The team at Blick Rothenberg collecting their Relocate Award for Excellence in Talent Development, Deployment and Diversity

Awards News: Winners of the 2022 Relocate Think Global People Awards announced!

Fifteen years of the Relocate Awards were marked in style with a global roster of winners in the ‘best year yet’ and a Future of Work Festival to help set the direction for the coming years of this exciting and inspiring sector.

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Over 100 guests from countries as far afield as Australia, Singapore and the US representing international companies large and small, including Hewlett Packard Enterprises, brewers ABInbev and tax, accounting and business advisory Blick Rothenberg, gathered to celebrate excellence and innovation across relocation, global mobility and international education.

‘An exceptional year’

Relocate Global is one of the foremost communities and platforms for everyone involved in international management and global mobility, from removals companies, destination service and relocation management companies, to technology service providers, serviced apartment operators, immigration and tax advisors, educators and schools.

The annual Relocate Think Global People Awards – this year sponsored by KPMG, Santa Fe Relocation, AltoVita and edyn and hosted by BBC World business reporter, Jayne Constantinis – gets bigger every year and attracts strong competition for the coveted accolades.

This year, with the focus on wellbeing, the field across all eleven awards categories was particularly strong as the businesses emerged from the pandemic, borders re-opened, and talent shortages increased.

Head Judge, Dr Sue Shortland, a senior lecturer in HRM at the University of Westminster, Professor Emerita at London Metropolitan University and a Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development (CIPD), said: “Every year we say the quality improves. We genuinely mean that because it has, and it does. This year the quality was absolutely exceptional, which made the judging process particularly enjoyable for the team of experienced independent judges.

“It was really good to see the focus on wellbeing this time around. All the entrants really rose to the occasion and really did convince the judging panel on their commitment to wellbeing, not just for people who are globally mobile, but also for their own staff as well. That was excellent to see, especially as we come out of the pandemic era.”

And the winners are...

In all, eleven inspirational companies and teams lifted the ‘star’ glass trophy yesterday in a high point of the global mobility year. Congratulations to each and every one from everyone on the judging panel and the Relocate Global team.

Kerwin Guillermo, Global Head of Employee Mobility for Hewlett Packard Enterprises, explained the postive impact of receiving the Relocate Think Global People Award for Excellence in Technology or Analytics – Practical implementation: "This award means a number of things. Number one it is validation from a panel of judges about where we are in the market. It’s a validation that the transformation journey we are on is still relevant and still market leading in terms of who we are and where we want to be.

"Second, it inspires. The inspiration comes from working with people who attend conferences like this, brainstorming and ideating above and beyond and outside the boundaries of the conferences. That’s how we conceptualised and ideated this award-winning solution.

"It's not a fluffy inspiration. When you receive an award like this and get published by a big organisation like Relocate Global, then immediately it becomes easer for you to starting making engagements with partners you’ve never had and ideating what’s next. That’s the pursuit that excites us about the award, which is remarkable and amazing. But what’s next is exciting."

Manuela Z Westin, CEO and co-owner of Beautiful Apartments, Sweden, which won the Best Serviced Apartment Provider – Local/Country category, also commented on their success: “It means everything to win this award. We have an amazing team who put a lot of effort and passion into what they do.

"We are really passionate about service and working with people travelling from one country to another. It’s very important for us to make them feel at home from day one as they reach Sweden, so it’s important for us to know we are doing a good job. We are proud of what we do already, but the award means even more that we are doing something really good and can be proud of our product. Sweden is quite small and we don’t have awards like this, so being part of something bigger and flying to the UK to be part of a bigger group means a lot for us."

On the importance of the Relocate Awards, Claire Barry, VP of Sales for Synergy at fellow winner in the Best Serviced Apartment Provider – Regional/Global, said: “We are delighted to be here. There are many awards out there and we have to be specific about which ones we want to enter to engage our team and clients.

