Global mobility remains the blind spot in workforce strategy, finds Vialto Survey

Businesses are under intense pressure to respond to talent shortages, geopolitical upheaval, legislative change and growing demands for agility; all while delivering on experience, compliance, and cost. Yet most have overlooked the one function uniquely positioned to help them do just that: global mobility.

Vialto Partners

21 July 2025

That’s the finding of the 2025 Vialto global mobility market survey which shows that less than a quarter (23%) report reaching the “strategic” or “influencer” level, where mobility is integrated into business priorities and proactive in managing risk. There’s growing consensus among business leaders that mobility must become a strategic lever, not just an operational necessity, in order to unlock workforce agility and long-term value. Instead, many remain in an operational role, underleveraged and underrecognized.Talent needs to move. Compliance needs to be right. Experience needs to be seamless and cross-generational. But mobility—the business function that ensures talent can move and work effectively, legally, and compliantly across borders—often remains a blind spot and that’s a missed opportunity.

Key takeaways:

Execution still outweighs influence: While nearly half (45%) describe their mobility program as “meaningful,” with defined processes, standardized policies, and a solid compliance foundation, a significant 32% remain in “unstructured” or “operational” models, lacking the influence they need to shape wider business priorities.
Cost pressures stall progress: Notably, 36% say cost management is a key challenge, pointing to mounting economic pressure and a need to deliver “more with less,” alongside increased expectations to deliver on experience.
Data gaps block strategic impact: While strategic intent is growing, 43% of teams don’t track core success measures like employee satisfaction or business alignment. And 76% don’t track what happens to employees after an assignment ends — making it nearly impossible to demonstrate mobility’s role in talent development or retention.

“Global work should be a lever for growth and resilience, not just a support function,” said Eileen Mullaney, Global Workforce Transformation and Managed Services Leader at Vialto Partners. “Today’s talent shortages, geopolitical disruption, mounting regulatory complexity, and speed-to-deploy demands need strategic foresight, not just operational management. But most organizations still underuse the one function built for this moment.”Eileen said many companies lack data necessary to influence policy. “Too many teams lack the visibility, metrics, and integration to influence business decisions, and that is the missed opportunity,” she said. “Companies that address this gap are better equipped to align with business strategy, respond faster to disruption, and turn employee experience into a competitive edge. Until global mobility is embedded in how we plan, move, and retain talent, companies will continue to leave value on the table.”

Strategic intent is rising. Execution must catch up

Despite challenges, leaders are elevating their ambitions and signaling a clear intent to reposition mobility as a driver of engagement, retention and growth. Three core priorities for the next 12 months are:

Aligning mobility with talent strategy (34%)
Enhancing employee experience (32%)
Introducing new tools and innovation (32%)

This reflects a recognition that experience, efficiency, and strategic alignment are no longer optional; rather, they are essential to competing in a global market.Regionally, APAC leads the focus on enhancing employee experience (37%), while North America (37%), and Europe (34%) plan to prioritize introducing new tools and innovation for streamlining mobility processes.Sector-specific priorities echo this trend, with both financial services (42%) and technology, media and telecommunications (TMT) at 41% citing introducing new tools and innovations to streamline mobility processes as their top priorities. Industrial products and services placed greater emphasis on employee experience (39%), alongside policy review and/or benchmarking (36%).What’s clear: Leaders know what needs to change. The challenge is how quickly teams can pivot from aspiration to execution and how well they’re supported to do so.

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Cost and compliance remain critical barriers to progressNearly half (49%) of respondents say compliance is the top challenge, while 36% cite cost management. This reinforces the gap between elevated expectations and the limited resources to deliver on them.The trend holds across industries, where compliance remained the top industry challenge, cited by 47% of those in industrial products and services and TMT, and 41% in financial services.Regionally, EMEA reports the heaviest compliance burden related to tax and immigration policies (59%), followed by North America (48%) and APAC (37%).Cost management proves to be a consistent strain across regions, cited by 37% of North American and APAC respondents and 36% in EMEA.What’s clear: These challenges are not just operational hurdles; they are business risks that limit agility and workforce planning, and prevent companies from unlocking the full value of their global talent strategies.

The data gap is mobility’s biggest credibility risk

The survey reveals a major blind spot: Many organizations lack the data to prove the impact of global work on business outcomes. Despite growing expectations, most teams still can’t demonstrate how their work supports talent development, employee retention, or strategic goals.

44% of teams do not track core success metrics, from employee satisfaction to stakeholder alignment.
76% do not track post assignment outcomes, making it difficult to demonstrate long-term value or career impact.
The U.S. leads in metric-tracking maturity, particularly in measuring employee satisfaction (35%).
Career tracking is a critical gap globally with 62% of organizations in APAC, 71% in North America, and 83% in Europe failing to track career progression.

What’s clear: Without visibility into outcomes, global work remains disconnected from business planning and companies risk underestimating one of their most strategic levers for talent and growth.

Global work is becoming smarter, more targeted, and talent-driven

With a shift toward greater strategic relevance, mobility teams are starting to place greater emphasis on clearly defined talent strategies.Encouragingly, the approach to communicating mobility opportunities and selecting employees is becoming more strategic, with only 11% of respondents relying on company-wide announcements and 8% using HR or global mobility emails or newsletters.Instead, more targeted and talent-focused approaches are gaining traction:

39% use personal invitations to high-potential employees.
38% integrate mobility into talent management or career development programs.

This trend is further reinforced by a more deliberate approach to employee selection. Top criteria include:

Skills required for the role (75%)
Strategic business needs (74%)
Employee interest to relocate (57%), performance history and leadership potential (54%), and succession planning (50%)

What’s clear: Global mobility is no longer just about filling roles, It's becoming a strategic lever for identifying, developing, and retaining top talent.Eileen Mullaney commented: “It’s promising to see mobility increasingly positioned as a career opportunity; integrated into development conversations and used to grow future leaders. As global work becomes more talent-driven, the employee experience must be front and center to support engagement, retention, and long-term business success. To stay competitive, organizations need to benchmark externally and align their mobility policies to real strategic talent needs. This isn’t about offering more, it’s about offering what matters most. Those who get it right will build stronger pipelines, faster progression, and a more agile workforce.”The companies that fail to connect global work with strategic workforce planning risk losing talent, momentum, and a competitive edge. Those that act now will be better positioned to lead, adapt, and grow, even in uncertainty.

Methodology

The 2025 Vialto Global Mobility Market Survey is based on 233 responses from organizations across Fortune 100 and multinational corporations, all with global footprints, spanning 35 countries across the Americas, Europe, Asia-Pacific, the Middle East and Africa and representing 9 industry sectors. The dataset offers a global view of how mobility is managed and where it’s headed next and serves as a valuable benchmark, offering practical insights into policy design, program execution, and best practices from mobility teams worldwide. The survey was conducted from 10 March to 10 April 2025.

About Vialto Partners

Vialto Partners is a market leader providing globally integrated solutions supporting global workforce mobility, including immigration, tax, managed services, and digital solutions. As a trusted advisor of compliance, consulting, and technology services to multinational corporations, the firm solves complex, cross-border workforce mobility challenges to ensure its clients and their employees have a consistent and compliant global mobility experience.For more information, visit www.vialto.com.

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