3-8 Global Talent Mobility 2024: A Year in Review

As 2024 draws to a close, Hannah Richardson, Senior Vice President, Global Strategic Services at Sirva together with Sirva Soundbites host, Emma Dodwell-Groves, reflect on key events and challenges global talent mobility leaders had to navigate through the super election year. Listeners will be able to understand in great detail how global election campaign results have driven greater polarization around the world and a spotlight on divisive topics that may impact mobility.

Hannah Richardson is currently the Senior Vice President of Sirva's Global Strategic Services. Hannah is responsible for a portfolio of multi-national client engagements, strategic partnership, and business alignment to help drive the client agenda. With over 20 years of experience in talent mobility, Hannah has a deep understanding of the macro trends shaping the industry and understands strategic client requirements.

Emma Dodwell-Groves is a Consultant on the Sirva Global Advisory Services team and has over 15 years of experience supporting clients in talent development, global mobility, and cultural training, with a more recent specialization in consulting on diversity, equity & inclusion (DEI) and environmental sustainability.

Sirva Soundbites provides the insights, tools and best practices to help talent mobility and human resources professionals navigate through the evolving global talent mobility landscape more confidently and effectively.

Get in touch with us: soundbites@sirva.com 

Transcript

Sirva Soundbites S3E8

2024: A Year in Review Transcript

Emma Dodwell-Groves: [00:00:00] You are listening to Sirva Soundbites, the official podcast of Sirva, a leading global relocation management and moving services company. We aim to bring you authentic and insightful discussions on the latest trends and best practices in global talent mobility and the evolving future of work. Are you ready?

Emma Dodwell-Groves: Let's get started. Hello and welcome to Sirva Soundbites, where we aim to connect, inform, educate and entertain our listeners. I'm Emma Dodwell- Groves, Senior Manager in the Global Advisory Services team at Sirva, and we're very honoured to have back our very esteemed guest, Hannah Richardson, who is SVP of Global Strategic Services.

Emma Dodwell-Groves: Welcome back, Hannah. 

Hannah Richardson: Hi Emma, it's great to be back again with you. 

Emma Dodwell-Groves: And last time we spoke was at the start of the year, start of 2024, and we looked ahead at some of the trends that we heard dominating the talent global mobility industry. Almost 12 months, almost 12 months, we're getting towards the end of the year now, [00:01:00] and um, that time has passed, and we'd like to reflect back on the year, see how some of those trends have evolved, and what else has sort of been popping up as trends over 2024 as well.

Hannah Richardson: Yeah, and I think it's, uh, I think it's fair to say it's been quite a fascinating year with so many things happening around the world, especially with it being a super election year. We've witnessed, you know, almost half of the world's population voting throughout 2024. And I think by some form of recollection, that's around 3.

Hannah Richardson: 7 billion people being able to vote from, you know, 72 different countries. And I think, you know, these global election campaigns, we've seen a real enormity of polarization and a spotlight on some really quite divisive topics, you know, things like immigration, human rights, warfare responses, changing economic tariffs, and the intentional dissemination of myths or disinformation.

Hannah Richardson: And I think it's fair [00:02:00] to say, you know, Some of these are going to impact, you know, the mobility strategies in 2025 and beyond. 

Emma Dodwell-Groves: Yeah, they absolutely will. I mean, now all those elections have taken place, like you said, the huge scale of it and just how polarizing and how divisive some of those election campaigns have made these topics.

Emma Dodwell-Groves: It's now time to kind of watch and see how much of that was rhetoric and what. actually will follow through into legislation, into policy, into practice. So there's still a bit of a guessing game going on. But I think some of that we can be looking at, you know, the Looking Forward podcast in 2025. 

Hannah Richardson: Yes, and looking forward to that one too.

Hannah Richardson: But I think the here and now and looking back at the year in review, I think whilst it's right and we're not a political podcast, I think it might be worthwhile just doing a quick summary of some of the election results we've seen around the world. You know, we saw leans to the right in the U S and Europe with the notable exception of the UK, uh, who [00:03:00] voted to the left, but we've also seen leans to the left in Asia and South-central America.

Hannah Richardson: But I think it's fair to say one of the most consistent themes globally was the pushback against dominant groups and demands for change. Whether that be, you know, anti-corruption, as we saw in Senegal, pro-independence in Taiwan, or even kind of nearer to home for us, Euroscepticism in France and Germany.

