Celebrating excellence in Global Mobility with the Think Global People & Relocate Awards

Awards News: Celebrating excellence in Global Mobility

The Think Global People & Relocate Awards are the premier awards for everyone working in Global Mobility, international HR, management and education. Inaugurated in 2007, and celebrating their fifteenth anniversary in 2022, the awards have grown and evolved each year to reflect the changing demands of global businesses and people on the move, writes Ruth Holmes.

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Today, the Awards – sponsored this year by AltoVita, edyn, KPMG and Santa Fe Relocation – are for everyone operating in the international arena. There were entries from multinational corporations, Global Mobility, business services, tax and immigration advisors, intercultural expertise, partner support, international education and more, all celebrating the role of their team and organisation in helping individuals, businesses and economies thrive across borders.

Think Global People and Relocate Awards are hard-won, with entrants raising the standard higher and higher every year: 2022 proved to be no exception. Assessed by a panel of highly experienced experts, entries across the eight categories were of an exceptionally high quality, as the following pages announcing who won and why will attest.

All the winners provided inspirational solutions to the challenges we are all facing. Meeting in person to celebrate their successes at the Think Global People and Relocate Awards was an opportunity to share best practices, learn from each other, as well as recognise where international corporate HR and Global Mobility practitioners are making a real difference.

The Future of Work Festival, which hosted the Think Global People and Relocate Awards this year, created the space to reflect on the last 12 months, collaborate and build on our collective successes, as part of Relocate Global’s year-round Centre for Global Excellence and Leadership.

SHINING STARS LIGHT THE WAY

In total, eleven awards were on the table at the 2022 Think Global People and Relocate Awards ceremony, held in the verdant landscape of Relocate Global’s Lamberhurst HQ.

Arguably the most hotly contested category was technology. It prompted much discussion between the judges on the panel. Global Mobility specialist, Mark Ethelston, was one of the judges tasked with evaluating the entries in this category.

“In the years I’ve been doing this, what stuck out for me this year is the amount I learn myself seeing the new businesses that are coming on the market and all the new solutions,” said Mark, in a sentiment echoed among the judges. “There is a consistently high level of entries, and some people were doing some really innovative new stuff.”

Among them was Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s winning entry, as Mark explained. “Having that ability to look at your talent mobility as a whole internally, which is what I took from the presentation and the technology demonstration from HPE, is a real game-changer in my mind. I think it’s an amazing concept and one I’m really chuffed to see coming into our world.”

The standard of entries was exceptional across the board, as Head Judge, Dr Sue Shortland, a senior lecturer in HRM at the University of Westminster and Professor Emerita at London Metropolitan University, observes. “I’ve been working on these awards with Fiona for 15 years right from the very beginning. So, it’s been quite a journey.

“I think this year’s entries were really interesting because of the quality,” Dr Shortland continues. “Every year we say the quality improves and I genuinely mean that because it has, and it does. This year the quality was absolutely exceptional. A lot of the winners acknowledged that the competition was stiff, and they are quite right. Those who win really are exceptional in their field.

ILLUMINATING THE IMPORTANCE OF WELLBEING

“It was really good to see the focus on wellbeing this time around,” adds Dr Shortland. “I do really feel that the entrants all really rose to the occasion, and they really did convince the judging panel on wellbeing, not just for people who are globally mobile, but also for their own staff as well. It is really good to see that, especially as we are coming out of the pandemic era.”

“I think my big takeaway from today is the importance of wellbeing,” agreed Teni Olasupo, a member of the award-winning team at Blick Rothenberg. “I think we can continue to work towards that area. People are the heart of what we do, so it's continuing to focus on that and grow.”

Colleague Winnie Cao concurred, saying, “The three keys of people, planet and purpose really resonated. We will really amplify that in our workplace. The happy thing is we won an award today, so we will definitely celebrate our success – the best is yet to come!”

The focus on wellbeing is critical when you consider the impact the teams and organisations celebrated in the awards have on relocating individuals and their families.

“The UK relocation industry probably contributes – if you take everything into consideration – something in the region of £8bn to the UK economy,” said Tad Zurlinden, CEO of the Association of Relocation Professionals (ARP) and European Relocation Association (EuRA), two of the many organisations supporting the Think Global People and Relocate Awards and Future of Work Festival alongside the sponsors.

“It is a small industry that definitely punches above its weight. On a global basis you are literally talking trillions. What they do for industry globally is incredibly important and effectively keeps the world moving round.”

“If you have a family relocating somewhere it is a very stressful time, so any support they can have, any learning they can get from companies like Relocate Global, is gold dust really,” commented Gina Lodge, CEO of the Academy of Executive Coaching (AoEC), which also supported the day.

“Relocate Global has been able to congregate such an amazing ecosystem of thought leaders in service providers as well as corporates who are really driving the strategies for the future of global mobility,” said Vivi Cahyadi Himmel, co-founder of AltoVita, an enterprise software provider for the serviced accommodation sector. “There will be changes and it will feel different, but I think that as companies mature, global mobility will definitely be the driving factor of that.”

Bringing the fifteenth Think Global People and Relocate Awards to a close, Managing Editor Fiona Murchie offered “many congratulations to everyone who entered, our Shortlisted and Highly Commended entrants, but most of all to the winners. Each of them showed exemplary and inspirational practices and signposted the future. Thank you for sharing your successes with us for the wider benefit of everyone in our sector and people on the move.”