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As we send this edition, less than 48 hours into the developing crisis, the United Nations estimates that 100,000 Ukrainian war refugees have fled their homes. Thousands of women and children have waited hours to cross borders into Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, and Romania as men of fighting age are encouraged to remain. Early estimates by NGOs suggest 1 to 5 million refugees may be displaced—many permanently. Global mobility professionals have been moving employees out of harm’s way for weeks but many remain in peril. In the weeks ahead, Worldwide ERC will provide context and perspective reflecting the expertise of this community. We invite you to contact us here so that we might reflect back on the insights and wisdom we all need now.

-Lynn Shotwell, CEO Worldwide ERC®

What's happening?

Here's a quick glimpse of what you'll find in this week's Mobility Minute:

Digital Health Passports Continue to Grow Despite Privacy, Equity Concerns
Non-Traditional Benefits Can Increase Employee Retention
2021’s Competitive Housing Market Will Likely Continue in 2022

Effective Leadership in Times of Crisis (2)

Digital Health Passports Continue to Grow Despite Privacy, Equity Concerns

Digital health passes often take the form of mobile apps, and while they may look different, they all do approximately the same things: store and track vaccinations, testing records, and other critical paperwork. Although becoming widely used, digital health passes have been subject to fierce opposition. The most common issue is privacy fears — people worry about sharing their personal and sensitive health data with the private companies creating digital health passes. While the US government has spoken out against mandating a federal digital health pass, some states have created their versions.

Get the facts:

New York became the first state to launch a digital health certificate called Excelsior Pass.
France was the first European country to test a digital health pass
European Union has endorsed an electronic vaccine certificate to be recognized beginning July 1, 2022.
Germany and Italy have already begun requiring the digital certificate.

Why is this important?

Many international trips now require travelers to show proof of vaccination or a recent recovery from Covid-19 and a negative Covid-19 test. Airlines are frequently enforcing these rules and verifying the documents, and there is no standardized app across the world. The most significant partnership is between Amadeus — a reservation system used by 474 airlines — and IBM’s digital health passport solution called IBM Digital Health Pass.

Non-Traditional Benefits Can Increase Employee Retention

To keep workers from heading for the exit and attract new hires, employers are rethinking their work policies and management styles. Developing new strategies can be challenging because of the wide variety of reasons why workers quit. Some burned-out workers are demanding more flexible work schedules, and other workers are left questioning their self-worth while working from home. To further complicate the challenging working environments, managers have been forced to adapt their leadership styles to remote work and the shrinking pool of working-age labor is compounding worker shortages.

Get the facts:

Remote work has diluted the impact of traditional office perks.
88% of knowledge workers say that when searching for a new position, they will look for one that offers complete flexibility in their hours and location.
Upskilling and re-skilling are critical benefits as 82% of employees and 62% of HR directors believe that workers will need to hone their current skills or acquire new ones to maintain a competitive advantage in a global job market

Why is this important?

In November, a record 4.5 million people quit their jobs. Some of these workers are leaving the workforce entirely, but millions of people are finding new jobs to improve their pay and lifestyles.
To keep workers from heading for the exit and attract new hires, employers are rethinking their work policies and management styles. Developing new strategies can be challenging because of the wide variety of reasons why workers quit.
Read more on Worldwide ERC®.

Global Economic Snapshot: Supply Chain Edition

A backup of container ships waiting for berths at South Carolina’s Port of Charleston has reached 30 vessels from 19 last month. The South Carolina Port Authority had expected the backlog to be cleared by mid-March but is now expecting mid-April. -WSJ

Out on the US West coast the Ports of LA, Long Beach still setting cargo records as 2022 gets underway. Executive Director Gene Seroka believes it has been the most productive January in the ports 115-year history -Daily Breeze

Supply chain investment boom continues RELEX Solutions bags €500m round. Venture capitalists have invested almost $7bn into the supply chain technology sector since 2018. -Verdict

