share on
Amidst megatrends shifting the global economic landscape, OCBC’s Head of Talent and Performance Management, Joel Leong, urges organisations to rethink mobility — not as relocating people, but as a strategic lever for deploying and growing capabilities across borders.
The opening keynote speaker for HRO’s 12th edition of Talent Mobility in 2026 set the tone for the conference by reframing the role of talent mobility in modern organisations.
Taking the stage on 4 March, Joel Leong (pictured above), Head of Talent and Performance Management, Group Human Resources, OCBC, noted that global challenges — including geopolitical uncertainty, AI-driven disruption, economic volatility, and sustainability pressures — are reshaping how organisations think about workforce deployment. As such, the talent mobility function has the opportunity to be regarded as a strategic capability rather than a purely operational process.
To this effect, he outlined four shifts redefining global talent mobility, which will help to bring about a mindset shift in how the function is positioned. These shifts are shared below:
Shift 1: Reframing the purpose of mobility
Based on a poll with the audience, Leong confirmed that today, international assignments are driven by two imperatives: business needs and talent development.
On the organisational side, mobility supports with:
- Filling technical and managerial shortages,
- Enabling market expansion,
- Facilitating knowledge transfer.
On the talent agenda, it underpins the following priorities:
- Developing a global leadership pipeline,
- Strengthening succession planning,
- Retaining high-potential employees.
Notably, Leong referenced management and leadership development as the most common purpose for initiating international assignments, as cited by four in five companies (79%) in a 2025 survey. “In a nutshell,” he said, “mobility is really about moving and growing capabilities and skills.”
Shift 2: Reimagining the places of mobility
While traditional mobility hubs remain influential, geopolitical realignments and demographic shifts are reshaping talent flows. Leong shared some interesting data around this."
Despite its importance, global top talent mobility has slowed by 8.5% year-on-year. Certain corridors, however, remain strong – for instance, the United States continues to attract the highest inflow of highly skilled talent, while the UAE has emerged as a fast-growing hub.
In AI talent specifically, the US retains its lead over Europe and the UAE again emerged as a top destination.
Leong pushed the audience further: “What if ‘place’ itself is being redefined?”
After all, digital nomadism, hybrid work, and cross-border collaboration have quietly altered the mobility equation. “Increasingly, what someone does matters more than where they are physically located,” he said.
So, if mobility is about moving capabilities and skills, “can we rethink the common modalities in most HR mobility functions? Can we consider a “place” that is not a physical location, such as the cyberspace?”
If skills can be shared, scaled, and transferred virtually, mobility could extend beyond relocation into digital deployment — “the map of the world may not have changed, but the map of work has.”
Eventually, if skills can be shared or learned or relocated virtually, Leong noted that the mobility narrative could be reimagined and gain more prominence.
Shift 3: Redefining the practice of mobility
As with most functions today, Leong highlighted a pervasive struggle; i.e., mobility teams today are under pressure to prove impact.
Key challenges holding back mobility leaders from adding more value include:
- Demonstrating ROI on their initiatives,
- Efficiency and speed of talent deployment, and
- Attracting talent to become mobile.
One of the metrics that has proven to be useful is assignment success, which Leong said would include data points such as: completion of assignments, employee experience and being able to meet assignment objectives.
However, by itself, Leong cautioned that these measures may not be sufficient. “What metrics do you use today to measure the effectiveness of the mobility function?”, he asked the audience — prompting reflection beyond cost and completion rates.
Referencing Goodhart’s Law — “when the measure becomes the target, it ceases to be a good measure”, he highlighted the risk of losing sight of the bigger picture.
The future of mobility measurement, he suggested, lies in clarity of purpose and broader definitions of value. “If we rush to fill a role, how do we know that the person we have chosen to fill the role is the right person?”, referencing the need to think more broadly in the way we assess the value in mobility.
Shift 4: Refocusing on the person experiencing mobility
The last big shift, Leong said, is about the assignee themselves, and what constitutes success on that front.
Despite strategic imperatives, assignment failures often stem from personal factors rather than business miscalculations.
Common causes of failed mobility assignments include not only spouses or children being unable to adapt or acclimatise, but also the emotional strain and stress of a move.
These human elements are frequently underestimated. Leong reminded the audience: “Mobility is not just movement — it is disruption to identity, family, and belonging.”
Assignees require flexibility — whether through short-term or long-term structures, local-plus or core-flex models. HR’s role, he explained, “extends beyond policy administration to exercising empathy, recognising that many assignees go through deeply stressful moments.”
As affirmed in the session, the question is no longer only how to deploy talent efficiently — but how to take care of employees while doing so.
As we take back Leong’s insights to the workplace, one thing is clear – talent mobility, as we know it, will continue to evolve from being about logistics to acting as a key lever in an organisation’s talent strategy.
For HR and mobility leaders, this means being more intentional about building frameworks that balance business imperatives with employee needs, tracking assignment outcomes beyond cost, and leveraging flexibility in deploying talent effectively. In doing so, mobility will become a driver of sustainable growth.
Human Resources Online would like to thank all speakers, moderators, interactive zone hosts, panellists, and attendees for being valuable contributors to this event.
We would also like to extend our gratitude to our sponsors & partners for making this conference possible:
PLATINUM SPONSOR
Cartus
GOLD SPONSOR
KPMG
SILVER SPONSORS
- NTUC LearningHub
- Sirva
- Workforce Singapore (WSG)
EXHIBITORS
- AIRINC
- Careerminds
- Cornerstone
- Qxstate Asia
- Workia
EVENT PARTNER
Pigeonhole Live
READ MORE: Shaping the future of global talent: Key takeaways from Talent Mobility 2026
Lead image / HRO
share on
