Global mobility leaders are increasingly operating in a world where geopolitical shocks, natural disasters, and unpredictable policy environments collide. That reality set the tone for “Global Mobility in Crisis: Strategies for Navigating Geopolitical and Natural Disasters,” a WERC Global 25 session led by David Mayes, principal at KPMG LLP, and Tyler Hosford, security director at International SOS. The conversation underscored not only the volatility of today’s operating environment, but also the expanding responsibility—and strategic value—of mobility teams.
The session opened with a stark look at today’s geopolitical landscape. Reflecting on discussions earlier in the week, Mayes said: “What hit home was the immigration session on what’s happening right now in immigration. It’s such a topical issue right now. The reality is we’re having to navigate these challenges. It’s impacting everyone, not just in mobility. It’s encouraging us to be agile and resilient.”
From trade tensions to rising military spend, he emphasized the broader macro trends reshaping global business. “The next geopolitical issue impacting our world is the global trade wars, with tariffs being one of the primary weapons being used,” he said. He then showcased a global ports and crisis-zone overlay that revealed how exposed global supply chains have become: “Half the products that go through these ports are in areas of crisis around the world. Layered on top of that, there were 61 active crises tracked last year. That’s the most since WWII. Couple that with increased military expenditures by 9%.”
Mayes cautioned that leaders can no longer assume stability: “There has been a shift in strategy. Shifting to a ‘just-in-case’ model. We’re anticipating now we may run into visa challenges. Things will take longer. There may be government shutdowns. We have been historically so focused on moving things efficiently from point A to point B, and now we’re building toward business continuity and resiliency and what that will take.”
Crisis Response in Real Time
Real-world stories from both the panel and the audience illustrated the personal and organizational pressures mobility teams face during crisis relocations.
Mayes shared an example from a client with “roughly 3,000 employees in Eastern Europe when Russia-Ukraine conflict happened.” In this case, the mobility practitioner—“a mobility team of one without any history of dealing with a crisis like this”—was tasked with relocating nearly 400 employees. “They were able to rally,” he noted. “They pulled on their advisers and leveraged employer of record. They were able to pull on their tax and immigration advisers to help.”
An audience member from another organization—working on the opposite side of the same conflict—described a similar experience: “We had an entity in Russia and had to move 140 families. We had to make the decision quickly, and it was also a team of one. I said to my employer, ‘No one knows how to do this.’ The mobility industry came together to help solve it.”
These examples showcased one of mobility’s enduring strengths: cross-functional coordination and problem-solving under pressure. As Mayes put it, “Recognition that we need to tackle these issues from a holistic perspective. This has been a superpower of mobility teams, to connect with different stakeholders and bring them together.”
Building Resilience Through Data and Partnerships
Data is becoming central to anticipation and preparedness. Mayes described how one organization turned business-travel data into a predictive tool: “Quickly they recognized they were starting to see patterns of movement based on that business travel data and reach out to the businesses and offer their services.” As they looked ahead, the team incorporated political-risk indicators: “To overlay that data is to layer some of the geopolitical hot spots into that data to do a risk assessment on where the risks might be.”
He also emphasized the growing importance of strategic supplier relationships: “The re-evaluation of our supplier network and partner network over the past 18 months has been exponential. We need to make sure we have the right partners on our side to address the new normal.”
Rethinking Duty of Care—and Duty of Loyalty
Shifting to crisis treatment, Hosford highlighted how the pandemic permanently reshaped expectations around employer responsibility. “COVID changed duty of care,” he said. While legal requirements matter, he argued that culture matters more: “Meeting your legal minimum isn’t always enough. There’s also duty of loyalty.” He described it as a mutual commitment: “It’s a two-way expectation that deepens the bond between employee and company.”
Mobility teams, he warned, are too often an afterthought during crisis planning: “Mobility tends to be overlooked for crisis management teams. More often, they get brought in at the last minute.” But even small-scale disruptions require structure. “Crisis doesn’t always have to be macro; it can be micro. As you start seeing triggers, then what are you doing and who are you engaging with?”
He shared a four-part approach to crisis management—“situation control,” “stakeholder orchestration,” “problem-solving,” and “action communication”—as a consistent way to reduce the duration and intensity of crisis conditions: “You can’t avoid a crisis, but effective preparation minimizes the time in crisis.”
One audience member offered a storytelling counterpoint from the 2010 Iceland volcano eruption. When a travel provider told her team there was nothing to be done to reroute travelers, “Our team looked at a map and were able to get people home by way of Brazil.” The experience became a reminder that sometimes creativity outperforms conventional processes.
What Mobility Leaders Can Do Now
The session closed with a focus on actionable takeaways. Attendees were encouraged to:
- Develop internal training materials or refine mobility policies.
- Apply strategies to strengthen stakeholder communication and streamline program operations.
- Work with partners to enhance client engagement and expand solutions.
Ultimately, the panel urged mobility professionals to reframe today’s volatility not only as a challenge, but as a source of strategic influence. Or as Mayes put it: “I’m not trying to bring the mood down, but where there’s crisis, there’s opportunity. Mobility professionals should be agile to help companies prepare for the inevitability.”