BGRS identifies the juxtaposition between the ‘on-demand culture’ and ‘experience personalisation’ as a future mega trend set to influence the Talent Mobility Sector. 
Hannah Richardson is a respected leader in the global employee mobility sector. Based in London, Hannah holds the role of senior vice president and general manager for EMEA and APAC. She is responsible fo r the commercial and operational delivery of global assignment management services to a range of multinational clients ranging from banking, across FMCG and the energy sectors. Hannah is recognised as a visionary leader with a proven ability to switch from tactical operational delivery to big picture strategic design thinking. And right now, she’s leading the way in understanding how the intersection of technology and human interaction will guide employee mobility in the future. “While most people come to work every day and are happy with stability in their role, you’ve got this real thin edge of the wedge where there are people who are real change transformers, and that’s the piece that ignites me as a leader,” she says. “I love what we do because it’s so diverse. No two challenges are the same and you need a change mindset and the ability to think laterally and in real time,” she says.
BALANCING COST AND EXPERIENCE
Some of the long-standing clients working with BGRS are going through huge organisational transformational change, Hannah says. She talks of a shift, all be it a slow one, toward a mobility future with the scales of performance perfectly balanced between cost and experience, with organisations focusing on future-proofing projects through critical talent deployment. How technology can plug into this landscape is a critical part of the equation, she notes. “The conversation is abundantly clear around the impact of digital and how we as a business need to partner more efficiently around the program transformation we see in front of us”. “BGRS has identified a set of mega trends that we know will influence our industry in the near future, the juxtaposition between the on-demand culture and the rise of experience personalisation being a perfect example, and we’re leading the way in terms of how our industry responds.” Global mobility leaders have been operating in a touch environment for many years, Hannah says. “It’s been a strategic paradox that’s complex to manage, particularly if they’re pushing a cost-driven agenda yet they understand mobility is a key enabler of the broader organisational strategy.”
MOBILITY TRANSFORMATION – ‘EXPERIENCE’ UNDERPINS EVERY BIG DECISION
The rise of the ‘assignee experience’ challenged BGRS to look at its business, and how it delivers its services, Hannah says. “We’ve responded by committing to be a business where experience underpins every big decision we make”. BGRS collaborates with organisations across FMCG, banking, energy and pharma that are at the cutting edge of mobility transformation, she says. These organisations are demanding an agile, flexible, personalised service that always has experience at the core. “It’s this push that drives our strategy and our focus on truly embedding experience into every facet of our operation,” she says. “Our industry has largely adhered to a delivery model that has remained consistent for many, many years, so why can’t we see a future where the rise of the program personalisation renders the traditional policy approach almost redundant?,” she questions.
PLUGGING IN
Increasingly, technology will support and enable a better experience across the spectrum of mobility. “At the end of the day, what we’re doing is moving human beings, and there’s a degree of vulnerability and uncertainty in moving, whether you’re on your own or with a family, or a partner from a third world country.” The move type will see a segmentation in how organisations apply both targeted digital accelerators and connected human support, Hannah says. “It’s easy to imagine a self-serve ecosystem driving the self-initiated or development move, whereas I believe we’ll see a heightened need for a more personal, a more tailored and a unique experience for critical talent moves”. “We’re all human and we all feel that chain of emotion as you move into the unknown, meaning that during those vulnerable periods of time during the assignment journey, assignee’s require real support. It’s fundamental that our talent connects with them as a human and demonstrates emotional intelligence and genuine empathy,” she says. Technology accelerators are being developed by BGRS that will drive search enhancements at the key moments within the assignment lifecycle, she says. “We have ambitious plans to lead the industry in defining a re-imagined assignment experience, not just at the assignee level, but for the Global Mobility client contacts too, and this excites me as a leader,” Hannah says. “We’re redefining talent mobility as a strategic contributor, which at the end of the day is improving the success of an enterprise.”
ABOUT HANNAH
Hannah Richardson is a member of the senior leadership team for BGRS, a leading relocation management company that has a global footprint and deep experience working with some of the world’s largest organisations. If you’d like to talk to Hannah about what the future Assignment Experience could look like, you can contact her via Linked In.
Published by: The Employee Mobility Institute, December 2018
