Here are a few things to remember when instituting a cross-cultural awareness program into your corporate relocation program. For a full account of information regarding this service visit our resource library.

Don't forget the family
Just as spouses should be involved in the assignment selection process, they should be involved in training for global assignments. Some experts estimate that nearly 80 percent of all failed global (international) assignments can be linked to the spouse's inability to adjust to the new environment. Each member of the family faces special issues in the expatriate environment that should be addressed.

Other cultural resources
Organizations should consider utilizing their returning expatriates for help with cultural awareness initiatives. Employees who have already completed similar assignments can act as subject matter experts (SMEs) to help new expatriates learn business customs and how to navigate foreign business circles. SMEs can also prove invaluable in helping new expatriates learn the hierarchy in companies with which they will be dealing. It's important to note, however, that companies should not rely solely on employees to provide guidance to new expatriates. Relying exclusively on veteran expatriates can be problematic if the guidance reinforces cultural stereotypes or results in the new expatriate adopting the predecessor's bad habits. While other international assignees have a role to play in helping newcomers adjust, they should not replace professional consultants/trainers.

Alternative views
Although cross-cultural awareness is important, some might argue that its importance is just a hyped up myth. In actuality, on average only 30 percent of American managers sent on international assignment lasting from one to five years receive any cross-cultural training. It can be argued that managing is simply "managing," so where it is done is irrelevant. Another point of view is that any type of short-term cultural training would be ineffective because people can't learn to work and live in a foreign culture after only a few days (or even a few weeks) of training. Others argue that an understanding of a country's culture is something people assimilate over many years based on personal experiences in that specific culture. Others will say that corporate culture takes precedence over country culture. For example, a local employee working for a "bullish" American firm in Thailand might show traits of aggressiveness and conflict, which are not traits normally associated with the Thai culture. These traits, however, may be common in the corporate company culture of the employee's organization, causing the Thai employee to act outside his or her normal cultural dimensions.

Nevertheless, in order to be successful, an expatriate must be comfortable with his or her staff, colleagues, clients and business atmosphere--regardless of location. Cultural specialists also agree that to be successful in dealing with people from other cultures, expatriates need knowledge about the cultural differences (and the similarities) among work locations. The global employee of today's business world can only benefit from gaining cultural awareness, either through direct training or personal experience, which would lead to greater professional effectiveness and company performance. Read more

If you would like more information about cross-cultural education and how it can be added to your international relocation package/program, please contact our corporate relocation consulting team.

The Worldwide ERC Foundation for Workforce Mobility and Thunderbird School of Management recently released findings from a study, which identifies the attributes that determine the "success potential" of an assignee during his/her international assignment. With a growing number of companies sending their employees on short-term assignments, this study may be highly valuable to those who are involved in the candidate selection process.

The study determined that much of the success rate is based on the assignee's ability to possess a "global mindset" -- which is defined as "individual attributes that enable an expat to successfully influence those who are different from him/her." The research points to three components that make up the global mindset, which includes, intellectual capital, psychological capital and social capital...read more.  

The five cultural dimensions (individualism vs. collectivism, power distance, uncertainty avoidance, masculinity vs. femininity, and time orientation) provides valuable insights into the cultural practices of different countries. This is the type of information that global relocation managers need in order to better understand cultural similarities and differences while on an international assignment. The ability to effectively communicate with people from all over the world is also key to a global manager's success. An expatriate will have to interact with all types of people in the assignment location, i.e. employees, customers, shareholders, regulators and vendors. Effective cross-cultural communication requires finding integrated solutions and compromises that allow decisions to be implemented by members of diverse cultures.

Cross-cultural training will provide relocating employees with a starting point for the preparation of working overseas or long distances, addressing cross-cultural communication and cross-cultural conflict resolution. For example, by knowing whether a society is individualistic or collective, an global manager would benefit by knowing what to do in cases of decision making, offering incentives or even scheduling meetings.

Knowing the cultural dimensions of the society he or she is working in, the expatriate will have a point of reference when investigating what to expect with respect to all management practices.

