Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of WERC.
We have seen an outpour of research in 2025 that documents what global talent is asking for to accept a relocation and thrive in a new destination. In a time of global political and economic turbulence, some employees are questioning whether they will feel welcome and safe in their destination locations, while others are making clear that they are interested in global and domestic relocation opportunities, but their decision to move is tied to assurances of support and access to resources for an effective transition for themselves and those moving with them.
In this article, members of the WERC Content Work Group have gathered commentary and insights from employers, relocation management companies (RMCs), and service providers on the practices, support, and services that are making a difference in securing the participation of global talent in mobility opportunities.
The recently released Global Employee Mobility Survey from CERC and Ipsos provides the latest example confirming that employees who are interested in relocation opportunities have specifically identified support requirements such as finding housing and understanding school choices, getting oriented to their new communities and cultures, as well as being provided with transitional assistance, like temporary living, visits home, and employment search support for their partners.
These priorities are confirmed by consulting specialists such as Living Abroad, which provides destination and cultural orientation content to hundreds of global employers. Cathy Heyne, president of Living Abroad, shared the perspective that “our user data from this year reveals a striking pattern. Across 80,000 page views, five topics consistently dominate what relocating employees desperately need: housing, school options, family integration, visa requirements, and understanding business norms. Our top destinations—the U.S., U.K., India, Germany, Canada, France, Singapore, Australia, Spain, and China—represent where comprehensive support is most critical.”
As employers assess their plans for closing talent gaps, such as addressing the predicted shortage of 85 million skilled workers by 2030, the talent themselves are providing a path for what they need to say “yes” to an opportunity and be prepared for a successful assignment and their continued ability to contribute to their company’s value.
Lesson 1: It Can’t All Be Done Online
Stakeholders from every corner of the global talent mobility industry understand the need for cost controls, operating efficiency, and the thoughtful deployment of technology and AI tools to support the customer experience in relocation. The “challenge question” is finding the right balance of technology, cost management, and employee engagement in the relocation process. Lump-sum programs, for example, are often deployed in the belief that a cash benefit and access to increasingly sophisticated technology tools will enable relocation success. Unfortunately, that is not always the case. As information becomes more plentiful, so does the risk of misinformation, and in the case of AI, hallucinations that double back on the person making the prompt, providing unverified and unreliable information that looks vetted and accurate.
To ensure the commitment of essential talent to transfers to new environments, many employers prioritize the value of cultural training and destination services delivered by on-the-ground local experts. A case for the need to adequately prepare inbound talent to the U.S., the world’s largest corporate mobility destination, was made by several global mobility leaders interviewed for this article. Their consensus was that destination services are imperative. The reality is that U.S. culture is likely different from the employees’ home country experience or the country of their last assignment.
These employees may have preconceived ideas about how to interact in business and daily life that will need a reset. Mobility leaders stated that helping their talent understand the culture of their destination assignment culture allows them to settle into their new home and life quickly, which in turn allows them to start on time and be engaged in their new role. One corporate mobility manager specifically noted, “This is where intercultural training comes in. We have included intercultural training for each assignment before the move to the U.S. In our highly interconnected world, cultural competence is essential to the success of any assignment.”
Domestic moves within the U.S. can often be just as complex. As this additional employer commented, “We use DSP support for both global and domestic employees, and the value we place on this support is high. We found that even people moving within the U.S. have issues with driver’s licenses, utility setup, and finding places to eat or shop. This added support makes the difference in their being settled or unsettled and in the role where we need them.”
Dwellworks, a destination services and temporary living provider, confirms the frequency of these requests for information among the thousands of moves into the U.S. and globally that it supports every year. Two of the leading questions asked of Dwellworks destination consultants and its AI agent, Dwellton, are, “How do I apply for my Social Security card?” and “Will this apartment accept pets?” The answers to these questions can, in fact, be sourced online, but the volume of content pushed at employees looking for information can be overwhelming and difficult to prioritize and take action on. An expert local resource can filter out the noise and errors and expedite both acceptance of the decision to move and the move itself.
Mickey Calantropio, vice president of client partner experience at Altair Global, comments that her clients are adding destination services for domestic moves, including both look-see trips and extensions to the number of days an employee is authorized to engage with providers. “The reality is that employees are now searching for information using AI, which can be misleading. If the destination partner can speak with employees from a local point of view, they can help defuse concerns about the area in ways that an AI-generated response cannot.”
