The forces driving the mobility industry are evolving at a blistering speed, and keeping on top of these trends can feel overwhelming when you’re already weighed down by your own day-to-day demands. And yet, to manage a relocation program that is compliant, competitive, and effective, you need to know what other key players are doing to respond to the shifting needs of today’s workforce.
What’s a mobility pro to do?!
Fear not; you’re not in this alone. Mobility is an incredibly collaborative industry with a deep spirit of knowledge sharing, and our in-house experts are always eager to share their insight on the new and noteworthy changes to how we’re all making work happen. To help you stay on track, I was glad to join two of our mobility intel heavy hitters for a much-needed mid-year check-in.
With Advisory Practice Leader Gina Grover and Weichert’s EVP of Talent Development and Employee Engagement, Chris Brunone, by my side, we explored what’s happening in the global workforce based on our conversations with our clients and team members. And we cast our predictions for what we expect to change as the second half of 2023 unfurls.
Here are the TOP 7 TRENDS we unveiled:
The workforce has become even more elastic.
And this is not just in terms of where we work (remote vs. hybrid work structures), but also career-wise! With tech evolutions leading to a pronounced focus on AI/machine learning, new roles are surfacing, making way for new career paths. Younger generations of talent are more likely than generations before them to have multiple roles across many different industries throughout their professional career. These factors (and others) are changing how companies engage their workforce and plan for their development.
Employees are looking to employers to help build their resumes.
The most sought-after skills look starkly different from what they did a few years ago; employees are hungry to upskill to stay relevant and look squarely at their employers to provide them with opportunities to do so!
Companies are all about their ESG goals.
Right now, DEI, sustainability and wellness are ranking high on the priority list (and that’s a big win)! The values of companies and those they employ are reaching a critical alignment, helping these employers retain their valued talent.
The demographics of the mobile population are shifting.
Gen Z is a highly mobile population in hot pursuit of opportunities to develop personally and professionally. In fact, 64% of GenZers say that travel is a top or high priority for them this year, particularly given the lifting of most Covid-related travel restrictions.
Employees Are Still Resisting the Return to the Office
Despite the cooling of the war for talent, employees still resist returning to the office! While most companies have landed on variations of a hybrid office environment – mandating 2-3 in-office days – the tolerance for any commute is considerably lower than pre-covid, and employees just aren’t willing to waste time white-knuckling their steering wheel in rush-hour frustration, even if it’s only a few days a week.
Employers Require Mobility to Develop Leadership and Support Growth
Mobility throws you into another world — it stretches your worldview, comfort zone, and relationship-building skills. That stretching is necessary to grow as an agile, adaptive leader! Most notably, mobility opportunities teach resilience, a top-coveted skill by employers right now. Innovative companies will leverage mobility to help build robust leadership pipelines – particularly as many C-suite leaders approach retirement age.
Organizational priorities will continue to shape mobility.
We’ve seen the number of tiers in programs continue to increase, but even more notable is the spike in the number of types of programs, which is a direct response to shifting business needs. Also of note is that these business needs are – now, more than ever – aligning closely to employee values, and the emergence of flexible policy types is reflective of this. We’re seeing many companies talk more about domestic temporary assignments to appeal to employees eager for developmental experiences or reluctant to accept a long-term or international opportunity.
Are you keen to see what our experts had to say about these mid-year trends? Catch the full webinar here:
It’s an exciting time to be in mobility, and we are happy to have you along for the ride as we delve deeper into each of these prevailing mobility trends in the months ahead. Watch this space, and if you have any questions in the meantime, you know we love to chat!
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