If your business is expanding and sending employees overseas, it may be time to hire a global mobility manager…
The business landscape is global – and organisations of every shape and size are contributing to a growing trend of international expansion which sees employees moved to every corner of the globe. This level of global mobility brings both challenges and opportunities and adds an extra layer of complexity to the task of managing an employee population.
To make sure mobilisation works for your employees and your business, you’ll need to have a suitable global mobility strategy in place – and appoint a skilled global mobility manager to handle it…
What is global mobility?
Understanding the concept of global mobility is crucial to any hiring decisions you make. Not all types of global mobility are the same, but the term broadly covers the notion of mobilising employees between international locations. In practice, this could include anything from an regular commute across a border or a one-off business trip – to weeks or months-long assignments or permanent relocations in a foreign country.
The mechanics of global mobility go far beyond the logistics of employee travel – and involve the administration of visas and work permits, and the significant challenge of handling payroll and tax compliance across international locations. Peripheral issues also have to be factored in, including helping employees find accommodation, learn the local language, or relocate their family members to ensure an effective corporate relocation.
Why do companies need a global mobility manager?
Executing a global mobility strategy effectively takes careful planning and consideration – you must be confident the people you hire to handle the process can serve your unique business needs. Overseas mobilisations inevitably generate unexpected challenges – while your global mobility strategy may be flexible enough to deal with the problem, a global mobility manager will be able to direct colleagues on the ground, reacting to the nuance of a given situation, and ensuring everything goes to plan.
What does a global mobility manager do?
Global mobility managers oversee the logistics, costs and administrative and legal processes of both moving employees to overseas locations, and managing their global needs once they are in place. From a management perspective, while they won’t have as much of a ‘hands-on’ a role with mobilised employees, they will be responsible for a team charged with delivering their employer’s global mobility policy goals. In more detail, the duties of a global mobility manager involve:
- Implementing payroll and HR policy for international employee populations
- Navigating the wider legislative environment of the overseas territory as it applies to mobilised employees
- Immigration administration processes – visa and work permit applications
- Integration of mobilised employees – accommodation, utilities, language lessons, children’s schooling arrangements, etc.
- Record-keeping and data collection
- Preparing client and policy reports
- Liaising with senior employees
What skills and qualifications does a global mobility manager need?
Like any business appointment, selecting a global mobility manager involves finding the right combination of personal skill and academic or professional experience. Although global mobility positions tend not to require any specific background, managers should obviously have some experience working in the field – especially since they will likely be responsible for a team of colleagues. In other words, make sure the educational, professional, and personal background of your candidate meets your global mobility needs.
Education:
Professional experience notwithstanding, university-level qualifications should make certain management candidates stand out from the crowd. A wide range of academic disciplines are advantageous for global mobility contexts, but particularly relevant subjects include:
- Business: Business-focused subjects are useful for global mobility professionals since they may find themselves working in any sector or industry.
- Management: Global mobility managers will obviously require management skills – so any academic qualification in the field should be of interest to recruiters.
- Payroll & HR: Both key functions of a global mobility strategy, global mobility managers with payroll or HR qualifications – and related fields like mathematics, accountancy, and psychology – should stand out from the crowd.
- IT & Communications: Global mobility managers will work with a variety of software platforms and liaise on a global scale – so IT qualifications are particularly valuable.
- Languages: Any qualification in foreign languages should distinguish a global mobility manager – especially those working in a territory which uses their proficiency.
Professional Accreditation & Experience:
Although entry-level global mobility employees may not need industry qualifications or past experience in the field, as they move up the career ladder to management and senior positions, that kind of professional verification will become more and more important.
Ideally, managerial candidates will have career experience working with one of the ‘Big 4’ accountancy firms, or with a tax authority, like HMRC. In terms of accreditation, courses and qualifications offered by recognised industry organisations should be preferred: look for qualifications from institutions like the UK’s Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals (CIPP), and the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) – both of which offer training courses and accreditation in global payroll and human resources respectively.
Personality Traits:
The unique challenges of global mobility certainly aren’t for everyone – so managers should be able to demonstrate a greater degree of personal competence and aptitude for their role. Certain skills and personality traits are particularly useful for management positions, including:
- Communication: Global mobility managers must implement policy on a global scale, liaising between colleagues, senior executives, and mobilised employees across territories.
- Diligence & focus: With significant detail and data to consider, global mobility managers must be able to focus on several professional levels – from the hands-on administration of mobilised employees, to policy discussions and reports with colleagues at senior levels.
- Organisation: Global mobility managers must have the organisational skill to perform complex duties and responsibilities which often involve a variety of international legislative, and deadline-based, considerations – like tax payments and payroll processing.
- Creativity: Managing employees in an overseas territory means tackling frequent and unexpected challenges. Global mobility managers must be creative and flexible enough to overcome these challenges in a way which meets their employer and their mobilised employees’ needs.