Managing A Global Workforce; The Role Of Market Benchmarking

When organisations review their global workforce program, we are often asked questions such as 'what do others do in our industry?' 'What policy benchmarking data do you have?'. But, are these the right questions to ask? Should the onus be placed on following 'the norm' when workforce talent and business strategies of organisations can be so varied.

To answer, let's look at the good, the bad and the downright ugly of market benchmarking...

The good

Your organisation is sending someone abroad to work for the first time, and you don't know where to begin! Should you be uplifting salary or paying a COLA? In this situation, you just want to move people in the simplest and most effective way possible. Benchmarking can help you understand any unfamiliar mobility jargon and the global mobility landscape more generally. My word of warning here is to not assume that 'the norm' is necessarily right for your organisation. For instance, 28% of organisations measure assignment success for the employee using job performance ratings during the assignment1, but this may not fit with your employee wellbeing agenda, where additional more holistic measurements are required. Benchmarking certainly has its place but it is important to be wary when applying it to your organisation or relying on it too heavily.

The bad

Taking benchmarking at face value. For instance, on average a full time global mobility advisor manages 50 assignees2 but as there are so many variances within programmes and differing operational models, how can you usefully compare that average to your approach? Since the scope of the mobility operation can vary considerably across organisations from in-house management to a fully outsourced vendor model; more manual processes versus deployment of sophisticated technology; low-touch more automated approaches with little to no contact from the mobility team to a more high-touch, personalised model. Understanding where you sit within these ranges is an important consideration when looking at benchmarking averages. I'd therefore urge caution when reviewing benchmarking data, and advise that you fully understand how your model and organisation culture compares to the organisational data provided, particularly if you are using it to develop amendments to your programme.

The ugly

As the name of this section implies, the picture here isn't always pretty. Imagine you've been deploying employees around the world for a number of years when you come across...

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