Emma Dodwell-Groves: Right. We saw a really big trend of replacing incumbents where they were in power. So like you said, that demand for change. So whether that was replacing incumbents or for anti-corruption or pro-independence, you know, all of those things were big bids for change. And where the incumbents stayed. In power, there was often a diminishing of power for those incumbents.

Emma Dodwell-Groves: So some of the winners there have been forced to seek coalitions, Austria, India, South Africa, or, you know, we just saw a reduction in power in Modi's India. And in the Middle East, I know we've seen, as is often the case, slightly more restricted choices, but [00:04:00] we've definitely seen increased opposition, increased protest, like we saw in Iran and Lebanon.

Emma Dodwell-Groves: And we've also seen globally issues with democratic integrity around some of these elections. So, Bangladesh, Russia, Indonesia, Venezuela, I think more recently Georgia, you know, where we're seeing geopolitics playing out in local elections and we're not just starting a new career as a political podcast.

Emma Dodwell-Groves: We're trying to think what these things mean in impacts around global mobility and talent topics, such as immigration, like you said, taxes, tariffs, impacts to globalize business models, where people are locating their people and their business, business entities. And of course the willingness or safety involved in relocating talent.

Emma Dodwell-Groves: So with that, let's start looking back at how global talent mobility trends have shifted and evolved since the start of the year in terms of macro events. So, should we start with economic? 

Hannah Richardson: Yeah, sounds good, Emma. And I think it's, you know, as we look back over [00:05:00] 2024, it's been hugely impactful in terms of some of those big economic events that have kind of shaped the course of business and strategy for many organizations.

Hannah Richardson: I mean, you look at the geopolitical rifts that have caused degrees of protectionism strategies that have had to emerge, or businesses may be really having to push to the fore of the front contingency planning or, you know, CEO planning for certain fallout events. That's all had an impact as well on supply chain disruption, you know, again, many organizations and businesses really having to ensure that they think very carefully about where their businesses are based, where they continue to invest in entities or manufacturing plants on the ground.

Hannah Richardson: All of this has led to a degree of demand uncertainty across, you know, global consumers and businesses buying things had an impact on interest and [00:06:00] inflation rates too. So I think it's fair to say in the economic space, we've seen a lot of disruption, but I think one of the notable call outs is the enormity and amount of corporate debt distress.

Hannah Richardson: And this was actually highlighted as quite a large global risk by the World Economic Forum, actually under their categorization of risk free economic. Um, and just looking at the sheer number and scale of global organizations, you know, they all have a degree of debt, uh, but corporate debt distress really has come into, into the fore in 2024 with continued, uh, interest rates being high.

Hannah Richardson: Inflation rates being a little stubborn, uh, and not shifting in the direction that, that, that many. Uh, governing banks and, and governments would wish. 

Emma Dodwell-Groves: So I think throughout this, I think, you know, either of us can just sort of jump in and say, and immobility, what does this mean? Right? You know, so I think even what you're saying there, corporate debt distress, costs have always been tight.

Emma Dodwell-Groves: Immobility. I can't remember [00:07:00] a time since I've been in this industry, you know, 15 years that That it hasn't been a concern, but like you said, those issues, inflation, interest have made moves more expensive, have made companies have to look at where they're prioritizing their finances differently. And also, I think an interesting one that I was looking a lot at, you know, the US election only happened quite recently towards the end of the year, and we've had all these countries go to elections, but I'd say across a lot of multinationals. Leaders were holding their breath before they made decisions on certain things. So there's sort of delays on some of those decision making things based on who wins the US election because of the impact that it does have globally. So, you know, if some of these big tariffs come in or some of these immigration rules change their organizations, and in their mobility functions that have been sort of watching and waiting and going, okay, based on that, maybe here's how we'll prioritize differently where our people are and where we're putting our money and whether we need to import or export goods from different places.

Hannah Richardson: Yeah, absolutely. And I think that kind of, you know, [00:08:00] that, that series of macro trends and events that are continuing to shape business practice. And I think that leads nicely into the, another big sort of, you know, macro trend, which is all around societal. Um, and a lot of what we've been discussing there about changing business models, especially, I think is, really important for us to take a look at over 2024.

Hannah Richardson: So a recent survey by Gartner, who surveyed CEOs and senior executives, was really looking at what their top priorities are for 2025 and beyond. And we'll take a closer look at this, uh, in our, in our 2025 and beyond trends as we see them. But the top three that are called out are growth, Technology and workforce.

