Welcome to the April 22 issue of Mobility Minute, a newsletter published each Friday by Worldwide ERC® for the benefit of members and the global mobility and relocation industry as a whole. If you have a news tip or a suggestion for improving the newsletter, drop us a line.
What's happening?
Here's a quick glimpse of what you'll find in this week's Mobility Minute:
WPP Crisis Response delivers $1.3 million to Ukraine Disaster Relief
SEC Proposed Rules for sustainability leverage market forces
Workers Suing Employers over remote work expenses
WPP Raises more than $1.3 million for Ukraine Disaster Relief
When WPP offered to match employee donations to the UN Refugee Agency to support displaced Ukrainians, WPP staff contributed more than $670,000 out of their own pockets in February and March. With the promised matching funds from WPP, the total contribution of $1.3 million to UNHCR helped provide emergency shelter and relief items such as blankets, emergency payments, and community support.
Stephen McGarry, SCRP, Director, Global Mobility for WPP describes this success as just one aspect of a multi-faceted crisis response plan that provided tactical action plans while still leaving flexibility for individuals to show initiative in responding to complex or unforeseen elements of a crisis.
WPP first addressed the needs of its own staff in Ukraine and the bordering states. Staff from bordering countries met displaced WPP staff at the borders and moved them to staging areas they had established in their existing unused office space. While finding locations for their staff to relocate in the short- and long-term, WPP provided customized immersion language lessons, matched displaced employees with other employees who were volunteering short-term housing, and provided additional EAP for the displaced staff as well as employees in the bordering countries who were experiencing tremendous upheaval in their own lives.
Why is this important:
WPP professes a culture of care as a key company value. Having made an effort to form crisis response teams in advance was key to the company's ability to not just protect and support its employees but make good on that promise of care when it mattered most. The mobility function is a key player in successful crisis response. As difficult as it is to find any glimmer of good news in the Ukraine Crisis, WP's commitment to care and support of its employees not only allowed them to leap into action to help each other but to make a larger difference in the world. Many organizations make similar value statements, but our authenticity will be judged by employees and stakeholders according to the capacity and the degree to which we live up to them. Read more on Worldwide ERC.
U.S. Streamlines Process for Displaced Ukrainians
This week Biden Administration announced 'Uniting for Ukraine' a new streamlined process to help Ukrainian citizens fleeing the conflict in their country come to the United States. Since Russia invaded Ukraine, Worldwide ERC members have mobilized to help both their own employees and those of their clients get to safer places. Virtually every organization doing business in Eastern Europe has turned to workforce mobility professionals to relocate employees fleeing the violence or help support those who remain in the conflict zone. "We are hopeful that the new 'Uniting for Ukraine' process will be a model to make it faster and easier for all refugees to flee conflicts," said Lynn Shotwell, CEO of Worldwide ERC.
Global Economic Snapshot
U.S. home prices soared to a new record in March while mortgage rates continued to rise rapidly, slowing home sales in what has been the hottest housing market in more than 15 years. –WSJ
Supreme Court rejects challenge to overturn the $10,000 cap on the federal tax deduction for state and local taxes. Residents of high-tax states to bear the brunt of offsetting 2017 tax cuts. —Bloomberg
Greater transparency on sustainability and resilience is coming to the real estate industry as the CRE Finance Council prepares to respond to the SEC's climate disclosure proposal. —CREFC, NYT
"I think it's fair to say that the days of expecting [shipping] rate increases are pretty much over," said Avery Vise, a trucking analyst at FTR Transportation Intelligence. —WSJ
If it were its own country, shipping would rank around sixth in the world for its contributions to climate change. But most of these emissions occur on the high seas, where tracing is difficult. Some major shipping companies have an idea to decarbonize the ships completely, ensuring that the largest vehicles on earth have zero impact on the climate. — Recode
SEC's Proposed Rules Focus All Eyes on Supply Chain
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed rules to enhance the transparency of sustainability measures pose difficult questions about how industries will measure impact in both their upstream and downstream supply chains.
At the recent Reuter's Responsible Business USA 2022 conference, S.E.C. Chair Gary Gensler noted that he views the Proposed Rules as keeping with the agency's mission and history of requiring information and risk disclosure to securities investors to enable them to make informed decisions.
"While non-public companies do not have to make their own climate-related disclosures, economic pressure to sustain their business relationships will likely require them to do so," said Howard Fischer, a partner in the securities litigation practice at Moses & Singer LLP and a former senior trial counsel at the SEC.