Depending on assignee needs, there are a variety of cross-cultural training programs available. Prices typically start at $1,500 to $3,500 for one to two day programs, and increase as the duration and complexity of the services increase. These costs are miniscule, however, when compared to the overall cost of a global relocation assignment, and could save your organization from absorbing the financial burden of a failed assignment due to the assignee's inability to adjust to his or her new location. Read more.

Over the past few years, a trend has developed with regards to the localization of expatriates. An increasing number of organizations are either adding localization as a new element to their global mobility program or expanding on existing policy and practices—the main driver of this trend is cost containment.

As a refresher—localization is the process when an employee is moved off of the expatriate package and integrated into the host country on local terms of employment.

What Triggers Localization
Localization is usually triggered by a pre-defined limit to assignment length, most commonly three to five years. It is best to proactively address this threshold either in a global assignment policy and/or in the expatriate’s letter of assignment. By communicating a location policy early on in the assignment process, an organization can reduce unplanned or ad-hoc localizations, reduce expatriate demands and negotiations, and reduce the overall “shock” factor to employees.

What Approach to Take
There are a few different approaches to recognize when managing localizations. The first and most common approach is a straight localization, which entails immediately eliminating all expatriate benefits, e.g. housing, COLA, home leave, etc., on the effective date of localization. To execute a straight localization, it is important that the organization has a clearly defined localization process, and re-communicates the process and policy to the expatriate as early as possible. Not surprisingly, moving from a full benefit package to no additional assistance can cause great strain on the employee, especially if they have family accompanying them on the assignment.

The second approach is to phase out the expatriate package over a pre-determined length of time. The transition over to a “local” package can take anywhere from six months to two years. For example, many companies continue to pay a reduced housing allowance for six to twelve months after the effective date of localization. Other provisions that tend to be phased out in exceptional cases include education assistance and home leave.

Another approach is the lump sum approach. This involves the expatriate immediately transferring to local employment. A lump sum payment, however, is offered to the employee to alleviate some of the financial strain of localization. The lump sum can be used to cover education costs of children, assist with home finding and purchase, or to ship household goods from the home country. A lump sum approach is ideal for organizations that like to remain flexible and give their employees the freedom to decide how they want to utilize the localization assistance.

The complex and rapidly changing socioeconomic and political climate in China, together with a massive shortage of skilled workers, makes human capital and global workforce development particularly challenging. As a follow-up to SIRVA's China Urban Index, released in 2006, SIRVA Relocation recently completed a study to address the lack of readily available relocation data and trending on mobility policy and practices in China. The results are documented in "The SIRVA China Mobility Report."

Thirty-seven leading global companies contributed to this unique SIRVA research initiative, the results of which have formed a valuable benchmark framework for human resources professionals to observe current key mobility policy and practices in China. This benchmark report on key findings and trends represents SIRVA Relocation's analysis of the most up-to-date data spanning seven industry sectors in both Tier 1 and Non-Tier 1 regions in China. 

Substantial differences in infrastructure and accessibility exist between Tier 1 and Non-Tier 1 regions, which companies must evaluate when creating policies to introduce employees to these varied conditions. 

Below is a check-list of key findings for this study.

Key Findings
Current Assignments: While all participating companies reported traditional international short- and long-term assignments, there is an emerging trend of new assignment types. Twenty-eight percent of companies have domestic short- and long-term and permanent one-way assignments and 33 percent of companies report permanent one-way moves into Tier 1 and Non-Tier 1 locations.

Emerging Trends and Associated Challenges: As companies in China look to expand their business with locally or regionally hired resources, rather than high-cost, international long-term assignments, it is anticipated that future permanent one-way assignments will increase more than any other assignment type. Companies have found permanent one-way assignments to be the most challenging, contradictory and controversial, making it difficult to establish a framework for policies and practices.

As a result, assignment terms and conditions are handled on a case-by-case basis due to lack of benchmarking data and experience among human resources professionals and global mobility managers. Consequently, inequalities are widening in remuneration packages as talent becomes more valuable, so new models will have to be developed to mirror evolution in emerging assignment types.

Domestic relocations are new to China. Like regionally hired permanent one-way moves, they are predicted to increase. These moves, which originate and conclude in China, are used predominantly in Non-Tier 1 cities where there is significant growth.