Hannah Richardson: And it was interesting to see the rise in position of workforce as a CEO priority from 7th to 5th [00:09:00] to 3rd position this year. And I think that speaks volumes in the space of evolving global HR and transformation. And I think what we're starting to see now is very much a series of structures replacing traditional HR functions.

Hannah Richardson: you know, which have traditionally focused on the scope of payroll and compliance, now shifting really more into the strategic expansion of performance management, leadership development. And fast forward to today, especially as it relates to everything that's happening in the world, there, there needs to be additional focus and scope that includes mental health and well being.

Hannah Richardson: Human centric employee value propositions, hybrid work, productivity, frontline worker, flexibility, digital workplace. And obviously the, the leverage of AI and NI generative tools that are, you know, the workforce needs to, to access. And I think when we look at this, [00:10:00] this is really going to have an impact on on global mobility teams given today, according to Gartner, 15 percent of all global organizations have now shifted away from traditional HR models towards global workforce management and planning models.

Hannah Richardson: And I think, the questions that we need to explore, Emma, really are around with our clients and the broader industry about, you know, what does this mean for traditional global mobility? We see this continued erosion of home-based compensation approaches, as you called out, COP. It's still really, really ongoing and a high imperative for most of the clients we work with.

Hannah Richardson: And as we know, a home-based compensation approach is the most expensive way to send employees. So we see this shift towards lower cost, host based approaches. And as a result, the business and talent are demanding alternative options away from the most expensive forms of home based [00:11:00] protected policies.

Hannah Richardson: So we are seeing as a result of all of these sort of macro events, the rise of non-traditional mobility solutions that are being included as part of a broadening scope of work within GM teams or global workforce practices. And I think, just to sort of come back on your comments this early, this is really to ensure that, from a cost perspective and experience perspective on a talent.

Hannah Richardson: Um, angle, organizations need to be able to support a truly global mobile workforce. And I think, part of the, the, the series of questions that, that we're, we're sort of, I suppose, posing to clients really in this space is, RGM teams leaning into this and are they, sort of assessing what the risk profile and compliance management aspects are of these non-trade, especially in the [00:12:00] long term.

Hannah Richardson: Exactly, and questions, how these moves being tracked and reported and, you know, RGM teams now mobilizing to support both the traditional and non-traditional move types, like extended business travelers, international local hires, self-elected moves, remote moves, etc. Uh, so. I think we can see as we take a step out, the macro landscape has really changed businesses, strategies, CEOs have to respond in different ways.

Hannah Richardson: And as a result, the business is needing different solutions from its talent. Uh, than ever before in order to respond. 

Emma Dodwell-Groves: This sort of leads me in the, in this, within the societal macro trend and the sort of needs of, of this versatile workforce. Of course, this ties me right back to diversity, diverse perspectives, diverse insights and the ability that mobility has to move talent, therefore [00:13:00] perspectives, therefore global experience around the world, um, to sort of make that inclusive culture that's also innovative and forward looking.

Emma Dodwell-Groves: So with diversity, equity, and inclusion, it's still. A focus. It needs to be a focus. I don't think any organization, any multinational could disagree with the principles off. We want our workforce to have varied and diverse perspectives. We know all the benefits that can provide. We also I can't imagine an organization saying, Oh, we're not interested in fairness.

Emma Dodwell-Groves: You know, or equity across our organization, but the language around DEIB has been so political, it has been so politicized, and therefore there's a lot of backlashes. There's a real reaction to it by some people, people who say it's gone too far. I mean, the concepts of needing an organization to be innovative, have diverse perspectives, be respectful of different perspectives and be a fair place to work.

Emma Dodwell-Groves: You know, I don't think anyone fundamentally has an issue with those. But the [00:14:00] big focus area that we saw in the beginning of the year where clients were coming to us saying, okay, D E I B, we have a certain targets. We have to achieve certain things. I'd say the language on that is shifting and it's a bit more muted.

Emma Dodwell-Groves: It's still important, but there's, there's been this, once again, a breath holding waiting for what happened in the US and I'd say it's probably more important. That ever now in it for global organizations to be inclusive, but the way that they go about it and the way that they position it in the organization may have changed.

