Nothing has irritated me more in life than having a teenager or some other “know-it-all” explain to me the culture of another country that I have visited, or lived in, for that matter. I have had young people wax eloquent about doing business in Europe, the Middle East, or Asia only to learn that they, themselves, had never been there. But they have read something on Facebook or seen a TikTok influencer video or something equally vapid. However, they know all about it because, after all, you can understand the people, culture, tempo of life, and customs of a foreign country without visiting it. Just watch a show on Netflix or subscribe to BritBox, right?

Wrong! My doctor has a coffee mug that says: “My Medical Degree Trumps Your WebMD Search.” Obviously, this is a problem that extends to all corners of the internet. So, what is it that we are forgetting in the world of management and HR? That many of our global executives learned and earned their executive-level positions by relocating around our country and other countries as part of their training. In the wake of the pandemic, remote work, and the improvement of collaboration suites such as Microsoft Teams, Slack, G-Suite and Zoom, we have reduced corporate relocations to nil. And we are not going to develop the next generation.

Currently, due to the prevalent, but shrinking, footprint of remote work (which I predicted would shrink), we have executives managing large groups of employees in diverse geographies they have never physically met in areas they have never personally visited. The leadership experience has been, well, screen time. I thought B movies were the only thing with two-dimensional villains. Have you seen some GlassDoor comments recently? There are complaints by employees about managers that they have never met not understanding them or their operations or their work culture.

Relocation is messy. It is complex, and it involves a lot of disruption for both the employee and the company that arranges it.  However, it is also necessary, and, I think, in the frenzy of remote work, budget pressures, and economic uncertainty, we need to remind ourselves that the opportunity to work abroad, experience other cultures, and learn and grow attracts hi-po employees. These are the very candidates that are willing to sacrifice for their careers and that everyone is seeking.

In this issue of HRO Today, we are announcing the HRO Today Baker’s Dozen for Relocation. These service companies exist only because internal HR would have a nearly impossible lift managing the multitude of details, tax issues, and logistics of doing a corporate relocation internally. However, the relocation services industry is languishing not only because of the sluggish labor economy, but also because relocation has become de classe. We need to remind ourselves as a community of executives how we were trained and recognize that some of the old ways still work. Otherwise, we risk a future that is as two-dimensional as our video conference screens.

Elliot H. Clark

CEO