“Relocate Global has a great following because it is so relevant. Recognition in these awards means a lot. These are longstanding awards that have stood the test of time and are well respected across the business. They have such a great following because they are just so relevant and worthwhile. They have clearly got a tremendous following as you can see from the amount of people who entered and showed up today.”

Read more about each winner's route to success in the upcoming summer issue of Think Global People. Reserve your copy here

Tree of knowledge: the Future of Work Festival

While celebrating 15 years of the Relocate Think Global People Awards and the phenomenal achievements of all the award entries and winners, Relocate Global also hosted its cutting-edge Future of Work Festival under a stylish tree marquee in the inspiring surroundings of the Kent countryside.

A world-renowned panel of speakers, including Dr Linda Holbeche, independent coach, consultant and author, Sarah Rozenthuler, chartered psychologist, leadership consultant and author, Kerwin Guillermo, Global Head of Employee Mobility for Hewlett Packard Enterprises and Marc Burrows, Head of Global Mobility Services and Partner at KPMG International, were joined at vibrant hub sessions that buzzed with ideas and hosted by expert facilitators.

These included leaders from across a range of disciplines and from within the global mobility community:

2022’s most influential CEO and top HR thinker and practitioner, Vlatka Ariaana Hlupic^[1]
Teresa Boughey, author, HR consultant and member of the Women and Enterprise and Women and Work all-party Parliamentary groups
Dr Claus Springborg, leadership consultant and lecturer
Rob Fletcher of Heart Relocation
John Rason of Santa Fe Relocation
Darryl Walker of edyn
Gina Lodge, CEO of the AoEC
Michelle Berners Price and Stuart McGlone of KPMG
Kellie Noon of Onno International Awareness
Artist and consultant Peter Moolan-Feroze
Paul Williamson of the Ambassador Theatre Group.

In a ‘big tent’ environment, guests discussed key themes of the moment – sustainability, wellbeing, the future of work, agility and innovation – in a cross-sector collaboration to share learning and experience. Setting the tone for the conversations, Claus Springborg and Sarah Rozenthuler led a session that looked at how we as individuals and as leaders can optimise dialogue and "so optimise everything in an organisation".

"The quality of listening is key for dialogue," said Claus Springborg. "With high-quality listening you actually get to discover the message. There is a co-creative aspect of dialogue. Good conversations are fundamentally co-created. They are also productive and fundamentally satisfying."

This message was especially relavent in the wellbeing hubs, which touched on aspects of emotional, physical, social and financial wellbeing."What makes you tick is very unique to you and organisations need to be flexible in choosing variation," concluded Rob Fletcher.

Summing up her afternoon hub sessions, Vlatka Hlupic said: "What organisations need to do now is operate at a level of transparency and trust and working in communities. The big surprise is that this is no surprise and completely common sense. The next step is how to do it."

Teresa Boughey's sessions were themed around people, planet and purpose, and also called out the need for a shift from top down dialogue to co-creation. "The challenges for leaders are that I’m definitely seeing people wanting their leaders to be more activist. This is about actually connecting approaches to ESG by making it a part of company DNA and not paying lip service. I said at the beginning of the day that we wanted you to leave this event feeling inspired and empowered. From the buzz in this room it’s clear today has been uplifting and thought-provoking."

Fiona Murchie, Managing Editor of Relocate Global, says: “We’ve long made the case that global mobility and good work are absolutely critical to supporting thriving communities and economies and this year – with the war in Ukraine, talent shortages across many sectors, the rise in international remote working and the four-day week – this is now abundantly clear as companies turn to the global mobility community as never before to resolve their challenges.

“This makes today both special and important as we celebrate everything our vibrant sector has to offer; the real difference it has made to people’s lives and the steps we all take in collaboration going forward to make sense of work today for a better tomorrow.”

[1] Vlatka was voted one of the Most Influential HR Thinkers in the world since 2015 by HR Magazine and Most Influential CEO in 2022. She is an activist for humanizing management and is also a Professor of Leadership and Management at Hult International Business School and an author of a ground-breaking, award-winning book The Management Shift.

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