The evolving landscape of global mobility: strategy, flexibility and inclusion

However, more needs to be done. The 2025 Vialto global mobility market survey shows that less than a quarter (23%) of organisations report reaching the “strategic” or “influencer” level, where mobility is integrated into business priorities and proactive in managing risk.Eileen Mullaney, Global Leader, Workforce Transformation and Managed Services at Vialto, says 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 under recognised.She says this change could enable many businesses to face head on the challenges they have around talent shortages, geopolitical upheaval, legislative change and growing demands for agility; all while delivering on experience, compliance, and cost. Yet many organisations have overlooked the one function uniquely positioned to help them do just that: global mobility.

How global mobility programmes can aid business growth – and why they fail

Eileen Mullaney says that traditionally, companies have relied on satisfaction surveys to measure the success of relocation or assignment support. However, organisations are increasingly adopting experience surveys, which can go further by capturing how assignees and their families actually feel throughout the mobility journey.“Experience surveys are particularly valuable because they reveal insights that typical metrics miss,” she explains. “I don't see every company doing them, but they're becoming more and more popular. You might not survey the entire population at one point in time, but you survey a portion of the population every quarter, or every couple of months. These conversations can uncover really interesting insights about your population and about their feelings around the assignment that's not typically captured anywhere else.”One of the most significant causes of assignment failure remains family dissatisfaction. To mitigate this, organisations can offer cultural training, but they can also think more carefully about how to find someone who will be the best fit for the assignment. There are a couple of different areas where an assignment might be at risk of failure, she says.“One is if the person or their family is not really suitable for the mobility opportunity. I do see organisations looking now at who wants to go on assignment, who has the right skill set, and who has the profile that could be most successful for a mobility opportunity. That could include cultural adaptability, fit, flexibility, and softer skills that you typically wouldn't assess during a performance evaluation.”

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Generational shifts and strategic talent development

She says the demographics of global mobility have also undergone a dramatic transformation. Where once 80% of mobile employees were executives, in some industries today that number has fallen to as low as 1%. This shift reflects a broader, more intentional strategy where mobility is no longer a perk for senior leaders but a deliberate talent development tool across career stages.In addition, a significant portion of mobility is now employee-initiated, particularly among early-career professionals eager to broaden their horizons. Companies are designing programmes that accommodate this demand but often are capping costs or offering fewer incentives than they would to top executives.She also points out that not all organisations approach mobility in the same way. In some cases, mobility is tightly coupled with talent development while in others it is driven by business requirements such as market expansion or project needs. The key differentiator lies in how well mobility is aligned with organisational talent strategies.“Today’s talent shortages, geopolitical disruption, mounting regulatory complexity, and speed-to-deploy demands need strategic foresight, not just operational management,” she says. “But most organisations still underuse the one function built for this moment.”

The data gap is mobility’s biggest credibility risk

The Vialto survey reveals a major blind spot – that many organisations 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.

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.Eileen says cost containment remains a persistent challenge in mobility management. The traditional model of offering fully funded, home-based packages to all assignees is becoming increasingly rare. Instead, companies are offering packages where the level of support corresponds to the role’s importance, the strategic significance of the location, or the complexity of the assignment.“This host-based approach also reflects a philosophical shift in peer equity,” she says. Whereas companies once aimed for uniform benefits across assignees, today there is a growing acceptance that differentiated treatment is appropriate when business impact varies.

Expanding definitions of mobility

A key trend which is gaining traction is the broadening definition of mobility. It’s no longer confined to expatriate assignments or permanent transfers. Mobility now encompasses:

• Business travel
• Cross-border commuting
• Virtual assignments
• Temporary remote work

Eileen Mullaney says that by this expanded definition, up to 50% of a company’s workforce could be considered mobile, compared to the traditional benchmark of around 1%. Many organisations are just beginning to grasp the extent of their mobile workforce under these new parameters.“Traditionally, organisations have typically set up their mobility function by region, with separate teams in APAC, Americas, and EMEA,” she says. But a shift is underway. “Now they are starting to mirror the HR organisational structure and mobility expertise is being embedded directly within the business, rather than operating it as a standalone, regionally fragmented service.”The more and more companies can do that, the more they can really embed themselves in the business, become a source of expertise and experience, and be able to have greater influence over company strategy, talent management decisions, and recognition from the C suite, she says.

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