Cross-cultural Awareness: Most companies provide cross-cultural awareness programs to transferees: however, few companies currently enforce mandatory sessions. SIRVA expects more companies will emphasize cross-cultural training to ease the transition into Chinese culture and create an understanding of language and customs.

Assignment Administration Outsourcing: 70 percent of companies surveyed outsource assignee administration and between 86 and 92 percent outsource various assignee support services. However, companies outsource contract preparation and international compensation. SIRVA is witnessing an increased trend in companies consulting with external providers for mobility policy development due to a lack of available resources and global mobility expertise in-house.

Assignment Representation across Industries: The following graph provides a snapshot of industries and assignment types in Tier 1 and Non-Tier 1 locations. Click here to view the graph.

Of the surveyed companies, IT/telecom and petrochemical industries show the highest representations of assignee population in Tier 1, followed by manufacturing and pharmaceutical.  IT/telecom and petro-chemical industries also show the highest representations in Non-Tier 1 regions, followed by manufacturing and automotive.

The study also indicates the majority of assignments in Tier 1 and Non-Tier 1 regions are long-term and short-term assignments, followed by permanent one-way moves. 

For more information you can visit http://chinaindex.sirva.com/study.asp

The complex and rapidly changing socioeconomic and political climate in China, together with a massive shortage of skilled workers, makes human capital and global workforce development particularly challenging. As a follow-up to SIRVA's China Urban Index, released in 2006, SIRVA Relocation recently completed a study to address the lack of readily available relocation data and trending on mobility policy and practices in China. The results are documented in "The SIRVA China Mobility Report."

Thirty-seven leading global companies contributed to this unique SIRVA research initiative, the results of which have formed a valuable benchmark framework for human resources professionals to observe current key mobility policy and practices in China. This benchmark report on key findings and trends represents SIRVA Relocation's analysis of the most up-to-date data spanning seven industry sectors in both Tier 1 and Non-Tier 1 regions in China.

Substantial differences in infrastructure and accessibility exist between Tier 1 and Non-Tier 1 regions, which companies must evaluate when creating policies to introduce employees to these varied conditions.

Tier 1 includes major capital cities in China, which offer better infrastructure regarding health, housing, education, communication, access to facilities and security. Non-Tier 1 locations are generally four to six hours away from capital cities, some with very limited expatriate standard infrastructure, difficult environmental factors and obstacles relating to housing, education and health care. Beyond Tier 2 cities have minimal or no expatriate standard infrastructure in place.

Key findings of this study will be posted later this week.

What can companies do to leverage technology in order to reduce cost, increase accuracy, compliance and reporting capabilities in the global mobility space?

There are now technologies and best practices to help manage global mobility cost, data and compensation accrual for tax reporting and budgeting purposes, to allow for compliance, risk mitigation and financial planning. These are areas that are important to all companies but in the past have been a challenge to achieve in a complex global compensation and tax arena.

New specialist companies--with the latest technology--can provide companies with cost estimates and linking processes, which streamline reporting and reconciliation. They also track actual expenditures, including employee compensation and benefits. Tracking such expenses involves leveraging technology to effectively and accurately navigate through global compliance and regulatory issues, and linking reporting processes to create greater efficiencies.

New, sophisticated services and programs can streamline otherwise very labor-intensive reporting processes. In addition, they can provide customized reporting solutions on a faster, real-time basis while also reducing the rate of error. Providers exist for these purposes—to provide administrative, back-office payroll and financial reporting solutions on a global scale.

When evaluating what type of program is right for a company—whether it is payroll management, tax preparation or managing global compensation—executives should select ones that are compatible with multiple countries and multiple sets of payroll codes. 

Companies always struggle with tying together numbers at the end of year, but there should be ongoing, real-time reporting and analysis so that annual financials become merely just another step. Let the providers program do the work for you and provide effective, accurate data to your organization.

Accurately managing and measuring a company’s global mobility costs on a real-time basis is highly important and can increase in complexity as a company increases in size and expands its cross-border operations.

