Expert Insights: Enhancing Global Workforce Mobility with Technology and AI (Webinar Recap)

Whether your goal is to assist a few key team members in securing visas for personal reasons or to transition hundreds of employees to launch operations in a new country, the latest technological advancements and AI are revolutionizing the ease and efficiency of these processes.

At our most recent Global Mobility Summit, we delved deep into traditional mobility management methods’ restrictive confines and hurdles. More excitingly, we uncovered the vast potential that modern technology and AI hold in this arena.

The summit featured a stellar lineup of industry experts, including Marion Passalinqua, Mobility and Legal Operations Specialist at Gecko Robotics, Salman Cheema, Global Mobility Strategy at Amazon, Svitlana Hauser, Director, Global Mobility at Deloitte LLP, Laura Eggers, Senior Business Operations Specialist at Klarna, and Ali Haider, Director at Fragomen.

Additionally, insights were provided by our own Deel experts: Tom Hext, Lead Product Manager; Kamylle Mourão, Senior Manager of Mobility; and Pearce Dolan, Head of Product.

If you couldn’t attend the live event, we have you covered. Access the full summit recording or explore our comprehensive recap to discover actionable insights that will empower you to support international moves and global workforce expansion effectively.

Speakers

• Marion Passalinqua, Mobility and Legal Operations Specialist, Gecko Robotics
• Kamylle Mourão, Senior Manager, Mobility, Deel
• Pearce Dolan, Head of Product, Deel

What challenges do companies face when mobilizing a global workforce?

To kick off the session, panelists Marion Passalinqua shared some of the challenges and limitations of mobilizing a global team. The takeaway: Current partners and solutions in the mobility space are outdated.

“Traditional providers tend to sometimes be a bit unresponsive and conservative honestly to the needs of nimble, innovative startups like Gecko Robotics. We found that these larger traditional providers tended to have misaligned policies that were too rigid for our very dynamic operating style.”

With more companies needing to seamlessly deploy talent globally to execute their expansion plans, finding a partner that is both affordable and has global coverage is essential.

“We also have found that we really need like-minded partners that will, one, understand our ever-evolving business to provide us with cost-effective solutions and then tell us all the gotchas. So we want to explore new markets and see where Gecko is getting traction, but we can’t afford to hire experts in all of these countries to tell us the complexities that we’re going to face in every different country.”

Importance of a tech-enabled immigration partner

Marion shared her firsthand experience mobilizing a global workforce, noting the critical role of finding a forward-thinking partner like Deel. She stressed the importance of a partner that uses technology to consolidate mobility and immigration activities.

“Deel [...] has reduced a lot of my manual workload, and I have been able to find those quick answers through your software and your technology that normally I would have to sift through multiple softwares to find that."

“At Gecko, our drivers are exactly that: Efficiency, speed, and accuracy. And we need technology that’s going to support that [...] Deel’s technology has really streamlined some of the processes that were previously causing us difficulty.”

Key features to look out for

When selecting a mobility partner, look for five key features: a fully integrated, global-first software solution with built-in HRIS, AI-powered insights and document verification, and open API connectivity.

Pierce Dolan, Head of Product at Deel, explained how each of these features can streamline mobility and expansion.

Fully integrated platform

Instead of depending on various professionals and multiple providers, alongside a handful of manual processes to manage immigration activities, opt for a solution that centralizes all these needs onto one platform.

Deel offers a seamless immigration experience with its fully integrated platform and in-house mobility experts, ensuring a single, cohesive mobility solution. Forget the endless cycle of emails, the repetitive task of filling out identical details, the submission of documents into the void of a third-party site, and the prolonged waits for status updates. With Deel, immigration processes are streamlined, efficient, and transparent.

“At Deel [...], we’re fully digital. You can understand where you are with your [immigration] case, upload all your documents, and see all the documents and forms you upload on the platform. So instead of a third-party tool where you’re putting something in a vault but can’t see what you sent, everything is visible to you.”

