AWARDS
HR TEAM OF THE YEAR
Sponsored by
Grant Thornton Talent Mobility Team D
emonstrating outstanding leadership and excellence in relocation that inspires others, the Grant Thornton Talent Mobility Team won the HR Team of the
Year award for developing and leading a world-class global mobility programme. The team’s passionate and business-focused approach to its
mobility programme caught the judges’ eye for its responsiveness to key organisation and individual needs. Led by Susan Gregory, and with Andy McSkimming and Alex
Webster on board, the team canvassed the views of the UK tax, assurance and advisory business’s 400 trainees and newly qualified accountants and their managers around international assignments. The objectives were to test assumptions and more fully explore individuals’ and managers’ views and business goals. By proactively addressing the link between talent and
mobility for the millennial generation, the team has successfully demonstrated the mobility function’s valuable role in talent attraction, management and retention in these cost-conscious, resource-tight times. Susan Gregory’s outstanding leadership in building a dialogue
and mutual understanding across Grant Thornton has enabled the team to add additional value to the business and its employees in a highly competitive sector. The development of strategic talent exchanges is helping
people gain employability through international experience, and facilitating knowledge transfer across the international business to meet local needs. Throughout the process, the team’s care, dedication and
focus have enabled it to garner support and interest from across the company. Commenting on the Re:locate Awards win, Grant Thornton’s chief executive, Sacha Romanovitch, said, “I have been very proud of how the team, under Susan Gregory‘s leadership, have shaped a vision and worked so well with our global colleagues to move us from the purely tactical towards the strategic, and it’s fab to see it being recognised externally.”
Theory into practice Scoring particularly highly for the people management aspect of the HR Team of the Year award, the team’s ultimate aim was, says Susan Gregory, “to improve our understanding of our employees’ views, motivations and preferences on mobility in the context of generational and talent trends, and the business’s needs”. Speaking of the survey’s rationale, Ms Gregory explains,
“It can be very easy for people in a technical role to tell the company what it needs. We hear in HR about all the latest cutting-edge ideas, but sometimes these aren’t right for your business. I wanted to test assumptions and hear about what kept people awake at night.” The process brought managers and employees together in
a conversation to find practical mobility solutions that met the requirements of all stakeholders. “We carried out the survey because I thought I knew what
the answers were and I wanted to validate my assumptions,” says Susan Gregory. “There was a lot of noise being made around the millennial generation and what they wanted as being somehow different to previous generations. “Actually, our assumptions were about right – almost. There
does seem to be a greater interest than before in mobility and in working overseas. So I wanted to make sure we knew what the issues were from every side – for the business, for the employees, and from a mobility perspective.”
Linking mobility and retention Bearing out external research, Grant Thornton’s internal survey showed that overwhelmingly, yes, people wanted to go on assignment, with short-term assignments preferred to longer-term assignments because of family ties and relationships. “Our survey showed us that 70 to 80 per cent would like to go on assignment overseas,” explains Susan Gregory. “Realistically,
38 | Re:locate | Summer 2016
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