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How to optimize workforce mobility program costs without compromising employee experience

Optimize Program Costs

3 ways to examine your mobility program to optimize your costs

When the value of workforce mobility isn’t obvious, other business leaders often view it simply as a cost center. So when it’s time to make budget cuts, it’s not surprising mobility is a target.

While you recognize removing items from your program can reduce its overall success, you still need to comply with corporate cost-cutting directives. The challenge becomes finding efficiencies without disrupting the mobility objectives you’ve been asked to achieve.

This is where optimization can provide tremendous value. By uncovering areas in your program where you may be overspending, you can often reduce your total budget without decreasing the quality of the employee experience. And this means you can continue to contribute to business growth instead of risking talent loss, disengaged employees or even failed assignments.

Here are a few suggestions for optimizing program costs:

Review your current policy

If you haven’t reviewed your policy in the last three years, there’s a high probability you’re paying too much.

To find efficiencies, make sure your policy matches employee needs. Often you can make changes that reduce your expenses while making your employee experience even better.

For example, if you have a standard policy that includes the same benefits for everyone, you may be overspending on some assignments. Since employees don’t require the same benefits, many will go unused. But allowing employees to choose the benefits that suit them best, this saves money while positively impacting employee experience. Employees get the benefits they want or need, and the organization doesn’t have to pay for nonessentials.

Automate or outsource parts of your program to increase efficiency

One of the most effective ways to optimize costs is by automating repetitive tasks that take you and your team away from more strategic, value-added initiatives.

For example, instead of managing multiple spreadsheets to deliver rudimentary build-up calculations or cost estimates, you can use technology to automate this process. This small change not only reduces costly human errors but can have a significant impact on team productivity. You can do more with less, even when budget isn’t available for additional headcount.

Additionally, outsourcing is another way to reduce overall workforce mobility expenses. Because a Relocation Management Company (RMC) serves a vast client base, it can use this collective volume to negotiate lower supplier costs that get passed on to you. Also, an RMC can save your team hours of work and expensive service firm fees because it employs specialized experts to handle complex processes, like international compensation.

Question the status quo to uncover potential cost savings

In established organizations, it is easy to follow the same processes that have been in place for years. But when you open yourself up to new ideas, you may discover cost-savings alternatives that preserve or elevate the employee experience.

To examine existing parts of your workforce mobility program in a new way, start with a query. For example, “Do we need to pay for both temporary accommodations and a primary residence for our mobile employees?” Then, challenge yourself to think outside the box. A less expensive solution might be to rent furniture until your employees’ household goods arrive so they can move into their more permanent residence sooner. This allows your employees to settle in more quickly instead of remaining stuck in a temporary living space for longer than needed.

Another question you might ask is: “How long is it taking our employees to get to their destination?” When you dig through the data, you might learn that purchasing tickets in advance saves on airfare but decreases the speed of landing. For this reason, you might determine it is better to spend more on getting your employees to their destinations faster so they can begin their new role and contribute to the company more quickly.

Optimize Program Costs

Get help optimizing workforce mobility program costs

Graebel helps uncover efficiencies in your workforce mobility program to maximize your budget. Our proprietary and innovative Graebel Talent Mobility Cost Savings Tool enables you to examine alternative approaches and preserve resources so you can reduce spend without compromising employee experience.