Millennials on the move
As millennials gain an increasing share of mobility opportunities, relocation professionals must consider the policy components that motivate and support them. Millennials’ predisposition to travel suggests a less generous policy may be needed, reducing costs – but could millennial policy segmentation be a step too far? Dr Sue Shortland takes a closer look.
4 October 2018
– the must read for HR, global managers and relocation professionals.
The workforce of today is becoming ever more diverse in its composition. The multi-generational nature of the employee profile has received much publicity as baby-boomers work alongside generations X, Y and Z and millennials gain a greater share of what was once the preserve of the baby-boomers’ employment opportunities. With respect to mobility, the profile of a typical relocatee is changing. This has implications not only for relocation policy design but also for perceptions of equity and justice with organisations.
What's the difference between a Baby-boomer, a millennial and Generation Z?
First of all, the terminology applied to workforce generations needs some clarification.- Baby-boomers are the postwar generation, with births in the period from the mid-1940s through to 1960-1964.
- Generation X follows on; birth years running from early to mid-1960s through to the early 1980s.
- Millennials (also known as Generation Y) were born in the period from the early 1980s through to the mid-1990s but in some definitions their birth years extend through to the early 2000s.
- Generation Z are the post-millennials with birth years starting from the mid-1990s through to the mid-2000s.
International assignments: trend to tailor policy to assignment type
The current trend is to segment relocation policy to reflect particular assignment types, business outcomes (strategic, skills-based, developmental), and/or workforce characteristics (such as grade or level). The aim is to tailor policy provision more closely to the assignment type, the needs of the business, the employee demographic and, ultimately, to reduce costs.It is also evident that policy segmentation is increasing. AIRINC for example, reports an average number of policies per company as 4.4 in 2018, compared with 3.4 in 2011.Related articles:
- World Mental Health Day: Young people in a changing world
- Moving Millennials
- Download our free Global Mobility Toolkit factsheets to learn more about relocation policy and how to ensure successful international assignments
Different employmee benefits and allowances based on type of assignment
Assignment types such as commuter, business traveller, short-term, long-term, rotation, extended or permanent transfers are defined by length and pattern of mobility. As such, there can be seen a logic for different allowances and benefits, and thus policy segmentation devised and delivered by assignment type. Of course, certain items are common – those related to compliance for example (tax, visas). Others such as preparatory training could also be argued as necessary for all to adjust – although fly-in, fly-out mobility has been proposed as necessitating less support in this regard due to shortened timescales of interaction with local people.Business outcomes including strategic management and filling skills gaps have traditionally necessitated fairly generous packages to attract and retain assignees who meet exacting competency and skills profiles. Senior management moves at the strategic level have typically been very well provisioned. Trimming back on the elements of the package requires great care as while this may fulfil cost control requirements, if this is at the expense of addressing talent demands, it simply undermines organisational objectives.Career development policies, including relocation, have often been leaner; the message being that employees undertaking such assignments stand to gain career advantage and thus a fully-funded package is not required. Volunteer assignees also have traditionally been given less – why pay more if someone will go without creating increased costs? Tailoring a suite of policies to pay what is needed (but not more) while supporting mobility adequately (but not necessarily excessively) has become an industry in policy segmentation design. But how will this move forward as the assignee demographic changes?The profile of the typical Generation X international assignee appears to have changed little from the baby-boomers who preceded them, although greater policy emphasis is needed today on addressing dual careers. For single assignees though, given their demographic profile has changed, is this justification for further policy segmentation to address millennials on the move?Employment policy for millennials
As the workforce ages and retires, so organisations’ demographics are changing to include a higher proportion of millennials. It is widely reported that having grown up in a world where international travel is a regular occurrence and having attended universities where international diversity and the opportunities to study abroad are widespread, the new workforce generation is keen to work abroad and expects to do so as part of their career development. For their part, organisations are recruiting more widely, including from across-borders, and from international pools of university graduates.Career development graduate intake programmes regularly include international mobility as do training and development programmes for other entry-level positions for highly educated junior staff. Potentially, this suggests that organisations might view this section of their workforce as ‘global volunteers’ – reflecting their expectations and willingness to work internationally. By extension, this leads to the notion that a segmented policy approach whereby millennials on the move receive basic relocation policy components should be sufficient.Currently, it is not typical of organisations to enact policy specific to entry-level moves. An AIRINC and Benivo survey, The Future of Entry-level Mobility, reports that entry-level moves take place but without formal policy to support them. When compliance only or reduced benefits policies are applied, little attention is paid to the employee experience with consequent detrimental effects on talent attraction and retention. Provision of benefits often falls short – for example this generation requires help with rental deposits and given their relatively low incomes, lump sums offered as percentages of salary can be insufficient to meet basic costs. Lack of intercultural training, welcome packs and country/city guides to help settling in are policy omissions that do little to integrate entry-level or early career assignees and give a positive relocation experience.How can businesses keep your best employees from leaving?
Improving the employee experience for entry-level moves is critical to reducing turnover and improving employer brand. It is clear therefore that policy design should encompass this new and expanding group of relocatees.AIRINC and Benivo report that 85% of global mobility teams believe that expanding relocation support with a wider selection of basic policies is a strategic opportunity to support the business.But care must be taken here. Segmenting policy even further to provide basic relocation support for millennials must also take into consideration issues of perceived equity and justice. The millennial generation is depicted in the UK press as ‘generation rent’, significantly disadvantaged compared with earlier generations (particularly baby-boomers). Unable to buy property and consigned to renting or living with parents for many years, subject to pay restraint while saddled with large student debts, and with the prospect of working way beyond current retirement age with no affordable pension prospects. A very inequitable picture will be presented if international relocation policy is potentially segmented further.If policy design is structured to remain favourable to Generation X assignees following on from their baby-boomer predecessors and to employers trumpeting cost control advantages, while new graduate intakes are potentially penalised financially in comparison, this could well lead to a backlash.Millennials in entry-level relocation positions may perceive inequity and lack of organisational justice, reducing their willingness to join, or remain with an employer, thereby creating significant leakage from future talent pipelines.Subscribe to Relocate Extra, our monthly newsletter, to get all the latest international assignments and global mobility news.
Relocate’s new Global Mobility Toolkit provides free information, practical advice and support for HR, global mobility managers and global teams operating overseas.
Access hundreds of global services and suppliers in our Online Directory
©2024 Re:locate magazine, published by Profile Locations, Spray Hill, Hastings Road, Lamberhurst, Kent TN3 8JB. All rights reserved. This publication (or any part thereof) may not be reproduced in any form without the prior written permission of Profile Locations. Profile Locations accepts no liability for the accuracy of the contents or any opinions expressed herein.
