In a recent post, we looked at how relocation pricing works and how to positively impact your relocation spend and budget. In this post, we continue our discussion of relocation pricing, focusing on three ways you can lower your relocation expenses.

Audit Your Relocation Program

Before you can start making decisions on how to reduce costs, you have to understand your current program – what you offer, what you don’t, and most importantly how your program reflects the real-life experiences of your relocating employees. That means going through each step of the relocation process and analyzing both quantitative and qualitative data; not only looking at the numbers from your previous moves, but also surveying your employees who went through the relocation process and uncovering what benefits were truly meaningful to them. For example:

• Which benefits did they use the most, and how were they used? For example, if your program allowed for one house hunting trip, would a second trip have been helpful?
• Which benefits did they use the least? Is that because they truly didn’t find it helpful, or because they didn’t understand the policy or its value?
• What changes to the program would they like to see? Why?

Even if budgetary limitations prevent you from following through on every request, fully understanding the process can help you make sure you’re providing the right benefits and eliminating the ones that aren’t providing value. By making sure the policies are clean from the start, you’re laying the foundation for a time- and cost-efficient relocation.

Stay on Top of Exceptions

One thing every relocation has in common is the need for precise timing and logistics: When the unexpected occurs during a relocation, you can bet it will impact the logistics throughout the rest of the process. The closing on a new home gets delayed? That means you’ll need to find temporary housing for the transferring employee’s family and extend their storage arrangements. These exceptions result in higher costs. In fact, two-thirds of moving exceptions stem from temporary housing.

The first step to minimizing exceptions and their impact to your bottom line is by designing a thoughtful and data-driven relocation program. The more your program reflects the lived experiences of your transferring employees, the better you’re able to plan around the exceptions. However, the execution of the program is equally as important. Which is why we train our Relocation Counselors to anticipate needs before they are requested, level-set expectations upfront, and regularly check in with transferees throughout the move. Should an exception be required, our Counselors review all possible alternatives first—Can a closing date be moved? Is there a more cost-efficient storage alternative? Can the cost be covered by a miscellaneous allowance?—to make sure the impact on the relocation budget is minimal.

Staying on Top of the Trends

To find relocation cost savings, you don’t always want to look at the dollars – you want to look at the pennies. When you move 100 people per year, there is a lot you can’t change. Real estate prices are what they are and moving fees are largely consistent among service providers. But with a little creativity and by staying current on what’s happening in the industry, you’d be surprised what savings you can find.

One of our favorite examples is flat screen TVs. Fifteen years ago, when flat-screens were first in demand, they were both expensive and incredibly fragile. Moving companies would build custom crates to transport at a cost of nearly $500 each.

And what’s a little crazy is…that’s still the process today. Even though flat-screens have evolved since the early 2000s, are far less expensive, more durable, and most people have 3 or 4 per house. You no longer need a custom box to transport them. A blanket will do just fine. If you take that savings of $2,000 per move and multiply it by the number of moves you have per year, suddenly we’re talking about a significant savings.

Or look at home sale bonuses. Ten years ago, companies would offer $10,000 bonuses to employees to motivate them to sell their homes quickly. That benefit is still prevalent today, even though homes are currently on the market on average only 78-days.

Through the use of regular benchmark studies and clear and consistent reporting, we’re able to identify any gaps and redundancies in your policy as well as opportunities for savings. Savings that can then be used to optimize your policy for a better relocation experience for your employees.

While a relocation benefit is a significant investment in your employees and your business, there are ways to implement it thoughtfully in a way that keeps your employees happy and minimizes costs. Tailoring your program to the real-world experiences of your transferring employees, keeping on top of the relocation process and staying aware of industry trends not only make for a smoother move experience for your employees, but it helps keep your expenses down.

When looking to reduce how much you spend on moving your employees, the first question you might want to ask a relocation partner might be, “How much are your fees?” While that’s a reasonable place to start, if your top concern is making a significant and meaningful impact to your company’s relocation budget, what you need to be asking is, “What’s the right policy for my company and employees?”

The Truth About Fees

There are two things every cost-conscious human resources professional needs to understand about relocation company fees: they’re generally consistent across providers and they tend to be the smallest portion of your relocation budget.

Because the truth is, when you start comparing relocation companies, you’ll find that there isn’t a ton of variation in the fees they charge. Here’s why:

Relocation is a mature industry with streamlined pricing. Most reputable relocation firms have been in the business since its inception, which leads to little difference in operational cost from one company to another. That translates to tighter margins and little room for discounts.

Prices are largely fixed. Every relocation firm works with third-party real estate professionals, movers, and packers – all of whom charge roughly the same for their services. Everyone’s household goods moving process requires the same number of boxes, trucks, and boats across the regions they serve. Because these costs are flat, so are the fees across the industry.