Many companies are behind the curve in managing financial reporting related to global mobility, which can require significant resources.  Assignee reimbursements, payments in kind, assignment cost estimates and compensation balance sheets are often processed manually with limited use of technology, and the resulting data isn’t usually captured fully, analyzed, and reported on.  As a result, companies could be opening themselves up to unintended compliance and data risk, as well as world-wide payroll reconciliation issues.

In the era of compliance and regulation, a company’s global mobility program is greatly affected by its ability to effectively manage compensation. Ideally, companies should be in a situation where they can control costs and manage payroll to do what it is intended to do on a world-wide basis—accurately pay and record salaries and all associated assignee benefits.
What can companies do to leverage technology in order to reduce cost, increase accuracy, compliance and reporting capabilities in the global mobility space?

Find out Monday as I post a follow-up to this discussion.

In recent years there has been a significant shift from companies sending their employees on long-term assignments to short-term assignments. A long-term assignment is typically a one to three year assignment, although some may last five years or longer. Short-term assignments are typically 3 to 12 months.

 

So why the shift? 

 

The most obvious reason is an attempt to control cost. Most short-term assignment policies have less generous benefits attached to them and they are often single status, so the view is that the cost is less. This is not always the case though, as the cost is highly dependent on tax complexities caused by the home and host country tax rules, and the individual’s income and personal situations.

 

Other less obvious reasons are that employees are turning down the opportunity to take a long-term assignment. They are turning them down because of the following reasons:

 

• Concerns about security and terrorism
• Dual career family issues
• Career re-entry issues on completion of an assignment

Security and terrorism concerns are higher on individual’s agendas than they used to be.  Employees do not want to expose their families to such risks, real or perceived.

 

A much larger percentage of families now have dual careers, so when one member is offered a career development opportunity overseas, it means the other member has to give up their own promising career. For both personal and financial reasons the option to take the assignment is less attractive.

 

The age old problem of re-entry to the home office after a lengthy assignment is still alive and well. An assignee comes back after three years and is faced with unfamiliar faces, values and yes, politics from when he left. Unless there has been some very good career planning the assignee will often be slotted into a position that lacks challenge compared to his overseas role.

 

Short-term assignments can be a good alternative solution to long-term assignments to avoid some of these issues. A short-term assignment means the employee can either go on single status or the spouse can take a sabbatical without damaging their own career. A shorter time out of the home office is less likely to impact the employee’s career opportunities.

 

Many companies have realized this and have come to terms with the concept of shorter assignments. Deciding if they are indeed less expensive is a future topic for discussion.

 

 

The Panel:

Paul Klemme
President
SIRVA Mortgage

Peggy Love
President & CEO
Full Circle International Relocations, Inc.

Kelly Reiss, CRP
Senior Vice President / General Manager,
Eastern Region / Global Supply Chain
SIRVA Relocation

Connie Swenson
Senior Vice President, Relocation and Referral Services
Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage / Arizona

Joseph K. Taylor, SCRP
Executive Vice President
Valuation Services, LLC

Kelly Reiss moderated today’s panel of mortgage, destination services, household goods shipment, and real estate supplier representatives.  The session gave clients the opportunity to speak directly with SIRVA’s suppliers, gain a better understanding of how the relocation supply chain operates, and hear a discussion of today’s real estate market from the supplier perspective.

 

The discussion began with new trends in the relocation industry.  Multiple suppliers cited declining markets as a significant trend emerging this year.  As Paul Klemme noted, the fourth quarter of 2007 ended with 108 U.S. markets identified as declining markets by Freddie Mac.  During the first quarter of 2008, this number has already risen to 205, and experts predict at least 100 more declining markets in the second quarter.  Additionally, the number of foreclosures on U.S. homes has risen dramatically in recent months.  The panel explained how lenders have reacted to the poor markets by decreasing the amount of overall lending and requiring higher down payments from home buyers.  As a result, the number of potential homebuyers has decreased, and relocating employees are having difficulty selling their homes.

