Firms Expanding Relocation Benefits to Lure Talent

by Diana Kunde, The Dallas Morning News

It wasn’t the first move Tracy and Joel Uranga had made for Mr. Uranga’s career. But this time they had a 3-year-old daughter to think about.

"I wanted to make the move easier for her," Mrs. Uranga said. "When a child’s environment changes, there’s a lot of uncertainty." The family relocated in August from El Paso to the Dallas area, where Mr. Uranga is a sales representative for Johnson & Johnson.

A counselor provided by Johnson & Johnson found preschools that met the Urangas’ specifications. She also offered suggestions--such as videotaping the new home to show their daughter, Leigh, where she’d be living. "Children that age do better with concrete things," Mrs. Uranga said.

Once upon a time, corporate relocation meant paying to haul furniture from city to city. But in today’s competitive labor market, companies are taking pains to ensure employees are happy with the moves. They’re sweetening relocation benefits to help lure hard-to-find talent, and they're moving the perks further down the corporate food chain.

Good relocation benefits were once the province of senior management. That's no longer true, especially in hot markets such as technology.

"Now they're using them all the way down to and including college-level talent," said Richard Bell, technology recruiter for Global Employers Network in Dallas.

"Five, six years ago, they'd relo with a six-pack, a pizza and a U-Haul," he said. Now it's "cost-of-living adjustments and temporary living expenses. Lavish isn't the right word, but it's close."

Among the new-era benefit: moving elderly parents, financial counseling and even pet boarding during house-hunting trips.

Although such benefits are still the exception rather than the rule, there's been a marked shift toward dealing with new employment realities. In addition to a tight labor market, dual-career couples are one of those realities, said Beverly Berberich, past president of the Employee Relocation Council, a professional organization.

"There's no question the days of the employee coming home, walking in the door, and saying 'We're moving to Los Angeles,' are gone," Ms. Berberich said. "It's now a family decision in most cases."

With an average expense of $47,901 to move a home owning employee, there's a corporate interest in making sure everyone's happy with the change. A "good package" for an experienced new hire probably includes a home purchase program if the job candidate can't sell the house, a moving allowance that could include storage time, and "certainly some temporary living expenses," Ms. Berberich said.

On top of that, so-called soft benefits are growing. Half of large firms surveyed by the Employee Relocation Council offer job-hunting help to transferred employees' spouses. Thirty-four percent do so as a matter of formal policy, up from 22 percent five years ago. The rest provide help on a case-by-case basis.

The changes are fueling the growth of service firms such as St. Louis-based IMPACT Group, retained by Johnson & Johnson to help the Uranga family. Launched 10 years ago with six employees, the firm now employs 110 counselors and support staffers and claims 100 of the Fortune 500 as clients.

For prices ranging from $650 to $3,000 per employee, The IMPACT Group counselors dig for information on new locations or help smooth over emotional rough spots that are inevitable with a change in place.

For Kelly Montalto, whose husband also works for Johnson & Johnson, The IMPACT Group provided job-seeking help--including a targeted list of the 50 Dallas-area employers most likely to offer a position in her field. She starts Sept. 1 as a training consultant for the Bill J. Priest Institute for Economic Development in Dallas.

Ms. Montalto, 31, acknowledges that it wasn't an easy task to make her happy with a move to Valley Ranch from Tampa, Fla., where she'd spent 20 years.

"I feel the relo benefits really helped. It would have taken a lot to get through my funk," she said.

Families aren't the only ones getting an assist. The IMPACT Group's counselors, for instance, have scoped out rock-climbing locations and bookstores for singles.

"They want us to get them rooted and networked into that community as quickly as possible," said Laura Herring, president and founder. Rooted employees, after all, are harder to recruit away.

At Phillips Petroleum, relocation policies are evaluated at least annually, said Jeanie Johnson, relocation services supervisor in the firm's Houston offices.

"We've certainly enhanced our benefits on the softer issues like spousal job assistance, help finding child care and elder care," Ms. Johnson said. Phillips has gradually increased its subsidy to cover any loss incurred in selling a home. "We try to make the employee as whole as we can."

Firms such as Phillips are also finding it pays to give relocating employees more flexibility. The company now pays a lump sum to cover house-hunting and temporary living expenses. "It's wonderful because the employee can manage his or her own money in their own family circumstances," she said. "If your family wants to take all five kids house-hunting, then you manage the money. It's been very successful for us."

Twenty-seven percent of those surveyed by the Employee Relocation Council are extending relocation benefits to the unmarried partners in their employee's households, whether of the same or opposite sex. That's up from 7 percent in 1993.

Scott Feinstein's male partner used Citicorp's relocation help to find a job when Mr. Feinstein was moved to Chicago, where his is senior counsel.

"My family was treated exactly the same way any other family would be treated," Mr. Feinstein said. "That was very important to me."

At the rarified altitudes of top management, executives negotiate for more elaborate perks. Don Jones, who heads the Dallas offices of executive search firm Kenzer Corp., recruited a job candidate who insisted on the firm finding a riding school for his daughter and moving the family's three horses. "That sealed it. He took the job," Mr. Jones said.

But such deals still depend on the market. Another prospect for a retailing post had a collection of eight cars he wanted moved, Mr. Jones said. The company said no.

ADJUSTING MOVING BENEFITS

As the labor market tightens and more employees are in dual-career marriages or relationships, relocation benefits are changing to meet personal needs. Here is the percentage of firms nationwide with formal policies, by year.*

*Data represent formal policies only. Many more firms provide these benefits on a case-by-case basis. Source: Employee Relocation Council surveys of 385 large to midsize employers.