Organisations will need to consider how they record assignees’ progress, shortfalls, and required capability development against their expectations of assignment outcomes. It is always important to remember that what gets measured gets done and so effort must be made to record, monitor and take steps to improve aspects of performance as part of the scope of PM but also to attempt to track and measure ROI. While cost projections and actual expenses incurred
can be recorded and some outcomes compared with these, traditional ROI approaches may be found to be lacking. This does not preclude the need to cost out an assignment but a direct financial return may simply not be the most relevant measure of assignment success.
ROI INDICATORS A number of indicators, other than direct relocation and salary costs, can be considered to link PM outcomes with ROI. Assignment planning can include career pathing
schemes which set out career development and growth pathways for high performance individuals. Such career paths typically include global mobility. The impact of such schemes on career development for employees can make a difference to employee retention. While this has an obvious impact on reducing the direct costs of labour turnover, it can also affect employee engagement and morale positively and lead to higher performance and productivity. Assignee selection is another area that should be
considered within the scope of linking PM to ROI. Programmes that widen the diversity of the assignee profile can bring a wide range of business benefits to the organisation. The business case for diversity is strong in that it widens the base of ideas and approaches that can be taken in conducting business, has a positive effect on the employer brand, and also helps to attract a wider range of talent. Training and development programmes are integral
to the principles of PM. Assessing the benefits in the widest sense is important, rather than only focusing on programme costs.
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The administration of global mobility policies also
has an effect on ROI. As organisations attempt to provide greater flexibility tailored to business need and improve the assignee experience, so greater efficiencies are required to manage the programmes. The increasing use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in global mobility will help to improve ROI statistics. AI can enable an efficient but highly flexible approach to the delivery of compensation and benefits as well as detailed and accurate reporting. Successful repatriation and post-assignment retention
are a critical part of PM and for helping to determine ROI. Given the trend towards using international assignments for knowledge transfer and management development purposes, supporting the re-entry and retention of repatriates is crucial for organisations to benefit from international staff transfers in the long term. Repatriates share the knowledge that they acquire during their assignments and also continue to access relevant knowledge from the host unit, facilitating ongoing cross-unit organisational knowledge flows – a critical strategic issue.
EMPLOYER ACTIONS To follow principles of PM and to attempt to measure the ROI outcomes at the level of the individual assignment is not an easy task. Notwithstanding this, there are a number of actions that employers can take to help to raise performance amongst their international assignees. This is not prescriptive or all-encompassing list but the following suggestions can potentially assist with improving assignee productivity and achieving high performance. Successful PM rests upon excellent communications.
Assignees must be included in organisational communications on an ongoing basis. The “out of sight, out of mind” syndrome commonly associated with expatriation cannot be allowed to prevail. Most importantly as high performance must be connected with the strategic level, assignees must understand current and changing strategic priorities. The principles of PM include continual learning and development. There needs to be a constant watch
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