HRO Today November 2016 - 41

Mobility
Relocation's ROI
By Valerie Dean
Any type of assignment, whether U.S. domestic or global, short- or long-term, temporary or permanent, brings
value to an organization. To ensure that it is enough, however, it's important to track several variables.
Some of these are intangible or difficult to quantify numerically, such as language and cultural challenges, the
speed at which the employee is able to assimilate into a new location and role, or family issues that are creating
distractions. Others are easier to measure: the cost of policy components such as home sale, home purchase,
household goods shipment, temporary housing, language training, settling-in services, visa and immigration,
compensation, and tax assistance, among others.
To obtain ROI statistics and understand an assignment's true costs, program managers and senior leadership can
establish metrics around these measurable components in advance and review them as volume and need dictate.
This can be done quickly and easily with dashboard technology that enables users to sort and filter metrics in a
variety of ways, such as by cost center, division, policy tier, or new hire/current employee.
If there are many assignees, a best practice is to perform this review monthly or quarterly. If there are fewer
assignees, the review can be done less often, although annually at a minimum.
It's also important to track exceptions to policies to ensure consistency and identify trends. If the data indicates
that a specific exception is continually being made, then policy revision(s) should be considered.
Valerie Dean, GMS, CRP, is vice president of client management for MSI.
Conducting cost benefit analysis. HR needs a way to
drill down to determine the value of each assignment
service they offer. " A cost benefit analysis can be used
to determine whether the advantages of specific actions
outweigh its drawbacks, " says Jelena Katic, GMS, vice
president of client management for MSI Global Talent
Solutions. " A cost estimate can serve as a valuable tool
for this, particularly when there's a set budget for an
assignment and decisions must be made around the
policy provisions/benefits to be provided. "
A cost benefit analysis can also help provide a critical
step in aligning mobility with talent management.
" Unfortunately, very few organizations have clearly
articulated the goals of mobility programs, " says Graebel.
And respondents to Brookfield Global Relocation
Services' 2016 Global Mobility Trends Survey agree: Only
10 percent of respondents say that global mobility to
part of the great talent agenda. But as talent becomes a
central part of an organization's relocation strategy, this
is bound to increase in the coming years. " Cost benefit
analysis enables the organization to evaluate the mobility
spend in the context of the business results. This is an
essential component of incorporating a mobility program
into a talent management/workforce development
strategy, " says Skourtis.
Tracking actual costs. Having these numbers at hand
makes it possible for HR to see how the actual costs
compare with the predicted costs. " Tracking actual costs
allows the organization to understand the true financial
cost of any mobility event, " says Skourtis. " (They) are also
the starting point for the cost estimate. Actual past cost
can be the basis for future cost estimates. " Skourtis does
warn that organizations often need the help of tools and
technology to capture and leverage this data.
Some of the most important feedback for proving
relocation's value is from mouth of the employee. " The
transferee experience can provide a good baseline
for evaluating assignments, " says Graebel. He advises
sending out an employee survey to help gauge where the
global mobility succeeded as well as opportunities for
improvement.
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