Navigating Global Mobility in EY People Advisory Services – A Product Management Approach to Overcoming Challenges

Introduction: The Growing Demand for Global Mobility Solutions

In an increasingly interconnected world, businesses are expanding across borders, and organizations like EY (Ernst & Young) are called upon to enable seamless global mobility for their employees. EY’s People Advisory Services (PAS) helps organizations manage and optimize their global workforce, addressing the complexities of moving talent across countries while complying with local regulations, tax laws, and immigration requirements.

From a product management perspective, the task is not just about offering global mobility solutions but ensuring that they are adaptable, scalable, and able to deliver a seamless experience for employees and businesses alike. This case study explores the challenges faced by EY’s People Advisory Services in delivering global mobility solutions and how product management practices can address these obstacles to create a unified, efficient, and customer-focused solution.

Challenge 1: Navigating Complex Regulatory and Tax Frameworks

One of the biggest challenges in enabling global mobility is ensuring compliance with the myriad of local regulations, tax laws, and immigration requirements across different countries. EY’s People Advisory Services supports multinational organizations in managing this complexity, helping businesses navigate global tax frameworks and regulatory changes while ensuring that employees’ movements are compliant with relevant laws.

For product managers, this means designing a solution that is agile and can adapt to the constantly changing regulatory environment. A failure to keep up with new tax codes, immigration laws, and employment regulations can result in non-compliance, costly penalties, and a negative experience for the mobile workforce.

Key Product Management Takeaway: In building a global mobility solution, product managers must focus on flexibility and adaptability, ensuring that the system is capable of handling changing laws and regulations across regions.

Challenge 2: Providing a Seamless, User-Centric Experience

For EY’s global mobility services to be effective, the experience for employees moving across borders needs to be smooth, efficient, and easy to navigate. This involves not only providing the right information at the right time but also ensuring that the entire relocation and mobility process, from visas to housing arrangements, is as streamlined as possible.

The challenge for product managers is to build a solution that integrates all the complex moving parts—legal, tax, payroll, HR systems, relocation support, and benefits—into a cohesive, user-friendly experience. Employees often have little experience with international relocations, so a well-designed, intuitive system is critical to preventing confusion and reducing administrative burdens.

Key Product Management Takeaway: Creating a seamless and user-friendly experience is central to the success of global mobility solutions. A strong focus on the end-user experience and usability is essential for ensuring smooth transitions for employees.

Challenge 3: Managing Data Integration Across Systems

As global mobility involves various departments—HR, tax, legal, and finance—there is a constant need to integrate data from different systems. EY’s People Advisory Services must ensure that data across HR management systems, payroll platforms, immigration tracking systems, and tax databases is synchronized, accurate, and accessible.

For product managers, the challenge is to create a unified platform that can seamlessly integrate multiple systems, enabling the flow of data across various touchpoints without compromising security or accuracy. Effective data management is essential for providing real-time updates, accurate tax calculations, and a smooth workflow for employees and employers alike.

Key Product Management Takeaway: Data integration across multiple systems is a core challenge for global mobility solutions. A unified platform that allows seamless data exchange while maintaining security and compliance is essential for operational efficiency.

Challenge 4: Customizing Solutions for Diverse Client Needs

EY’s People Advisory Services caters to a diverse range of clients, from multinational corporations to small and medium enterprises. Each client has unique global mobility requirements based on the size of their workforce, the regions they operate in, and their specific business needs.

This diversity presents a challenge for product managers tasked with developing a one-size-fits-all solution that can also be customized to meet the needs of different clients. The product must be flexible enough to support various international assignments, from short-term projects to long-term expatriate roles, while offering scalability for businesses of different sizes.

Key Product Management Takeaway: The ability to offer customizable solutions while maintaining scalability is critical. Product managers should focus on building a modular product that can be tailored to different client needs without excessive complexity.

Challenge 5: Ensuring Cost Efficiency for Businesses

For businesses, managing global mobility must also be cost-effective. EY’s People Advisory Services needs to provide solutions that not only streamline the mobility process but also reduce the operational costs associated with international assignments. These costs can include relocation expenses, tax filings, compensation adjustments, and more.

Product managers must work closely with clients to understand their specific cost challenges and develop solutions that optimize these expenses. This could include leveraging automation, providing clear reporting on costs, and using data analytics to predict and control mobility-related expenditures.

Key Product Management Takeaway: Product managers need to focus on cost optimization by automating processes, streamlining workflows, and using analytics to help clients make informed decisions about their global mobility strategies.

Challenge 6: Managing Cross-Border Coordination and Communication

Global mobility involves coordination across multiple geographies, time zones, and departments. Effective communication and collaboration are key to ensuring that the right information is available to the right people at the right time. However, with employees often located in different parts of the world, ensuring smooth communication across teams and stakeholders can be a logistical challenge.

The product management team must consider how to design solutions that facilitate collaboration and keep all parties informed. This could involve providing multi-language support, offering real-time communication tools, and ensuring that mobile platforms are available for employees on the move.

Key Product Management Takeaway: Cross-border communication and collaboration tools should be integrated into the product to ensure smooth coordination between all stakeholders involved in the global mobility process.

Challenge 7: Addressing Employee Wellbeing During Relocation

Moving to a new country is a significant life event, and for employees relocating for work, it can be stressful and challenging. Ensuring that employees are supported throughout their relocation journey is an important consideration for EY’s People Advisory Services.

For product managers, the challenge is not only in handling the logistics of relocation but also in designing a solution that offers emotional and practical support. This could involve providing employees with personalized relocation assistance, access to mental health support services, and guidance on adapting to life in a new country.

Key Product Management Takeaway: Employee wellbeing should be a key focus in the development of global mobility solutions. Product managers should prioritize support services that help employees adjust to their new environments and reduce stress associated with relocation.

Conclusion: A Holistic Approach to Global Mobility Management

EY’s People Advisory Services faces numerous challenges when enabling global mobility for employees. These challenges are compounded by the complexity of regulatory compliance, the need for seamless user experiences, data integration, and the demands of diverse clients. However, by applying strong product management principles—focusing on flexibility, customization, scalability, cost optimization, and employee experience—the company can continue to provide high-quality global mobility solutions that meet the needs of multinational organizations.

To succeed, product managers must create solutions that offer seamless integration of data, align with regulatory requirements, and deliver cost-effective, user-centric experiences that support businesses and employees alike. By focusing on these core areas, EY’s People Advisory Services can continue to lead the way in enabling successful global mobility strategies for their clients.