If you were to consider your organization’s top priorities, what would they be? Chances are, recruiting talented workers is at the top of your list. And for good reason – for most companies, hiring and keeping the best people is the surest way to achieve their organizational goals and future growth.

The question is: How do you go about it?

The trick is providing benefits that today’s employees want. The same Metlife survey found that benefits were a key driver of happiness at work – so long as they were customized to meet employee needs. They recommend employers offer a benefits program where “employees have the ability to build packages that are personalized to their individual needs and that can be changed as their needs evolve.”

Our Global Mobility and Cultural Benchmarks study found that one area where a more flexible and customized approach could pay significant dividends in recruiting and retention is in your relocation program. We learned that while 87% of survey respondents believe their relocation program is focused on employee satisfaction, only 28% would describe their programs as flexible (“easily adapting to needs”). While there are many reasons to consider consistency over flexibility, including ease of administration and cost stability, giving employees more choice in their relocation benefits can go a long way toward happier and more engaged employees.

Here are some thoughts on creating a more flexible relocation program:

Know your options.

There’s a lot more to relocating than calling a moving van. From house hunting and helping with renter and mortgage agreements, to relocating the beloved family pet, you have a vast array of options to build out a comprehensive relocation program. And we’ve learned relevant choices are especially important if you’re working with a strict budget.

Don’t be afraid to ask.

According to the Willis Towers Watson survey mentioned above, 97% of employees prefer to choose their own benefits instead of having their employer choose for them. Rather than assuming which benefits to provide, why not survey your relevant employees and ask? The answers might surprise you, especially if you have a younger or international workforce.

Learn from the data.

Take a closer look at your past relocations, both recently and over time. Do you see any developing trends? Which benefits are your employees choosing most? Of the ones they’re not choosing, is it because the benefit doesn’t fit their needs or because they don’t understand the offering? Are there issues that keep coming up across different relocations that you can head off at the pass?

Be aware of your competition.

Just like you do with your company’s main area of focus, it’s good to know what your competitors are up to. By getting a handle on what others in your industry are offering, you can establish where the guiderails are – and where you can add can add extra value. If you know both what your competitors are offering and what your employees most want through internal surveys, you can really home in on creating a relocation program that provides maximum value.

To get the most value for your relocation program, your employees need to know what it is and how they can use it. Not only will more people take advantage of your relocation benefits, but even those who don’t will understand the investment your organization is making in their well-being. Be sure your recruiters can also speak to the value of your program.

The most important point about evaluating any benefit plan – relocation or otherwise – is that your people are your most important asset. With any benefit decision you make, make sure your employees and their families are treated with empathy and responsiveness. That doesn’t mean blowing a hole in your company’s budget. Just make sure that your relocation benefits package choices are all focused on the same thing – helping your employees put their families in the best position for success.

If you’re thinking of retooling your company’s relocation program, we have some free tools to get you started, from estimating relocation costs to building a benefits-focused program. And if you have any questions along the way, feel free to reach out to us because we’d be happy to help.

Technology is a wonderful thing. It’s why we have smart watches and DVRs, and how we’re able to watch “Baby Shark” videos over and over again on our portable phones and tablets.

However, there are limits to how far technology can take you. If you take away the human element – things like judgment, connection, and empathy – technology will let you down. Just ask this driver, who followed her car’s GPS instructions and drove right into Lake Huron.

There’s a place for technological advancement, but these advances typically work best when they make human interactions and relationships easier. You can see this dynamic play out again and again in many areas of our lives, and relocating is no exception.

Relocating an employee can be complicated: You frequently have several moving parts in operation at the same time, and an unexpected development in one area of the transition could impact the timing (and expense) of others down the line. At the same time, your employee is personally experiencing the move thinking not only about the logistics and the transition, but also worrying about how well their family is going to fit into a new life in unfamiliar surroundings – or if their decision to relocate was a mistake. Making every move as clean and simple as possible while putting your employees’ mind at ease is paramount to the success of any relocation effort.

Solving for these goals efficiently and painlessly requires digital tools that can collect, analyze, and present information quickly all over the globe. That’s why we’ve built our technology from the ground up to make sense for you as the program administrator so that your most important assets—your employees—are taken care of. This includes our comprehensive Employee Relocation Toolbox, which we designed to help you stay ahead of the game and know what’s coming next as it relates to creating the best relocation programs for your organization. From our Policy Designer and RFP Generator, to our Cost Estimator and Benchmark Comparison Tool, we’ve got you covered.

But as important as technology is in our industry, it only works if it supports the values we know are paramount to your success: empathy, proactiveness, and trustworthiness. Our experience has shown that when you combine high-tech with high-touch, everyone wins. For example:

• We make sure you and your employees have customized, secure access to a host of relocation features. You’ll get immediate access to invoice history, real-time reporting, employee satisfaction ratings, and authorizations by date and policy type. Your employees will be able to log-in to their customized client portal to check on the status of their benefits and everything related to their move.
• Relocating employees have mobile-friendly access to an online portal so they can review their relocation calendar, submit receipts, and track all assigned services and tasks. We also provide first-call resolution and are honored to have a 96% resolution rate. Because the last thing anyone wants to do in the middle of a move is field multiple phone calls to get questions answered.
• From an administrative standpoint, when creating a relocation program, it can be hard to benchmark costs when circumstances unique to each relocation can accrue additional expenses. With tools like exception management, we’re able to partner with you to explore alternative solutions, manage costs, and create a more efficient offering.

