobility programme to continue to run smoothly, with the full support of the wider business. Why? 

• Others in the business will have a different view of the business to you. 
• They may be privy to information that you do not yet have. 
• They may have certain requirements in how they operate that have a knock-on effect for you, if you do not adhere to them. 
• They may have different areas of expertise to you – for example HR and legal teams knowing the right questions to ask from an employment law perspective to protect both the mover and the business. 
• Diversity of thought – others may be able to offer input by coming at issues from a different perspective, based on their knowledge and experience of the business. 

So, who are the stakeholders in this context? There are the obvious ones – leadership, business heads, HR and finance and of course the relocating employees themselves – but what about the ones that don’t immediately spring to mind – vendors, clients, tax authorities? 

The importance of securing support - and from whom?

Senior leadership 

Buy-in from senior leadership is key to ensuring that global mobility is aligned with and can support broad business objectives. If the company is thinking about expanding into Asia, having advance notice of this from leadership (or better still being included in the conversations!) will be essential so that the mobility team can start planning and managing expectations. This could be around lead times for work permits and entity set up, as well as the potential “hidden” costs of employing people in the new locations – higher social security costs and other mandatory employment rights and benefits can significantly impact on budgets. 

Advance notice and planning can often manage such costs and have an impact on the viability of operations in new locations. 

HR 

HR involvement is critical to ensure that moves are aligned with talent strategy. If there is a focus on DE&I for example, it will be helpful for the mobility team to know about this so that they can plan around this – looking at whether policies need to be reviewed to better accommodate movers with disabilities or looking at what countries will welcome same sex couples. HR will likely lead on succession planning and leadership development and for a mobility team to be involved early in planning of moves is far preferable to finding out about the move at the last minute. 

Finance 

Finance teams will want to ensure that costs are budgeted for, and cash flow is managed well in advance of a move. They will need to be aware of any withholding requirements for movers, as well as the frequency of payments required. They will also need to ensure payments are made to local taxing jurisdictions on time and costs and allocated to the appropriate cost centres.  Finding out halfway through an assignment that withholding should have been operated from day one, or that there is no budget set aside for a tax gross up in the host location is not ideal. It will also be important for them to track elements such as tax refunds that are due back to the company as these are sometimes not repaid by the taxing authorities until way beyond the completion of the move; in some cases, the delay can be over 12 months. 

Business unit leaders 

Business leaders will be concerned with the output or business results from the employee.  For example, it is better for you to know that their role, although based in Thailand, actually covers multiple locations in Southeast Asia. That way you can ensure the correct vendors are set up so that the individual is not distracted from carrying out their role by worrying about tax and accommodation logistics. It will reflect well on you as a team if you are seen to be helping to set employees up for success. 

The employees! 

The employees themselves are stakeholders of course. You want moves to be smooth and as easy as possible for them. How will you know what is important to them if you don’t ask for their input? They might really need more support with integration locally or may have specific needs around education for one of their children. Not every move needs to be bespoke– but don’t make assumptions about the experience or needs of the individuals.  

From venders and suppliers 

Vendors and suppliers might be able to support you with suggesting easier ways to get things done. They will probably have expertise that you might not have, so get their input and help. 

The actions you might take 

As with many things, being proactive and therefore actively thinking about what might be important or key for others will allow you to flex your approach to ensure that overall, everyone benefits. It is easy to assume that you know the answers – but what worked for one move might not necessarily work for another, so ask questions and involve stakeholders early. 

Communication between you and stakeholders will be key. Keep them in the loop and craft messages appropriate to each stakeholder – what you communicate to HR will be different to what you send to finance. 

And remember – it is a two-way street. Your stakeholders might not be aware of the need for cultural integration – or may not be aware of how different teams work in different locations. Ask them what they need from you as well as explaining what you can offer – and use data and evidence to support. 

Overall, between you all, you have a common goal to support and drive the business – so don’t operate in a silo, be happy to take feedback and be accountable for what you agree to do.