Why is this important?
The average company's supply-chain greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are 5.5 times higher than the direct emissions from its assets and operations, according to the Rocky Mountain Institute. With the expansive nature of Scope 3 emissions reporting, registrants would need to collect and report on emissions from their suppliers and customers, including private companies. The prospect is daunting for large organizations with multiple tiers of customers and suppliers across product lines. Yet it seems impossible to avoid since the reporting company's carbon disclosures may influence purchasing and selling decisions.
In addition to reporting directly on environmental factors, public companies may need to report on oversight and governance sufficient to satisfy investors that the registrant is addressing material climate-related risks. These could include board oversight, management governance, strategy, and risk management.
Workers Are Suing Their Employers Over Remote Work Expenses
According to more than a dozen lawsuits reviewed by The Los Angeles Times, housing costs like phone and internet subscriptions and additional heating or cooling energy can total $50 to $200 per month per employee. If you include items like hand sanitizer or office supplies, it may cost $5,000 or more for each employee. In addition, some lawsuits seek compensation for the money that employees might have made had they rented out their residence office rather than utilizing it for work.
Get the facts:
In a survey of nearly 6,000 Americans conducted by the Pew Research Center, 71 percent of those employees who could work from home in 2020 were working from home.
Fewer than 10 percent of businesses reimbursed workers for things like new furniture or internet fees.
Although the federal government has no requirement that firms pay for costs incurred by employees who work from home, many states, including California, have enacted legislation on the subject.
Why is this important?
The time for excusing companies that do not have a developed policy for home office expenses is coming to an end as remote and hybrid work are almost certainly here to stay. Beyond employee-driven requests, HR professionals need to consider how ergonomic factors also fit into the picture. Some items such as laptops, webcams, microphones, and workstations have already been resolved over the past two years. Larger expenditures such as home office refurbishment, enhanced broadband, and ergonomic factors are likely to become more relevant in the near future.
The Roundup
71% of U.S. employees say health and safety are a top concern when deciding where to work, with COVID-19 spread remaining the top reason for concern. —Qualtrics
Sure, remote work culture is different, but could it be better? Panther CEO Matt Redler argues that remote work culture is weaker but also more equitable, manageable, and more likely to be merit-based. —TLNT
The case for remote work accommodations, especially temporary and hybrid arrangements, has gained substantial support from pandemic-era court decisions that may require employers to make case-by-case justifications to refuse employee requests —JD Supra
Pay-for-Performance may undermine the performance of people who explore complex problems, develop creative solutions, and achieve qualitative results that cannot be fully specified in advance.—MIT Sloan
On Tap
Webinar: Restoring the Global Supply Chain: A Conversation About Public Policy Solutions with the U.S. Chamber. April 28, 2022. The global supply chain is critical to the economic competitiveness of businesses – especially the workforce mobility industry. Experts predict supply chain uncertainty will continue into 2024, making public policy solutions all the more important for tackling this long-term issue. Worldwide, ERC members will hear from the U.S. Chamber's John Drake, who collaborates with the business community to educate policymakers in Congress, the federal government, and the international community on the challenges and opportunities facing businesses at ports of entry and along their global supply chains. Click here to register.
Spring Virtual Conference, May 17-19, 2022. Our team is excited to bring sessions to the Worldwide ERC® Spring Virtual Conference, where we focus on bending and not breaking during these tough times. We asked what is keeping you up at night, and overwhelmingly you responded. Your concerns are our concerns. Join your colleagues and industry leaders to discuss, and solve these issues. Click here to register.
Webinar: Green Card Process for Nurses, Physical Therapists, and Med Techs, April 28, 2022. WR Immigration attorneys will illuminate a path to reversing this trend in this webinar. We will run through techniques that can be used to meet this shortage, showing the process for how HR/Global Mobility professionals can bring nurses, physical therapists, and med techs into their U.S. company from around the world via a Green Card. Click here to register.
Registration Open for 2022 CRP® exam; the deadline is April 29, 2022. The deadline to apply to sit for the CRP is April 29, 2022. This will be the ONLY opportunity to sit for the CRP exam this year. The Worldwide ERC Certified Relocation Professional (CRP) designation is the only credential dedicated to identifying professionals that demonstrate a broad understanding of managing employee mobility within the United States. Learn more on Worldwide ERC.
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