There’s no denying skills shortages continue to hamper Australian businesses. In a climate where the competition for talent has reached fever pitch, employers are fast needing to come up with innovative ways to secure staff. And one of these is expanding recruitment to the overseas market.
According to recent Robert Half research, 73% of business leaders said they planned to hire overseas talent to relocate and work in Australia, with 61% looking to recruit internationals on a contract basis. On the flip side, it seems there are plenty of people willing to relocate for work – almost 60% according to a Wakefield Research survey of 1000 employees across nine nations.
Given these statistics, companies today can’t afford to ignore the merits of curating a great relocation package to entice and secure international talent.
Here we explore the benefits of a relocation package, along with some advice about how you can leverage it to exponentially widen your talent pool.
How the right relocation package benefits your business
Those in mobility management have long known the myriad of recruitment benefits the right relocation package brings your business. It gives you:
1. Access to a larger talent pool: Recruiting from overseas allows you to draw from a much larger selection of potential candidates with a wider range of skills and experience than those here on our shores. This can be particularly important in industries facing a severe skills shortage, such as the professionals occupation sector (which saw a large jump from 19% in 2021 to almost 40% in 2022), as well as the trades and technical sector (almost 50%).
2. Diversity and culture boost: Recruiting from overseas often brings a greater diversity and a wider range of cultural perspectives to your business. This can be particularly valuable for companies that operate in a global market or have an international customer base.
3. Innovation and creativity: Bringing in international talent gives your business the opportunity to benefit from new ideas and approaches, ones that can fuel innovation and creativity, whether that be process, production or sales-related.
4. Cost-effectiveness: In some cases, recruiting from overseas is more cost-effective than recruiting locally. For instance, you might choose to recruit from a country that has a lower cost of living, with employees’ salary expectations also naturally a little lower. Or perhaps rather than hiring for potential over experience here at home and training up, you can access internationals who already have the requisite skills and qualifications you need.
5. Enhances your employer brand: Offering a great relocation package does wonders for your employer reputation. It tangibly demonstrates a firm commitment to supporting your employees, plus has a natural positive flow on effect of attracting and retaining additional top talent.
With a grasp of the recruitment advantages of curating the right relocation package, let’s turn to the elements you need to consider.
What does a great relocation package include?
Providing a comprehensive relocation package is a key step in easing the stress of the relocation process – the very part that puts many employees off even considering the idea.
But what is an ideal package? It’s a difficult question to answer as it varies from one assignee to the next. However, there are some commonalities.
The Wakefield Research study found over half (55%) of respondents wanted their employer to handle all the logistics for them, while 92% said they’d need a financial incentive, be it a pay rise, promotion, a housing allowance and/or a moving expenses reimbursement. Almost half considered a move for a better family lifestyle (49%), while 45% wanted to experience a different culture.
Australian businesses seem to be taking heed of these international recruit wishes, with the Robert Half survey finding:
- 40% of businesses planned to increase the initially planned starting salary
- 38% offered more paid leave
- 37% open to upgrading the candidate’s job title
- 34% willing to loosen job requirements
- 31% focused on offering professional development opportunities
It’s a savvy move to keep these statistics in mind should you choose to curate a relocation package to entice overseas candidates to your open role/s.
Here at Grace, our Corporate Services team have spent decades developing a comprehensive relocation package for our clients to use, particularly when recruiting overseas talent. If you considering partnering with us, you’ll access a full suite of mobility services. Here is a quick overview:
Mobility management – Includes a fully integrated mobility service that covers all aspects of assignment management and reporting for your staff (assignees), HR and line managers.
Relocation services – Tailored for every client, individual and family and can include visa and immigration advice and facilitation, door to door moving services, storage, partner support, as well as essential cultural and language training.
Destination services – Services include arranging pre-assignment preview trips, professionally researched home and school search, departure, orientation and settling in services, as well as expense management solutions.
Property management solutions – With the soaring demand for Australian rental properties not easing any time soon, our residential tenancy management solutions are always very much appreciated! This includes property research and advice, lease negotiations, rental disbursements and innovative staff accommodation options.
Relocation package support – An expert eye
Hopefully you can now see the very real rewards the right relocation package offers your business when it comes to recruiting international staff. But you will also see it’s an involved process that benefits from an expert’s touch to ensure you get the best ROI from your international recruit.
Here at Grace, we can support you through every step of the international relocation process, from understanding what candidates want, to creating a bespoke package offering, to ensuring your assignees enjoy a smooth experience from leaving home to arriving here, and beyond.
Please feel free to connect with one of our Corporate Services mobility management specialists for additional advice about compiling a great relocation package to help you address your skills shortages.