Emma Dodwell-Groves: So I'd say we're having conversations with clients over the course of this year. And now that say. Yes, this is still important. We assume that it should be dealt with, but it's not at the top front center the way it was towards the beginning of the year. And I think so there's that real change in perspective and the idea of needing to be inclusive of all different perspectives in your organization, not just maybe the ones that are politically correct in one environment versus another, because, of course, global organizations will have so many different perspectives.

Emma Dodwell-Groves: As [00:15:00] to what is the right path versus the wrong path. So I think mobility is in a unique position, not only to be opening up people's perspectives in regards to different views and different angles and diverse opinions and world experience, but also needs to be treading carefully. So it's not to impose one set of values.

Hannah Richardson: Yeah. And it's interesting what you, what you say here, Emma, because what we're definitely seeing is this need for corporations, employers to be more human centric, particularly with what you've identified, you know, with very different views, values. And I think employers are going to have to work that much harder.

Hannah Richardson: And I think there's definite connection here with mobility in terms of what connects talent to the organization in terms of that employee value proposition. What's my purpose in [00:16:00] working for X? And I think we, we really do see now, this infiltrating across global organizations as a whole. And, you know, certainly in this DEIB space, what does that mean in terms of particularly policy, formulation, and, and offerings back to its people who have a very strong understanding of what they need to get from their employer?

Emma Dodwell-Groves: We talked about this as a trend earlier in the year and how diversity, and flexible policies and programs come hand in hand. And I'd say that has continued to evolve as a trend certainly hasn't gone anywhere as more important than ever because of that range of priorities and perspectives that a flexible policy and a flexible approach allows a lot more movement in that space.

Emma Dodwell-Groves: We know that values are still really important, especially, maybe Gen Z millennial workforce, which we know these demographics are shifting, and soon this will be the largest proportion. Gen Z will be the largest proportion of the workforce. So [00:17:00] with that, and with the gender split we're seeing in perspectives across Gen Z, how do you walk that tightrope to make sure that you're including, This diverse talent across the world that you're making people feel welcome that you're including them in your mobility pipeline for future leadership.

Emma Dodwell-Groves: And I'd say there's 1 other really relevant element about D. I. B, which is diversity. Often, from a mobility perspective means cultural diversity. That means national diversity. And with the attitudes around immigration with all the elections this year. What does foreign talent mean? What does it mean when people are coming in from another country to work there?

Emma Dodwell-Groves: There are some climates in which there's a lot of backlash even if those are professional level brought in by, large multinationals we've had clients moving people into locations where there are massive protests against immigrant populations taking all the jobs in inverted commas and so even if they're not necessarily the traditional image of what an immigrant looks like.

Emma Dodwell-Groves: [00:18:00] What type of environment are they going into when they're relocating to this location? And what is the company doing to support that? So you mentioned earlier mental health there, what support are you giving someone who's moving to a country where the local population isn't necessarily welcoming of you coming in from the outside?

Hannah Richardson: Yeah, yeah. I think just one, one more thing that's notable. Before we switch gears is we are starting to see a rise in demand and need for specific domestic country policies. That really has been something that we have seen, particularly in our global advisory teams, many client conversations asking for a broader mix of country specific domestic policies.

Hannah Richardson: So again, is there, A need particularly for the societal bucket to really ensure that we're hiring locally where we can and then affording the right relocation experience using that as upskilling. 

Emma Dodwell-Groves: Right, so we've seen I think in previous years [00:19:00] We had some clients asking for global domestic policies, which are always challenging because different domestic markets don't have the same things applying to them.

Emma Dodwell-Groves: So we've seen in the last year absolutely loads more very country specific mobility policies that are designed maybe around that element of near shoring. We heard about, from the election year, if you need to keep your supply chain closer, if you need to develop local talent because it might be harder immigration wise to get talent in.

Emma Dodwell-Groves: People are looking at organizations in those workforce models you mentioned are looking at where to get those. That's that set of skills and that talent. So let's shift gear, shall we? Do you want to look at environmental? 

Hannah Richardson: Sounds good. 

Emma Dodwell-Groves: So in sustainability, let's look at sort of the broader ESG topic.

Emma Dodwell-Groves: We know this was massive at the beginning of the year. It was all really big last year as well, and it has continued to evolve. And what is, I think, interesting is that it's still a really big topic. It is still talked about. It's still included in RFPs. [00:20:00] It's still a discussion we're having with clients.

