Blog

But, like all fears, group moves are a lot less scary when you have the right tools in your toolbox; tools that will help you plan with confidence and execute with efficiency!

Today’s Group Moves, In a Nutshell

You need to learn your opponent to beat them, right?! Here’s what you should know about today’s group moves:

• Group moves are typically driven by a corporate business decision which can be the result of a merger/acquisition, reduction in force, headquarters move, plant consolidation, or office expansion. In the post-pandemic world of work, many companies worldwide are going through these very transitions and transformations, so we can expect the volume of group moves to soar in the coming years.
• With organizations worldwide clamoring for a limited pool of talent – and employee expectations shifting – it’s harder than ever for companies to get critical talent to accept an unplanned (group) move. Intuitive, customizable tactics are no longer an option, they’re a necessity.
• Housing market challenges have been a major pain point the year, including limited inventory in the temporary accommodation and rental markets. Naturally, this makes moving a large group of employees all at once a huge hurdle, for the employees themselves and those supporting their moves. Organizations have to be flexible and highly communicative to protect the employee experience and to ensure the success of the group move. This may mean staggering the timing of the group moves or granting exceptions/extensions for temporary accommodation.
• For a back-to-basics look at Group Moves, check out the top questions you need to be asking as you develop a group move plan.

Recommendations for Planning Winning Group Moves

Talent shortages, a frenzied housing market – and a list of other disruptions that shook up the mobility industry this year – have certainly made group moves even more challenging. But with the right planning and openness to stretching your creative limits, no group move is un-conquerable! As an RMC, here are some of the top recommendations that we are offering to our clients currently navigating or planning group moves:

Group Move Orientation Meetings

Designed to address their concerns and reinforce their value to your company, Group Move Orientation Meetings ensure that the right messages are communicated to your employees so that informed career and lifestyle decisions can be made. Based on the company’s specific goals, your RMC can help design and manage a meeting that helps motivate employees who may be reluctant to move, boosting your acceptance rates.

Mortgage Assistance and COLA

To help alleviate employees’ financing concerns as early as possible in the group move decision process, we recommend including mortgage and housing experts in your conversations with candidates. For our clients, Weichert Financial Services (WFS) Mortgage Counselor can either attend Group Move Orientation Meeting or schedule a virtual session to present the status of the current mortgage market, including changes to underwriting guidelines and processing. Our WFS Counselor will remain in your location, with the other meeting presenters, to provide private individual mortgage counseling to your employees and their spouses.

Cost of living assistance can also help employees overcome a reluctance to move to a higher-cost location. As rents and property values climb, there is a growing demand to support relocating employees with a cost-of-living allowance (COLA), with the vast majority providing it to both homeowners and renters over a three-year period.

Family Transition Assistance

Unlike traditional mobile employees for whom relocation is a critical career booster, group moves impact employees who may have never expected to relocate for work. To these employees, relocation can mean serious upheaval, uprooting children from schools and playmates, forcing a spouse or partner to leave a job and leaving elderly parents or guardians behind. Consider these services to improve the employee experience and strengthen the success of your group move:

• Spouse & Partner Career Counseling
• School Placement Assistance
• Reimbursement of family related, settling-in assistance (pet licensing, deposits on daycare, 3-month subscription to Care.com)

Destination Services

Enhanced destination services in a group format are efficient and help to highlight the new community to the employee and family members. As a group, employees feel less alone in the process, and this ensures that they will be taken care of in their new location. Even more, it expedites the settling-in process so that the employee will be productive in their new position, faster! A few tips:

• Coordinate group area tours that include housing, day-to-day amenities (grocery stores, RMV, schools, shopping) and area attractions.
• Leverage the group aspect by including a social event that bolsters excitement (lunch in a local park, local museum, or show).
• Clearly instruct next steps to the employees to secure additional, follow-up assistance. In areas of increased competition, individual or small group tours of available properties with a local representative and counseling will give them useful advice on obtaining their ideal rental property or to make an offer.

Still have the group move heebie-jeebies? Talk to us for more insight into developing a customized group move approach that helps acceptance rates skyrocket, makes management quicker and easier, and sends your fears flying!