Insights from Work Environment Discovery study

Across 30 topics, we ask “how mature is your organization?”, defined by topic on a 5 point scale, and “how much of a priority is this topic over the next few years?” We then calculate a current state and a future state score, and determine mathematically the gap between where the organization is now and where they would like to be. Areas with lower current state maturity and larger gaps indicate areas of focus. Results and benchmarking insights are made available to participating organizations in a Power BI dashboard, with an ability to see high level insights, deep dive into scores by question, filter by various categories, and more.

Below is a discussion of results so far, considering both the WED assessment and our Global Mobility Benchmarking survey.

Organizations are increasingly adopting a skills-based approach to gain agility in how they deploy, develop, and reward talent—focusing on capabilities rather than job titles. Our WED results highlight the growing importance of the Talent Marketplace: a platform/framework connecting employees to internal opportunities such as projects, stretch assignments, mentoring, and new roles, based on their skills and aspirations. This model enhances visibility, agility, and mobility across the organization, while providing real-time insights into workforce capabilities and gaps. These insights enable SWP and allow leaders to make informed decisions about where to borrow, build, or buy talent to meet future business needs.

Furthermore, this notion directly complements Global Mobility by expanding the concept of mobility beyond traditional international assignments to include virtual, hybrid, and project-based experiences. Through the integration of these functions, organizations can create a more dynamic, skills-based workforce strategy that not only optimizes global deployment but also enhances employee engagement, development, and retention — helping ensure that the right people are in the right roles at the right time, anywhere in the world.

Cross-border hiring is another topic linked to resolving talent shortages, and the “Buy” factor of the four B’s. Our results show that almost 65% of organizations say they view hiring in other jurisdictions as a medium-high priority over the coming years, and more than 45% show low maturity in their current capability levels. More than one third have implemented a policy in this area but suggest there is room for improvement, another one third are considering how best to go about this and have no formalized approach, and the remaining third have not done anything yet or are not planning to hire in other jurisdictions.  So we can see in almost all cases that there is room to improve.

For some organizations, we conduct a Talent Landscape Analysis to better understand where and how to source critical skills in a competitive market. By analyzing factors such as talent availability, education levels, hiring practices, and compensation trends across geographies, organizations can make more informed decisions about where to hire, relocate, or develop talent to meet strategic workforce needs.

We also see that organizations are increasingly exploring flexible, cross-border hiring solutions to access critical talent amid ongoing skills shortages and shifts toward remote and hybrid work models, which opens up a broader pool of talent. Organizations are able to weigh options between employee relocation to established work locations and remote employment across borders. This involves a thoughtful feasibility assessment to evaluate costs, operational complexity, and compliance implications.

When relocation is pursued, considerations around immigration, tax, and employment law are essential to ensure both organizational and employee compliance. For remote hires in countries where the organization lacks legal presence, alternative models - such as hiring through an existing entity in another country, establishing a new structure, partnering with a third party such as an Employer of Record (EOR), or engaging contractors - are becoming increasingly common. These flexible arrangements enable organizations to remain agile, expand global talent access, and manage risk while supporting evolving workforce expectations.

Finally, we are also seeing opportunities for improvement across more traditional mobility topics, such as related to cross-border business travel/assignments/relocations. Results show that about half of organizations are prioritizing this area and more than 50% see room for improvement in their practices. A similar number are prioritizing their practices for cross-border remote work, with various opportunities to improve.

As we can see, Global Mobility has significant opportunities to elevate its role as a strategic business partner across the work environment. Insights from WED reveal that while companies are prioritizing topics such as Strategic Workforce Planning, skills-based talent management, cross-border hiring, and cross-border travel/remote work, many organizations still demonstrate fairly low maturity, signaling significant opportunities for Global Mobility to collaborate more deeply with HR, Finance, and broader talent functions to address skills gaps and future workforce needs.

In addition to insights gathered on these topics related to talent shortages and mobility, there are many interesting insights across other areas of the work environment. There is so much to say, so much that is evolving, and we haven’t even talked about AI yet! Stay tuned for more insights to come.