Why Benchmark? The Benefits of Benchmarking Domestic & International Relocation Policies

Companies benchmark their employee relocation policies to analyze process performance, evaluate their program against their competitors’ or to measure their program against their own divisional or location-related best practices.

If you have a mobile workforce, benchmarking your domestic and international relocation policies against the competition and other selected companies is critical, and your relocation management company can be a great help. Relocation management companies use technology to capture and evaluate data across many clients. They evaluate this data and share their insights with clients who are assessing their mobility programs.

Benchmarking Employee Relocation Policies Against the Competition

Many organizations benchmark against their competition to identify ways of improving processes or in an attempt to cut costs. However, as mobility and talent acquisition become more aligned, more companies are benchmarking to define and adopt benefits that go “above and beyond”. This can give companies a competitive edge in recruiting the best talent.

For example, in an era where many companies have abandoned or greatly reduced their homesale programs, a company that offers a year of property management for those employee transferees who are having trouble selling their homes (and meet certain other requirements), may be very attractive to certain job seekers. Often, these types of benefits are strategically determined by examining deficiencies of your competitor’s programs as opposed to their strengths. Additionally, evaluating businesses outside of one’s own industry can initiate discussion on emerging mobility trends and give the company the opportunity to be an industry innovator.

Benchmarking also provides mobility managers with helpful data to assess exception requests. In making their case to line management as to how to handle the requests, the managers can cite benchmark data illustrating how their competitors manage similar situations.

Continuous Improvement Efforts

To foster continuous improvement, companies should be prepared to benchmark their mobility policies and practices regularly (we recommend every two or three years; significant changes at the company may dictate more frequent reviews).

Most importantly, companies should not lose sight of their corporate culture and how their mobility programs reflect it. What may be a best practice in an industry overall may not be a suitable practice for a particular company. Companies should evaluate each benefit in their policies as a standalone feature and in the context of the overall package. Being prepared and willing to make changes when needed will help companies provide the best overall employee relocation experiences while also ensuring their talent mobility programs reflect who they are as a company.