 

While the real estate market lies outside of the suppliers’ control, the panel also discussed issues directly affected by suppliers, such as how they manage the quality of their services.  Several panel members emphasized the important role that employees play in ensuring consistently high quality.  For example, Connie Swenson explained that real estate agents use tactics such as designating certain specialists for SIRVA transferees.  If at any point the specialists lack the appropriate time to dedicate to SIRVA’s clients and transferees, realtors realize the importance of quickly hiring additional employees so quality does not suffer.  Adding to the idea that the quality of a supplier comes from its employees, Paul suggested that a company’s commitment to on-going training and pushing to make people better at what they do forms an essential element of a successful supplier.

 

Further discussions touched on other interesting topics such as overcoming a seller’s denial that they live in a declining market and the importance of securing a loan quickly in today’s economy.  In conclusion, Kelly requested that each supplier share one last piece of information with attendees; panelists final comments centered on the idea that clients, transferees, SIRVA, and every member of the supply chain must work together for a successful relocation.

Avrom Goldberg
Managing Director, Asia-Pacific and the Middle East
SIRVA Relocation

Lorraine Jennings
Manager, Consulting Services, Asia-Pacific and the Middle East
SIRVA Relocation

As Avrom Goldberg and Lorraine Jennings explained, it is important for relocation professionals to stay up-to-date on relocation trends in China because of the country’s power as regional and global economic engine.  For each of the past 30 years, China has demonstrated eight to 12 percent economic growth, and it is showing no signs of slowing down.  In order to provide attendees with valuable insights and analysis of the current relocation trends in this rising economic power, Avrom and Lorraine described the findings of the SIRVA’s China Mobility Report.  While Avrom and Lorraine could not summarize the entire 95-page report during the presentation, they shared highlights of their findings.

 

Increased demand for deployment to China, one trend discussed during the presentation, is expected to continue.  However, the sources of assignees selected for deployment are changing.  Traditionally, assignees to China came from Australia, Europe, the United Kingdom and the United States.  Recently, hiring has been more concentrated in Asia, with most assignees coming in the form of returning Chinese workers or locally hired foreigners.

 

Companies who continue to send assignees to China are using a variety of selection and planning processes that do not follow a pattern.  For example, pre-assignment visits ranged from a brief three days to a full week; some companies offer extensive cross-cultural training for assignees while others do not; certain companies assign mentors, some extend mentoring programs to leadership programs, and others offer no structured mentoring to assignees in China.  In these areas of their relocation programs, companies are not following a uniform trend, but rather they are doing what is in the best interest of their individual organizations.

 

On the other hand, companies are moving in the same direction in other areas of their programs.  For example, many companies are changing their philosophies of hardship allowances.  While 51% of companies offer hardship allowances across all assignments, many are developing new ideas of what places they consider “difficult.”  Avrom and Lorraine mentioned Shanghai and Beijing as places that recently necessitated hardship allowances, but may no longer justify as high of a level of compensation.  Furthermore, many companies are shifting from a host-based to a home-based approach for hardship allowance policies, which illustrates that companies are finding a home-based method more effective in China’s current economic framework.  

 

Regardless of which specific policies and programs companies decide are most useful when sending their employees on assignments to China, the companies within SIRVA’s study agreed on the obstacles that they must overcome.  They identified the following as the top-five human resources and mobility challenges they face when filling assignments in China:

 

• Creating effective policy frameworks for separate groups, such as locally hired foreigners or international new hires who are not full assignee
• Understanding, capturing and reporting the total cost of assignments to the company, including measuring the return on investment of the assignments
• Locating quality service providers in China with a strategic vision
• Developing a young workforce with global cultural competency
• Finding credible benchmarks for hardship allowances and housing data for assignments in China

 

The Panel:

 

Maura Carey, CRP

Vice President,

Strategic Accounts

SIRVA Relocation

 

Amy Carter

Global Supply Chain Manager

Intel Corp.

 

Peggy Love

President & CEO

Full Circle International

Relocations, Inc.

 

Sandy Palmer, SCRP

Manager, Corporate Relocation

Cargill, Inc.

 

While concrete, logistical items such as household goods shipments or home marketing assistance receive priority treatment in corporate relocation programs, for employees and their families, the “soft” transitional and settling-in services can make the difference between a successful and a failed relocation. As Maura Carey and her panel discussed, the complex process of relocation is hard on the entire family, not just the employee.

