Whether you're moving for work or you're coordinating a move for an employee (or several employees), planning an employee relocation can be challenging. Our Complete Guide to Employee Relocation will answer all your biggest questions about relocating employees, from what costs are covered in a relocation package and what employee relocation companies can do to help to how to ask for a relocation package.
Jump to:
1. What Are Employee Relocation Companies?
Start by learning what employee relocation companies are.
2. What Do Employee Relocation Companies Do
Discover what aspects of moving employee relocations can help you or your employees manage.
3. When Should Employees Consider Using Employee Relocation Services?
If you're moving for work get our advice for when to consider working with an employee relocation company.
4. When Should Employers Consider Working With Corporate Relocation Companies?
Relocating employees? Find out when your business could benefit from working with a corporate relocation company.
Both relocating for your job or relocating an employee for work are challenging. There are a lot of logistics to manage and it’s easy to accidentally overlook important details, especially when you’re in the midst of changing jobs and moving to a new city, or when you have to manage a company on top of the relocation of one or more employee(s).
Thankfully, corporate relocation companies or employee relocation services can help you manage some or all of the aspects of a move.
In this section of the Complete Guide to Employee Relocation, we will explore:
- What are employee relocation companies?
- Types of employee relocation companies
- What do employee relocation companies do?
- When to consider using relocation services as an employee
- When to consider working with with corporate relocation companies as an employer
Let’s begin.
What are employee relocation companies?
Employee relocation companies (also known as relocation services, global mobility, or corporate relocations) are businesses that specialize in planning, organizing, and executing a client’s domestic, national, and international relocation operations. This means that they help employers move employees from their current home to their new home in a different city, state, or country. This can include:
- Real estate buying and selling support
- Move services
- Information about schools, programs, etc. in the new market
- Home clean outs
- Resettling assistance
What do employee relocation companies do?
Employee relocation companies provide a number of different services. While some specialize in the actual packing and moving process, other larger companies or those that deal in relocations to different countries often offer a wider range of services. Services offered can include:
- Moving service for the employee’s belongings and furniture
- Shipping automobiles if needed
- Helping employees sell their current home or cancel their lease
- Finding a home in the new location
- Processing relocation expense reports
- Finding temporary accommodations
- Helping spouses or partners to find a new job
- Helping children with school placement
- Assisting with visa and immigration requirements
- Arranging language and cultural training
TSI TIP: Relocation management companies (RMCs) typically have corporate contracts with large businesses, and are on call to help relocate employees when needed. If your employer is asking you to manage your own relocation, RMCs may not be in a position to help unless they have an established contract with your employer—but that doesn’t mean other professional moving companies can’t.
TSI offers comprehensive long distance moving services that are ideal for employee relocations. Whether you’re moving on a tight timeline, need help packing up all of your furniture and belongings, or you just need someone to help transport your stuff to your new home, we can create a personalized moving plan that takes the stress off you so you can focus on work.
Learn more about our long distance household moving services.
When should employees consider using employee relocation services?
If you’re moving long distance for a job and your employer isn’t providing you with employee relocation services or hooking you up with a relocation company, you should hire your own specialist to help with the moving logistics, especially if:
- You’re moving long distance
- You’re moving to a place you’ve never been before
- You’re moving on a quick timeline
- You would have to take time off work to organize the move
- Your new employer will cover some or all of the expenses
Even if your employer won’t cover all or part of the expenses, it’s still worth considering hiring an employee relocation company to help. They can save you a lot of time and stress at a moment when you won’t have enough of the former and, likely, have too much of the latter.
When you’re researching employee relocation companies, look for one that’s ideal for your type of move—for example, TSI specializes in smaller, long distance moves. Ask any potential companies if they have other services to help support you relocation, such as organizer services to help with packing, clean outs, and resettling in the new home.
Learn more about what a reasonable relocation package should include.
When should employers consider working with corporate relocation companies?
Large corporations often already have established relationships with relocation management companies, while small- and medium-sized businesses may prefer to handle relocations in-house, or may not have a relocation plan in place at all.
If you’re an employer at a small or medium-sized business, there are many benefits from working with a relocation partner. Smaller businesses often need more help in this area for many reasons:
- Few small or medium-sized companies have the time, resources, or expertise to help manage the logistics of a move and track all the costs of an employee’s relocation.
- Hiring a company that specializes in relocations can help employees maintain productivity, since they will have fewer demands on their time and reduced stress levels. Managers can also stay focused on running their company while still allowing them to recruit non-local talent.
- Reimbursing relocation expenses as they occur can be costly, and it can become a real time-suck running down different vendors to make, approve, or confirm payments. Depending on what type of relocation package you offer, you may only have to worry about making one lump-sum payment directly to your employee.
- Navigating the increasing complexity of moving employees, especially as it becomes more common to recruit employees from other states and countries, with many considerations you may not have thought about, such as taxes, visas, and immigration paperwork.
- Offering relocation assistance helps small- and medium-sized companies remain competitive with larger corporations, whether you offer basic relocation assistance to attract top talent for entry-level positions or comprehensive relocation packages for senior roles.>
If you run a smaller company or oversee employee relocation programs in-house, consider calling smaller RMCs to see what programs they have to help. Alternatively, you could contact a company like TSI that offers its own relocation services to support your program, leveraging relationships with movers nationally who can handle anything from small apartment moves to large, full service executive moves.
Conclusion
Whether you’re an employee that is relocating for your job or you’re an employer looking to relocate one or more employees, there are many situations that call for working with a company that specializes in corporate relocations.
If you’re an employee who is relocating for work, look for a moving company that can help with a wide range of services such as organization and packing, especially if:
- You’re moving long distance
- You’re moving to a place you’ve never been before
- You’re moving on a quick timeline
- You would have to take time off work to organize the move
- Your new employer will cover some or all of the expenses
If you’re an employer relocating employees, you should hire an employee relocation company if:
- You’re a small- to medium-sized business without the bandwidth or need for its own in-house relocation team
- You need to keep focused on running the company while still being able to recruit the best talent, regardless of where they are located
- You want to remain competitive with larger companies that offer impressive relocation packages
Learn more about becoming our Relocation Partner
