Exchanging knowledge at the first Festival of Global Mobility Thinking in London saw delegates evaluating ideas to create solutions that will help to plug talent shortages and build an emotionally intelligent and resilient workforce for the future.

Nationality, immigration and citizenship

The afternoon sessions included a lively debate about the role of citizenship and the perils of a hard Brexit. Professor Dr Dimitry Kochenov, an expert in citizenship, nationality and immigration law and chair of EU Constitutional Law at Groningen University in the Netherlands and the Investment Migration Council gave an illuminating talk on the value of nationality.Providing a sketch of contemporary trends in citizenship and migration regulation worldwide, he went on to present the Henley & Partners – Kochenov Quality of Nationality Index (QNI).The QNI ranks the objective value of world nationalities. Taking into account internal factors (scale of the economy, human development, and peace and stability) and external influences (visa-free travel and the ability to settle and work abroad, weighing the quality and also the diversity of destinations that citizens can visit unhindered by visas).“The QNI looks beyond simple visa-free tourist or business travel and takes a number of other crucial factors into account – those that make one nationality a better legal status through which to develop your talents and business than another,” said Dr Kochenov.

The new digital workforce

Dr Kochenov’s powerful talk was perfectly followed by a lively session on the future of the workforce and how advancing technologies will change the lives of employees, the organisations they work for and the way they do business.Deloitte’s global workforce director Danny Taggart and partner Andrew Robb who works in global mobility talent and rewards discussed human capital trends, giving a data-rich presentation on their findings. Mr Taggart described the digital advance as the Fourth industrial revolution and said there were three key issues that businesses need to be aware of, the first being that the power of the individual is growing, with millennials at the forefront. Secondly, businesses are expected to fill a widening leadership vacuum in society. Thirdly, technological change is having an unforeseen impact on society, creating a massive opportunity to achieve inclusive growth.He also went on to discuss how this might affect pay and relocation packages, and suggested that “structured flexibility” might become a watchword for overseas assignments. While Andy Robb explained that it was “not that jobs are disappearing but the nature of jobs that is changing.”

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More articles from the Summer 2018 issue of Relocate Magazine:

• Agility in finance: How is digital changing the face of banking?
• Building the workforce of the future
• Festival of Global mobility Thinking: sparks creativity in the sector

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Diversity in global mobility

With talent shortages and strategies for developing fresh talent high on the agenda, diversity was a significant discussion point.Dr Susan Shortland, professor emerita at London Metropolitan University, exclusively shared her insights on the issue of diversity for HR and mobility teams. Exploring challenges and opportunities for LGBT employees, women and ethnic minorities in the workplace.“What opportunities can we offer them? Could they have a sequential assignment, so that they don’t have to return to the place where they may be oppressed?”, were just some of the questions passionately debated in an interactive diversity panel session on the day. Read more about diversity issues in Ruth Holmes' latest magazine article here.

Preparing young people for the future

The day concluded with a cross-sector panel discussion on future talent and how employers, schools and mobility and HR teams all had a role in preparing young people for a digital and globally mobile world which is covered in detail here.For full coverage of the Festival of Global Mobility Thinking, click here.

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We’re working on making the second Festival of Global Mobility Thinking bigger and better! To inspire, engage and empower mobility professionals to learn, share and collaborate to solve challenges and opportunities in this fast evolving sector.Is there a particular topic you would like us to cover next year? Let us know. Email us editorial@relocatemagazine.com.

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Relocate’s new Global Mobility Toolkit provides free information, practical advice and support for HR, global mobility managers and global teams operating overseas.Access hundreds of global services and suppliers in our Online Directory _{©2018. This article first appeared in the Summer 2018 edition of Relocate magazine, published by Profile Locations, Spray Hill, Hastings Road, Lamberhurst, Kent TN3 8JB. All rights reserved. This publication (or any part thereof) may not be reproduced in any form without the prior written permission of Profile Locations. Profile Locations accepts no liability for the accuracy of the contents or any opinions expressed herein.}