There are plenty of good reasons for multinational organisations to send their best and brightest overseas for short or long term assignments. As well as getting people who are experienced in both their particular field and the organisational culture to help develop overseas projects, the experience can provide a rich learning environment that can help hone a potential leader's skills and judgement. In this way, the expatriate assignment can be a real investment in future talent development.
Interestingly, employees considering international assignments look for that same outcome. They want to know their experience will be a learning one, and not just the same old desk in a new country. Unlike years gone past, most employees now look enthusiastically toward expatriate postings as a unique and effective career development tool.
Given this match between employer needs and employee wants, it might be fair to guess expatriate relocations took place far more than reality allows. But the problem is there is a mismatch between the numbers of staff looking to make that international move and the number of real opportunities available, particularly in the current economic climate.
Still, researchers say there are some things employers can do to bridge the gap.
What employees want
Employee mobility is a relatively new term in the HR lexicon. Traditionally, staff enjoyed the stability of a single office and role but globalisation has expanded their wants and demands significantly. Now, they are not only just content to accept overseas positions as dictated by their employer, but many specifically seek them out.
The phenomenon is taking place around the world, according to the Managing Mobility survey by Alexander Mann, a HR consultancy. It indicates that the desire for mobility, and opportunities to satisfy that need, is now a real and important factor that staff use to weigh up employment offers. The survey presentation says employers need to therefore revisit their employment offer.
Like it or not, the desire for mobility matters, it says. If companies can't satisfy it, those highly intelligent, well qualified, and ambitious individuals that seek it, will leave.
The survey reveals around half of all workers would be more likely to consider job offers from organisations that offer and encourage regional or international moves as part of their corporate culture. That's not just based on hypothetical questions - a similar percentage admit to having already changed jobs in the past three years, in part for that very reason.
Still few are actually embarking on the assignments they wish for. Just 13% of the 1400 senior level employees surveyed felt that their companies encouraged international moves. Only 23% believed such positions or projects were even available.
Indeed, the overall perception of support for any kind of mobility - departmental, regional or international - appears to be low among respondents.
What drives?
There are a number of reasons behind the new push for increased career mobility, but they're not necessarily the ones you might expect. To be fair, overseas assignments are still looked on as having higher earning potential, and this is one of the key drivers accelerating employee desire for mobility. But it's not the biggest incentive.
Survey respondents felt that the quality of the experience on offer, the responsibility and the opportunity for both career and personal development was more important than any extra cash.
In addition to developing their résumés (67%), workers also look for the opportunity to explore and experience new cultures (55%). Specific career progression and personal development rated slightly lower (46% and 45% respectively) in the survey rankings.
The case at home
The Managing Mobility survey provides an international snapshot, but don't think its conclusions don't apply in Singapore - the reality is far from it. In fact, Singapore workers are among the most enthusiastic demanders of mobility opportunities.
More than four out of five Singapore professionals are interested in a new international move, the survey found. And while they are also more likely to get what they want in Singapore than the rest of the world, the gap is still significant. The survey found 40% of workers had not had opportunity to move work locations over the past three years.
Alison Baird, Client Director of Asia-Pacific at Alexander Mann Solutions, says this is something local employers need to look carefully at. It is evident that employees want fresh challenges and opportunities for mobility in their careers, and 84% of those surveyed in Singapore have reflected this desire, she says. International jobs are given much (more value, with global experience (being recognised.
She advises local companies to consider expanding their international opportuinities in response. This would not just be an important business decision, it would also serve as a useful retention tool and differentiator in the employment market. Such placement opportunities aren't always available for employees, and in Singapore, we see a result of 40% having had no experience of mobility in the past 3 years. With a gap between 'supply and demand', organisations face losing their top talent to competitors who can provide global career experience.
But Americans appear happy there
If Singapore workers are among the most keen to travel, their American cousins are at the opposite end of the spectrum. The Managing Mobility survey found North American professionals were least likely to demand an international, or even a regional, move. The survey found that if given the opportunity, only 40% of US workers would take up a similar position in an overseas locale. Most of them would prefer to stay within their immediate region. That compares to 49% in Singapore, 47% in Hong Kong and 43% in Australia.
The survey found the statistics were not evenly spread across industries. Professionals in segments such as resources, exploration and mining were more significantly more likely to consider mobility a positive opportunity.
What does it cost?
It's all very well to highlight the gap between mobility demands and employer opportunities, but is it something employers can realistically address? It's obviously difficult to simply create overseas opportunities just to keep senior staff members happy and engaged. And nobody wants to be tempted by positions that never actually eventuate.
The need to reign in costs becomes even more vital and apparent in the current economic downturn. Baird advises companies to maintain their existing international programmes but to also ensure they are effective, targeted and deliver the things wanted by those select few employees who are offered them.
The high cost of international relocation means organisations need to tightly target these limited opportunities to their top talent and revenue generators, she says. What's more, any international mobility experience offered to top talent needs to be positive. The entire process must be well supported to ensure their transition is accomplished with ease, that performance can be maintained, and that confidence is maintained for the duration of the assignment.
She says failing to invest in employee mobility now, could result in a staff brain drain during the eventual recovery. As new opportunities open up, staff who see no future mobility in their current organisation may become more willing to consider opportunities with other employers. Likewise, it will be those organisations that developed, or at least maintained, their international programs during the downturn, that could most benefit from such departures.
