Event recap: insideMOBILITY® Amsterdam | October 14-15, 2025
Aligning global mobility with business through cost savings and efficiency
As global mobility teams and, increasingly, HR partners seek to elevate their standing within companies, the focus is on demonstrating value, generating cost savings and driving efficiencies across the broader talent landscape. The collaboration and idea sharing at insideMOBILITY® Amsterdam provided leaders with fresh ideas and new solutions to apply within both mobility and HR-supported workforce programs.
1. Leveraging AI for Strategic Mobility Impact
AI was, of course, a hot topic — not just as a future possibility, but as a capability already taking shape across HR and mobility. In fact, our recent research, The Workforce Imperative: Views from the C-Suite, shows that 53% of CHROs and CFOs report AI is already in use for HR and mobility purposes, with another 44% planning or exploring ways to adopt it. With that momentum as a backdrop, the group discussed how AI agents could further evolve routine work: handling administrative tasks, modeling complex scenarios and surfacing real-time insights, all while enabling team members to focus on empathy, creativity and strategic guidance that technology can’t replicate.
Participants then broke into small groups to identify global challenges and brainstorm AI agent-based solutions:
Challenge #1
Use AI to identify and highlight complexities and time spent on various global mobility activities, to better understand the status of your program.
Current State (No AI)
2. Categorizing inbound questions is difficult, leading to guesswork
3. Relocations sometimes don’t happen, but time has been invested
Future State (With AI)
2. Review inboxes to identify common inquiry types and simplify categorization
Challenge #2
Streamline employee FAQs to get responses to employees quicker and reduce the specialist’s time spent.
Current State (No AI)
2. High volume of administrative work
3. Timely tasks that delay responses to employees
Future State (With AI)
2. Agents/bots provide consultants with information and reporting more quickly
Challenge #3
Manage the human aspect of introducing AI-driven agents into workloads.
Current State (No AI)
Future State (With AI)
AI is transforming HR and global mobility; improving efficiency, productivity modeling, and the overall employee and consultant experience. By analyzing move complexity, timing and employee needs, it will help HR teams with capacity planning, resource allocation and trend identification — leading to more data-driven, personalized support. However, a “human-in-the-loop” approach remains essential to ensuring accuracy, performance and execution — ultimately delivering a truly positive relocation experience. It’s also important to recognize generational differences in tech preferences and when a mobile employee might prefer more human interaction versus more AI-driven solutions.
“If you want to strengthen global mobility within your company, you should be focused on continuous improvement planning with vendors. Look for end-to-end integrations that can increase program efficiency and support policy updates. It’s also helpful to look at benchmarking, operational assessments and leveraging partner ecosystems.”
2. Bridging the Gap Between Executives and HR Leaders
We teased initial findings from our Workforce Imperative: Views from the C-Suite report, which surveyed 950 global CFOs and CHROs about the tradeoffs behind the biggest questions shaping the future of HR, in addition to the use of AI. Attendees also weighed in with their perspectives on key report themes such as ROI, cost savings, integrations and tech, and talent mobility.
| Comparing CFO & CHRO Perspectives vs. Mobility & HR Leaders at insideMOBILITY Amsterdam | |
|---|---|
| ROI: Nearly half (48%) of executives rank ROI as their #1 priority | ROI: The vast majority (69%) of attendees do not measure and report ROI of mobility/HR initiatives |
| Cost Savings: Nearly two thirds (61%) of executives cite integrating AI as the biggest cost-saving opportunity | Cost Savings: Nearly three quarters (72%) believe a blend of tech and human expertise will deliver the greatest HR cost savings over the next two years |
| Integrations & Tech: Nearly half (45%) of executives plan to reinvest any HR cost savings right back into HR technology to drive further efficiency and automation | Integrations & Tech: Integration challenges and employee experience are tied for the biggest concerns with HR tech |
| Talent Mobility: CFOs and CHROs say their top three biggest headaches during the relocation process are: payroll and tax operations (43%), global compensation and benefits (42%) and compliance and risk management (40%) | Talent Mobility: Compliance and risk management was overwhelmingly the top HR challenge (65%), followed by payroll and tax operations (21%) and global compensation and benefits (9%) |
The discussion about these contrasts between executive priorities and HR realities revealed several important insights for global mobility and HR leaders:
- Organizations are rethinking ROI not just in terms of cost but also in value creation, especially in talent acquisition and internal mobility. Emotional factors (e.g., family happiness during relocations) are increasingly recognized as part of the ROI equation, even if they’re hard to quantify.
- Companies are focused on using AI to streamline processes and enhance automation and generate cost savings, while keeping AI education and ethical leadership top of mind. However, that relies on clean data, documented processes and inclusive education.
- The ideal solution for the top global HR/mobility challenges is a unified, end-to-end platform to simplify these tasks. Some clients noted they’re currently exploring interim options.
While executives are focused on ROI, cost savings and tech, global mobility leaders have their own set of priorities: employee experience, efficiency drivers and measuring ROI.
“If your global mobility program is newer, your priority should be on structuring the unstructured. As you grow and develop processes, look for small opportunities to gain greater input into talent strategy.”
3. Making Global Mobility Work: For Employees and the Business
Given an option of which topics to discuss during small group, peer-led discussions, attendees chose to focus on some of the top opportunities and challenges in global mobility: employee experience, efficiency drivers and measuring Return on Mobility (ROM).
Explore each of the three tiles below to learn more about the key facets of each topic:
- Balance AI efficiency with human empathy. AI can make the relocation experience faster and more efficient by removing redundancies and streamlining processes. But people still want to feel seen and supported. The best programs blend automation with empathy, using small, personal touchpoints like check-ins or thoughtful gestures to keep the experience human.