Security and privacy concerns prevent companies from extracting full value from IoT data, Inmarsat research reveals. Currently, just 20% of organizations make non-sensitive IoT data available. -IoT Business News

In the second quarter of 2021, cargo theft experienced a 253% increase in value, according to Sensitech's quarterly Cargo Theft Intelligence Report. In 2020, security issues cost shippers $63 million in value. -Inbound Logistics

Most yearlong freight contracts will largely be settled at the TPM22 conference in Long Beach, Calif., next week. Operators are negotiating record-high rates and longer contract terms to manage risk. -WSJ

2021’s Competitive Housing Market Will Likely Continue in 2022

High demand for homes in the first half of 2021 caused the supply of homes for sale to fall to a record low by December. At the end of December, the total housing inventory was down 18% from November and down 14% from one year ago. Although homebuilders are increasing supply, the gap will likely take years to correct. The number of homes currently under construction is at a multi-year high, but labor shortages and supply-chain issues have delayed builders.

Get the facts:

Housing economists, initially of the opinion that home sales would cool in 2022, are revising their forecasts and predicting another year of fierce competition and increasing home prices.
The typical home sold in 61 days in January, which is ten days less than in January 2021 and nearly a month (29 days) faster than the usual pace of sales in January between 2017 and 2020
In December, the median existing-home price for all housing types was $358,000, up 15.8% from December 2020

Why is this important?

If revised forecasts are realized, 2022 may be another brutal year for home shoppers. High home prices significantly increase rental markets, reduce demand for consumer goods, and create a drag for economic recovery in general. Ultimately high home prices make relocations more expensive, more difficult for all parties, and less common.

The Roundup

Worldwide ERC® CEO Lynn Shotwell identifies opportunities in the midst of upheaval. Read more on Worldwide ERC®

Pending US Home Sales Decrease 5.7% in January as contract signings down in all regions except the West. (NAR)

Barron’s rates Boise, Austin, and Ogden as the top three of America’s 10 Most Overvalued Housing Markets. (Barron's)

The Case-Shiller Home Price Index notes U.S. home prices rose a record 18.8% in 2021 with Phoenix riding a 31-month streak as the fastest increase at 32.5% for the year. (WSJ)

A U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) final rule that would expand premium processing to include additional case types has cleared the Office of Management and Budget, putting it closer to publication and implementation. (Fragoman)

New research published by Perceptyx based on 1,400 working Americans reveals how hybrid workers compare to their in-office and all-remote counterparts in terms of productivity, engagement behaviors, work/life balance, and professional relationships. (Percpetyx)

PwC’s HR Tech Survey 2022 suggests too much importance on monitoring remote employee log-ins only leads to gaming the system. Tracking interaction with colleagues may provide more meaningful metrics and the opportunity to address disengagement early. (PwC)

UrbanBound identifies 3 characteristics of a reasonable relocation package. (UrbanBound)

Trouble finding skilled candidates? 11-million non-college-educated workers are ready to perform high-wage work with the partnership of State Training Programs. (HRDA)

On Tap

Gain insights from HR/Mobility professionals on how they have adapted and overcome the many challenges of the pandemic in the Worldwide ERC® Webinar The Art of Recovering from Setbacks. March 16 @ 2 pm ET. Register today!

Worldwide ERC® Regional Group Scholarship Partnership Application and information are available online now. Applications are due April 13.

2022 Worldwide ERC® Spring Virtual Conference will be held May 17, 18 & 19, 2022. Registration opens on March 1.

The US Travel Association is hosting a webinar on The Future of Travel Mobility Series: Sustainability. Register here.

By the Numbers

The Boston Consulting Group analyzed the 10 most popular destination countries plus China and Japan and found that the legal framework and administrative processes to hire and relocate talent internationally are comparable to hiring domestically. The two countries that rated poorly in this analysis were China and the United States.