Trends of IHRM-

Training and Professional Development

One of the emerging trends in global human resources management is diversity training and cross-cultural professional

development. This area of HR includes all types of learning opportunities and further education programs that an

organization offers to its employees, including sponsoring formal university coursework, opportunities to attend

conferences and networking events and on-the-job training seminars. The purpose of these programs is to encourage

employees to become more diverse both in their skill set (for example, by learning a new language) and in their core

competencies (the ability to understand how business is done in a foreign country, for instance).

Global Recruitment

Organizations are also realizing that the best matches for the jobs within the company may not necessarily be people

living locally. A push toward global recruitment is replacing the traditional model of employing from within the

community or promoting from within the organization. Global recruitment is focused on getting the best person in the

available position, no matter if that person lives locally or 5,000 miles away. HR teams adopting this global recruitment

trend value the diversity that non-native or non-local employees can bring to an organization, and they seek to bring those

people on board even if there's an added cost in terms of applying for visas or relocating families.

Cross-Border Legal Compliance

The effects of globalization on HR have also brought attention to the importance of cross-border legal compliance.

Companies now have the potential to sell products and services in many different markets through use of the Internet and

postal service. Doing so brings with it added tax, customs and border security concerns to the human resources division.

Selling products overseas may involve the need to apply for additional permits or to pay tax within a different

jurisdiction. Employing workers in a foreign country will mean that the company has to follow the laws concerning labor

and compensation in that location. All of these cross-border legal concerns are important for the organization to grasp,

because there may be serious consequences attached to failure to follow the law.

Benefits and Compensation

A final global trend affecting human resources is within the area of benefits and compensation. While federal laws in the

United States mandate the amount of vacation and sick time employees are allowed, many foreign countries, particularly

in Europe, have much less-stringent rules and grant their employees much more holiday and family leave time than do

traditional American companies. As a result, some globalized companies are embracing these progressive HR policies on
benefits and compensation and have begun offering things like paternity leave, extended vacation time and flexible

working hours to all of their employees, including the ones based in the United States.

Professional Development

Professional development training programs have also arisen as a trend in response to global compensation approaches.

Professional development is about providing employees with opportunities for growth outside the day-to-day routine of

the organization. For example, HR might send employees to training seminars to sharpen their IT skills for use in global

social media campaigns, or customer service personnel might be sent to language courses to enhance their ability to

communicate with customers who live abroad. Such professional development programs keep employees motivated and

feeling rewarded, and the new skills these employees learn are put to direct use within the company.

Changing demographics of the workforce

With the emergence of Millennials in the workforce and the baby boomers already staying on the job longer there are

four different generations that are working in the workplace: Silents, baby boomers, Generation X and Generation Y

(Millennials). This makes it very important for HR managers to balance their needs from hiring and training to retirement

and benefit packages.

 Freedom for employees to work from home

Employees in this current competitive recruitment field are finding strict schedules to follow and requiring to work in the

office a major restriction that hampers their productivity. Expect HR personnels to allow flexible schedules and work

from home options to employees in the coming months. With the advantage of technology, it is possible for the

employees to remain in contact through emails and innovative tools which assist sharing and collaborating. So, there is no

need to make employees stay at work place when the ultimate objective is high quality output. Flexibility can also assist

in providing proper work-life balance to the employees.

The emergence of blended workforce

On top of already increasing number of employees opting to work remotely, there is a growth of freelancers or contracted

employees. This has lead to the emergence of a blended workforce combining on-site and remote employees working in
conjunction with these so called gig workers. The major challenge for the HR personnel would be to find ways to assist

this blended workforce to communicate effectively with each other so that the values of the corporate culture can be

passed on to those who are not in the office for a long period of time.

Trends in global talent mobility

No longer just about managing expats, global mobility is key in realizing business and workforce strategies

Like its fellow HR functions, global mobility has been impacted by broader market trends and is evolving to better meet

the organization’s needs and those of the workforce. Its largely logistical, transactional role of the past has given way to a

much more strategic and integral role in how the business attracts, develops, retains, deploys, and advances talent. In the

first of our series on global mobility, we look at what’s driving the development of global mobility and introduce four

global trends that are disrupting the mobility landscape, fueled by—and fueling—the digital age.

