At Canada Post, about 150 employees a year are moved around the country and four people work full time to ensure the moves go smoothly.
A career in relocation today, requires a great deal of technical knowledge, said Karen MacRae, manager of relocation services for Canada Post. Managing a successful relocation requires a thorough understanding about housing markets, for example, or how to calculate housing subsidies. There are usually many tax implications associated with moving from one locale to another.
But aside from the technical expertise, relocation experts must also be able to draw on an important supply of soft skills: compassion, patience and a great deal of empathy for the employee who is leaving home for the company, said MacRae. “You also have to be very creative. You have to take the policy and stretch it to the max.”
No two families are the same so it stands to reason that no two families have the same needs.
“One thing that really comes to mind is people with young children. Typically with relocation, one spouse stays behind till the old house is sold and you end up with families that are separated for quite some time.” MacRae said her relocation team might work with the employee to keep relocation costs down, perhaps booking into a less costly hotel, and in that way free up money to fly home more often.
Once a relocation plan is sketched out and the costs estimated, employees should be able to identify whatever features they aren’t happy about and the relocation manager should work with them and look for ways to remedy the problem without adding to the overall budget. For example, if an employee doesn’t think there are enough weekend trips home, he might consider giving up the pre-move house-hunting trip, said MacRae.
Relocation success rates typically run at around 98 per cent at Canada Post, but MacRae said that is also due to support from the organization. So long as the need for the program can be proven with a cost-benefit analysis, the employer will usually listen, said MacRae. For example, at Canada Post, MacRae suggested the organization introduce an equity lose protection program so that employees who would otherwise suffer a loss from the sale of a house in a depressed real estate market would have some of the shortfall covered by Canada Post.
MacRae is also a member of the board of directors of the Canadian Employee Relocation Council (CERC) and a co-chair of the professional development program. Last year, the council launched the Canadian Employee Relocation Professional (CERP) designation.
She said the relocation industry needed a professional designation because the industry is much more complicated than it once was. “It is too hard to come into the job and just learn it as you go,” she said.
Whereas Canada Post moves people within the country, international firms move people around the globe. Teekay Shipping brings people into its head office in Vancouver from all over the world.
Most of the relocations are permanent moves and maybe 30 are per cent are temporary said Angelique Blunk, human resources manager. And they’re able to boast a 100 per cent success rate, “We’ve never had anyone leave,” she said.
Granted part of that is because they are in an industry where employees are accustomed to moving around the world, but she also believes their hands-on approach to relocation has enabled many people to settle smoothly into their new roles at the Vancouver office.
In the 10-person HR department, three play a role in relocation, so that there is always somebody who will be available to provide day-to-day contact with the employee to address any problems that arise. Teekay uses external consultants for more technical issues around taxation, and a real estate consultant takes employees for tours of the city so they can learn about the Vancouver-area before actually buying anything through an agent.
A career in relocation today, requires a great deal of technical knowledge, said Karen MacRae, manager of relocation services for Canada Post. Managing a successful relocation requires a thorough understanding about housing markets, for example, or how to calculate housing subsidies. There are usually many tax implications associated with moving from one locale to another.
But aside from the technical expertise, relocation experts must also be able to draw on an important supply of soft skills: compassion, patience and a great deal of empathy for the employee who is leaving home for the company, said MacRae. “You also have to be very creative. You have to take the policy and stretch it to the max.”
No two families are the same so it stands to reason that no two families have the same needs.
“One thing that really comes to mind is people with young children. Typically with relocation, one spouse stays behind till the old house is sold and you end up with families that are separated for quite some time.” MacRae said her relocation team might work with the employee to keep relocation costs down, perhaps booking into a less costly hotel, and in that way free up money to fly home more often.
Once a relocation plan is sketched out and the costs estimated, employees should be able to identify whatever features they aren’t happy about and the relocation manager should work with them and look for ways to remedy the problem without adding to the overall budget. For example, if an employee doesn’t think there are enough weekend trips home, he might consider giving up the pre-move house-hunting trip, said MacRae.
Relocation success rates typically run at around 98 per cent at Canada Post, but MacRae said that is also due to support from the organization. So long as the need for the program can be proven with a cost-benefit analysis, the employer will usually listen, said MacRae. For example, at Canada Post, MacRae suggested the organization introduce an equity lose protection program so that employees who would otherwise suffer a loss from the sale of a house in a depressed real estate market would have some of the shortfall covered by Canada Post.
MacRae is also a member of the board of directors of the Canadian Employee Relocation Council (CERC) and a co-chair of the professional development program. Last year, the council launched the Canadian Employee Relocation Professional (CERP) designation.
She said the relocation industry needed a professional designation because the industry is much more complicated than it once was. “It is too hard to come into the job and just learn it as you go,” she said.
Whereas Canada Post moves people within the country, international firms move people around the globe. Teekay Shipping brings people into its head office in Vancouver from all over the world.
Most of the relocations are permanent moves and maybe 30 are per cent are temporary said Angelique Blunk, human resources manager. And they’re able to boast a 100 per cent success rate, “We’ve never had anyone leave,” she said.
Granted part of that is because they are in an industry where employees are accustomed to moving around the world, but she also believes their hands-on approach to relocation has enabled many people to settle smoothly into their new roles at the Vancouver office.
In the 10-person HR department, three play a role in relocation, so that there is always somebody who will be available to provide day-to-day contact with the employee to address any problems that arise. Teekay uses external consultants for more technical issues around taxation, and a real estate consultant takes employees for tours of the city so they can learn about the Vancouver-area before actually buying anything through an agent.