Global-first

Many partners only have experience navigating mobility in certain geographies and jurisdictions, which can restrict your team’s movements and inhibit your expansion plans. Look for a tech-enabled partner whose operations are truly global.

As a fully remote and globally dispersed team of 4000, Deel has first-hand experience with the challenges of managing and mobilizing a global workforce and has built the platform to overcome those challenges.

“We’re a global first company, and we’re a technology first company, so we’ve built everything from the ground up [...] all of our document reviews, all of our mobility aspects of all those 4,000 people are handled with the same product that we’re discussing today...”

Built-in HRIS

A major inefficiency in the mobility and immigration sector is the redundant and repetitive process of filling out immigration paperwork, which often requires repeatedly sourcing and re-submitting the same details.

Deel’s platform offers a free HRIS (Human Resources Information System) designed to streamline the process of hiring, compensating, and overseeing a global workforce. This integrated system ensures that when filling out immigration documentation, all the critical data is readily accessible and can be automatically filled in. This eliminates the hassle of gathering information from various databases.

“…because we’re an HRS platform and [have the] ability to hire and pay your global team, you already have those workers in the service with us. We can leverage all those data points to be able to [...] pre-fill them for you.”

AI workforce insights

Another important feature to look for is the ability to have full transparency over all of your immigration activities. Deel's platform incorporates generative AI technology that leverages your company’s knowledge base, offering you immediate and accurate responses to any immigration queries you might have.

“...when you log in to Deel.com, you can search for things, or you can just ask a question, and then we can give you all the information [...] So you can say, how many [immigration] cases have I got open at the moment? Where am I with the cases […] so a customer can fully understand all of their cases and view it all on the platform…”

AI document review and verification

Another laborious task involves reviewing and verifying immigration documents such as work authorizations. Look for a tech-enabled partner like Deel that uses AI and technology to accelerate this process.

“…when you submit an approval work document in Germany on the platform right now, we’re using AI [to] fully check and validate the document [...], and if we have any results and considerations, we feed them back to the customer with things to address. And so they can adjust that and then resubmit so they can get an instant response on the proof of work documents…”

Open API

Finally, look for a tech-enabled partner that can integrate with your existing tech.

“We have an Open API. So you can fully connect using our Open API, which is included in the service, into any of your services and pull it into your business intelligence tools, too. So you can have all of the data in your own system as well.”

The importance of policy in mobility

Next, Salman Cheema, who leads Amazon’s Global Mobility Strategy, took to the stage to discuss the importance of policy in executing mobility successfully.

Salaman explained that as Amazon enters high-growth markets and new jurisdictions, it is essential to enable immigration quickly and efficiently, often for hundreds or thousands of workers at a time.

A critical challenge for Amazon was supporting workers with short-term visas and work permits for international business travel. The company provided high-level information to its employees to self-serve their visas, but the process caused frustration and confusion, especially in these more complex countries and jurisdictions.

“...now as we’re expanding into more, far-flung jurisdictions, a lot of them have really difficult sort of bureaucracies and there can be quotas when it comes to short work permits and ratios that we have to abide by.”

To solve this problem, Amazon partnered with Deloitte to build a ‘Go to Work’ tool that Amazon workers can use to navigate the visa and immigration process.

_ “...with the Go to Work tool, a customer can go in and input their information…select their activities from a dropdown menu, and the logic engine will essentially tell them what kind of visa they need or what kind of work permit is going to be required and it will go ahead and initiate that for them.”_

Once Amazon had confidence in the new market, it would seek to establish an entity to conduct sales activities and hire locally. However, when reaching critical size, imparting Amazon’s culture to the local hires requires bringing in executives from overseas. This remained a challenge for the organization, not only from a visa and immigration perspective but also from a relocation, tax, and equity perspective.

