Over the past few months, one phrase has come up again and again in conversations with global mobility leaders: we need to move beyond Work From Anywhere.
That might sound surprising. For the past few years, Work From Anywhere has been the headline topic at every event, panel and webinar. But as companies have matured their remote work policies and approval frameworks, the conversation has started to shift. Many now have solid strategies in place for managing cross-border requests and are already seeing real improvements in retention and employee satisfaction.
The question for 2026 is no longer how do we manage Work From Anywhere? It is how do we evolve our talent operating models to include Hire From Anywhere?
From Work From Anywhere to Hire From Anywhere
Many organisations are now shifting focus from how people work across borders to how they can access and manage global talent more effectively. In other words, the discussion is no longer just about flexibility. It is about building sustainable models for hiring, deploying, and retaining talent wherever it sits.
When it comes to accessing global talent, companies usually follow one of four operating models:
- Bring people to the jobs through long-term assignments or relocations
- Bring jobs to the people by hiring talent locally through an Employer of Record (EOR)
- Set up talent hubs by creating local entities in key regions
- Engage independent contractors for short-term or project-based work
It is the second model, Employers of Record, that often sparks the most curiosity and debate. Many organisations are still unsure when to use an EOR, when it may create additional risks, and how it fits into their long-term workforce strategy.
Insights from the WFA European Roadshow
The past few weeks have been busy but incredibly energising. Together with Mercer’s Yvonne Traber and Olivier Meier and Ian Fuller from Pebl, we travelled across Europe for a series of roundtable discussions. Each stop had its own atmosphere, its own talking points, and its own lessons about where global mobility is heading next.
Brussels
Our first joint event with Mercer and Pebl set the tone perfectly. There was a real curiosity about how global mobility and talent acquisition can work more closely together. Many teams are already collaborating on hiring strategies as companies explore where flexible work or new entity setups make sense. It felt like the start of a wider conversation about how mobility becomes part of the overall talent story.
Stockholm
Stockholm brought a different kind of energy. The focus shifted to business travel and artificial intelligence, and how both are reshaping mobility. There was a lot of discussion about what mobility might look like in five years, with some predicting that business travel and mobility functions could soon merge. Remote work was not the headline topic this time, but it is still on most companies’ long-term agendas.
Copenhagen
Copenhagen was where things got lively. The discussion around Employers of Record was passionate and open. Some organisations had been saved by using one, others had been disappointed, and several were still deciding what role EORs should play in their strategy. The best part was how open the exchange was, with everyone sharing lessons learned rather than selling solutions. It is clear that EORs will remain a major talking point in mobility for years to come.
London (Global Mobility Executive Event)
The London event was a great way to close out the series. It was wonderful to reconnect with old friends and see so much optimism about the future of global mobility. The panel, organised by Kate Fitzpatrick from Mercer, brought together Vanessa, Ian and Simon, and tied everything together beautifully. The discussion connected mobility, payroll, immigration and EORs with wider workforce management strategy.
There was also a strong feeling that mobility leaders are beginning to get the recognition they deserve. The challenge of earning a full seat at the table remains, but the direction of travel is positive. The conversation is moving forward, and mobility is right at the centre of it.
When Return to Office Becomes a Risk
A recurring theme during our European sessions was how companies are managing the balance between flexibility and control. Quite a few people brought up the recent headlines about Amazon’s return-to-office policy and the job losses that followed. It led to some really interesting discussions about how these decisions can have unexpected consequences on business resilience.
Earlier this month, Amazon Web Services experienced a major outage that disrupted thousands of businesses worldwide. Some observers, including Mark Ma, suggested a possible link between the outage and Amazon’s return-to-office policy, pointing out that the company’s loss of experienced engineers may have weakened its operational resilience.
As I mentioned in my own LinkedIn post, the talent drain caused by stricter office mandates might finally be catching up. The Register also explored this connection in more detail in a piece titled “AWS Outage Shows How Amazon’s Brain Drain Finally Caught Up”.
It is a reminder that flexibility is not just an employee benefit. It is also a resilience strategy. When experienced people leave, businesses lose critical knowledge and weaken their ability to respond quickly in moments of crisis.
We recently covered this in more depth in our own blog post, “Amazon’s RTO Push: Culture-Driven or Control-Driven?”. The lesson applies far beyond Amazon. Flexibility, when managed well, strengthens both people and performance.
Collaboration Over Competition
That point about flexibility really came through during the European tour as well. Every conversation, every panel, and every coffee chat was a reminder of how collaborative this community is.
“Alone, we can do so little; together, we can do so much.”
– Helen Keller
I love this quote. It captures exactly what I have experienced in the global mobility community. There are so many open minds, so many people willing to share ideas and try new things together.
Suppliers are reaching out to in-house teams for advice and learning from what they are experimenting with. In-house leaders are working closely with providers and peers to explore fresh approaches. Everyone is dealing with some form of uncertainty, but there is a strong sense of optimism too. These moments give us the chance to rethink mobility and shape it differently for the next decade.
Global mobility has always been about connection. Today, that connection is not only between countries or employees but also between people and id
Closing Thought: Beyond the Buzzwords
Work From Anywhere started as a policy headache for a lot of companies, but it has grown into something much bigger. It has become a real competitive edge.
The next step, Hire From Anywhere, will push organisations to think about how to stay flexible, stay compliant and still find the best people wherever they are.
The question has changed. It is no longer “can we allow this?” but “how do we make this work in a way that is fair and sustainable?”
That is the journey so many of us in global mobility are on right now. Finding the balance between freedom and structure, between trust and process, and between what works today and what will still work five years from now.
Moving beyond Work From Anywhere is not about leaving it behind. It is about building on it, turning flexibility from a perk into a long-term people strategy.
Donal Brady is Co-Founder and Head of Product at Work From Anywhere, a platform to help companies execute a successful workation policy. He has deep expertise and experience in the world of remote work having spent nearly twenty years working in finance leadership roles with global multinationals like PwC, before entering the world of global mobility with International SOS and then pivoting into the software industry with Accel-KKR backed Smart Communications. He walks the walk with Work From Anywhere, speaking 5 languages, having travelled to 65+ countries and worked in 10.
