15 Sep Maximizing Metrics for your Global Mobility Programs

A wise man once said, “When you cannot measure, you cannot know.” To which highly respected management leader Peter Drucker expands on, saying, “What you cannot measure, you cannot manage.”

Metrics and the tools to accurately determine the effectiveness of programs and the standard of performance alike are far more available to us now, than they were 20 years ago.

Big Data is churning up almost incalculable tons of information faster than their business owners, data analysts, and marketers can organize and interpret. However — and ironically — only a few of them are still actively using said tools like analytics to cull vital information that can enhance their business competitiveness.

This is particularly true in the field of global mobility. The approach has been more of reaction than pro-activeness. In one survey conducted by BGRS, 71 percent of their respondents admit they do use data analytics to monitor costs and gauge performance of assignees and employees. However, they are gleaning said information only as business intelligence reports to evaluate these elements and how they impact the organization.

What they are missing out on is data analytics’ most important function:  to forecast trends and indicators that the organization might develop or go into, based on its current status and performance.

Using data analytics as an evaluation tool is like a patient in the hospital or clinic reading his medical exams; on the other hand, tapping it as a device to predict what can happen is like the doctor advising the patient not just how to avoid illness, but how to build his strength until it reaches optimal health.

Mercer points out that using analytics both as a business intelligence device and as a predictive platform can be a valuable resource for global mobility managers and their executives to create strategies for their next campaigns, programs, and policies. Results are monitored and analyzed, problems are remediated, and course correction can be done as soon as possible.

The impact of these competences on the organization’s future cannot be underestimated. Long-term plans can be changed, foreseeable challenges can be addressed, and aspects and situations that can affect both can be prepared for.

Mercer enumerates the categories where metrics and analytics can be applied, for the good of the organization and its global mobility efforts:

Compatibility or cultural fit?

Are the right assignees in the right jobs? Are their profiles and competencies suitable enough to survive, and thrive, in their current locations? Are they truly a cultural fit (in more ways than one) with the organization?

To what degree are their objectives, goals, values, and ideas aligned with it?  For example, some assignees might like the rush of adrenaline that is present in the lifestyle of New York, while others would prefer the work-life balance prevalent in Northern California.

Comparing costs to industry standards

As outlined by BGRS, analytics can show if the organization is indeed getting its ROI from its assignees and the global mobility managers’ campaigns. It can track down costs and expenses down to the last cent, where they were used, and how much of them were spent. It can compare said costs with industry standards, and give the global mobility manager an idea of their cost value impact. It can also indicate the areas where resources should be optimized, and where they should be reduced.

Consistent performance

Finally, global mobility programs can clearly show if the assignees have been consistently performing, and the true value they bring to the organization. It can also pinpoint the factors that can enhance or dampen said performances. It can even track down the locations, regions, or original countries of employment where the best-performing assignees come from.

Executives and leaders are demanding results, and global mobility managers tasked to meet them will find analytics a very useful tool in fulfilling their deliverables. Guesswork is discarded and replaced by metrics that can measure the success or failure of current workplace variables, and how to build on or change them ASAP if necessary.