The voice of the business and assignees is important: Gathering feedback through Voice of the Customer (VOC) surveys of both assignees and the business is essential to measuring success and creating a best-in-class mobility program. It is inspiring to see the automotive industry leading the charge in listening to their customers to understand what they value and how Global Mobility can deliver on those needs.

There is no doubt that COVID-19 has caused an unprecedented reliance on remote work. However, how those changes will transform the future of working environments and policies remains a question on many companies’ minds.

During my recent survey, I visited two small cities in Kazakhstan near the Caspian Sea. Oil is the main industry in this region, and these cities are no exception. The first of these cities I visited was Aktau, which directly overlooks the Caspian Sea. The city was originally built as an oil camp decades ago, and even now the city feels rural. The air in the city is dry and roads are not particularly walkable.

During my recent survey, I visited a number of cities in Kazakhstan, including Almaty, the country’s largest city and former capital, and Nur-Sultan, the capital since 1997 and known as Astana until March 2019. Nur-Sultan was a city planned under the direction of former president Nursultan Nazarbayev and was once called “the space station in the steppes” by the Guardian newspaper.

Rents dropped in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, where housing supply continues to exceed demand. New construction continues, with thousands of new units expected to enter both markets in the near future.

With housing supply exceeding demand and the number of incoming expatriates dropping, Doha’s rental market declined over the past year. New construction of housing units continues across Doha, especially in Lusail City, where expats with reduced budgets can find better properties at lower costs.

During our recent survey quarter, I traveled to Georgetown, Guyana. Flying over Guyana I was struck by its rural feel and dense forests. From the air, it looked like the most untouched land I’d ever seen, and I later learned that roughly 80% of Guyana is rainforest. Over the last few years, Guyana has captured global attention due to the discovery of vast oil deposits off the country’s coast.

Demand has not kept up with the surge of new construction in Brazil. This gap has led to higher vacancy rates and lower or more negotiable rents. Landlords with vacant units are still responsible for expensive maintenance fees and IPTU taxes, and some may be willing to lower the rent to secure a tenant.