 

Relocating employees and their spouses want and arguably need several “touch points” during the relocation process, where they can receive assistance ranging from the concrete (locating daycare for small children) to the less tangible (ideas for helping teenagers adjust to their new surroundings). Companies can incorporate introductions to social and job networks, school assessments and recommendations, and specialty tours of shopping and cultural areas into their relocation programs in order to ease the family’s transition. Not only are such services relevant from a comfort standpoint, but they are also important from a business perspective. Effective destination services should increase transferee acceptance rates as well as provide a tangible, differentiated benefit for recruitment and employee development.

 

In order to illustrate some of the points made during the discussion, Sandy Palmer, manager of corporate relocation for Cargill Inc., reviewed a case study. During the last four months of 2007, Cargill conducted a Transition Support Services pilot program. One key finding was that transferees and their families unequivocally enjoyed and appreciated having someone to walk them through the settling-in process, check-in frequently and assist with the “soft” transition issues early in the assignment. Amy Carter, global supply chain manager for Intel, referred to the family’s first two weeks in the new location as the “Golden Window” of opportunity to make sure that they feel comfortable in the new surroundings. Failure to achieve this comfort can sour the entire assignment or even prevent the employee from accepting a future relocation assignment. Basic “niche” services such as stocking the refrigerator prior to the family’s arrival in the new home or getting the children involved in activities immediately can help the transition, Amy explained.

 

Building on the comments of the other panel members, Peggy Love, president and CEO of Full Circle International Relocation, Inc. asserted that destination services must involve two elements, local knowledge and a focus on the adjustment process for the family. Also, she emphasized the importance of customizing the transition program for each family because the success factors vary for each family’s situation.

 

Keeping in mind that Peggy cited family concerns as the biggest reason for an employee turning down an assignment, companies cannot overlook transition services when designing their corporate relocation programs. Even domestic transferees can receive tremendous help from a one to two day orientation in their new area.  When the employee and the family experience a smooth relocation transition, it not only mitigates stress and inconvenience, but it also allows the employee to focus more quickly on the reason for the relocation in the first place: the job.

 

What transition services are your transferees and assignees asking for to support their success in the new location?

Kathryn Cassidy

Vice President/General Manager, Global Assignment Services

SIRVA Relocation

 

Julian Yates

Vice President, Global Client Services

SIRVA Relocation

 

 

As its title illustrates, Julian and Kathryn’s presentation this morning explored the fundamentals of global relocation and the essential elements of a successful relocation.  After discussing the wide-ranging reasons for globalization itself—which range from a push for technology improvements to a desire to add diversity—Julian and Kathryn discussed why companies’ have the need to relocate employees internationally in the first place.  Many drivers of global relocation are similar to those for domestic relocation, such as relocating an employee to mange a special project.  As attendees learned, however, global relocations present new challenges not present in domestic relocations.

 

Relocating an employee and his or her family internationally simply creates more room for problems to arise.  As Julian and Kathryn explained, issues can stem from administrative tasks, such as obtaining visas and work permits, or from the many aspects of situating the transferee’s family in the new location, such as finding schools for the children or employment for the spouse.  Furthermore, relocating an employee globally versus domestically presents more cultural, financial and logistical concerns that the company must consider.  Despite the challenges of relocating employees internationally, Julian and Kathryn provided attendees with best practices that companies can use to ensure successful global relocations for their employees. 

 

Developing and maintaining a strong global relocation policy topped their list as the most important factor for successful global relocations.  In addition to employing a good policy as the foundation for an effective global relocation, Julian and Kathryn explained that careful candidate selection can improve the success of global relocations.  By screening possible candidates and selecting only adaptable, flexible people for global assignments, companies can avoid potential problems from the start.  Using benchmarks, performing cost estimates and analyses, using proven providers, and having a repatriation and reintegration plan were just a few of the additional best practices Julian and Kathryn gave attendees to keep in mind as they explore global relocation within their own companies.

 

What challenges has your company overcome in dealing with global relocations?

The Panel:

 

Tim Callahan

Senior Vice President,

Global Sales

SIRVA, Inc.

