Mapping the Next Stages of Recovery

Perspectives on how the talent mobility industry can be a leading voice in the post COVID-19 recovery efforts.

During last week’s Road to Recovery event, I observed three key themes that were consistently demonstrated across our government affairs forum discussions, educational sessions and YP40-sponsored virtual happy hours:

1. We’re hungry for connectivity, information and travel. None of us has all of the answers in this particularly uncertain and rapidly changing environment and it is impacting every industry sector in somewhat unique ways. But we have a tremendous amount of knowledge to impart and we’re finding great new ways to collectively learn from one another.
2. We’re focusing on recovery and getting our businesses safely open and running again and our employees safely mobile again
3. We’re an industry that is well equipped to be a leading force in the new world of work. From the initial logistics of responding to the crisis and evacuating employees to the strategies for establishing new protocols about how, when and where we recruit, train and place talent – we’re clearly up to these unique challenges.

What was also plainly evident last week was that talent mobility professionals bring the perfect blend of proficiencies to what we need right now: The considerable knowledge and expertise to strategize about highly complex immigration, labor, tax, payroll, compliance and moving solutions, along with the “softer skills” of emotional intelligence, empathy, effective communication and experience managing stressful and significant life-changing events.

We’re amplifying our industry’s influence and voice by bringing that unique blend of skills to a leadership role in the recovery efforts.” 

As we shared with attendees at the Road to Recovery event and in a press release last week, we’re delighted to be partnering with global HR service firms Randstad NV, the Adecco Group and the ManpowerGroup on a collaborative Safely Back to Work (SB2W) initiative. Bringing together the perspectives and voices of government, industry, labor union, and association leaders from around the world, the goals are to establish best practices on health and safety protocols as the economy reopens and people begin to return to work and travel again.

I’ve heard many people say the same thing across multiple industry sectors in recent weeks: there is no playbook for the situation we’re now in. What we do have is the knowledge and experience of navigating other global and complex challenges that have come before, a steadfast commitment to the duty of care of our worldwide workforce, the agility to innovate effectively and adapt quickly to changing demands, and a passion for collaborating to get the job done right.

The road to recovery is not a singular or straight one. It requires the talents of many and multi-skilled drivers to work and move safely alongside one another, be willing to change speed, lanes, and even routes as the circumstances demand, pay close attention to the changing signals and remain respectful of and open to the different needs of our fellow travelers. I’m confident that our industry will drive effective and safe change and maintain a leadership role throughout this journey. Look for more information in the coming weeks as we continue to map the details around what’s next.

As always, please continue to stay safe, be well, and feel free to reach out to me with any comments, questions, ideas or concerns you may have at lshotwell@worldwideerc.org.