FIDI has joined five other leading employee mobility associations in a global effort to ensure the industry is playing its part in environmental sustainability. The group has signed a joint agreement that provides a roadmap and common actions towards this goal.
The organisations taking part in this groundbreaking effort are: CERC (Canadian Employee Relocation Council), CHPA (Corporate Housing Professionals Association), EuRA, FIDI Global Alliance, IAM (International Association of Movers) and Worldwide ERC (WERC).
‘We are seeing many actions and initiatives promoting environmental sustainability in our respective sectors, which is great. However, the lack of a common framework leads to duplicated efforts and sometimes even counterproductive results,’ said Mary Ann Passi, CEO of CHPA – a professional trade association exclusively dedicated to supporting corporate housing professionals around the world.
There has been a growing focus on environmental sustainability in global mobility over the past year. Tad Zurlinden is the CEO of EuRA, which promotes the benefits of professionally managed relocation and mobility services to companies with globally mobile employees. He said: ‘Understanding and complying with the many different sustainability requirements is becoming increasingly difficult for stakeholders in the mobility supply chain. With this agreement, we hope to streamline the process across our industry, allowing for meaningful actions and real, measurable impact.’
‘We believe that close cooperation across the employee mobility industry is fundamental to achieving greater environmental sustainability for the benefit of people around the world,’ said Lynn Shotwell, CEO of WERC. The council represents more than 2,500 workforce mobility enterprises that recognise the environmental impact of employee relocation.
Jesse van Sas, Secretary General of FIDI Global Alliance, added: ‘The global mobility industry has a very complex global supply chain, involving a large diversity of stakeholders. Through this cooperation agreement, we want to make sure that all parties are heard and participate in defining this sustainable future for our industry.’
To help structure the collaboration, an external consultant has been appointed to help define the framework and milestones of the sustainability roadmap. Following an RFP process, this project has been awarded to Deloitte, which will present the results during the WERC Global Workforce Symposium in Las Vegas, USA, at the end of October.
‘Deloitte has a strong experience in corporate sustainability, and extensive knowledge of the global mobility industry. Their assistance will be extremely valuable to structure our common efforts,’ said Stephen Cryne, CEO of CERC – a Canadian membership organisation whose goal is to provide leadership, services and assistance to companies active in the relocation sector.
The process will include an industry-wide survey that each association will share with their respective members. ‘The success depends on the participation of all our members, across all global mobility sectors. We therefore count on everybody to contribute to this important project’, says Chuck White, President of the IAM.
