Talent mobility: Build an agile global workforce to drive growth
Global Talent Mobility: The Key to Closing Today’s Talent Gap
When it comes to international expansion, organizations must move the right leaders and talent fast to capture growth in markets facing skills shortages and rapid change. Expanding overseas means balancing:
- Rising costs and inflation that complicate budget forecasting.
- Compensation and benefits policy complexity varies across regions.
- Employee expectations for flexibility and support.
- Data gaps that lead to inconsistent policies and higher turnover.
Strategic, data-driven internal mobility — supported by succession planning, market pay and benefits data, and employee-centric policies — is the fastest, lowest-risk way to close talent gaps, accelerate market entry, and align people moves with business priorities.
Mercer turns proprietary data and local expertise into defensible talent mobility solutions
A holistic total mobility approach:
- Quality of living (QOL) data: Coverage for 450+ locations to benchmark QOL transfers with comparisons across 10 categories including housing, consumer goods, and political environment.
- Cost-of-living allowance (COLA): COLA calculations built on Mercer’s granular indices covering 200+ goods and services, plus host city accommodation tables to set realistic rent allowances and speed assignee acceptance.
- Long-term assignment policies & practices report: Actionable trends and benchmarks to design assignment frameworks that balance cost, career development, and operational needs.
- Local plus reports: Market-specific guidance on local plus compensation to protect pay equity and deliver competitive, compliant packages for foreign hires.
How can you use talent mobility solutions in your organization?
Scenario: A global professional services firm enters three new Asian markets simultaneously and needs to balance expatriate leadership with local hires to control costs and accelerate market acceptance.
Challenge: Without market pay data, they risk overpaying or underpaying hires. Budget forecasting across three markets with different tax environments is complex.
Mercer solution:
- Use Mercer’s balance sheet calculator together with QOL and COLA data (450+ locations) to set competitive, realistic allowances for expat leaders.
- Leverage local plus reports to design equitable compensation for local hires that protects pay parity.
- Integrate mobility advisory with workforce planning to align assignment costs with revenue projections.
Scenario: A multinational manufacturer identifies high-potential managers but needs to broaden their experience with international assignments before they are promoted to regional leadership roles.
Challenge: Designing assignment programs that develop talent while managing costs, ensuring policy consistency across regions, and retaining participants post-assignment.
Mercer solution:
- Use long-term assignment policies & practices survey to benchmark assignment frameworks against industry peers.
- Create tiered mobility programs — including short-term developmental and long-term strategic — with transparent cost structures.
- Deploy learning workshops to help HR operationalize the program and coach managers on assignment expectations.
Provide IPMI coverage to reduce assignee concerns about healthcare across locations.
Scenario: A tech company is consolidating operations across five countries and must redeploy 200+ employees to new locations or roles while managing union negotiations, different employment laws, and employee morale.
Challenge: Inconsistent policies across locations create compliance risk and employee backlash. Data gaps mean they can't forecast true relocation costs or identify who will accept mobility.
Mercer solution:
- Audit existing mobility policies using benchmarks from our long-term assignment policies & practices survey to ensure consistency and legal compliance.
- Use Mercer's global data to calculate realistic relocation packages by location, reducing surprises, and improving acceptance rates.
- Deploy mobility advisory to align policy changes with total rewards and minimize turnover during transition.
Conduct HR learning workshops to train teams on communicating the program transparently to employees.
Why Mercer’s Talent Mobility Solutions?
International mobility clients
Mobile employees worldwide
Locations covered
We offer:
- In-depth research: Our global reach and ongoing economic research let us tailor solutions for long-term, short-term, strategic, and developmental assignments across home and host locations.
- Local pricing agents: We collect price data in host locations from local experts and expatriates who can answer location-specific questions and reflect real market conditions.
- Global presence: In-market Mercer consultants provide local insight, client briefings, and implementation support at minimal costs.
Mercer’s global mobility expertise has been instrumental in guiding our journey. Their insights helped us shift from a purely administrative function to a strategic business partner, effectively meeting stakeholder expectations and enhancing our program.
For organizations in Singapore with regional and global ambitions, talent mobility is more than a workforce program, it's a strategic growth lever. Effective mobility helps organizations build global capabilities, accelerate leadership development and deploy critical talent where it can have the greatest impact. Mercer Singapore combines global expertise with local insights to help organizations realize the full value of mobility throughout the talent lifecycle.