The Hidden Costs of Relocation

How precisely do we define a "hidden expense" of relocation? It is not a non-disclosed price buried in the supply chain—although those can be hidden and lead to surprise last-minute expenses if you do not have a relocation solutions provider searching out for your company's best interests.

But the actual hidden expenses of relocation lie in stressed-out transferees, lost productivity and even transferred workers who leave the organization shortly after a relocation.

If you remove loss-on-sale rewards for transferred workers who personal their personal properties, how significantly pressure are you building for your personnel? If you do not offer spousal assistance, what will that do for the morale of your transferred employee? Stress leads to sick days, individual days and dissatisfied employees—all resulting in lost productivity and lost dollars for your provider.

When you limit or get rid of moving expenses as part of a relocation package, how several a great deal more days will your personnel will need to line up moving providers, find the preferred costs or move themselves? How various days of productivity will this expense your organization?

Scientific studies show a direct correlation among poor retention and alterations in corporate relocation policies. It charges significantly a lot more (in genuine dollars, employee time and productivity) to employ and train a new employee than it does to retain a good quality worker.

In today's workplace, we know that every dollar counts. But before cutting costs by minimizing advantages on employee relocation packages, make positive to measure the hidden expenses of relocation.

To illustrate, we'll share a story, all too standard in today's real estate marketplace and job industry.
 

John Moves Across the Nation with a "Bare Bones" Relocation Package

Meet John, a successful product manager for a sporting goods provider in a suburb of New York City. John knows how to get the job done. He's run countless successful item launches in the New York market place. But now there is a trouble with a item launch in the West Coast office, near Lake Tahoe. Upper management knows John is the man to repair it. But will he accept the assignment?

The executive team makes him an supply for a extended-term, possibly permanent, relocation, and John accepts. Difficulty solved, proper? The perfect man is in the ideal position to get the new item out without having a glitch.

Now John meets with Human Resources to discuss the terms of his relocation. He'll obtain reimbursement of all moving costs, a small bonus, and the HR department will connect him with genuine estate agents to help him sell his residence. He's got a sizeable home in a coveted suburb — no one particular thinks about how extended it may take to sell a two-year-old dwelling in an overvalued region in a quickly depreciating market place.

And frankly, the HR department does not truly know John, or what an vital asset he is to the provider. They don't comprehend the executive team wants to preserve him on board — and productive — at practically all costs. They don't realize how vital John's productivity is to the company's bottom line, specifically with this do-or-die item launch on the horizon.

Now John faces the most very important activity of his career and the burden of selling a household that is now worth less than he paid for (and less than his mortgage) — and dropping in price each day.

John moves into temporary housing in California though his wife stays behind waiting for the kids to finish out the school year, job hunting on the Web and attempting to sell the residence.