In our Global Mobility and Culture Benchmark Study, 85% of respondents reported that, as important as it was to have the right technological tools in place, they wanted their relocation company to focus on building relationships and person-to-person interactions. Our company was founded on a promise to provide relocation services with an unmatched level of quality. If you haven’t already, we invite you to learn more about our business philosophy and our commitment to being a true partner for your relocation needs.

Bringing attention to several companies within its partnership network, WHR Group, Inc. is pleased to announce the recipients of its 2018 Partner in Quality Awards.

The Partner in Quality Awards are an international evaluation of WHR Group’s Global Partner Network for those partners that demonstrated a commitment to exceed customer satisfaction and service excellence. The Partner in Quality Award requires a minimum of 20 transactions over the course of the year and ranking within the top one percentile of the relocation partner’s service category.

In analyzing WHR Group’s partnership network, it was determined that the below partners consistently demonstrated quality, and WHR Group was pleased with the results generated for its client’s and their top talent. WHR Group works to partner with companies that offer and match the stellar customer service satisfaction scores that WHR Group is known for in the relocation space, and feels it is important to recognize those partners that do exceed expectations.

The slideshow below contains testamonials from a selection of of our winning partners. Check out the text list for links to the webpages of all of our winners.

The 2018 Award Winners are:

• Merchants Moving & Storage Company in Racine, WI
• Ebby Halliday Realtors in Arlington, TX
• Avery-Hess Realtors, Inc. in Woodbridge, VA
• Nomad Temporary Housing in San Diego, CA
• Russ Lyon Sotheby’s International Realty in Scottsdale, AZ
• New World Van Lines in Chicago, IL
• Ward North American in San Antonio, TX
• Paramount Transportation Systems in San Marcos, CA
• ReloTrans in Newburyport, MA
• F.C. Tucker Company, Inc. in Indianapolis, IN
• Berkshire Hathaway Homeservices Arizona Properties in Scottsdale, AZ
• Going-There Global Destination Services in Miami, FL
• Moderna Relocation in Pittsburgh, PA

As you may have heard, we have some exciting news! WHR Group has been named a Top Workplace by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel for the sixth consecutive year. We are humbled and proud to have received the Top Workplaces Award, but for us, it isn’t about winning; it’s about our employees.

What is a Top Workplaces List?

The Top Workplaces lists are based solely on the results of an employee feedback survey administered by Energage, LLC (formerly Workplace Dynamics), a leading research firm that specializes in organizational health and workplace improvement. Any company can be nominated and it’s free to participate.

Here are just some of the great things our employees had to say about WHR Group in the Top Workplaces 2019 Survey:

“I enjoy the people I work with and find meaning in assisting our clients/transferees through a stressful period.”

“I feel I am always challenged. There is always something new to learn.”

“I like problem solving and helping people.”

“It’s a great place to work. My projects keep me busy all day and I get to do a lot of multitasking which keeps things interesting all the time.”

“I like it here and I think the job is fun and rewarding.”

“[I] believe that my manager takes an active interest in my personal and professional growth.”

The importance of a great workplace culture

Did you know the average person spends roughly 90,000 hours working over their lifetime? When you spend that much time working you want to be happy doing it. But, according to the Gallup World Poll, less than 20% of workers feel actively engaged at their place of employment.

These statistics are the reason why it is so important to focus on culture in the workplace. As a relocation management company, WHR Group helps other organizations find and retain the best talent, which we couldn’t do without finding and retaining the best talent for ourselves. Our goal is for our employees to enjoy coming into the office, to be engaged, and to be proud of the work they do, because, honestly, WHR Group wouldn’t be where we are today without them.

What does this mean for our employees?

You can’t have great culture without great people.

Being placed on a Top Workplaces list for six consecutive years is truly amazing and, really, it’s because WHR Group takes the feedback it receives from its employees and acts on it. WHR Group’s passion has always been Advancing Lives Forward. We embody this not only for our client’s transferees, but for our employees. We look to challenge, engage, and drive our employees to be successful, to grow in their careers, and provide opportunities for them to do so.

What does this mean for you?

We’re all about putting the right people in the right positions and when we hire someone we are looking to see if they’re hardworking, proactive, trustworthy, and most importantly, empathetic. At WHR Group, we believe relocation can be taught, but to be an empathetic person, that is inherent by nature.

“What WHR Group does, is pretty simple, we Advance Lives Forward. That’s what we’re about. Whether it’s our clients, whether it’s our transferees, whether it’s our own employees, whether it’s the vendor partners that we work with, we want to make things better than they were when we got them, and that’s what we feel that we do,” said Paul De Boer, President at WHR Group. “We help people through a very significant, emotional life event – that’s changing the location where they live, where they have roots, where they’re grounded in a community. To be able to take them from that point to a new point, get them settled, get them established, in a very good manner and in a very customer service and customer centric way – that’s what we do and that’s what we deliver on.”