Megatrends at work

Deloitte’s 2017 Global Human Capital Trends report points to a number of factors influencing global mobility.

The arrival of the organization of the future, highly digital and designed to be agile, adaptable, and always learning.

Focus on the employee experience, with a goal to help companies attract and retain skilled employees who, in turn, can

drive a strong customer experience.

A push toward digital HR, redesigning HR programs to leverage digital and mobile tools and being a leader in driving the

organization to “be digital” rather than just “do digital.”

Emphasis on diversity and inclusion as a business strategy to enhance employee engagement, strengthen corporate and

employment brand, and drive performance.

The increasing role of automation, cognitive computing, and crowds in reshaping the future of work and the workforce.

These broader organizational and workforce trends—more mobile, more digital, more flexible, more diverse—are driving

changes in almost all facets of global mobility and affecting a much larger number of organizations than in years past.

More move types

No longer characterized by a narrow role in handling expats sent out for 2- or 3-year assignments with plush packages,
the mobility function today is greatly expanded, handling short- and long-term rotations, permanent transfers,
international and domestic new hires, extended business travelers, commuters crossing state or country lines, and even
remote workers.

+ More locations

As business footprints have expanded, so has mobility in multiple directions—to, from, and within developed, growth
and emerging markets.

+ More diverse employee profiles

The image of the traditional expat (typically white, male, middle management or higher, often with a family and stay-at-
home spouse) has given way to a diverse mix of individuals on the move. Every group represented in the workforce—
generationally, ethnically, and professionally diverse—expects to have access to international opportunities.

= More complexity and the need to be more strategic

The workforce trends and the expansion in mobility make the mobility function’s role more complex and are driving
change in how the function operates and which services it provides. Rather than focusing on logistics—moving
employees from Point A to Point B—mobility is evolving to become an enabler of strategic talent and business priorities.

At the micro level, it’s working with the business to understand the reason for a move and helping the business determine
if a move is the most effective solution. Perhaps local talent could be hired instead, or the assignment length should be
adjusted, or the move should be a one-way transfer rather than a temporary assignment.

At the macro level, mobility is getting involved much earlier in business plans that impact the global workforce. For
example, if the business is considering a new market entry into China or India, mobility would collaborate with other
functions to understand the local talent landscape, stand up operations and source talent, and plan for any moves of talent
into the new location. We also see mobility getting involved early on in M&A transactions that involve significant
employee populations to advise on talent strategies and regulatory considerations to support the transition.

From “movers” to “talent experts”

Overall, the function is progressing from being simply movers of people to cross-border talent experts, looking at
workforce planning on a global basis to see where the talent gaps are and how mobility can be used to achieve desired
business outcomes. In doing so, it is melding typically siloed functions (talent acquisition, learning and development,
leader succession) and blending buy-build-borrow talent strategies to better serve the business.

Mobility in the digital age

Like the broader organization, and to better fulfill its expanded role in the organization’s talent strategy, the mobility
function is also embracing digital. Formerly highly manual and segmented processes are becoming more digitally
enabled, making the experience more simple, predictive and personal. For example, disappearing are the bulky binders
typically sent as references for relocating employees in favor of more personal and engaging platforms, such as mobile
apps or digital content delivery that provide just-in-time information and allow users to choose their own path of
interactions based on preference. For the business, by infusing AI into workforce planning, hiring managers can quickly
identify the quickest, most cost-effective talent solutions to fill a gap, therefore making smarter decisions.

Four mobility trends

Our new publication, Digital Mobility | Talent: 2017 Trends, takes a closer look at how global mobility leaders are
shifting their organizations to leverage technology and advance their ability to deliver a better experience and greater
business value:

Employee-driven global workforce programs. The fast-changing and diverse employee landscape requires global
workforce programs to adapt.
Mobility and talent acquisition. The employer brand that attracts talent and effectively uses its existing hand requires
mobility and HR to work more closely together
The human side of mobility. A global move is professionally and personally disruptive. An inclusively designed, people-
centered mobility experience can increase engagement, productivity, and impact.
Mobility analytics. Data-driven insights from active business processes can inform better proactive decisions on talent,
deployment, and future global workforce planning.