“We have to build policies based on whether they’re going to be paying tax in those countries or not and how we determine how much support we’re going to provide through our tax providers […] what that really means is that we want immigration, relocation, and tax support to be fully ready to go on day one of that entity’s launch.”

To support its mobile workers, Amazon’s mobility policy includes the following:

• Three years of tax return support
• A relocation allowance
• Core benefits policy with flexibility on certain benefits

The future of global mobility

Next up, a panel discussion took place between Svitlana Hauserm, Director, Global Mobility, Deloitte LLP, Tom Hext, Lead Product Manager at Deel, Laura Eggers, Senior Business Operations Specialist at Klarna, and Ali Haider, Director at Fragomen, to discuss the intersection of AI and data-driven insights and what the future looks like for global mobility.

How can AI alleviate challenges in mobility?

Ali (Fragomen) kicked off the discussion. He highlighted the demand for integrated, tech-driven solutions that streamline the entire travel and immigration journey.

He also mentioned the difficulty in keeping up with regulatory changes, especially in the Middle East, and the potential role of AI in enhancing mobility processes, including government functions like border control.

Finally, Ali emphasized the need for faster processing, more transparency in the immigration process, and more accessible mobility knowledge.

“If I were to summarize at this point, I would say there is a need for a consolidated tech-underpinned solution or solutions to manage the entire travel journey…”

Tom (Deel) agreed and highlighted three core needs for improving mobility services: speed, visibility, and accessibility.

“The process of mobility, potentially moving myself and maybe my entire family to the other side of the world, is incredibly stressful. And if there’s nobody telling me what to do or where I’m at. That can be really painful.”

Strategies for overcoming mobility challenges

Svitlana (Deloitte) explained how the company uses AI built with robust algorithms capable of accurately analyzing immigration data, identifying non-compliance risks, and aiding in decision-making.

Svitlana also highlighted the importance of balancing AI automation with human oversight, underscoring the necessity of having qualified immigration professionals to review and verify AI outputs and address issues promptly.

“...at Deloitte, we leverage AI technology with our ‘right-to-work’ checks tool […] for our employees and also our clients [...] this tool is designed to make sure that we are compliant with all right work checks with regulations implemented by immigration authorities globally.”

“...we regularly improve the tool, we use our [...] immigration professionals [...] to make sure that we stay up to date with the current requirements, and also we actively engage with discussions with immigration authorities because we want to make sure that our approaches align with their policies and how they want the right to work checks to be done…”

Ali (Fragomen) agreed with Svitlana’s points, adding that Fargoman is also actively exploring the potential of AI to enhance internal processes within its immigration services. This includes document verification and the preparation of supporting documents like invitation letters, CVs, and bios.

However, Ali notes that he’s particularly interested in exploring the application of AI in predictive analytics.

“...as service providers, we get asked a lot from our clients [...] is X person, okay from an immigration perspective [...] we’re at an offer rollout stage. They would be a perfect fit for our company, but [...] do they have any potential immigration red flags that we must be mindful of? In those areas, we could use technology [to assess] specific risk factors or things like bio prior travel history to predict how likely someone’s immigration application might run into issues…”

AI and the user experience

Laura (Klana) highlights Klana’s extensive use of AI to enhance mobility and internal processes. Klana’s in-house AI system allows employees to quickly access answers to frequent questions, such as policy details and work permit renewals, directly impacting efficiency by providing responses within minutes.

This system not only simplifies access to complex information, reducing the need for employees to navigate lengthy policy documents but also aids in predicting costs and recognizing patterns, which can lead to better routine management and cost savings.

Overall, Klana’s AI-driven approach focuses on making data readily accessible, understanding organizational processes and values, and enhancing the overall user experience for both employees and clients.

Tom emphasizes the role of AI in streamlining routine tasks within the immigration process, allowing specialists to focus on innovation and support rather than mundane tasks.

