80% of employees expect their company to support professional and geographic mobility

While geographic remoteness today seems to constitute a real brake on employment, the survey above all points to many discrepancies: in perception between employees and managers / HRD but also between feelings and reality in terms of taking into account of mobility within companies. Today, employee expectations are such that companies do not necessarily seem sufficiently equipped to meet them.

Geographical remoteness: a brake on employment

Structurally, the geographical distance between an employer and its potential employees constitutes a notable obstacle to recruitment. It has already dissuaded 29% of executives from recruiting certain candidates; and above all, it has already discouraged 48% of employees from applying for a job. This result illustrates an additional difficulty for companies: they cannot fully perceive the impact of professional mobility, since employees give up offers even before submitting their application.

Support for professional and geographic mobility: a recognized HR asset

The majority of the companies questioned consider that proper consideration of the professional and geographical mobility of employees constitutes an undeniable advantage as a management and management tool.

Particularly when it comes to improving the attractiveness of their company by recruiting new employees (66%), facilitating the reception and integration of new employees (63%) or even retaining their employees by improving their quality of life (67%).

For their part, employees testify to an expectation from companies. On average, more than 80% of them are confident in the positive effects, on each of these aspects, of taking better account of professional geographic mobility.

And yet, only 26% of managers consider geographic mobility to be a priority issue, even if this proportion increases with the size of the company (29% for companies with 250 to 499 employees, 44% for those with 500 or more employees). ).

“Because it represents a management and management asset necessary to enable them to adapt to a market and to constantly changing needs, the issue of geographic mobility appears today to be essential for companies. However, it is still often left in the background in the management of human resources and, more generally, in the strategic management of companies ”, underlines Luc Moréna, Managing Director of Ma Nouvelle Ville.

Companies facing professional and geographic mobility: support that could be improved

If HRDs consider that the issue is low priority, they are nevertheless 71% to consider that it is already well taken into account in their company. There is therefore a gap between feeling and reality on mobility since we see that concrete support in their company can still be improved: only 21% of managers believe that there is a person in their company responsible for these issues, and only 12 % a dedicated service. And this while 54% of managers are faced with employees recruited in other cities ...

Moreover, the majority of managers agree on the benefits of geographical professional mobility, and also mainly consider that the company must play a role of support in employee mobility. Thus, they are between 54% and 69% to consider the necessary support for employees located in another city, or transferred from another city or another country.

The employees are much more numerous - up to 80% - to approve the duty of accompaniment of the companies. They are also unanimous on the question: men, women, in rural or urban areas, in a small business or in a large group… the answers are uniform and without dividing lines.

“Employees' expectations in terms of support for geographic mobility are particularly high in this survey. This confirms our idea that the subject represents a priority issue, which companies must take even more into account in their HR strategy ... In particular with a view to facilitating recruitment and contributing to the well-being of their employees ”, remarks Luc Moréna, Managing Director of Ma Nouvelle Ville.

Little-known aids and services for businesses and mobile workers

82% of HRDs plan to call on a service provider to support them in supporting employees on the move, in particular with regard to help in finding accommodation near the new workplace.

Among the various possibilities, they are particularly interested in simple one-off support (68%) and in a paperless solution to help employees find accommodation (70%). On the other hand, HRDs seem a little less inclined to resort to full support for employees (49%), or to dedicated training (30%): these dimensions are undoubtedly perceived as requiring greater commitment on the part of the staff. 'business.

However, most of these services already exist, provided by service providers - commonly called “relocation companies” - in the form of companies specializing in mobility. Their role is to streamline the entire relocation process of an employee in a situation of geographical mobility, while taking into account their aspirations.

They generally offer two-tier services. For company employees, a complete and tailor-made support solution, ranging from finding accommodation to related administrative procedures, but also in understanding their new cultural environment and in their daily life (transport, neighborhood life, schooling for children, employment for the spouse, etc.). For the company, they facilitate the recruitment and mobility of its employees as well as support their development and contribute to their well-being and quality of life.

“These relocation companies, whose teams are specifically trained in the challenges of geographic mobility and have knowledge of the local real estate market, can be a great ally for human resources departments. In particular in companies that have neither the time nor the human resources to provide this tailor-made support for their employees ”, underlines Luc Moréna.

In addition, these services can be financed by AIDE MOBILI-PASS®, delivered by Action Logement, allowing support for the costs of support in the search for rental accommodation by a specialized operator and a low-rate loan. to cover certain expenses related to housing.

Other housing-related aids exist to facilitate the installation of employees in a new territory. This is the case with AIDE MOBILI-JEUNE® (a subsidy of up to € 100 per month to reduce the rent for young people under 30 in work-study training), Visale (a free rental guarantee to reassure the owner and facilitate access to housing for employees) and AVANCE LOCA-PASS® (a loan without fees or interest which allows all or part of the security deposit to be paid when entering a new home).