EY: Enhanced mobility the key to addressing growing talent gaps and shortages

HR and talent leaders struggling to address widening talent gaps should be focused on enhancing employee mobility, especially when faced with rising costs and the task of filling senior roles.

EY’s 2025 Mobility Reimagined Survey, which canvassed 1,074 mobility professionals across 22 countries, found that nearly half of organizations (48%) are struggling to source global talent to meet their business needs.

Meanwhile, nearly three quarters (74%) face delays to fill senior roles – sometimes more than one year.

Organizations with evolved mobility functions are 3.7x times more likely to say mobility helps their organization address medium-term talent shortages, and 1.5x times more likely say mobility significantly helps drive business growth.

EY Global Mobility Reimagined Leader, Maureen Flood, exclusively tells UNLEASH that organizations “stand at a capability crossroads” and need to find a “mix of talent strategy, technology and Gen AI investment, and vendor relationships that allow them to do more (with high quality) while controlling costs”.

“The labor market is coping with a workforce with five generations for now, but also a coming imbalance of retirements versus younger employees joining the market,” Flood explains.

She adds that the challenges for working across borders in a “volatile operating environment” has caused a shift for mobility programs “beyond their operational origins, and now needing to serve as an adviser to HR and the business more broadly”.

The mobility functions that evolve to take on this more strategic, technology-forward position also report better business and talent outcomes than those that don’t.”The mobility functions that evolve to take on this more strategic, technology-forward position also report better business and talent outcomes than those that don’t.”

Talent mobility is a significant part of strategy and creating a destination of choice

EY found that the vast majority (90%) of employers recognized the benefits of aligning talent mobility to wider strategic organizational and talent objectives, but just 30% were able to achieve it.

Companies with mobility programs integrated with wider organizational and talent goals are also more than twice as likely to experience 10% revenue growth.

With employers aiming to make themselves are a destination of choice for talent, Flood explains that organizations must ensure that factors such as mobility technology, tax, immigration and legal processes are managed in “a way that that employees find comfortable.”

“Employees want transparency over what opportunities are open to them, and how their career might progress after the assignment,” she says.

“This can be a big lift, but the prize is a workforce that helps your organization reach its goals.”

Furthermore, 85% of respondents indicated that mobility assignments were ‘transformative’, with nearly half (48%) stating that such experiences increase their likelihood of staying with their employer.

“The more evolved mobility functions are also much more likely to include mobility experiences in total rewards framework, and be willing to adjust as they go,” Flood adds.

In a competitive labor market, facing so many unknowns, organizations should be seeking to create a talent advantage where they can. Mobility is a key part of doing it.”In a competitive labor market, facing so many unknowns, organizations should be seeking to create a talent advantage where they can. Mobility is a key part of doing it.”

Meanwhile, evolved mobility functions can also help address delays in filling senior roles, but building internal pipelines for future senior managers that possess the necessary global experience to succeed.

“Mobility can help quickly integrate external hires into organizations wherever they’re needed,” Flood explains.

“But mobility programs need to be built for this purpose, and be able to gather metrics showing how its doing. Measuring ROI based on cost alone can’t show the fully influence on talent goals.”

Generative AI is likely to be the next driver of mobility evolution

Generative AI is expected to have a significant impact on talent mobility moving forwards, according to EY’s findings, with 70% of mobility professionals believing it will positively impact their functions, influencing flexible working, employee productivity, and risk management.

Use of Gen AI has also increased among mobility professionals from 22% to 35% year-on-year.

Flood tells UNLEASH that we have now reached a “critical mass of users” ready for Gen AI solutions and that as a result, mobility “needs to be ready for them with new skills to meet new technologies.”

However, she also warns that there are implications for both hard and soft skills developments to “adapt to new tools, and do so with a creative, growth mindset” among the mobile workforce.

Flood also highlights that is also an expectation for greater productivity gains and simplification as a result of increased investment in Gen AI solutions.

"Take agentic AI for example: you may have a Gen AI agent that could monitor employee assignments and flag potential immigration or compliance risks based on an employee’s profile,” she explains.

“These agents could initiate paperwork and notify HR, vendors and the assignee to help begin to coordinate a remedy. This activity could reduce stress for employees while maintaining transparency, just as an example.”

And wherever employees are, Gen AI can help streamline access to and preparation of data independent of time zones, languages and locations. Including and beyond conversational assistants, these tools provide the opportunity to create early drafts of deliverables in a way that saves time and energy that can be used in other ways.”And wherever employees are, Gen AI can help streamline access to and preparation of data independent of time zones, languages and locations. Including and beyond conversational assistants, these tools provide the opportunity to create early drafts of deliverables in a way that saves time and energy that can be used in other ways.”