Employees crave something beyond the traditional 9-to-5 grind in today's interconnected world. They want flexibility, the freedom to work from anywhere, and the chance to explore new horizons. A staggering 54% of employees would change jobs for one offering more flexibility. To respond to this growing demand, companies are revolutionizing their internal policies and embracing the concept of global mobility.
Face-to-face interactions like off-sites, meet-ups, and workations play a crucial role in elevating the employee experience and positioning your organization as a top player in the worldwide marketplace. However, offering these opportunities while remaining legally compliant can be a delicate balancing act.
How companies are embracing global mobility for employees
Companies are making conscious decisions to reshape how their employees work — both in terms of work environments and specific policies and practices. And, as employees are spreading across geographies and time zones, offering face-to-face opportunities such as business trips can help foster connections and enhance collaboration.
Business trips, such as off-sites and meet-ups, are employer-initiated gatherings for employees outside of their regular work environments. Through team-building exercises and activities, they aim to create a focused and collaborative environment that encourages idea-sharing and team bonding. Workations, on the other hand, are typically employee-initiated. They involve blending work responsibilities with personal travel. Rather than taking traditional paid time off, employees choose to work remotely while exploring new destinations.
The opportunities and challenges of offering off-sites, meet-ups, and workations
Offering off-sites, meet-ups, and workations has distinct benefits and challenges. Let's look at each, as discussed by leaders in the global mobility space on the recorded webinar hosted by Localyze, "Expanding Your Horizons: How Global Mobility Can Transform Your Business Travel Strategy."
Opportunities
- Building engaged teams. Distributed teams can struggle to bond. Giuseppe Lacerenza, Co-founder at Smartway, believes facilitating in-person interactions effectively builds a foundation for strong relationships, communication, and collaboration. It can also carry the momentum of ideas and energy forward in new and unexpected ways. He says, "The only thing that cannot be automated is getting together as human beings."
- Expanding perspectives through cultural exchange. Humans desire new and unique opportunities. And uniting them from different backgrounds and experiences can lead to greater understanding and empathy, fostering creativity and innovation that contributes to business solutions.
- Increasing employee satisfaction and productivity. Offering mobility and in-person travel opportunities shows your employees you're investing in them and their individuality. It puts them at the centre of decision-making power, which can lead to increased satisfaction and productivity.
Challenges
- Managing expectations. Christina Urrutia, Co-Founder/Executive Director at Women of Global Mobility, says while increased flexibility sounds straightforward, it may be a different story in practice. Off-sites, meet-ups, and workations is a business decision. To get a return on investment, careful and disciplined management of many working pieces, from learning a new language to embracing new experiences, is vital.
- Complying with the right to work. For Sally Flaxman, Director of Mobility at Remote, a key challenge is ensuring everyone has the right to work. Companies must navigate complex legal and compliance considerations — local regulations such as visa, tax, and employment laws — which can have significant implications for labor relations and employment practices.
- Defining duty of care. If something happens when the employee is abroad, where they would require help, such as a change to their physical health, a robbery, or a natural disaster, determining who is responsible and the level of your company's involvement can be tricky.
Ensuring inclusivity and accessibility for all. Mobility policies are not a one size fits all solution. They require an understanding of each of your employees to account for their unique needs. For example, young parents and families may require additional support to participate face-to-face, such as childcare coverage or different working hours.
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Five best practices for managing international teams
Whether in a remote, hybrid, or in-office setup, implementing the following best practices can help you effectively manage international teams and operations in light of offsites, meet-ups, workations, and more, while navigating the legal landscape.
1. Create a compliant and risk-free mobility policy. The more you understand your employees, the more you can accommodate them through compliant and risk-free policies. Track each employee (travel dates, location, and visa requirements) to approve their work while away. Furthermore, review the type(s) of insurance that may be necessary for duty of care to clarify your involvement, responsibility, and coverage.
2. Establish structure and ownership. Provide a written framework for your team to operate in the various environments. Communicate this framework, emphasize its centrality to your team culture, and focus on employee development. Once you gain clarity and alignment, trust your team to fulfill their responsibilities.
3. Respect cultural differences. With diverse cultures, backgrounds, and perspectives, promoting empathy and understanding of differences is vital. Consider investing in cross-cultural awareness by providing educational resources and training for DE&I.
4. Ensure regular touchpoints. Build in ways to connect, inform, and engage your teams — both everyday communication and virtual social events. Fun activities should be flexible, inclusive, and voluntary. Some companies implement structured "challenges" to work with people you otherwise wouldn't and gain exposure to new work functions.
5. Document and share information. Record and share key information, regardless of individual locations or situations. Schedule meetings in different time zones and alternate when they occur for impartiality.
Let Localyze support your strategy for risk-free business trips
Incorporating global mobility into business practices requires a significant organizational shift. Localyze is here for you.
Request a demo today to see how we can provide you with risk-free compliant workations support while providing the flexibility for employees, ultimately improving satisfaction, retention, and competitiveness.