2011 U.S. Mobility Survey Finds Split-family Relocations
On The Rise

Sure you could resolve to spend time in the gym, or less time at the all-you-can-eat buffet, but what better way to improve yourself than by joining your family—your Worldwide ERC® family, that is—as we convene our annual Global Workforce Summits?

Make a commitment to join us for one or both of the workforce mobility industry’s leading annual events in Asia Pacific and Europe, Middle East and Africa. The Summits offer high-level education sessions, benchmarking with expert mobility professionals, ample time for networking during social functions, refreshment breaks, and an exhibition hall featuring a wide range of mobility services offerings.

Make your resolutions now, and include on your list a front-row seat at our perennially popular session, Global Thought Leaders: Senior Strategists Dialogue, where you’ll hear first-hand from Worldwide ERC® President and CEO Peggy Smith, SCRP, SGMS, and a panel of highly regarded workforce mobility professionals as they discuss the leading issues of the day.

The Global Workforce Summit: Talent Mobility in EMEA will take place February 21 and 22, 2012, at the Hilton London Metropole in London, United Kingdom. For registration and session information, please visit http://www.worldwideerc.org/emea12/Pages/emea12.aspx

The Global Workforce Summit: Talent Mobility in APAC will convene March 22 and 23, 2012, at the Pudong Shangri-La in Shanghai, China. For further details, as well as an option for automatic notification when registration begins, please visit http://www.worldwideerc.org/Events/Pages/apac12.aspx

Both Summits also offer the opportunity for extended learning and professional development with optional Global Mobility Specialist® (GMS®) training courses available. Learn more.

Secure your place with the top talent mobility providers at the industry’s premier annual events in the APAC and EMEA regions! Sponsorship and exhibit opportunities for the Global Workforce Summits are limited and selling quickly. 

The 2012 Global Workforce Summits offer can’t-miss opportunities to grow your business in the new year, with two valuable chances to demonstrate the value of your company’s products and services to key HR and workforce mobility decision-makers from around the globe. Enhance your competitive position, build your market share, increase your company’s visibility and brand awareness, and network with clients, prospects and global industry leaders by committing to supporting the 2012 Global Workforce Summits.

Space is available on a first-come, first-served basis, so sign up today.  To learn more about the EMEA and APAC Global Workforce Summits’ Sponsorship and Exhibit opportunities, please contact Laura Herriage at lherriage@WorldwideERC.org.

One of the hottest—and hardest to fill—positions for corporations during the next five years likely will be that of the global talent management leader, according to a recent prediction from executive search firm Salveson Stetson Group.

As an increasing number of companies begin to compete across borders, they will need to be able to manage their growing workforce; however, the number of professionals with experience managing their company’s human capital on a worldwide basis is limited, according to the firm.

“It has been interesting to watch companies transform from multi-nationals to truly global organizations during the past decade,” said Sally Stetson, co-founding principal and human resources practice leader at Salveson Stetson Group. “Skills like multi-cultural leadership, which were not even on the radar screen 10 years ago, are now critical to success as companies manage employees, partners and customers around the world.”

“Think about the implications of this new landscape for human resources leadership,” said Stetson. “At this point, many companies don’t have a fully integrated global HR function capable of telling them how many employees work for them, let alone an infrastructure capable of global performance management, executive development and succession planning.”

In addition to the challenges of recruiting and retaining global talent management leadership, Salveson Stetson Group also found that, with respect to global workplace trends, executives who have accepted international assignments will likely be in high demand—and will find that their overseas experience helps them when they return home.

“It was not uncommon for an executive who served overseas for several years to return home and find there was no position for her. Companies did not always do a good job of managing the return of talent from around the globe, which was a terrible waste given the significant investment made in expatriate assignments. With a global talent management leader in place, an executive will find that her career—not just her assignment—is being managed.”

As the global economy teeters on news regarding the European debt crisis, business leaders are reminded what they need to do to succeed in uncertain times or times of crisis. A recent survey offers lessons for these leaders, including the finding that most companies had the wrong overall approach to the previous global economic crisis and need to change their mindset now to prepare for a newly emerging challenge.

PA Consulting Group’s “Managing Uncertainty Survey,” which queried more than 200 global business leaders about how they responded to the financial crisis and which actions proved most effective, found that most companies then were too cost focused, too slow to react and too passive. According to the release, the most common response was the conventional reaction to recession—battening down the hatches and waiting for business as usual to return—which is a formula for failure.

The highest performing companies (measured by shareholder value) responded faster than their competitors, cut out inefficiency while protecting competitive advantage, and planned to come out of the crisis with a sustainably higher market share then when they went in, according to PA Consulting Group. Just one-third of companies said they viewed the 2008 financial crisis as an opportunity, but those that did had a higher shareholder return (TSR) by 10 percent. The survey also showed that companies that made quick decisions had a higher TSR by 13 percent.

Of course, hindsight is 20/20, but according to PA Consulting Group, four lessons for business leaders are to avoid drastic, panic reaction cost cutting and cut costs in a focused and measured way; prepare ahead of time by developing contingency plans and secure financing—“offensive liquidity” if possible, but at least “defensive liquidity”; ensure your business isn’t carrying baggage—don’t be forced to make fire sales at the lowest point of the economic cycle; and to take the opportunities, acquisitive and organic, to gain share in key markets.