The Worldwide ERC, Canadian Employee Relocation Council and the European Relocation Association have joined forces under the name WECAN to issue a joint declaration to governments and business leaders.

The declaration emphasises the importance of talent mobility to economic recovery and calls for the adoption of modern talent management policies to support faster economic recovery and growth.

The declaration says: “We firmly believe that countries and industries with a policy infrastructure that recognises the importance of talent deployment to economic recovery will bounce back more rapidly.”  It explained that the organisations had come together for the first time, “to deliver solutions for modernising relocation and mobility policies and practices that will drive economic recovery and meet the new workforce realities of a post-COVID world.”

WECAN explained that the COVID-19 pandemic has transformed how and where we work. A recent Worlwide ERC® survey of senior human resources leaders found that 80.9% of employers with more than 10,000 employees anticipate that 50% or more of their workforce will be working remotely on a permanent basis. Meanwhile, existing challenges, such as the competition for global talent and ensuring families have a safe relocation experience, have intensified as industries and countries begin to rebuild. Core to these mounting concerns is the importance of talent mobility to economic recovery.

“Workforce mobility and relocation professionals are experts in talent management and relocation, making them central to post-pandemic recovery and future growth,” said Canadian Employee Relocation Council (CERC) President & CEO Stephen Cryne. “Our declaration today makes it clear that our industry will be partners to government and business leaders looking to modernize mobility policies.”

“National leaders must deliver public policy solutions that ensure business can access and relocate the talent they need to rebuild and recover in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Worldwide ERC ® President and CEO Lynn Shotwell. “Government can rely on our industry as a trusted source for solutions to their most pressing talent mobility challenges.”

“At the heart of our declaration today is recognition of the critical role workforce mobility professionals and our industry play in worldwide economic recovery and growth,” said European Relocation Association (EuRA) CEO Tad Zurlinden. “Our commitment to elevating our industry in government and business discussions worldwide is ongoing and will continue.”

The WECAN leaders will focus on three core objectives:

• Recovery, providing the experts, skills and resources to help our memberships and the networks they serve be part of the economic recovery solution.
• Recruitment, delivering public policy solutions that ensure business can access and relocate the talent they need to rebuild their workforces, industries and economies around the world.
• Recognition, advancing awareness for the value of the many professionals working in the field of employee relocation and the critical role of the global mobility industry in worldwide economic recovery and growth.

The joint declaration concludes by saying: “We commit to collaborate in areas of research, education and advocacy in our respective countries and through participation in international bodies to make it easier and faster for employers to recruit and deploy international talent.”

Photo: Stephen Cryne.