Not only are fees pretty consistent from company to company, they’re also a fairly small slice of a traditional relocation budget. Consider the following chart:

The vast majority of a relocation program’s budget is spent on housing, moving and storing household goods, and taxes. Again, there’s very little to make up in fees.

The Real Savings Are in the Policy

The best way to realize relocation program savings is by creating a policy suited to your company’s unique needs and its people. The moving industry will always be people-centric and largely depend on human intervention to get your employees from point A to point B. Which is why WHR Group starts every relationship by thoroughly understanding each client’s relocation priorities and applying technology thoughtfully. This allows us to create exceptional and compliant programs.

We begin with a clear and accurate understanding of how each of our client’s relocation dollars are spent. Our in-house, proprietary technology is able to analyze the current program against real-world relocation experiences and identify opportunities for potential savings. Whether it’s outdated policies, unnecessary gross-up, or too many exceptions; we tailor the program and our support to actual usage. Allowing our clients to maximize efficiency while minimizing costs.

Better still, while we’re customizing your plan to your company, we can also gauge its competitiveness. Our benchmark reporting stacks your program against your competitors using in-house client and non-client data, so you can see not only any gaps in offerings but also if you’re overspending by providing benefits your industry doesn’t value.

Perhaps the best recommendation for making sure you’re not overpaying for your relocation program is to partner with a company that’s focused exclusively on your specific budget and needs. We’d be happy to talk with you about your program and how we can tailor it to really make it work for you.

Ask any human resources professional and they’ll tell you: getting the right people in the right jobs is only half the battle. The other half? Retaining them. Given the current era of low unemployment and the increasing cost of replacing employees (almost twice the cost of single employee’s annual salary!) employers are finding it harder to fill their open positions and investing more than ever in recruiting. That’s why we’re so focused on making sure every moment of your employee’s relocation experience is top-notch—because their family, community, and home are far more poignant priorities than ping pong tables and Friday Jean Days.

We know this from our 2018 benchmark study on global mobility and corporate culture where we learned that 46% of employers use relocation as a tool for retention. Relocating the right people to the right places doesn’t only help companies reach business objectives either. When used as part of a forward-looking talent management program, it can spur career development and help keep employees engaged. But for this to happen, relocations need to be properly executed, with care and empathy. Let’s take a closer look at how relocation, when done right, can help retention.

Happiness Equals Productivity

If you’ve suspected that happiness promotes workplace productivity, the data is right there with you! Gallup reported that companies with engaged employees outperform their unengaged counterparts by more than 140%. Similarly, a 2014 study of more than 700 people across four different experiments confirmed that happier people are more productive. It’s proven time and time again—happy employees = happy customers = more revenue.

And because of how personal and intimate a relocation is for your employees, the impact can go far deeper. If your employees are worrying about their home not selling or the logistics of moving, they’re not focused on their work. If they feel ignored or are fighting over a misunderstanding about a reimbursement, they might even feel far less engaged than before the promotion that precipitated the move.

That’s why it’s imperative your relocation program partner is doing everything they can to ensure each of your employee’s needs are being tended to with care. At WHR Group, everything we do revolves around making your employees’ moves streamlined with high-touch service, support, and empathy.

Relocation with Empathy

Anytime someone relocates for work, there’s many sensitive factors that pop up. For example, maybe their house isn’t selling for as much as they anticipated, or their kids don’t want to leave their school, or their spouse is worried about finding employment in a new city. All of these are vital concerns and if left unaddressed, could significantly undercut the promotion and relocation benefits they received. This is why it’s critical your employees and their families are treated with empathy and responsiveness.

Our service model was designed to address the top concerns families have during a relocation before they become problems. We also train every professional who works with relocating employees as “counselors.” Their role and focus is to manage not only the timing and details of the move itself but also help each employee through any personal issues and concerns accompanying the move. Our goal is to make each employee as comfortable with the move as possible, so they can do their best work and know their company is concerned about their well-being.

Tailoring Each Move to the Needs of the Employee

Experienced counselors are only part of the story when it comes to focusing on the needs of your relocating employees. WHR Group also customizes the tactical aspects of each move to the needs of each employee, while also working within the parameters of your benefit program.

We do this because no two relocations are the same. A well-established family of five could require a full-service van line on the day of the move, while a single college graduate might be better served with a U-Haul or POD, which requires fewer resources and can get to the destination faster. Using our best-in-class proprietary technology, our experienced counselors easily and quickly adapt to the needs of each employee while still working within your company’s pre-arranged benefit budget and requirements. Giving us more time to provide high-touch, one-on-one, and caring support to your employee and their family’s immediate needs. It’s how we create a flexible, employee-centric relocation experience that can meet real people when they really need it.

For a relocation program to boost employee productivity and positive feelings about the organization, it needs to be administered with care and forethought. It’s why we value hard work, empathy, proactiveness, and trustworthiness in everything we do and from everyone we employ. We invite you to learn more about our high-tech, high-touch practice and how we can help your relocating employees feel great about their move.