The role of global mobility in company growth strategies

Global mobility can supercharge growth in new territories. Here’s how:

Aug 19, 2023

Global mobility supports growth in three ways:

Companies can swiftly redeploy the right people to the correct locations, increasing reactiveness and speed to market.
Companies can offer employees more flexibility on location, giving them a competitive advantage in recruitment so they can hire the people most likely to help them grow.

Companies can onboard talent from new countries faster. This makes it easier to ramp up local headcount to support growth.

What is global mobility?

Global mobility helps companies mobilise their workforce, allowing employees to work from different countries for differing amounts of time. This supports growth, as a mobilised workforce is typically happier, more effective and more likely to help a company reach higher profits.

Elements of global mobility include ensuring compliance with local tax, immigration and employment laws, which vary country by country. Other vital considerations include legal structures, health and safety compliance, and insurance.

Why is global mobility important?

Companies are in a war for talent and a race to exploit new market opportunities. Businesses that can mobilise their workforce can employ the best, get to market faster and scale up quicker.

Consider the following scenarios:

Company A might want to redeploy staff to launch a new product or oversee development in a new country.
Company B may have employees keen to work remotely from abroad for a few months, so they can travel, experience a new culture, or spend time with family.
Company C might want to recruit a high-potential candidate who happens to live and work in another country.

In all cases, there’s a need to deploy top talent in a new location quickly. That’s where global mobility comes in.

Global mobility and growth

Global mobility supports business growth in five key ways:

1) Access to new markets

Fast, well thought-out and controlled global mobility strategies can give businesses a head start in new markets and territories. Businesses with robust global mobility strategies can bid for roles in mega-projects such as smart cities, knowing that if they’re successful, they can soon ramp up resources locally without any nasty surprises on regulatory non-compliance. They have reassurance on things like business immigration, skilled worker visa fees and certificates of sponsorship, and their clients know they’ll have local boots on the ground, often within days.

2) Speed to market

Businesses without a global mobility strategy may find it challenging to exploit growth opportunities fast. This is because they’ll need to start the mobilisation process from scratch. They may rely on various professional services companies to guide local regulations. This can involve long waits and hefty fees.

In contrast, businesses with a global mobility strategy and a go-to global mobility partner are well-placed to scale up fast. Employee deployment decisions can be made in minutes, not days. Compliance processes, such as local entity setups, can also be started instantly.

3) Talent attraction and retention

A global skills shortage means companies are competing for the brightest and best. Consequently, CEOs are trying to outdo each other on employee experience. McKinsey research shows 40% of employees are motivated by flexibility1. Some fast-growing companies are even allowing employees to work from wherever they want.

Revolut, for example, allows employees to work from abroad for up to 60 days per year2. Airbnb encourages its employees to work from any of 170 countries, spending up to 90 days in each location3. Other businesses are catching on, making their employment terms more flexible to attract high-potential candidates.

‘Workations’ are another growing trend. Younger employees are unsurprisingly excited by the opportunity to become digital nomads with the security of a monthly paycheck. If a company can offer true flexibility over workplace location, it has a competitive advantage when recruiting the best.

4) A wider talent pool

Global mobility isn’t just about ensuring talented employees can travel. New technology means companies can widen their nets regarding recruitment – including sourcing candidates from countries other than their own. With a compelling global mobility strategy and the backing of enabling technology, companies can now onboard employees living in any country. This means they can appoint the most talented people from a population of eight billion rather than making do with the best candidate living within a train ride from the office.

5) Diversity and inclusion

Global mobility also helps businesses to recruit a more diverse workforce, which has long been known to drive growth. McKinsey research shows companies with a gender and ethnically diverse workforce are likely to outperform competitors; Gartner states diversity and inclusion lead to high-performance teams, and BCG has also identified how diversity can underpin growth in innovation and profits.

What happens without global mobility?

If companies can’t mobilise workers, growth suffers. Imagine winning a contract to support a new smart city in the Middle East but being unable to deploy critical workers to the territory. Or launching a business in Asia but not being able to onboard the local employees you need to service client needs or manufacture products, or losing your best employees to a competitor that allows them to ‘work from anywhere’.

Another danger is deploying workers in the wrong way. Without localised knowledge, it’s easy to trip up on local laws or tax and immigration issues. Mobilise without adequate compliance processes, and you risk a significant fine, tax bill or worse.

Global mobility strategies

A global mobility strategy gives companies transparent processes and parameters for employee mobilisation. It covers everything from when it’s appropriate to redeploy staff to a transparent process for examining local nuances and laws and then quick ways to make necessary ‘to-dos’ happen, such as setting up a business entity, managing an integrated international payroll service, or applying for a sponsorship licence.

Without a strategy and clear global mobility guidance, businesses may allow or request employees to work from abroad without understanding country-by-country nuances. That may lead to unforeseen tax bills, immigration issues or individual or corporate fines.

Global business mobility – key challenges

Global mobility clarifies and solves issues in deploying employees in a new country. Key global mobility challenges include:

Do we need to consider setting up a business entity?
Do we need a local Employer of Record (EOR) service?
Do we need skilled worker visas or to comply with other immigration rules?
Should we hire locally or relocate workers? Do we need international staffing consultants?
What are the payroll and benefits considerations?
Which local employment and health and safety laws must we comply with?
Which local industry laws do we need to comply with?
Do we need specific commercial agreements in place?

Companies need suitable suppliers and technology in place to answer these questions quickly. They also need to find a swift way to make the necessaries happen – for example, filling in immigration forms or applying for sponsorship visas.

Read our guidance on global mobility immigration and the future of global mobility tax here.

Benefits of a global mobility strategy

An effective strategy will ensure a company always has what it needs in global mobility services, EOR services, international payroll services, and international payroll. It will save costs, cut complications, and ease communication between employees and employers. And it will allow faster access to new markets. Centuro Global has helped hundreds of businesses deploy people around the world. Read our overview on global mobility here.

Global mobility and your growth strategy

HR leaders once outsourced mobility compliance to various siloed professional services experts. This was time-consuming and expensive. Now, Centuro Global offers a more straightforward solution. Our AI-powered online platform gives businesses a one-stop shop for global mobility needs. Within minutes, HR and legal professionals can check the viability and tax, legal and immigration implications of mobilising employees in up to 170 countries. From employer of records to scale-up worker visas and payroll outsourcing, Centuro Global can help your international business expansion with global mobility services you can trust. Get in touch with us.