August 9, 2022
At ReloQuest, we feel that the expertise, innovation, and exceptional achievements of leaders in the Mobility Industry offer valuable information which provides learning opportunities. So we created the Learning Through Leadership blog as a resource to mentor Global Mobility professionals and support our industry through communication and awareness. The leaders who volunteer their time do so as philanthropic contributions to the people in our industry.
Joleen Lauffer, CRP, GMS, President of Aires, has spent over 25 years in global mobility focusing on customer experiences and innovation. ReloQuest is delighted to feature Joleen in this edition of Learning through Leadership.
Name a few ways you believe companies will have to adapt to retain top talent. How can they best align their mobility practices to improve the employees’ experience?
The “great resignation” and job reshuffle has led to many members of the workforce changing positions. The desire to attract and retain top talent affects us both in our service to clients as well as in our role as an employer. I’ve read many articles recently on this topic, and the theme seems to be that companies may be painting an ideal picture to attract talent, resulting in employees that have been either surprised by their new position or regret their decision to change altogether. Nonetheless, the clear message is that employees expect more from their companies in order to stay with them.
Flexibility seems to be the number one factor in retaining talent. The pandemic made remote work the standard, and as lockdowns and other requirements have relaxed, the ability to work remotely and flex schedules to accommodate personal needs is common. As part of this trend, many of our client’s employees are asking to work from a location other than their homes. This raises tracking/tax compliance issues for companies. The business travel tracking tools that mobility companies provide have expanded to include tracking for these scenarios, as we continue to see the accountability for this function find a home with talent management and global mobility teams.
We are also noticing an increase in employee-initiated relocations, where the employee asks to be moved rather than the move being company driven. Companies are more frequently considering at least some level of support in these cases as part of their talent and retention strategies, typically handling them through a flexible package or lump sum at a lower overall benefit level than a traditional company-initiated move.
One other important thing to note – in this war for talent, it is important to ensure that mobility policies are aligned with the company’s talent strategy. Cuts in a benefits package design can lead to lower acceptance rates, employee dissatisfaction, and attrition. Benchmarking, particularly within a company’s specific industry, is critical to ensure competitive offerings. Recruiting, hiring, and onboarding new employees requires a significant investment from our clients; reducing benefits for short-term mobility program savings could be counter to talent goals and ultimately lead to higher overall costs to the company.
During a challenging time, be it a global health crisis, an environmental threat, or civil unrest, no matter the situation, why do you think some leaders thrive while others coast along? How do you prioritize change, and what strategies or principles do you use for effective change management?
I think that the ability of leadership teams to navigate challenging times is determined long before any crisis. This is when the culture and leadership brand of any organization take center stage. Regardless of the reason for change or crisis, committing to clear, confident, transparent, and consistent communication with employees is critical to success. This was certainly true as we navigated the pandemic, as an example. Managing our messaging around decisions, company health, and future plans was a daily discussion, as we worked to share information with our remote team in a way that was always in keeping with our culture and brand. In order to communicate effectively, managing change also requires creating channels for incoming feedback, concerns, and questions. We often engage a team of “change champions” to facilitate incoming, employee-facing, and client-facing communication.
Explain the importance of data integration and how it benefits your company.
Modern mobility programs expect data integration between key service providers including relocation management, immigration and tax partners. Customers seek a full program view through a “single pane of glass,” rather than having to access multiple systems for this information. As such, we continue to expand our ecosystem of partner integrations, known as AiresXchange, to ensure that we can provide this “single pane of glass.” We currently have APIs developed with HRIS/HCM platforms, tax firms, immigration partners, and COLA data providers, with an extensive roadmap for additional partners and services.
These system integrations enhance our customer experience, strengthen our partnerships, increase efficiency and accuracy, provide real time data, ensure data integrity, automate workflows, and allow for data-driven decision making.
What type of employee support do you provide via technology? How does it improve the employee experience?
Aires provides web and mobile tools that offer a complete view into the employee’s relocation or assignment, full expense management, and detailed milestone tracking. Our tools are designed to provide the same experience both on a computer and on the go. Technology is a critical part of the mobility customer experience. “High touch” and “high tech” are no longer two separate concepts that complement each other; they intersect to create one experience. Technology doesn’t replace people. It connects us to the information and people that shape our life experiences.
It is with this philosophy that we work to enhance and ease the employee experience, and we continue to seek new technology avenues to accomplish our goals. For example, Aires is proud to have just released AVA, the Aires Voice Assistant for Amazon Alexa. This tool allows mobile employees to use their Alexa device to receive quick status updates, receive answers to common questions, and ask Alexa to email or schedule an appointment with their Aires counselor.