Increasing Employee Relocation Acceptance during a Complex Group Move
Part 2 of a 3 Part Series on Corporate Relocation Services and Group Move Management
A TRC client acquired three complementary operating companies and decided to consolidate all operations. After considering locations throughout the Northeast, the company settled on a location in Southern New Jersey, just outside of Philadelphia. The company planned to close its facilities in nearby Northern New Jersey.
The consolidation affected more than 250 employees, mostly from the Northern New Jersey location, but also from locations in Virginia and Texas. As always with group move management, the company wanted to minimize disruption and lost productivity while ensuring the highest employee relocation acceptance rate.
Pre-Decision Surveys, Familiarization Tours and Onsite Support Planning
We met with our client, established objectives for the relocation and developed a mobility program designed to retain “key critical” or “critical” employees. For other employees, the company offered a severance package, early retirement for eligible employees or a commuter arrangement until they were eligible for an early retirement package. One concern was that several of the key critical/critical employees were close to retirement age and could potentially decide to decline the move and choose the early retirement package.
To help the company achieve its acceptance objectives, TRC developed a comprehensive pre-decision survey to identify what was most important to the potential transferees. The company surveyed the employees before rolling out the relocation packages, allowing it to adjust the benefits in response to the survey input.
After adjusting and rolling out the packages, TRC placed a team on-site at the facility in Northern New Jersey for one week to meet with employees considering the move. TRC also prepared for pre-decision and familiarization tours at the location in Southern New Jersey by teaming up with the local Chamber of Commerce and TRC’s NetSource™ real estate agents who were skilled with group moves.
Planning Investment Pays Off
After the initial meetings and pre-decision trips were complete, 71% of those employees offered relocation packages chose to accept the move. Of the remaining employees, a large majority opted to commute, with just a few choosing the severance / early retirement packages. With such a high acceptance rate, the client was able to retain key talent and avoid the costs and time associated with recruiting new talent. From the transferring employees’ perspective, they and their families rated their relocation experience highly. The result of careful planning and support, this group move was ultimately a win-win for the company and its employees.