He highlights AI’s ability to efficiently handle simple tasks, such as collecting publicly available information for US petitions, such as press coverage and awards, without requiring specialists to manually search through sources like LinkedIn or applicants to fill out extensive forms.

AI is also utilized to write summaries, letters, and descriptions, as well as to review documents, which frees up time for specialists to provide more meaningful support to people going through the immigration process.

Additionally, Tom notes how immigration authorities in countries like Canada, Portugal, Sweden, Latvia, Finland, and Ireland are using AI to enhance decision-making, validate documents for citizenship applications, and provide virtual assistance to applicants through chatbots, improving overall efficiency and user experience in the immigration process.

AI and accessibility

Svitlana (Deloitte) emphasizes how AI has streamlined their immigration processes, making mobility more inclusive and accessible to a diverse range of individuals, regardless of their background or location.

She highlights the significant role of AI-powered language translation tools in overcoming language barriers during immigration processes, which are particularly useful in interviews where precise communication is crucial to avoid negative outcomes.

Additionally, AI enhances access to immigration applications through user-friendly platforms that offer guidance on visa requirements, documentation, and eligibility criteria.

See also: How Deel Is Reinventing the Immigration Journey

AI and legislation

Ali (Fragomen) discusses the aspirational and current challenges in the field of mobility, emphasizing the need for seamless and intuitive processes across all stages of mobility, including application intake, adjudication, communication, and maintenance of knowledge databases.

He highlights the desire for automation and improved data sharing across government databases to avoid compliance issues and advocates for more streamlined government communication.

Ali points to the inconsistency in managing data across various government entities, which can complicate companies’ efforts to remain compliant.

He also emphasizes the importance of universal accessibility and the need for a uniform language or standards to enhance cohesion in mobility practices globally.

Furthermore, Ali mentions the lack of robust AI legislation in the public sector as a significant challenge, noting that while some countries are making progress, others lag behind, particularly pointing out the sporadic nature of AI legislative development in the US. This gap must be addressed to harness AI’s potential to enhance global mobility fully.

Tom (Deel) adds to Ali’s points, expressing a strong desire for a global or regional standard that would accelerate innovation. He envisions AI as a transformative tool for breaking down barriers to entry, providing contextual information, and providing real-time decision-making capabilities that go beyond simple chatbot functions to act as digital specialists.

These AI systems could assess eligibility, provide next steps, and assist with travel and relocation, particularly benefiting underserved areas with limited access to mobility services.

Tom advocates automating routine tasks to empower specialists to focus more on supporting people, emphasizing the goal of making complex processes appear simple and allowing professionals to spend more time engaging with customers directly.

Svitlana concluded by highlighting the importance of data sharing between government departments for addressing labor and skill shortages. Linking critical sectors like immigration, tax, and labor allows governments to better understand economic needs and make informed decisions regarding immigration policies. A standout example is Canada’s Express Entry system.

Mobilize a global workforce with Deel

Deel is re-inventing the immigration journey to make it stress-free and predictable for both workers and companies.

Deel’s global HR platform has everything you need to support your global team. You can:

• Check a candidate’s visa eligibility before creating an employment contract
• Have Deel hire and sponsor your applicant’s visa (especially handy if you don’t have a legal entity or the right sponsorship infrastructure in the country you’re hiring in)
• Have Deel handle the visa and immigration process end-to-end for employees hired through your own entities
• Provide employees with discounted relocation services
• Oversee all company immigration activities via your dashboard and receive reminders when work authorizations are due to expire or need renewing
• Create work contracts that comply with all local labor laws
• Run background checks
• Administer benefits and perks, including healthcare, equity, and retirement plans
• Provision equipment and flexible coworking space memberships
• Run global payroll
• Manage your team with Deel Engage plugins for smooth onboarding, time off, pulse surveys, and more

Sound like the ideal solution? Learn more about Deel’s visa and immigration services, or book 30 minutes with a product expert to get your questions answered.