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Corporate Mobility Policies: Can They Generate Business Opportunities for You?
By Peg Guinta, CRP, Projects Director, RIS Consulting Group
While relocation policy support activities may never become your core service, they could become a revenue-generating adjunct business-to-business offering provided on an hourly or project basis.
If you work with transferees, you know mobility policies are the foundation of employer-provided relocation assistance. You may also know employers that have little transfer activity or who provide limited financial assistance and don’t use formal relocation policies. But developing and maintaining a well-designed mobility policy, regardless of activity volume or financial support levels, provides many advantages to employers and employees.
Building and Maintenance Required
Employers want to avoid high-cost relocation failures and must have rapid employee productivity at the new assignment. To succeed, employees need quick access to professional services, counseling and guidance for their numerous transition activities. Established policies also enable equitable distribution and consistent application of relocation benefits throughout the company, which helps facilitate budget planning and cost management. Written guidelines can also communicate assistance limitations, set clear responsibilities and expectations for transferees and hiring managers.
Maintaining an efficient and objective-aligned policy requires ongoing attention, yet some companies’ policies remain unchanged for years. Ideally, reviewing a policy periodically ensures that it meets current company objectives and provides intended support. Periodic policy evaluations may include assessment of program services and consideration of:
Adequate financial support
Best practices applications
Tax compliance
Market competitiveness
Business Opportunity Sources
Any employer having a mobile workforce is a potential source for policy-support services, although each company’s objectives may differ. Smaller or regional companies’ growth may spur need for an initial policy that is also competitive enough to attract new talent. Or it could be timely for administrators of larger established relocation programs to conduct an overall evaluation or modify selected components such as housing or related assistance (i.e., mortgage, cost of living).
Consider alternate entities such as non-profits, local colleges or universities. These institutions may not have access to or even be aware of relocation industry resources but still have similar mobility needs.
Other potential candidates for these services are relocation management companies (RMCs). RMCs are expected to provide their corporate clients with various relocation business services including policy support activities such as:
Periodic evaluations
Peer benchmarking research
Service performance surveys
Writing new policy or update content
Larger RMCs may have staff or an entire department dedicated to policy consulting services but smaller or regional RMCs typically won’t have these resources. Smaller RMCs may use external resources such as brokerage relocation departments or consultants specializing in corporate mobility business services to help meet clients’ expectations.
Key Policy Services
Brokerage-based relocation departments that currently offer mobility support services to corporate and RMC clients often participate in industry trade groups to keep current with relocation trends and information. For example, members belonging to the Worldwide Employee Relocation Council (WERC) participate in regional and national educational events and can access policy trend data, survey research and informative articles.
Typical policy services span a wide range of activities and include research, development, content preparation and internal communications. The most common policy service activities are:
Periodic evaluations
Relocation policies should reflect a company’s changing needs as they expand or merge, alter corporate objectives or as demographics shift. Economic cycles can influence existing policy assistance items - especially departure and destination housing or mortgage components. Your “in-market” expertise regarding transferees’ sale and purchase needs may offer your corporate clients useful insights into real estate or mortgage-related policy assistance items.
Benchmark comparisons
Often corporations want to maintain comparable policy assistance with regional or industry peers. These firms may commission an independent resource to conduct research with other interested corporate participants. An industry benchmark study could involve one or more policy assistance components and several corporate employers.
Initial policy creation
Organizations in growth modes or those expanding globally may need support developing an initial U.S. policy or one internationally-oriented for non-U.S locations. Although WERC is an available resource, not all companies that transfer employees are members of or are aware of this organization.
To be sure, these are non-traditional services for brokerage relocation departments, but they may be a natural extension to your other relocation service activities and can help you stay connected to mobility clients. As a professional strategically involved in the relocation processes for multiple corporate clients you may be better-positioned than you think to develop and offer policy support services.
Peg Guinta, CRP, is Projects Director for RIS Consulting Group.