WHR Group emphasizes relationship building, both within our organization and outside of it. Our employees truly are behind our success and our growth year over year. The Top Workplaces award is special to us, but not as special as the employees who made it happen. So, here’s to WHR Group’s employees: Thank you for being fantastic!

The transition from a home country to another country is complex and could dissuade talent from taking expatriate assignments. Housing, cultural acclimatization, family adjustments, and entering a new work environment are just a few of the factors that need to be considered when going international. To counter this, expatriates are offered benefits and assistance to make the experience as smooth as possible. One of these benefits, tax equalization, takes the guesswork out of the change in income and social taxes that come about when an employee moves across a border.

Businesses often struggle to determine how they are going to fill positions when new opportunities arise overseas. Many multinational corporations turn to their proven domestic employees and look to leverage their abilities to develop markets, monetize product offerings, and grow their business overseas. Considering the benefits of tax equalization can help.

What is Tax Equalization?

Tax Equalization is a method of taxation management where the international assignee is expected to remain at the same level. Relative to the taxes they would have had in their home country. In short, the assignee should not receive a tax benefit, nor should they be taxed at a rate that is detrimental.

As an example, expatriates coming from the United States have a unique obligation to fulfill. U.S. citizens are required to file taxes on their global income regardless of where it was earned, so they don’t have the benefit of being able to break their home country’s tax obligation. Additionally, they’ll have a tax filing requirement in the host country as well.

While the U.S. does provide foreign tax credits that can be applied to the employee’s U.S. return, it may not be enough of a credit to offset their entire U.S. obligation. A company’s tax equalization program reimburses the expatriate for the potential higher taxes incurred. Conversely, if the combined taxes are lower, the assignee will reimburse the company for the difference.

Therefore, the assignee is paying no more or no less had they not left their home country, regardless of the actual tax burden in the home and host country.

How Does Tax Equalization Benefit Expatriates?

Moving your career, and potentially your family overseas is a stressful experience; having systems in place to make the relocation process easier should be one of a company’s top priorities. Expatriates who benefit from tax equalization have less on their plate, as they know they are subject to the same level of taxation as well as the same net reimbursement. Reducing the economic stress an employee is under, helps them focus on the personal and professional development that taking an international opportunity can present.

At WHR Group, we pride ourselves on making the complex simple. This includes our comprehensive global mobility solutions, including tax equalization program help. Regardless of whether the relocation is short-term, localized, or permanent, we have the resources and expertise to make your employees’ experience exceptional.

Relocation expense management is a complicated, stressful process. Relocating employees can have almost a dozen expense reports that they’ll submit over the course of their relocation, which can be difficult for the employee to self-fund. The Federal Reserve’s Report on the Economic Well-Being of U.S. Households in 2017 found that 4 in 10 adults would either borrow, sell something, or not be able to pay if faced with a $400 emergency expense. Given this data, the self-fund of dozens of expenses can hit an individual quite hard. A seamless, efficient relocation expense management process is critical to the overall well-being of the relocation. We’ve compiled five simple tips to address the accuracy and timeliness of relocation reimbursements.

Tip 1 – Over communicate the timeline.

Through WHR’s intricate survey process, we’ve found that there’s a direct correlation between the timeliness of reimbursement and employee satisfaction. We cannot stress enough the importance of a quick turnaround of funds, especially given the above statistic from the Federal Reserve. Overly communicating with relocating employees what the timeline is can help them plan accordingly and know when to expect the reimbursement.

Tip 2 – Ensure accuracy with a dual review.

Accuracy is critical in expense report review so having more than one set of eyes on each item is a must before reimbursing. At WHR, one review is completed by the policy expert and another is done by an accounting team member. This ensures compliance and accuracy.

Tip 3 – Have a simple, easy-to-use, accessible employee interface.

Deploy an online expense submission system that can be accessed anywhere, 24/7/365. Giving employees the ability to upload receipts from their phone or tablet saves time and the headache of scanning in countless receipts. This is also helpful while employees are traveling.

Tip 4 – Utilize custom expense reports. 

To streamline the review of expense reports, build custom reports for each relocation policy. This not only ensures that employees stay compliant with policy benefits, but also helps the review process for your team. If you’re using an online technology, be sure that the system has your policy parameters built into it. This will decrease the chances of an exception request, which only increases the time to review and the time to reimburse.

Tip 5 – Correctness and security of payment information.

The correctness of payment information is paramount to accurate, timely reimbursements. At WHR, our proprietary technology requires that only the relocating employee can edit the payment information fields. An authentication code is also emailed to them to verify their identity prior to inputting or editing information. Additionally, security measures to prevent hacking or phishing should be clearly documented and proven through technology audits.

Take a hard look at your current expense management process and see if these tips are being followed. If not, make an action plan to realign your program with these core necessities. Remember: a well-run relocation expense management process can make or break the relocation.