Over the last few years, the world has simultaneously become more connected and less accessible. Covid-19 spread across borders at startling rates, technology brought us closer together and yet at the same time people faced significant challenges in physical displacement.

As a result, a more mobile workforce has appeared, here are our predictions on what we will start to see more of:

1. 1. A permanent hybrid workforce. Research suggests that 60% of workers who have worked remotely during the pandemic would prefer to continue doing so, with half of organisations citing increased engagement, flexibility, and wellbeing as benefits of the acceleration towards more flexible working^.1
   

1. 2. More formal policies in relation to remote working, in the form of both permissive and restrictive policies and procedures.
   

1. 3. People working in different jurisdictions to where their organisation has a presence. This will lead to more flexible employment practices and an increase in Employers of Records (EORs), Professional Employment Organisations (PEOs) and the re-emergence of Global Employment Companies (GECs). With Deliotte even stating that GECs are ‘back in vogue.’²
   

1. 4. Increasing methods to track the whereabouts of your people, as well as the education of why this is important and the possible implications to your business. This follows research from KPMG which found that 38% of organisations surveyed believed they could be doing better at identifying and tracking employees that have chosen to work from outside their country or jurisdiction of employment.³ Some 68% of survey respondents have increased their focus on tracking employee populations since the beginning of the pandemic.⁴
   

1. 5. A greater focus on diversity and inclusion and ensuring that global mobility opportunities are open to all. Despite businesses with inclusive cultures being more likely to meet or exceed financial targets, research has found that 56% of companies have not adapted their mobility strategy to align with their companies diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.⁵
   

1. 6. The expectation that business trips will resume. GBTA predicts that by 2024, global business travel is forecast to have made a full recovery, ending the year at $1.48 trillion or just above the 2019 pre-pandemic spend of $1.4 trillion.⁶ With many predicting, if rules allow, the ability to add-on leisure time during the trip. Likewise, the inverse, of extending a leisure trip to include some time to work and conduct business.
   

1. 7. Mobility strategies will increasingly be used to attract and retain the best talent. Deloitte uncovered that 41% of surveyed executives said that building workforce capability through upskilling, reskilling and mobility is one of the most important actions they are currently taking.⁷
   
   

¹ Deloitte Human Capital Trends 2021 Report

² Global Employment Companies are back in ‘vogue’ | Deloitte Australia | Tax | Insights

³ 2020 KPMG Global Mobility Forum, KPMG International

⁴2020 KPMG Global Mobility Forum, KPMG International

⁵  Deloitte Human Capital Trends 2021 Report

⁶ From Setback To Surge: Business Travel Expected To Fully Recover by 2024 – GBTA | Blog

⁷ Deloitte Human Capital Trends 2021 Report