The Mobility Managers among our podcast listeners and blog readers will know: lists cannot be avoided in their profession. We mainly work with shared Excel documents or with relocation software, and many years ago we structured our data in such a way that we no longer have much work with it in daily business. It is only necessary to ensure that the information we give out to the expats is always up to date.
But what else is part of the daily bread of a mobility manager?
Welcome brochure!
If an expat comes to a new country, he or she will be asked exciting and challenging questions about immigration: customs in the destination country, finding accommodation, social security, family doctors and medical appointments, income tax, health insurance, and much more.
We have often discussed in our contributions the nature of the housing market in the big cities of the world: Amsterdam, Barcelona, Berlin, Vienna, and soon – it has become incredibly difficult to get apartments. In Amsterdam, for example, you won't even be considered for a waiting list without a good application portfolio.
All these cities usually have welcome brochures in the common languages. Also on www.moves.consulting.com we offer an always up-to-date Welcome Guide for download. In most cases, our clients are referred to us by the employer's Mobility Management department, whereupon Moves Consulting becomes the main point of contact for questions relating to immigration and settlement .
Mobility Policy
A mobility policy makes sense as soon as a company has a certain number of new employees from abroad who include occupational fields as well as hierarchical levels in different categories and are so many that an individual handling and contractual agreement no longer works. Moreover, it could cause unrest and resentment among the workforce.
A mobility policy ensures equality, equivalence and structure when it comes to relocation packages, salary classes to which the corresponding benefits can be compared. Loss of purchasing power is also taken into account here if, for example, a posting leads to a country in which the previous salary cannot achieve an equivalent standard of living as in the home country.
Creating a mobility policy and integrating all components requires experience in mobility management and time. Not infrequently, it takes up to 1 year to complete a viable solution.
Depending on the size and experience of the employer, there are sophisticated onboarding processes. There are companies that send future team members of the expatriate to the airport to welcome the new employee. However, there are also companies that, from the point of view of the new employee, do not satisfactorily take care of the newly arrived key employees – there was a recent case where the specialist in question said goodbye after a few weeks in the new country because he felt left alone.
Moves Consulting contacted the HR department of the company concerned in order to work through the unfortunate situation, which unfortunately could not prevent the dismissal of the employee in this case.
There are different reasons why employees switch to another employer shortly after onboarding – in our experience, it often has to do with social coldness felt by people who come from countries with a high level of social skills. The employment via remote intensifies the problem, because the personal impression of the working atmosphere is eliminated.
With regard to this problem, Moves Consulting offers a "buddy program" to support companies in "social onboarding": under the framework conditions of the company, the new employee is provided with a "buddy", i.e. a specialist already working for the company, in order to facilitate the arrival in the new country.
The programme is successful from our point of view, but we would like employers to be more aware of the social coldness factor.
As a management consultancy, Moves Consulting Mobility develops strategies for successful onboarding.
Would you like to learn more about the Buddy Programme or are you looking for support in developing your mobility strategy? You can reach us here: office@moves-consulting.com