The Executive Relocation Paradox For years, relocation was treated as a logistics project: get the employee, their visa, and their boxes from Point A to Point B. HR leaders were tasked with “making it happen” and they did, often heroically, under tight timelines and shifting regulatory requirements. But here’s what the data now shows: even when everything goes right on paper, top talent can still walk out the door. KPMG’s 2024 Global Mobility Benchmarking Report found that nearly 1 in 4 executives leave their organization within 12 months of relocating. Even more strikingly, 35% of assignments end earlier than planned – despite significant investment in packages, support, and policy development. Why? Because most companies are still optimizing for movement, not momentum. The First 90 Days: Critical, and Often Undervalued Executives are most vulnerable not during the flight – but after they land. That critical ramp-up window, when they should be building influence, delivering value, and navigating culture – is often filled instead with: All of these erode performance and confidence – and push even the best leaders toward early exits or disengagement. “We’ve seen leaders start strong but fade by Month 4,” shared a CHRO from a global logistics firm in Dubai. “The relocation was smooth, but they never really landed emotionally or socially. By the time we noticed, they were already interviewing elsewhere.” Retention Requires Rethinking the Experience If retention is the goal, relocation must shift from logistics coordination to experience design. This means: 1. Human-Centric Onboarding Integrate local mentors, cultural orientation, and context-driven onboarding that reflects the reality of Dubai’s business and social ecosystem. Retention is higher when executives feel they are not just “visiting” their new role — but belong in it. 2. Family-Centric Policy Design According to Cartus, over 70% of failed relocations involve unresolved family issues. That’s not a side story — it’s a core risk. A successful package doesn’t just cover rent; it addresses education fit, lifestyle match, spousal support, and healthcare navigation. 3. Data-Driven Expectations Too often, relocation allowances look attractive but fail to reflect real market costs. A villa allowance that worked in 2022 may now fall short — especially given Dubai’s rental inflation, which surged 20–25% in key areas over the past 18 months (CBRE, 2024). 4. Retention-Focused KPIs Very few companies track post-move engagement or retention by relocation cohort. Yet this is where the insights are. The best mobility strategies treat executive transitions not as one-off moves, but as performance risk events with measurable business outcomes. Maison Ellara’s Perspective At Maison Ellara, we believe relocation is not the end of hiring – it’s the start of retention. We partner with HR and Global Mobility leaders to redesign the relocation journey – with tools, data, and human-centric advisory that translate executive moves into long-term loyalty. Because a successful relocation isn’t about who arrives – it’s about who stays.

When companies relocate an executive, millions are at stake – in housing allowances, school fees, onboarding, and lost productivity. Yet, ask most HR and Global Mobility leaders for hard data on how well relocations perform, and you’ll often hear… silence. According to the 2024 KPMG Global Mobility Benchmarking Survey, less than 40% of organizations track post-relocation satisfaction, retention, or ROI. In an era of data-driven HR, that’s not just an oversight – it’s a liability. 1. Why Standard Relocation KPIs Fall Short Most companies still focus on: These are necessary – but insufficient. They measure whether the plane landed, not whether the executive stayed, performed, and thrived. “You can measure how fast someone moved. But unless you know how well they settled, you’re flying blind.” – HR Director, Fortune 100 Tech Firm 2. What Should Be Measured – But Often Isn’t Maison Ellara recommends expanding the KPI set to include: These metrics allow HR leaders to treat relocation not as a cost center — but as a talent investment. 3. Why This Matters for Business Performance Organizations that track broader mobility KPIs are significantly better at: “When our relocation experience score dropped below 80%, we knew we were losing future leaders.”– Global Mobility Head, International Bank. 4. Building a Strategic Relocation Dashboard Maison Ellara helps HR and Mobility teams build custom relocation dashboards with metrics that matter — not just compliance checkboxes. We integrate: 5. From KPIs to Accountability The best data is actionable. That means: Measurement builds accountability – and accountability builds better relocation strategies. Maison Ellara’s Perspective In the words of our founder: “You wouldn’t run a product launch without post-performance data. Why run relocations that way? Tracking the human outcomes of mobility is what separates people strategy from people logistics.” At Maison Ellara, we treat each executive relocation as a data-informed journey – one that blends strategy, experience, and long-term value. From custom dashboards to pulse check tools, we empower HR leaders to bring mobility into the metrics era. Final Thought If you don’t measure it, you can’t improve it. Executive relocation deserves better KPIs -because talent doesn’t just move. It needs to thrive. #ExecutiveRelocation #GlobalMobility #HRAnalytics #MobilityMetrics #TalentStrategy #MaisonEllara #MobilityKPI #EmployeeExperience #RetentionStrategy #DubaiHR

We talk about culture shock as if it were an event – a predictable, short-lived dip that every expatriate simply endures. But in reality, most relocations don’t fail because of shock. They fail because of silence. Executives rarely leave their assignments because they can’t adapt. They leave because no one helps them make sense of the space between who they were there and who they are here. That silence, the unspoken gap between arrival and belonging – is what quietly drains performance, confidence, and, eventually, commitment. The Real Curve of Adaptation Psychologists have mapped the emotional journey of relocation for decades. It usually follows a pattern: Most corporate mobility programs focus on the first and last stages – the logistics of arrival and the celebration of success. But the real work – and the real risk – happens in the messy middle. That’s where integration succeeds or collapses. It’s when small signals (a missed invitation, a tone misunderstood, a feeling of being peripheral) begin to compound. Without support, those signals become stories: “Maybe I don’t fit here.” The 90-Day Illusion Most organizations treat relocation as a 90-day project – a timeline driven by logistics, not psychology. By Day 90, the boxes are unpacked, the schools confirmed, the HR forms complete. But psychologically, the executive is only entering Stage 2: disillusionment. That’s the moment when confidence wavers, identity feels unstable, and the professional self begins to question its own fluency in a new culture. If nothing interrupts this decline – no structured reflection, no human connection – the next 90 days determine the success or failure of the entire assignment. What HR and Mobility Teams Often Miss It’s not that organizations don’t care – they simply measure the wrong things. They track: But they rarely track: Yet these are the real predictors of long-term retention and leadership performance abroad. Mobility teams must expand their success metrics from completion to continuity. Because relocation is not an event – it’s a transition, and transitions need nurturing. Accelerating the Recovery Curve So how can HR teams help executives move faster from disillusionment to mastery? When organizations begin to see integration as a measurable process – not an emotional afterthought – their mobility programs evolve from logistical efficiency to human sustainability. Beyond Culture Shock Culture shock implies that something goes wrong. In truth, relocation is an identity evolution – a reassembly of self in a new context. Executives who thrive abroad don’t avoid the curve; they learn to navigate it consciously, supported by teams who understand that adaptation is performance. And when that happens, culture isn’t a barrier anymore – it becomes a multiplier. To summarize: The real test of a relocation isn’t how quickly someone arrives – it’s how quietly they begin to belong. When HR and global mobility teams design for that moment, they stop moving people and start moving potential. #GlobalMobility #ExecutiveRelocation #HRStrategy #Leadership #CrossCulturalIntelligence #PeopleAndCulture