Growth in global mobility and talent management within multinational firms means more talented people than ever are moving to countries like Sweden for work. Hurdles like housing, relocation logistics, immigration laws, and the lack of onboarding that includes assimilating to a foreign office culture can make an overseas relocation challenging for employees. As you work through the process to help your talent relocate successfully, keep in mind seven areas you’ll need to keep your upper management informed about.
Seven areas to for talent management reporting
1: Current Project Status
Does your company have a project in progress that relocating talent will take part in? If so, how will the relocation impact that project? Can the project afford downtime while personnel are working through the intricacies of overseas moves? Moving talent to a new country can take a healthy amount of time to accomplish. Work with management and relocating employees to develop a plan for project progress through the relocation period, including short trips or telecommuting.
2: Local Versus Overseas
Do your organizational needs demand relocation right now? If trips or telecommuting aren’t the right solutions and a project may be tied up while wading through relocation, discuss other options with company leadership. Some ideas include sourcing locally, at least for the short-term, or redefining project scope.
3: Legal Work Requirements
Once your organization has determined that relocating personnel is necessary to achieve business objectives, the first hurdle is obtaining work authorizations. Working with local relocation consultants will give you access to their experience and expertise in Swedish immigration law. This guidance can help design the conversations you’ll need to have with involved leadership when briefing on issues like permits, visas, taxation and compliance.
4: Relocating Household and Office Goods
The scope of relocation assistance provided by your firm for household and office goods is an important discussion topic, particularly as it pertains to how long shipments take and what import requirements exist. A global relocation specialist can help outline this scope so you can work with upper management to develop an internal timeline and budget.
5: Housing
Finding housing in a foreign country is no small chore. From learning how local rental contracts are developed to understanding areas of cities and typical housing costs, you’ll need to spend adequate time helping both management and the relocating personnel understand what to expect and what steps will need to be taken before relocating and once there. Supporting early trips by the candidate to choose an area to live can ensure that a house is ready for his arrival and belongings. Some research can be provided online before the move here is a sample of our neighborhoods briefs this one shows Kungsholmen on YouTube.
6: Schools
Many expats bring their families with them overseas, and that means finding appropriate schools for children. As an HR professional, you may be called to be a liaison between the candidate and upper management in drawing out relocation timelines that don’t negatively impact schooling, as well as supporting local housing allowances so the candidate can live near desirable schools.
7: Cost
At the end, effective global relocation comes down to assessing your costs in relation to the benefits, or value achieved. It’s likely that cost will be the main topic of conversation between yourself and company leaders, as well as between yourself and personnel who may also be responsible for some costs personally. Working with a relocation service can help hash out these costs so that sensible budgets can be built and you won’t be surprised by unexpected bills. Good global mobility reporting will minimize surprises for everyone.
Reporting and budgeting is essential when setting up shop in a new country. Also staying compliant and not taking risks where the talent can suffer goes without saying. In order to keep the momentum up and also keep management at home interested, find a way for planned reporting and use a structure that makes it interesting for the recipient.
Looking for more tips? You might enjoy our post on 6 Tips for HR Relocating Employees to Sweden