Local Experts Control Risk and Make the Mobility Experience More Positive
Relocation involves risk. There is risk for the employer, of course, who is making a sizeable, often six-figure investment in an employee’s move. But the risk is also very real for the employee. Are they making the right decision for their career, for their family, and for their own development? Getting help with answers to these questions, from global mobility resources as well as local subject matter experts, helps employees make their commitment to move and helps employers with lower downstream failure rates and churn.
The risks are more than personal and emotional. Bad advice can have legal consequences. As Kathy Connelly, chief operating officer at Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Georgia Properties, advises, “Real estate and relocation professionals in the U.S. can provide guidance in full compliance with the Fair Housing Act, which provides protection against discrimination in housing, whether renting, buying, or getting a mortgage for a home. Relocating employees understandably have questions on a broad range of topics but need the support of professionals to avoid engaging in property searches that discriminate on the basis of religion, national origin, familial status, and more.”
Connelly further notes that the biggest risk to employees managing their relocations online, without assistance, is potentially uninformed decision-making, with downstream repercussions in terms of satisfaction or retention. “We often must redirect transferees regarding areas they are interested in due to price searches on the internet. For example, they may see an apartment that appears to be in their price range, but further investigation shows multiple issues with the apartment (bad maintenance, poor management, etc.), so education is key to redirecting their search. What they find online is also often not commutable to their work location.”
Keeping Focus on the Objective
Corporate growth and talent management strategies must continuously adapt to internal and macro-economic challenges, but the “North Star” of talent mobility management is to ensure that high-performance employees, at all levels of the organization, express interest in, accept, and successfully complete their relocation process. A well-managed relocation is the cornerstone of success in the new role and new destination, and multiple contributors, working in coordination, can positively impact that outcome.
Morgan Kelly, domestic mobility manager at Cox Companies, outlines the infrastructure requirements that will make the service experience likely to succeed for both the individual transferee or assignee and the organization. Global mobility managers monitor and direct a process that is more than the point-to-point logistics of relocation. As the professional who sees all the action on the grid, the mobility manager is an information coordinator for internal management and business partners, for RMCs and direct suppliers, and for employees looking to understand their core benefits and how to engage with the organization in mutually beneficial mobility opportunities.
Kelly recommends mobility practitioners compile and share a resource guide that outlines:
- Key conversations between home and host HR leaders and hiring managers regarding talent needs
- HRIS triggers for assignment status, leave, and localization (as applicable)
- Impacts on payroll and benefits
- System workflows from compensation triggers to immigration to relocation task coordination to ensure compliance oversight
- The importance of real-time data and the impact of local expertise
Heyne at Living Abroad expands on this critical checklist by noting that the best time to provide support is early in the process, starting well in advance of pre-departure. Heyne advises, “This is when problems can be identified before becoming assignment-threatening issues, and when employees are most receptive to information.”
Maura Carey at Dwellworks concurs. “Employees using destination services want answers to their specific questions and are most receptive to communications that avoid the clutter of gathering/repeating basic intake and get straight to informed answers to questions about local markets, housing, schools, and registration requirements.”
Lock In Your Top Talent by Listening to Their Needs
A number of recent HR consulting articles have commented on the impact of high-potential talent on business goals. One such article from T2 Performance noted, “High performers are invaluable to organizations. Losing them doesn’t just affect output—it creates a ripple effect that impacts culture, morale, and long-term success.” Organizations identify talent for global mobility opportunities because they see value in the employees’ current and future contributions. In an intensely competitive environment for top talent, it’s good business sense to review the roadmap employees themselves are giving us for what they need to have confidence in a successful assignment.
A talent mobility process that includes core benefits as well as well-designed and flexible policy parameters, especially early engagement with local experts to answer any “go/no-go” concerns can be a difference maker for a company. Local subject matter experts, whether destination services providers, real estate brokerages, or mobility-industry content managers, are trained to look for and listen to key concerns, respond with facts and data about the destination location, and provide access to up-to-date and accurate online content instead of non-validated search engine results. Increasingly, this information is captured in end-to-end mobility management systems that are connected via APIs, so that RMCs and corporate clients have an in-the-moment understanding of the choices their critical talent is making and why.
Early, positive intervention with appropriate resources is typically a more effective customer experience than managing escalations based on missed signals. Now more than ever, when talent is scarce and cost controls are key, it makes sense to connect your top candidates and employees with objective local experts who can help ensure your change makers are accepting opportunities and continuing to make a high-value impact on your organization.