 Relocation managers are a specialized segment of American business helping employees being transferred from one location to another. For decades, relocation managers have worked to establish attractive, flexible relocation policies for their employees who move.
According to Nat Workman, senior editor of Runzheimer Reports on Relocation, some circumstances are unlike any other and require special handling.
The movers arrived at the house to find a casket in one of the bedrooms of the person being transferred. They were told grandfather had died the week previously, and the family wanted to take him to the city where they were moving.
For the week following the funeral, granddad had resided in the upstairs bedroom because the family presumed he could merely be loaded on to the moving van with the other possessions. He couldn’t. That’s not legal. The family hired a hearse. Granddad rode behind the moving van to his final resting place.
Moving pets is not unusual for relocation managers. Some even specialize in it, giving the pet near-human care. "Whoever is in the household when they move, we move them," said one specialist. "Dogs, cats, lizards—you name it."
Some animals, however, offer special challenges.
One relocation manager was warned in advance that his client had an expensive couch among his household goods needing to be shipped overseas. In fact, the "couch" was a live, hay-burning horse. The moving company did what they could to oblige the client. The horse was loaded on a ship bound for a new home. When the ship docked, the customer learned his "couch" had died during the trip. Not only did he have to pay for shipping the horse, but he had to pay for a "couch" burial at sea. Indeed, the customer was correct when he first called the relocation manager. It was an expensive "couch."
One high-level transferee bought a $600,000 home in a new location. He and his family loved their new home, but they wanted to install a circular stairway. In true do-it-yourself fashion, they used a chainsaw to cut a circular hole in the floor near the master bedroom. Holes also were cut in each floor all the way to the basement, and the circular stairway was installed. What the family realized too late is that you can’t cut through cross beams that are integral to the home’s support. When the relocation company came to appraise the home, they found it was leaning about three degrees.
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Exceptional circumstances require relocation managers to put forth extraordinary effort. Relocating an executive requires attention to detail. If companies want to keep top executives, they must meet their stringent, and sometimes peculiar, relocation requests.
One company executive asked that his nanny and her daughter be given a personalized tour of the new city to which they were moving. Some senior managers receive interest-free "bridge" loans allowing them to buy a new home in the new location before closing the sale on their old house.
Loan-subsidy benefits are provided by some companies to certain employees who qualify for additional low- or no-interest loans. Or a company may pay 20% more on average for a household goods shipment for high-level employees because of the kind of furniture they have.
Other relocation benefits offered by companies include spouse job-finding assistance, pre-move orientation trips (digital photos are taken for those left behind), professional real estate and mortgage brokers, and transition assistance to those who elect not to move.
Still other benefits may include personalized consulting services, local community partners, and Internet-based resources providing families and employees with information to smooth the transition and expedite move-in.
A move doesn’t end just because a loan is closed and the household goods are delivered. Experts agree it normally takes a year after the moving van arrives for a family to adjust to their new surroundings.
Providing relocation assistance makes sense for employers. Successful relocations mean satisfied employees. Satisfied employees are on the job and productive. And productive employees are what companies want.
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