Emma Dodwell-Groves: So there are demands and expectations around it, both in supporting the measurement and the tracking and sort of decreasing carbon impact of moves. But I'd say it's moved once again, like DEIB, a little bit less front and center. So we've seen a shift where it's assumptive and clients expect that it's a topic, but broadly, and this isn't to say all companies are doing this, but broadly, I'd say it's a little performative.

Emma Dodwell-Groves: There are some superficial check boxes going on. Only a very few really avant garde sort of boundary pushing clients have actively taken a lot of ownership on measurement of making practical moves. A lot of organizations looked at employee nudging, you know, helping them make greener choices, identifying greener choices, and have started to try and track and collect data.

Emma Dodwell-Groves: But I'd say sspecially in the mobility field, where it could have been an opportunity to use that as an example as a sort of microcosm [00:21:00] to pioneer strategies. Instead, I'd say that priorities are elsewhere. They're in cost constraints. And if it's going to cost more, sometimes actually cost less to be environmental.

Emma Dodwell-Groves: But if it's going to cost more or take too much focus on their, you know, trim down mobility teams resources, then it's dropped down the list of priorities. And it's more of a, yes, we need to think about that at some point, especially as regulations start coming in some locations, you know, Europe, for example, where you are really going to have to step up, and demonstrate that.

Hannah Richardson: And I think I was about to say, and I think that's an important call out as well, I think is we potentially see more legislation coming through. And I think that's when organizations will need to step up the game. And I think one step that caught my eye was this transition, you know, through this energy transition and more renewable, sustainable ways.

Hannah Richardson: It's going to create 30 million new green jobs globally. And again, that's something again organizations are [00:22:00] needing to be ready for, right? 

Emma Dodwell-Groves: And a role that mobility plays because we know some countries are further ahead on this path than others. So if somebody has experience, in Europe, they can be transplanted through mobility and shared with a location that maybe is a little earlier on that journey.

Emma Dodwell-Groves: So it's a great opportunity to be spreading those skills in this whole new 30 million green jobs going out there. And before we move on to the next topic, I think that's actually a good time to just say one of the interesting things that has been a trend for us at Sirva in the last year has been the evolution of our own ESG journey.

Emma Dodwell-Groves: So we've launched Sweep and that is a ESG tool for carbon and broader ESG tracking, disclosure, disclosure. Action. It's all in one place in one platform, and we went live in 20 with 2023 data in 2024. So we were collecting all that information. And unlike some other organizations that are looking at their ESG impact with just spend, we really put the time and effort into basing it on activity usage.

Emma Dodwell-Groves: So we're actually coming [00:23:00] up with some really robust data now that we can use to help clients understand the impact of their mobility programs and really what actions they can take to pursue a more sustainable future. So I mentioned, you know, that a lot of our clients out there are maybe in the early stages or have good intentions, but haven't been able to follow through on that solid data, solid action, solid tracking roadmap. So hopefully SWEEP, I think, as we've launched it and rolling it out to clients, will be a great opportunity to help our clients looking forward. And that might be a fun update for our 2025 as well. 

Hannah Richardson: Yeah, just linked to that, Emma, actually, one of the things that caught my eye was this kind of new set of definitions around hardship locations.

Hannah Richardson: And we are now starting to see certain locations, coming with some form of hardship because of some form of environmental impact, be that extreme heat, extreme cold, prone to flooding, etc. So you can see that climatic [00:24:00] events now are also starting to shape broader policy components, or there is assurance measures for employees to say yes, we as an employer will of course look after you, and support you and your family as needed.

Emma Dodwell-Groves: And I think that aren't officially hardship locations, what we're talking about is also just employee perception of hardship. So there are places, I'd say, you know, give an example of some places in the US, you'd never think of it. Being a hardship location. But like you said, if Florida is prone to flooding and if certain areas, you know, have legislations in place that make it unsafe to have an abortion or, you know, the risk of your Children being shot at in a school shooting, people may perceive the US as a hardship location or other countries around the world. Is Taiwan a hardship location because of the threat of geopolitical unrest in the region? So there's a big question marks that companies that allocate what is a hardship location aren't necessarily reflecting those, but employees that are thinking about moving will be thinking about them.

Emma Dodwell-Groves: So, like you said, there's a real [00:25:00] onus on the organization to just, like, reassure employees that are thinking about relocating to say, yes, don't worry. We'll cover you. Don't worry. We'll evacuate you. Don't worry. If there's another COVID lockdown and you're stuck in a building, we'll make sure you have air conditioning and food parcels, things like that, that we've had to see clients adjusting to in the mobility space over the last couple of years and over the continued high impact incident after another, as we've seen them evolving.

