Global Relocation: A Minefield of Issues

How Can Organizations Be Better Prepared?

Global relocation and assignments. Just those words can send shivers down the spine of even the most prepared and experienced relocation professionals. It means entering a world of visa waivers, currency conversions, and trying to make plans with people half a world away.

As more and more organizations are getting involved in the global marketplace, even smaller organizations are feeling the pinch of global compliance. Whether a couple of moves or hundreds, temporary or permanent assignments, compliance is still an issue any organization has to face.

Taking Stock of Global Mobility

Given the rapidly changing regulatory environment for global relocations, it’s definitely something you don’t want to do alone. Here’s what you should consider as you’re looking at global relocation challenges:

• Countries and culture: Take stock of the countries where you need to relocate employees. Beyond the compliance challenges, there may be specific cultural challenges to take into account as employees move to completely foreign locales. Language barriers can create the biggest initial challenge to any global relocation.
• Long term vs. short term: Most assume that short-term relocations and assignments are significantly easier, and that’s usually true. However, there can be nearly as many steps to go through for an eight-week assignment as there are for an assignment that lasts a year or longer. It all depends on the organization. 
• Safety and security: In certain areas or relocation situations, the safety and security of the employee may be a top priority. You never want an assignee in trouble, and working with an organization that’s aware of the situation on the ground is critical to making sure your people are safe and secure.

Looking Ahead

Global mobility isn’t going to become less challenging in the coming years. As events like Brexit show, the global relocation landscape can change in an instant.

It’s up to organizations to mitigate and manage their risk effectively for global relocation. The need for global mobility won’t be reduced anytime soon, so the better organizations understand and keep up with challenges, the better prepared they will be to deal with new and existing risks.