What Are the Benefits of Benchmarking relocation policies?
It’s an unfortunate commonality that many businesses create relocation policies and benefits, only to keep them for years without revisiting them. Some companies may provide exceptions to their policies on a case-by-case basis for new hires, but in the end, failing to renew or check these policies could cost companies thousands of dollars.
That is why it is important to benchmark relocation benefits every 12 to 18 months. There are many benefits to staying on top of corporate relocation benchmarking to make sure policies are competitive against peers and competitors. Using relocation benchmarking data can help ensure that transferees have the best possible relocation experience. Here are five benefits of using benchmarking numbers to update relocation programs annually.
1. Identify Cost Savings and Enhancements
Reviewing how other companies design corporate relocation programs can point out areas where a company can achieve significant cost savings. Taking time to review policies can help highlight parts of the company’s relocation benefits that can be enhanced. Obtaining multiple quotes for services can help save costs and keep your program competitive. These quotes can be obtained across multiple services, such as HHG, visa, and corporate housing. In some cases, you may discover your relocation management company (RMC) does not have an independent vendor network, preventing them from shopping around for the best deals on services.
Using relocation benchmarking data to learn about new and updated regulations can help avoid penalties and costs arising from tax, legal, or immigration issues. The application of technology to processes such as reporting and reimbursement can help save time and money.
2. Ensure Industry Competitiveness
For companies to attract and retain the best talent in their industry, their relocation policies must offer employees a competitive edge compared to their peers. A relocation benchmark will show how industry competitors design their mobility benefits. A company can adjust policies to maintain an advantage and use them as leverage in the offer phase.
If an employee is fielding multiple offers for jobs that require a move, the tiebreaker is often the relocation package. Checking relocation policies yearly can assure that you offer the best relocation benefits in your sector to entice new hires to accept your offer.
3. Learn About New, Innovative Ideas
Companies and industries evolve to respond to the dynamic workforce, changes in the regulatory environment, and increasing employee expectations. When major changes occur, your mobility solutions and relocation policies should address them. A good relocation management company will use mobility technology to its advantage to help the moving employee. Companies and employees can use relocation technology platforms to stay informed throughout the relocation process and to increase communication speed among the employee, company, and RMC. It also provides more visibility into reimbursement numbers.
That being said, it is important to benchmark relocation policies to ensure that there isn’t mobility technology out there that could save time or money when relocating employees.
4. Educate Internal Stakeholders
Most successful companies recognize that several departments and functions interact with their employee’s relocation process. Internal stakeholders from diverse areas, such as legal, finance, and human resources, can learn how the transferee interacts with each department, what their needs are, and what the best practices are related to each function. Involving internal stakeholders in the policy benchmarking process ensures their understanding of policy guidelines and knowledge of how the company’s policies stack up against those of other companies in the same industry. This helps provide for a smoother relocation process for the transferee, as less will be lost in translation during the hiring process.
5. Maintain Alignment Objectives
Many companies that relocate employees regularly have multiple locations across the country, sometimes even worldwide. This is why those companies need to ensure communication of corporate plans and objectives, keeping the entire company up to date. A company’s relocation policy benchmarking should incorporate policies that affect all employee levels, regardless of geography, so that local objectives align with corporate objectives. Knowing that certain areas might have plans for future expansion helps all departments prepare to respond accordingly to employee relocation needs.
Need Help Benchmarking Relocation Policies?
Is your program competitive? Global Mobility Solutions has benchmarked over 1,000 relocation policies spanning 27 unique industries.
GMS provides comprehensive benchmarking services of your policies against industry best practices, while also showcasing what others in your industry are doing. This data has been an important tool in helping companies create and renew their relocation policies.
Our team can help write competitive, cost-saving policies by staying on top of numbers across numerous industries for benchmarking. We strive to keep our relocation benchmarking data up to date.
If it’s been more than 18 months since your company reviewed its relocation policies, now is the time to contact GMS for benchmarking data to ensure your policies are the best they can be.
What's happening in your industry? Request a Courtesy Benchmark report
At GMS, we make it a priority to know how talent mobility is changing in each major industry. What are the best practices? How are other companies changing their programs to retain a competitive edge? Your Mobility Pro will be in touch within 1 business day to help answer your questions and benchmark your industry.
Christina Urrutia
Christina brings more than 15 years of experience designing and delivering strategic mobility solutions that help organizations move talent with confidence. Over the course of her career, she has served in a range of leadership and client-facing roles, including Relocation Counselor, Vice President of Global Sales, Manager of Business Development, and Strategic Partnership Manager, giving her a well-rounded perspective on both service and strategy. She holds several industry-recognized credentials, including the Global Mobility Specialist–Talent (GMS-T) and Certified Relocation Professional (CRP) designations from Worldwide ERC, along with a 120-hour TESOL certification and more than 400 hours of teaching experience supporting language learners. A passionate advocate for Duty of Care and employee wellbeing, Christina is a frequent industry speaker and the founder of Women of Global Mobility, a networking community dedicated to empowering and advancing women across the mobility profession.
