Why You Need to Reconsider Your Relocation Policies

It's Time to Turn Mobility Policies Into a Plan

Many organizations have difficulty creating relocation policies that encompass all of their employees. That’s because every move is different. An executive move might involve a very hands-on relocation consultant, with home sale assistance, household goods shipment, and taking care of a family. Other less complicated moves might simply involve providing a lump sum or cash payment for relocation.

The problem is the relocation policy. In fact, many of the pitfalls for corporate relocation described in relocation articles are directly attributable to the fact that inflexible and unruly policies are the norm.

Why Don’t Relocation Policies Work?

Relocation policies suffer from three major issues that are difficult to resolve without serious work:

1. They’re inflexible. Policies are rigid and give companies limited ways to cope with employee-specific challenges. Companies have tried to fix this by creating multiple policies, but even dozens of relocation policies aren’t customized enough to fit the needs of every relocating employee. When issues arise, companies have to resort to granting costly exceptions.
2. They create entitlement. What’s been found is that employees will use all the benefits given to them, including relocation. Even if employees don’t necessarily need certain benefits or if the business case doesn’t support it, they’ll use it if it’s in the policy — creating additional expense for the company
3. They don’t fit the needs of the business. A policy doesn’t take into account the total costs of relocation. All it does is set a maximum price for a move, without taking into account the business case for relocation. Instead of considering the costs before the relocation, it’s usually addressed afterward.

Turn Your Relocation Policy Into a Plan

Your relocation policy should be deleted from your employee handbook. Instead, a plan should be made on an individual basis. Instead of a blanket approach to relocation, organizations should be looking at optimizing the cost of relocation for each individual and the value it provides the organization.

An individualized approach not only satisfies the business, it satisfies the employee, because you’re taking all of their needs into consideration. They’re able to transparently see the benefits and costs associated with their move and optimize them to fit their unique situation.

Turning away from relocation policies can lead you to lower relocation costs and provide a better level of relocation services to your employees.