Our January Virtual Huddles

European Virtual Huddle

Starting with a quick check-in to see where people were dialling in from, it was great to see that we had attendees from all corners of Europe! Some places I have visited, others I’d love to! So, keep that in mind for future in-person Huddles 😜

The first breakout session though was on international remote working. I have to admit, I had a personal target to rid the world of this conversation! Only joking (ish), but I certainly was keen to help those still struggling with day count thresholds, no-go country lists, comms plans to implement policies and processes, etc. And that was how we set up the conversation – what do you need to move from discussion to action? Attendees will naturally get the full notes, but a sneak peek FOMO item for everyone else was that we did find a general consensus that 20-30 days is the sweet spot for a maximum day count in 12 months. That may seem obvious to some, but believe me, we’ve had plenty of conversations at Expat Academy with members where there is uncertainty – it really does depend on where you are on the journey! Do you track vacation days, business travel days, differentiate between EU and non-EU? These were the finer, meatier questions discussed.

After a longer than expected ‘hot potato’ session where the power of the community came to the rescue on troubling topics like virtual assignments and satisfaction surveys, we then focussed on the way in which global mobility can support new demographics. As workforce demographics shift, traditional mobility approaches are being challenged. From Gen Z's different career expectations to evolving family structures and dual career priorities, this session explored how mobility programmes are adapting to meet changing needs whilst maintaining programme sustainability and effectiveness. If you think letting employees cash out everything is being flexible and improving the relocation experience, think again! Global mobility are the experts in relocation, remember. And so, we are the ones that can ensure employees hit the ground running, which is ultimately the point, right?! So, does it make sense to let them ship their own items on the cheap with an unknown vendor? Perhaps not.

We covered A LOT in 2.5 hours, but it was such a great Huddle with a really engaging group, so thank you to everyone who attended!

Until next time!

US Huddle

We had a packed agenda in store as we kicked of our first event for our US Network in 2025. After the usual introductions and reconnections we dived straight into breakout rooms for a huddle discussion on ‘The Race to the Bottom’, looking at the ongoing trend of reduced costs in Mobility coupled with increased Employee experience. Discussions centred on ways to still maintain strong employee engagement through low costs methods such as briefing calls, follow up comms, policy wording and providing flexible solutions rather than static policies. Maintaining budget management was important but this can still be achieved, whilst supporting employees and giving them ‘choice’.

We then delved into some great presentations from our US network sponsors. First up we had Jorge Vargas from RW3 who challenged attendees on ensuring you are aware and engaged on cultural differences between markets and individuals when leading programmes, managing assignments and working across multiple regions (usually with teams based in those regions). You can see RW3’s presentation slides in our Vault.

Next up we Had Richard Tonge from Grant Thornton LLP providing an excellent crystal ball view of what might we expect to see in terms of Tax policy from the new Trump Administration. Whilst change is inevitable in life, we’re not expecting any major tax overhauls in the US imminently, but this may change over the term of the new administration. We’ll also continue to see developments regarding remote and hybrid working as well as OECD developments. Developments in residency rules and removing double taxation for US citizens is something we are likely to see over the coming years. You can check out Grant Thornton’s slides from the Huddle here.

We closed out the day supporting our US network colleagues with issues they are dealing with currently, demonstrating the amazing support we see across our network and the community we are building in the US. That wrapped up our first US huddle of the year and we’re excited to see you all in person in New York in Q2 of 2025.

APAC Huddle

It was great to see so many of our APAC Network on our first Huddle of 2025. Whilst it was an early start for the Expat Academy team in the UK it was worth it to see the smiling faces of all our Global Mobility Friends based within our APAC network…. and beyond…

We started by breaking out into with some introductions and discussing what successes we saw in 2024 across our APAC network’ global mobility functions before discussing what 2025 has in store. From reorganisations, mobility policy overhauls, immigration frameworks and flexible fund/policy approaches being developed, it was clear the Mobility Functions across APAC have a lot on their plate heading into 2025 off the back of huge developments in 2024.

Next, we moved on to our first ever ‘Workplace Challenges Exchange were members of our community shared what is keeping them awake and required input from the community to help them solve, Great connections were made to support members dealing with commuter policy challenges, implementing Mandatory compliance training for international remote workers. Our amazing friends from Vialto Partners supported our network with some useful insights and offerings of support to help our APAC community navigate these challenges.

We finished the Huddle with an excellent presentation from Vialto Partners, discussing the management of organisations Contingent workforce, with useful insight, tools and approaches to aid Mobility professionals to compliantly manage this ever-growing challenge in the APAC community.

A great Virtual huddle to kick off 2025 for our APAC network and we’re looking forward to seeing many of you on 30^th April for our first in person Singapore Huddle of the year. See you then!!