Issue 1 2012 > Crown Industry Expert Series: Shân Norman on Services and Global Mobility Trends
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Crown Industry Expert Series: Shân Norman
Services and Global Mobility Trends
Shân Norman, director of global mobility services for Crown Relocations, Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region, started her mobility career in 1989 as a Client Services Manager for a U.K. domestic relocation company. In the mid-1990s, Shân relocated to Hong Kong, and later to Belgium where she continued her work in the relocation industry. Shân joined Crown Relocations in 2000, working in London then Brussels, making her way back to the UK in 2006. She is responsible for Crown EMEA's relocation management business, as well as global mobility service centers in Europe and the Middle East, including London, Amsterdam, Dubai, Paris and Basel.
With her demonstrated expertise, Shân often shares her 22 years of industry knowledge and Crown's services with many popular publications for the relocations industry. Her view and expert opinion was recently featured in the Expat & Partner Guide, Corporate International (INTL), and Human Resources Magazine. In the Expat & Partner Guide, Shân contributed her knowledge on the full breadth of Crown's global mobility programs designed to help serve every facet of assignees, corporate executives and expat families' needs. She has also shared her expertise on shifts in industry trends and how relocation management companies, such as Crown Relocations, are responding to the changes.
Crown’s Global Mobility Programs
The Global Passport® program is designed to help prepare our transferees, expatriates and their families for the new culture and environment they will experience when making their international move.
Shân explained, "We essentially handle almost all aspects of a foreign assignment. Crown Relocations does everything, including helping people settle into their new location. We have developed our programs for that purpose, one being the Global Passport® program. The program is very customizable to each client's specific needs and will help contribute greatly towards successful relocations.
"We talk to partners, listen to their concerns and provide suggestions. Our Global Career™ Partner Support Program can include a career coach. For as long as necessary and as long as possible..."
"Crown's Global Career™ Partner Support Program is designed specifically to assist spouses or partners of the assignees or expats who would like to continue working while living abroad. In Asia, for example, we provide spouses or partners with mobile phones and hundreds of business cards with the corresponding phone number printed on them, which helps people to network and make new friends.
Shân continued, "We talk to partners, listen to their concerns and provide suggestions. Our Global Career™ Partner Support Program can include a career coach. For as long as necessary and as long as possible, the coach will explain to the partner what the possibilities of finding work are, take them to networking meetings and give them pointers on how to write their resume. And if it's not possible for them to work there, perhaps because of visa restrictions, then we can help them find a continuing education program or set up a social network."
Not only does Crown offer services that cover the entire expatriation process, but with over 250 locations in almost 60 countries, Shân firmly believes that Crown provides the best customer service due to our global reach. Consistent technology, world class systems and Crown's trained local experts will provide professional and exceptional service pre-, during, and post-move.
Shân continued, "Because we have operations all around the world, it's our firm belief that you can offer a better service to people in other countries if you are located on the ground in that country yourself. All of our offices use the same technology to provide that service, so if you move from Dallas to Dubai, for instance, everyone will be working from the same electronic file." Shân added an example of how Crown also takes pride in making things easy for the corporate clients, "Due to difficulties in cross-charging payments, many global corporations choose to work with an organization that can produce local invoicing, like Crown Relocations," commented Shân. "This can also have the added benefit of saving administration time and can be a cost effective way to operate."
Trends
"What you do see is a change; expatriates no longer come solely from Europe and America, but increasingly from China, Singapore, Brazil and other countries..."
As one of the experts in the field, Shân has discussed her knowledge of current trends that may affect the relocation industry. In the Expat & Partner Guide article, Shân said, "People say that the number of long-term assignments is decreasing, but we are not seeing that happening." She continued, "What you do see is a change, expatriates no longer come solely from Europe and America, but increasingly from China, India, Singapore, Brazil and other countries. Moreover we see the ‘softer' kinds of support such as helping partners with cultural training, being requested by more and more companies, even in today's economic climate."
Crown Relocations has seen an increased focus on the emerging markets. The relocation needs to and from Asia have continued to climb during the economic downturn. Crown Relocations has experienced continued growth in the region.
"Rather than cut down on the number of assignments, many corporations are making sure the people sent on an assignment thrive in the new environment quickly," observed Shân in the interview by Corporate INTL magazine. She concluded, "As a result, we have seen a greater demand for our intercultural program, Global Passport®, and our partner support program, Global Career™."
Shân also noted the challenging aspects of the ever-changing immigration laws, particularly with the recent change in the U.K. that has imposed a limit of annual visas being granted under the "Tier 2" skilled route. In addition, to be qualified, they must be paid more than £40,000 annually to be permitted to stay in the country for longer than 12 months.
"This is starting to be a cause of concern for mobility experts especially those bringing in new hires to the U.K.," said Shân. "Intra-company transfers could also be affected, as a growing number of employees on international assignments are young (earning less than £40,000) and need a good two to three years before they become effective and get up to speed."
She concluded, "Crown will assist our customers to the best of our ability in all areas. One of our core values is "Delighting the Customer is our Mission". We have been serving them for almost half a century and seen many changes in trends. Our programs and service offerings will continue to grow and adapt to whatever the changes may be to provide the best solutions for our customer's needs."