Our thought leaders are always on top of the latest industry trends and use their subject matter expertise throughout our fast paced and growing industry. From speaking at conferences, to hosting roundtables, to contributing to industry publications, our colleagues are frequently called upon around the globe to contribute and help shape conversations around industry hot topics. And we want to share our knowledge with you, in an effort to propel mobility together!
In this post, Laura Levenson, Global Practice Leader from our Advisory Services group discusses why you should incorporate diversity and inclusion practices into your global mobility planning and policies. Laura will be speaking on this topic during the upcoming CERC Future-Proofing Mobility Conference on Monday, September 16th from 2-3:00pm alongside, Doriana Zohil, The MAC Group; Rukhsana Syed, IBM; and Audrea J. Golding, Fragomen (Canada).
Incorporating Your Diversity & Inclusion Policies in Global Mobility Planning
Today’s workforce is increasingly diverse and the unique needs of employees going on long term international assignments have changed significantly. Yet, many companies have not updated their relocation policies to address these diverse needs. Often, policies are still designed to manage the relocation of a traditional nuclear family to destinations where they may easily adapt. However, today’s mobile employee population includes households of same-sex partners, unmarried heads of household, and family members with special educational needs and abilities, all needing non-traditional support to sustain and thrive on an international transfer or assignment.
Best-in-class employers should lead the way in both identifying and addressing the changing needs of their mobile workforce. By extension, global mobility professionals must ensure that there is alignment between the company’s broad inclusive strategy and their global mobility relocation policies by incorporating diversity and inclusion concepts into all areas of global mobility planning, including potential legal, cultural, or physical barriers that both affect and potentially impede employees from global mobility opportunities.
Traditional policies and benefits can inherently discourage diverse employees from seeking to undertake overseas assignments. For example traditional (and commonly included) benefits such as educational assistance, home leave, and family settling-in assistance are typically structured for families with children who are able to attend local or mainstream international schools, and trailing spouses who are female. Moreover, in many cases, programs designed to support accompanying spouse/partners traditionally focus on job or career enhancement, when careers and jobs may not even be possible for accompanying partners due to local labor laws, even in cases of legally recognized marriages in both the home and host country.
To hear more from Laura on how you can address inclusion and diversity challenges in your mobility program make sure to attend her session during CERC’s Future-Proofing Mobility Conference, on Monday, September 16 from 2-3:00pm titled, Meeting the Evolving Needs of Today’s Expat: Incorporating Diversity & Inclusion Policies in Global Mobility Planning. Not attending CERC? Stay tuned to this blog, where we will recap some of the highlights of Laura’s session after the conference.
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