As many as 57 per cent of multinational companies expect to increase the
number of employees they transfer this year and next, according to the 2012
Trends in Global Relocation Survey released today by relocation service
provider Cartus Corporation.

Cartus did a survey of 122 multinational firms based in the Americas, EMEA,
and APAC representing all major industries in the first quarter of this year.
On average, each respondent company has approximately 49,500 employees
throughout the world and transfers more than 300 employees annually.

When asked, "How do you expect your organization's mobility activity to
change over the next two years?" 57 per cent of respondents expect
assignment activity to increase, 37 per cent expect it to stay about the same,
and 6 per cent of firms surveyed envision decreasing their number of global
transferees.

"Our global trends survey uncovered two key issues behind the
anticipated increase in corporate relocation activity: a need for companies to
support their planned expansion into emerging markets, and a need to fill the
void in available local talent in those markets," said Matt Spinolo,
executive vice president of Cartus.

Among the more surprising findings of the Trends in Global Relocation study
is that despite the respondents anticipated increase in relocation volume,
companies are changing the way they deploy employees. Not only are firms moving
away from traditional, long-term assignments into more alternative, temporary
forms, but they are also trimming benefits and somewhat reducing assignment
durations.

Spinolo said, "The survey also documented the trend toward benefit
'right sizing' which, for many companies, has been driven by years of a tough
economic climate that have made them smarter and more targeted in their
assignment programs." Although this pertains to all relocation assignment
forms, it is most notable in long-term assignments, where approximately half
(51 per cent) of companies said they will most likely alter their policies
associated with long-term assignment during the next two years.

Meanwhile, employees are also focusing more on their careers when it comes
to deciding to accept a job transfer. The survey found that the No. 1 reason
(at 90 per cent) employees accept job transfers is "career
development" over "attractive compensation." Survey respondents
ranked compensation a distant second on the list at 35 per cent.

Emerging markets

Expansion into emerging markets was ranked as the leading reason for
increased relocation activity over the past two years. Meanwhile, the locations
to which companies are sending their employees are increasing; respondents
named 41 separate countries among their individual top three most frequent
relocation destinations, and the number swelled to 74 when companies were asked
about new locations to which they are sending their people.

As another strategy to help control costs and better position themselves,
the survey showed that companies are moving more employees on permanent
transfers, with local pay and benefits. The five countries that received the
greatest increase in permanent transfers over the past two years are: the
United States, the United Kingdom, Singapore, Switzerland, and China.

Commenting on these trends, Spinolo said, "The focus on compliance is
clearly being complicated by the explosion in emerging markets, where
navigating regulations in the key areas of tax, compensation, and immigration
can be incredibly complex. Simultaneously, these issues are posing new
questions for how companies handle their growing populations of 'global nomads'
-- an emerging group of transferees who move so regularly, and so repeatedly,
that they never return 'home' and become career expatriates."

Over the next two years, multinational companies believe these five
emerging-economy countries, also known as the BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia,
India, China, South Africa), are poised to present the biggest challenges for
assignees: 1. China 
2. India 
3. Brazil
 4. Russia
 5. South Africa