TIME TO RETHINK RELOCATION Is it time to rethink what you are purchasing when you talk to your Global Mobility supplier? For many years relocation has been sold to business in terms of different day offerings. Some of the terms you may be familiar with are the following:
- 1 day orientation
- 2 day home search
- 1 day school search
- 1 day settling in
- 1 day usually equates to 8 hours
Its not to say this is wrong but times have changed and my argument would be, is this really relevant in todays world and is this really how the process works and therefore is this offering misleading to both a business and the employee relocating. These offerings are usually allocated on seniority within a company. The more senior you are, the more days you receive. For example a CEO may receive the above offering yet the younger graduate may only receive a 1 day orientation and 1 day home search. It is unrealistic to think you can find a home for anyone in 16 hours)
SELECTING THE RIGHT RELOCATION BENEFIT
The level of seniority in a business in NO way effects the time it takes to relocate a person. In fact often the CEO requires less hours because they have a larger budget to work with therefore removing half the population who are competing for that particular property at the higher price. What effects the time it takes to relocate a person or a couple or a family is actually these questions which are rarely asked 1) How well do you know the city you are moving to? 2) What is your weekly rental budget Once these two questions have been established and an introduction call has been made, a good relocation agent can essentially tell you how many hours it will take to relocate an employee. The truth is everyone is different and has many different wants and needs when looking for a home in a new city. A formula based on seniority does not work across the board.
SPEND WISELY
A one day orientation ( 8 hours) is a waste of money and time as this should happen when you are searching for properties not as a solitary day as part of a package. It is unlikely in todays world that you will be able to line up 6-8 home searches in one day except for a Saturday morning and after 3 -4 hours your employee’s head is spinning and they can barely remember their name let alone the first property they viewed at 9am. It use to be that real estate agents would return your phone calls and speak to you however these days it is all electronic and you book a time on line to view a property. These days you are lucky to even speak to an agent let alone have them turn up to the inspection on a Saturday morning. This is done by a junior agent who often has never even been to the property.
ITS TIME TO RETHINK RELOCATION BENEFITS TO SUIT THE REALITY OF THE DAY
Lets start to work in todays world and rethink what we are buying and what we are offering our clients so this will result in providing a better service and generating better value for money.
Published by: The Employee Mobility Institute (TEMI), September 2019
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