The world is undoubtedly becoming more connected, and as a result businesses are too. In the wake of the international expansion of businesses (of every size and from every sector) a new human capital management role has emerged: that of the global mobility (GM) specialist.

First let’s determine what global mobility is: It is a tool that enables businesses to increase their international efficiency, whilst also improving employee engagement on a global scale and drawing attention to career opportunities within the company. With the right GM strategy or professionals in place, it can have a significant impact on a business. The CIPD website has recently published an article discussing the importance of this new HR role, noting that global mobility is in fact the fastest-growing area of opportunity for HR professionals in 2015.

More and more businesses are looking to recruit these specialists, and the prevailing skills shortage has resulted in increased demand for experienced professionals. In fact the 2015 Global Mobility Survey found that GM, as a practice, has grown in a number of different corporate sectors this year. For example, it grew by 51 percent in consulting firms and 47 percent in engineering firms (the survey questioned 1,300 companies from 74 different countries). A PwC study of 193 executives found the top three reasons for investing in global mobility to be; to meet specific, international business needs (98 percent); to fill a skills gap in the host location (85 percent); or to develop talent (60 percent). Despite this growing trend, there is a skeptical undertone as to how beneficial global mobility actually is. For example, the same PwC study listed above also found that only 42 percent of company executives felt that GM actually delivered value for money.

One reason for this is possibly due to the so called “global mobility squeeze”, whereby businesses feel pressured to meet the growing employee demand for international career opportunities, despite not necessarily having the budget or business requirement to support this.  Human Resources departments have been found guilty of offering global mobility opportunities to new and current employees to aid hiring and retention, rather than as the result of a strategic business need. Others believe that global mobility efforts have failed due ineffective GM teams. Peter Clarke, the network leader for global employee mobility services at PwC, commented that the majority of businesses “waste considerable time sending the wrong people to the wrong places.”

In contrary to the “global mobility squeeze” argument, this could be due to a rapid need for international growth – so fast that GM teams cannot effectively service the demand. Peggy Smith, the CEO of Worldwide ERC, has commented that “it’s fair to say that nearly everywhere in the world today, in every industry, we have environments where growth is occurring faster than companies can staff up to meet it” – it’s easy to imagine how mistakes and inefficiencies could arise in such pressurized environments.

A third reason for some of global mobility’s failures could also be due to business’ reluctances to spend the funds needed for relocating the best talent for the job. A clear problem has been that many companies are too focused on cost reduction, rather than the long term benefits of skill distribution that GM can deliver. Whatever the reasons for previous GM failures, one thing is clear – if you are going to invest in international relocation, you need to do it for the right reasons and you need the right team to strategically deliver this initiative. Your team needs to be able to strategically analyze the benefits of global mobility for your organisation, both at a corporate and individual level. For an effective GM team to flourish, they must be able to critically advise on questions such as: Will relocating an individual or team add real value to your organisation and at what cost?

In which scenarios is it business critical to relocate a member of staff? How much of your global mobility initiative should be driven by talent attract and retention, how much should be driven purely by a strategic business need? Furthermore, on discussing the future of the global mobility profession, Matthew Howse, the head of employment for Morgan Lewis, outlined four key areas of expertise that are absolutely essential within a GM team. These are the ability to deal with immigration issues, employment law issues, employee benefit and remuneration issues and tax issues. Sancus Associates have a successful track record of advising on the current global mobility landscape, as well as sourcing the best GM specialists to build comprehensive global mobility strategies.