Hannah Richardson: Yeah, I agree. So if we take a look at geopolitical next, we've talked at length around, the global election outcomes. And I think also a lot of unknowns in terms of, what the legislative impacts of those election outcomes are going to yield actually in 2025 and beyond. So I think there's still a lot moreto learn, and understand in terms of how things are gonna play through. But I think as it relates to [00:26:00] geopolitical, I think there's still an awful lot of uncertainty and turbulence, particularly as we look at areas like the Middle East, as we look at, potentially what's going to happen in Ukraine and the support, for Ukraine, with the Trump administration coming through. So I think there's going to be a lot of, lot of question marks around the future state as it relates to, to sadly warfare and how many of those as we hope will draw to some close soon. 

Emma Dodwell-Groves: Yeah, absolutely. And I think we've seen as a reaction to that in the mobility space, a real focus on contingency planning, emergency responses. You know, we have some great partners, International S. O. S. and Crisis 24, which I think we have another podcast episode on coming out soon, if not yet already. Those are the types of organizations that really help us and help our clients to be ready for whatever for the unknown. We can't predict what incidents are going to happen.

Emma Dodwell-Groves: We can be prepared [00:27:00] for it. We can practice responses. We can have systems of communication in place. So I know we've definitely seen, a big increase in language about that in policies in making sure that there are plans in place and a more challenging one, knowing where your people are. That's what we heard was a major challenge when COVID lockdowns kicked off, that people didn't necessarily know where their employees were globally.

Emma Dodwell-Groves: And you certainly don't want to start tracking people that has a real, you know, menacing, big brother element to it, but at least for safety purposes, they need to have plans to move people. So there has to be a certain amount of knowledge as to the location of their population. 

Hannah Richardson: Yeah, and I think as you mentioned earlier, this expansion of global duty of care to people as well, right now, a lot of this is all about, potentially, what's the psychological safety aspect is my employer there for me?

Hannah Richardson: What are they going to do in the event that something happens. So I think this duty of care extension is, is, is [00:28:00] really important. And I think it's almost, part of that employee, employee value proposition piece again, that there's an expectation that, people need the assurance before they expect either the assignments or, choose an overseas experience.

Hannah Richardson: Absolutely. 

Emma Dodwell-Groves: But I think this actually ties in nicely because I've heard some discussions around the type of role that generative AI might have in helping arrange contingency plans based on specific passports, based on specific locations, that there are tools out there to make things easier.

Emma Dodwell-Groves: And that, as I said, leads us to our next topic on generative AI. But I just want to flag before we kind of delve into it, that every topic we've talked about today and that we probably will be in 2025 has a tie into, what could generative AI do for us in this space? 

Hannah Richardson: So I think this is the year where generative AI has really become mainstream in many, many businesses.

Hannah Richardson: and I think it's been used across the board, but [00:29:00] particularly to help improve employee experiences. We've done a recent podcast episode with Microsoft actually on this exact same topic. And it's going to continue to be leveraged and these are going to become mainstream skills. And just sort of linking it back to, again, the Gartner survey I referenced earlier, they're actually citing that within five years, 23 percent of the jobs that we have in existence today just won't exist in, five years’ time.

Hannah Richardson: I mean, again, this is through the continued leverage of tools like generative AI and other automation tools that will just continue to, make work courses more productive. Um, but again, puts the focus back on talent to, to keep pace with the changing tools so that we can, continue to upskill, and ensure that capabilities are sharp [00:30:00] I think if we look at cyber risks, this is actually called out in the World Economic Forum Global Risks Report as the number one global risk to organizations and governance. And this is around misinformation and disinformation. And again, I think it's fair to say we saw a lot of talk about this across a number of global elections that were held this year.

Hannah Richardson: But again, I think there's, you know, in all seriousness, I think there's, there's an important underpinning in this space around actually how cultural training can help by broadening and providing reliable sources of information and insight to employees. Uh, going overseas on some form of international or domestic experience, but also, looking at a mobility leader's role, and their team in terms of the expanding horizons and changing perspectives that are happening, you know, you think of the remit of a GM team and how many [00:31:00] country jurisdictions that they actually touch and reach.

