Mobility case study: moving jobs to talent

A Switzerland-based pharmaceutical company saw more potential in its global talent pool. It implemented mobility changes to enable the organization to be where the talent is, and tap into that potential.

Solid integration of mobility and talent management…

At this organization, mobility had been the enabler and facilitator of the talent agenda, promoting effective career and workforce planning for the optimal development of both the group’s business model and the employees’ personal and professional growth. Today, mobility has built up a solid partnership with talent management. Mobility ensures that a long-term career plan is in place so that they can provide the optimal transfer solutions from both a strategic and a compliance angle. Career sponsors from the home country business are appointed for each international assignment in order to ensure that the connection is not lost with assignees and that the businesses in charge take ownership of them.

Enables a major shift in talent mobility strategy

Mobility and talent management jointly developed a new philosophy that aims to extend the talent strategy within the company for an open minded and equitable world: mobility will no longer only move employees to roles but will also be moving jobs to people. The objective is to unleash the power of all employees, since each individual is seen as a talent, and both the employer and employee must work together to find the knowledge and skills within the talent.

The vision of is to create opportunities based on the needs of the organization and the employees. The company is keen to offer inspiring careers, in which the employees lead their own careers, follow their passions, and give the work a meaningful purpose. It is expected that employees should be up to speed with the organization’s social responsibility agenda, be integrated into this agenda and ensure it feeds into their career goals. The company sees continuous learning as key, and professional growth in several directions instead of a linear path is a possibility. They imagine realizing this concept in a free and open set-up, where, instead of operating in hierarchical teams, employees in leadership positions would provide more ownership and empowerment to their team members. The company hopes that this idea will gain traction both within and outside the organization.

Questions for the future

Global mobility and talent management continue to refine their agenda, using analytical support to gain more insight into where their talent are based. They also hope this will help them predict trends, key locations for the future, and gain a better overall understanding of where talent is required within the organization. Time will tell what the implications may be for the mobility function to deploy fewer employees on traditional assignments, and how they can support having more boundless trends where roles are being moved. They will also need to discover what kind of skills and consultation expertise will be required to support driving businesses in the right direction and in making the right decisions.