However, that comes at a cost. While you will want to ensure that you help your employees to move as smoothly as possible, you will also want to find ways of reducing the costs. There are numerous types of expenses a relocation package could include, such as expenses for the selling and buying of a property, moving costs, storage costs, and travel expenses, to name just a few. To help you reduce the cost of employee relocation, here are five great ideas.
1. Use a Professional Relocation Service
When you hand over the key components of a relocation package to a third party that specialises in relocating employees, you significantly reduce the time it takes to organize individual workers’ moves. Furthermore, when you hire experts like the ARC relocation company, your company can access much more accurate financial estimates and reduce costs. You can also increase relocation success rates, build better relocation policies, and attract and retain top talent.
2. Make Sure All Details of Your Relocation Policy Are Clear
Whether you use the services of a professional relocation company or come up with relocation packages yourself, it is vital that the policy is extremely clear in its parameters. If it contains ambiguities, it can lead to your company having to shell out more money than it had bargained for. A good policy should facilitate a smooth relocation process without room for additional extras. It should also include easy-to-read language instead of complex jargon.
3. Implement Expense Caps
One of the best ways to reduce the cost of employee relocation is to put expense caps on some of the benefits, such as a loss on the sale of a home. Homeowners could experience property depreciation, so if you do not include a cap, you could face a major unplanned expense. Make sure your relocation policy explicitly states the maximum amount for the reimbursement of loss. To calculate the cap, take things like capital improvements into consideration.
4. Swap the Storage Benefit for Home-finding Services
A few years back, most relocation packages included the three major benefits of moving household goods, final travel costs, and storage costs. In the United States, all three benefits had preferential tax treatment, but the tax laws have now changed. Companies in the US and elsewhere have realised that out of those three benefits, storage is not always required. Therefore, many employers providing relocation packages to their employees have removed the storage benefit. In its place, many employers are providing relocating employees with home-finding services or the cost of a few nights’ accommodation so that employees can find properties quickly and not need storage facilities. You not only cut costs on storage. You also ensure employees move more quickly and smoothly to lessen other associated relocation costs.
5. Provide Different Packages for Different Employees
While it is a little more complex, one of the best ways to reduce the cost of employee relocation is to provide different packages to different employees. You could have basic packages to cover basic moving costs for some employees and advanced packages for executives. You could also have relocation policies for entry-level employees and mid-level workers. That enables you to ensure your top talent is retained while also ensuring other employees have the option to relocate. When you have different packages with varying benefits, you can calculate the costs and the differences to cut down on your overall expenses.