Hannah Richardson: On an annual basis, it's pretty, pretty broad. 

Emma Dodwell-Groves: And I think those different perspectives are, like you said, there's something that can be honed and developed and that's where some of that inclusiveness comes in, right? We're saying there's an opportunity to work on these global teams or have experiences internationally or elsewhere in the same country.

Emma Dodwell-Groves: And that can give you a different perspective. The challenge with some of the great tech options we're seeing is, you know, people going down their echo chamber, rabbit holes, that gen AI to a certain extent, we've seen some scandals out there where it tells you what you want to hear, you know, not necessarily the information you don't because there's a stickiness element to that as well.

Emma Dodwell-Groves: And so what can those real global experiences and exposure to difference do to help people with that type of misinformation or disinformation? And similarly, we mentioned in crises with crisis management and emergency response, that one of the most important [00:32:00] things is having the right people access to accurate information, especially when you're panicking. So with all the great things that I can give, it's also really important and mobility has a role in saying if there's an emergency, here's the source you're going to get your information from, and we can guarantee that that would be accurate. So that's an opportunity as well to sort of expand, generative AI and, but also be, you know, cautious and tie it into risk management strategies. 

Hannah Richardson: And it's interesting the comment you made around the information being accurate. I was reading the other day about Gen Zs and of the 1 billion TikTok users, just around 65% ish are actually Gen Zs.

Hannah Richardson: And the bigger worry now on misinformation is that certain demographics are more prone to believing what they see on social media platforms like TikTok and others than they are actual experts. [00:33:00] And I think this is one challenge that many corporations are really going to grapple with in terms of actually that credible source, authentic source of truth, which global experience, hopefully, you know, that's a great tactic to just give people exposure to difference.

Emma Dodwell-Groves: I also just wanted to sort of, you know, before we wrap up for the session, because we're getting there now, we have had loads of discussions with clients this year about how generative AI might be utilized in mobility. I'd say it'll be a much bigger topic for 2025. Right now, mainly the discussions have been exploratory. There are certain things that are already being done. Most organizations I know including ourselves have AI committees that are working on ethics and how we use it and the practical usages and upskilling. But I know we're already using it internally for benchmarking and data analysis.

Emma Dodwell-Groves: We talked with Microsoft about how incredibly powerful it could be in a combined supplier ecosystem and mobility to streamline that process, reduce the contact points, [00:34:00] share information effectively, but all that hinges on having accurate data in the first place. And I know we've had some discussions around how AI could help to navigate compliance needs, especially the ones that are changing really quickly.

Emma Dodwell-Groves: Once again, accuracy being a key element, reducing admin, reducing touch points, as I mentioned, and improving the employee experience, like you mentioned earlier, all of those things are being discussed. Beginning to be probed. But we also, I think, said to follow it with some structure and some good ethics behind it to prevent some of the biases getting in there.

Emma Dodwell-Groves: So there's loads of excitement, loads of hype. But I would say that the action on it hasn't yet matched up to that speed. So that'll be something we're looking at, I think, in our next session in the new year. So I think we've managed to cover an awful lot in a very short period of time, um, but it is about time to wrap up.

Emma Dodwell-Groves: You know the drill, by now, Hannah, we always get our subject matter expert to share a single top tip. So what is yours as 2024 draws to a close? 

Hannah Richardson: Well, [00:35:00] I think as we look back at the macro trends that have really shaped and influenced business and mobility practices, across the board. I think Drucker sums it up nicely for the societal macro trends.

Hannah Richardson: And he says, culture eats strategy for breakfast. I think that really resonates, we as industry players supporting and enabling global mobile experiences for multi-generational talents. We really need to think about people. Send to people, send to the people strategy, and then all the cultural requirements to support and enable a productive multi-generational workforce.

Emma Dodwell-Groves: Thank you, Hannah. What a year it has been so far, wrapping it up still in the next month or two. And I'm already looking forward to what new trends and observations there will be for us to discuss in 2025. 

Hannah Richardson: Thanks, Emma, and [00:36:00] likewise, and here's to a very successful and happy 2025 ahead. 

Emma Dodwell-Groves: Indeed, and thank you for listening to Sirva Soundbites.

Emma Dodwell-Groves: If you enjoy our show, please click subscribe and share, and be sure to come back next time. Until then, this is Emma and Hannah, and don't forget, Sirva provides everything needed to move talent and deliver experience. See you next time.