Roundtable 1:

Sending People to Switzerland – in addition to practical issues (such as finding the right school and suitable accommodation), a number of legal questions also arise in connection with assignments. As the leading global mobility experts in Switzerland, we would like to discuss the legal aspects with you. This includes residence and work permits, taxation, social security liability and insurance cover, employment contracts and labour law, implementation in payroll as well as the necessity of guidelines / policies.

Norma Reynov, Senior Global Mobility Consultant, Convinus

Thomas Asemota, MLaw Senior Manager, Business Immigration Convinus

Roundtable 2:

During this session, we will share real life examples of some of the small changes mobility professionals around the world have made and the impact they have made on their mobility programme. It will be an opportunity to critically review your mobility programme and explore if any of these micro adjustments can give you a major gain in your programme. It will cover assignee and engagement and satisfaction, cost control and constraints and programme efficiency amongst other great examples of how mobility colleagues around the world have made significant improvements with relatively small adjustments to their programmes.

Sam Slater,  Manager, Global Mobility, Weber Shandwick  

Miriam van Kempen, Sales Director, Heart Relocation

Roundtable 3:

HR professionals may feel like they have been living in a state of “permacrisis” for many years, impacted by Brexit, Covid-19 or, in recent times; geopolitical conflict. Find out what employers can do to assist their global employees in crisis situations and gain an insight into what Fragomen does to keep clients informed and prepared. The session will compare Fragomen’s approaches to different crises, using some of the - unfortunately many - recent examples.

Hosted by:
Andrew Barnett, Senior Manager, London, Fragomen

Roundtable 8:

During this roundtable, we will discuss the biggest global mobility trend of today: temporary work from abroad. What should a policy look like? Where does the responsibility of the employer (and global mobility) start and end? Do you require A1s, PWDs and/or insurance? And how does technology help you manage the process and the workload? Join us for an interactive session to jointly share best practises and challenges!

Pieter Manden, Co-founder, WorkFlex

Join us for a dynamic roundtable where we tackle the key challenges of building a resilient business traveller program. From compliance hurdles to cost constraints, we’ll explore practical solutions and share insights on how to overcome obstacles and drive program success. Connect with peers, exchange ideas, and leave with actionable strategies to strengthen your organization’s approach to business travel.

Jenny Aird, Global Client Success Director, Equus Software

Scott Turner, VP Product Marketing, Equus Software

Roundtable 10:

In this session, we will explore the immense opportunities presented by the mega projects across Saudi Arabia and the wider GCC region. These transformative developments are creating vast potential for businesses and industries, driving economic growth and innovation. However, with this growth comes significant challenges in mobilizing and retaining skilled talent. This discussion aims to uncover strategies for effectively tapping into the talent pool while ensuring sustainable growth in the region.

Murtaza Shah, Partner, Northman & Sterling

Kate Prince, Immigration Consultant, Northman & Sterling

This roundtable session will follow on these themes to enable delegates to share the opportunities to enhance their GM programme and their own contributions, using the GM framework described above. No one size fits all and we will explore the maturity of GM programmes in the varied sectors and encourage participants to describe what great looks like and how they have achieved this. • It will be a great session to conduct a self-health check on the GM Programme as we rapidly move towards 2025 and beyond. • We will capture the key experience learnings and summarise them as a key take away.

John Rason, Head of Consulting, Santa Fe Relocation

Julia Palmer, Chief Operating Officer, Relocation and Chief People Officer, Santa Fe Relocation

We will explore how and why organisations support employee flexibility to work internationally and address the practical challenges of managing an international remote work programme including:

• How long can employees work overseas?

• Where is the balance between compliance and reality?

• How is international remote work affected by return to the office initiatives?

• How can you reduce the time your team spends managing international remote work requests?

• How do you monitor employee adherence to the policy?

• How do you measure if the policy is meeting its strategic objectives?

Louise Nicholls, Senior Manager, Vialto Partners

Sean Baker, Senior Associate, Vialto Partners

79% of HR and mobility professionals believe job relocation failure can be strongly correlated with failure to address relocation challenges such as loneliness, anxiety and difficulties settling in. This is not just attributed to the assignee, but also impacts on accompanying family members, including children. Family reasons are consistently cited as the top 3 reasons for assignment failure, and yet many organisations do not have robust policies in place to support the assignee and their family through the relocation process, and it is sometimes overlooked as “nice to have” rather than business critical.

One of the key business priorities for our clients is maintaining high levels of employee engagement and productivity during international assignments. When families, especially children, struggle with the relocation process, it can lead to significant stress for the employee, often resulting in reduced job performance or even early assignment termination By dedicating modest resources to family and child well-being during relocations, companies can achieve significant improvements in employee retention, engagement, and overall well-being. Programs like the Children’s Transition Program demonstrate how a focused, relatively small investment in supporting families yields substantial returns in assignment success, reduced early repatriations, and increased employee productivity. This not only helps individuals but also aligns directly with broader business goals, creating a win-win scenario. For example, one multinational client reported a 20% reduction in early repatriations after implementing our program, directly saving millions in potential costs associated with failed assignments.

In our Roundtable we will address the growing challenges and demands of family wellbeing, and discuss how small modifications in your existing policies can have a huge impact on the assignee and family experience, and demonstrate the ROI of effective employee and family support.

Lucy Foster Global Career/Transition Coach & Global Account Manager, IMPACT Group

Tracy Kautzmann, Director, Global Client Relations, IMPACT Group