INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE
Project Daniel, Mick Ebeling
Mick Ebeling, Not Impossible Labs
a new country or region. Corporate benchmarking is always popular among the HR audience, and, for suppliers, this year saw a new initiative whereby knowledge gleaned at the HR global mobility think-tank-style roundtable discussions attended by 200 corporate members were shared with suppliers the next day, to enable them to support their clients in an informed way. Jim Carroll, of the WestRock Company, which moves 350
domestic relocatees and 50–70 international assignees per year, led the benchmarking feedback session with humour, energy and a sense of commitment to this new sharing approach. To those outside the global mobility sector, the reasons for
barriers in the sharing of information have been a mystery. In sectors like engineering, construction, energy and pharmaceuticals, suppliers are very much seen as part of the team, with a ‘we are all in this together’ approach that is fundamental to solving problems and facing challenges. As this is a sector that shows every sign of continuing to outsource,
with WERC reflecting the drive for mobility professionals to be strategic partners at the decision-making table, this can only be a good thing. Topics of concern were no surprise, with immigration and
compliance featuring strongly. Of course, there are no definitive answers to ‘how do you educate business partners when you feel the advice you are giving is part of the roadblock?’ Pondering how to be more strategic, Jim Carroll threw down
the challenge to suppliers to help in providing the roadmap. “We don’t necessarily know it all,” he explained, “but we have to figure out how to get it done.” The conversation flagged up that assignees’ needs were also changing, with employees pushing for flexibility. For example,
some now needed four visits home, to take care of ailing parents. There were also lots of split families. Flexible policies allowed the business to pick different tiers
and be flexible to the employee. Employees could select what was important to them, whether they wanted four home leaves or had lots of goods to shift. Now, if two people were going, they might both get a half package. Of course, things vary from company to company, and from
industry sector to industry sector. However, there was a strong feeling from the corporates that, in reality, we lived in the world of core-flex and if we couldn’t be flexible, then the project, talent initiative or assignment wasn’t going to fly. Clients knew this made life difficult for suppliers, but that was the reality. The suppliers needed the same mindset as the client, it was felt.
There shouldn’t be a fear of lump-sum arrangements. In general, corporates didn’t introduce these to save money, but rather to cut down on exceptions. However, it was clearly possible to manage some parts of lump sum. “Suppliers are trusted partners” Jim Carroll said, “You [vendors]
are extensions of us. But we really can’t feel guilty about making the supplier’s life difficult. We have to align with objectives of our
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