 

Cris Collie, CAE

Executive Vice President

Worldwide ERC

 

Paul Kinsinger

Clinical Professor of Business Intelligence

Thunderbird School of Global Management

 

Kathryn Cassidy

Vice President/General Manager,

Global Assignment Services

SIRVA Relocation

 

Andy Ironside

Global Head,

HR International Services

Deutsche Bank

 

Marita Stricklin

Director,

Relocation

Abbott

 

Before leading a panel discussion on the 2008 relocation industry outlook, Cris Collie introduced his own ideas on the topic.  Focusing on “what’s great and what’s not so great in ’08”, Cris discussed a number of factors affecting the relocation industry. He began with the housing market; Cris explained that although the media has dwelled on the poor state of the real estate market, not all markets have crashed. Furthermore, the relocation industry has the talent and skills to handle this market and must remain confident moving forward.

 

Cris also discussed today’s workforce, including the battle for acquiring workforce talent as well as the diversity of today’s four-generation workforce. While it can be difficult for companies to attract and retain talent, a lucrative relocation policy, such as one with home sale assistance, can play an important role in attracting new hires. Additionally, companies must consider the diversity within today’s workforce, which is comprised of traditionalists, baby boomers, Xs and Ys generations. Aspirations, sources of motivation, and personal characteristics vary dramatically among these generations. Companies must consider these differences when creating relocation policies in order to develop programs that will appeal to as well as be effective for their entire workforce. 

 

Additionally, Cris was adamant that we use our workforce to bring innovation into the industry and discover “what’s next?” for corporate relocation.  To illustrate his point, he cited a number of examples of missed opportunities that should have been logical next steps for companies.  For instance, why did IBM miss the chance to become Microsoft?  Why didn’t VISA or MasterCard invent PayPal?  How did NBC, CBS and ABC all fail to develop CNN?  The relocation industry must strive for innovation in order to avoid such mistakes and to grow.

 

Following further predictions and analysis of the factors affecting this year’s industry outlook, Cris opened up his discussion to an expert panel that was able to offer several valuable insights into the industry, especially from a global perspective. Of the challenges facing the relocation industry in the coming years, many stem from global events and trends. 

 

In countries with strong populations and with a seemingly endless potential workforce, such as India and China, growing pains continue. For example, as Andy noted, Deutsche Bank has experienced that 64% of new hires do not initially show up for work in India, creating a logistical nightmare. In China, where families are limited to one child by law, most children grow up without the experience of siblings or teamwork within a family. Paul pointed out that this leaves those workers less inclined towards collaboration, creating difficulties for companies who want to incorporate the Chinese into their team-oriented workforces. The panel also discussed how the supply of both low-cost manufacturing and service workers are running out in India and China, which Paul predicted will force Africa and the Middle East to join the global economy as resources for inexpensive labor. Also in relation to global mobility and the relocation industry, the panel touched upon such topics as using global relocation policy in a strategic role for business development, the effect of a possible U.S. recession on global mobility, and using more diligence in selecting global relocation suppliers.

 

In addition, the panel also provided attendees with insights into the relocation industry from a domestic standpoint, such as the high occurrence of loss-on-sale in today’s market.  As Tim noted, developing strict programs, such as those that require employees to use preferred brokers, can decrease the potential for loss-on-sale. 

 

What is your own projection for the 2008 relocation industry?

As a kick-off to my blog, A Closer Look at Global Relocation, I wanted to introduce myself and explain what I plan to discuss over the next couple months.

As a global relocation services leader, I am in contact with a variety of global mobility customers and providers on a day-to-day basis and I’ve found that there are some topics that seem to be of interest to most professionals whenever they relocate employees—be it the U.S., China or anywhere else in the world. Since I have been able to benchmark and study these highly relevant topics, I thought it would make the most sense to start this blog with some of this information. With that said, I will be initiating a discussion on barriers to assignment acceptance and how to overcome them, then I will be covering the latest trends in relocating to and within China and the true cost of an expatriate assignment, how to measure and track—all of which I feel will instigate a solid discussion on the challenges and barriers facing global mobility programs and introduce some best practices for overcoming these obstacles.

Are there any other topics that you feel would be relevant to cover? I am open to suggestions.