- Personalization drives a better employee experience. One-size-fits-all solutions don’t work. Programs that let employees customize their services – choosing what matters most to them – tend to see fewer exception requests and happier participants. And it’s worth remembering: younger employees might love digital options, while senior leaders may still prefer a personal call or hands-on help.
- Set expectations and communicate with clarity. Transparent communication about what services include – and where AI or automation fits in – helps manage expectations and prevent frustration. Regular, empathetic check-ins reinforce understanding and ensure the right balance between cost efficiency and employee wellbeing.
- Keep it simple to make tech work harder. AI and other tech tools can boost efficiency, but only if the processes behind them are straightforward. Simplifying policies and creating consistency across programs helps technology deliver real results instead of getting bogged down in complexity.
- Flexibility reduces frustration. Shifting to a Core-Flex model gives mobile employees more control to tailor benefits to their needs. That flexibility leads to happier employees, fewer exception requests and a fairer experience across the board. It’s a win-win for both employees and global mobility teams.
- Put structure around exceptions. Clear approval pathways and consistent oversight prevent confusion and inequity. Formalizing who can approve exceptions – and tying costs back to business units – helps eliminate informal, word-of-mouth decisions that can create frustration and inconsistency.
- ROI is more than just numbers. Relocations are often seen as a “cost,” but their real value goes beyond financials. Retention, employee development and business growth all factor into the return on investment, even if they’re harder to quantify.
- Ask the right strategic questions. To help the business see the value of relocations, global mobility teams should focus on key considerations: Why this employee? What’s their next role? Is there a repatriation plan? Thinking about the employee’s trajectory and persona makes it easier to connect assignments to meaningful business outcomes.
- Align closely with business and total rewards. Working hand-in-hand with total rewards and other stakeholders ensures compliance, manages risk and provides a clearer picture of the overall investment. This alignment also helps assess whether employees are ready for international roles and how to structure support for success.
Successfully managing global mobility requires balancing efficiency, personalization and strategic value. By leveraging technology thoughtfully, allowing employees to tailor their experiences, and clearly demonstrating ROI through strategic alignment and readiness assessments, global mobility teams can drive both operational success and a positive employee experience.
“To stay competitive in global mobility – and attract the best talent – consider offering flexible, location-specific policies that truly enhance the mobile employee experience. For example, we recently added a COLA to help employees manage rising costs. It’s a fairly unique benefit in today’s market and helps set our organisation apart from the competition when attracting top talent.”
4. The Reality of Immigration in 2025
Immigration challenges extend far beyond political changes – natural disasters, conflicts, policy overhauls and other events all have the potential to disrupt global mobility and talent acquisition. Staying on top of evolving situations that could impact global mobility programs, relocations, hiring timelines, or changing compliance requirements calls for proactive and agile response strategies to respond to complex challenges.
The good news is that despite public concerns about immigration in many nations, countries recognize the economic benefits of the movement of people. Attendees discussed three actionable strategies for global mobility teams to take control of the immigration process:
1. Treat immigration as a business continuity priority
Just as with any other organizational crisis, immigration and mobility teams should proactively plan for policy shifts or geopolitical disruptions. When disruptions occur, leaders will turn to global mobility teams to identify which employees are in impacted regions, confirm visa status, and determine safe relocation options under current visa conditions.
At a minimum, global mobility teams need to be prepared with mobile employee passports, nationalities and destination visa rules. To truly showcase their strategic value, however, they must go beyond providing data — offering informed recommendations and guidance to support swift, effective decision-making.
2. Build scenario plans
Just like there’s no one-size-fits-all relocation policy for all mobile employees, there shouldn’t be a one-size-fits-all approach to managing disruptions. Global immigration and mobility teams need to anticipate a range of possible scenarios and be prepared with tailored solutions for each situation.
For example, one attendee shared their company is planning for three-year H-1B visa phase-outs and developed two options for those employees: relocate them to Canada to qualify for L-1 visas or reduce reliance on “national interest waiver” applications.
3. Partner with risk teams to get a seat at the table
If leadership views global mobility as a cost center instead of a value-add partner, global mobility teams will struggle to gain influence. By proactively aligning with risk and compliance teams – who typically have both budget authority and leadership’s attention – global mobility can reframe immigration as a critical risk management issue and secure greater executive buy-in.
Once they have leadership’s ear, global mobility teams should speak the language of business outcomes. That means aligning immigration risks with business goals, like ROI or operational efficiency. It’s far more persuasive to say “H-1B IT staff risks $XX in project delays” than to make a general statement like, “H1B staff will impact our company.”
AI in Immigration
AI has been the topic within the industry for the last year, and we’re starting to see its practical applications. Here are a few use cases attendees discussed that show how AI is transforming both government and private-sector immigration work:
- Confirming passports/visas are authentic, reducing identity fraud
- Drafting immigration submissions – verified by lawyers – and automating form-filling, to minimize human error
- Connecting immigration workers to jobs by verifying credentials match qualification requirements
- Responding to immigration FAQs
- Flagging anomalies to help with fraud detection and detect trafficking signs
Where do we go from here?
The insights shared at insideMOBILITY® Amsterdam highlighted the path forward for many global mobility programs, as they seek to align with company initiatives that are increasingly focused on ROI and cost savings. Against this backdrop, global mobility leaders must be even more strategic, innovative and data-driven in demonstrating the value of global mobility and its many benefits to a company – including its bottom line.
We’re proud to not only be a partner to our clients in elevating their global mobility programs, but in fostering moments of connection between clients to accelerate the adoption of mobility goals.