7 Best Practices for Relocating Healthcare Professionals

Chances are, your relocation program is getting a workout these days. Due to the healthcare talent shortage, many hospital recruiters are casting a wider net, and it’s putting pressure on their relocation offerings.

If you’re wondering if your relocation program is serving you well, here’s a good way to answer that question.

Consider these seven best practices for relocating healthcare professionals. How does your program measure up?

1. Communicate, Communicate, Communicate

Don’t assume that healthcare professionals understand the ins and outs of relocation, even if they’ve done it before. Make sure that you and your relocation provider thoroughly explain and communicate every facet of your program, including:

• Exactly what benefits and services are covered 
• How benefits are paid (i.e., lump sum, reimbursement or direct pay) and when
• How to navigate the relocation process, such as getting quotes from suppliers and submitting expenses
• Who to contact for support

Set clear expectations—and leave nothing to misinterpretation.

2. Keep It Simple  

Relocating your life and family is complicated. Don’t make it harder by burying new hires in a deluge of information and documentation.

• Present information in an organized manner, so everything’s easy to find 
• Minimize paperwork; go digital, if you haven’t already  
• Provide a thorough checklist or guide of relocation tasks  
• Make it easy to track expenses, helping employees stay within budget 

The easy solution: leverage a software-based relocation solution like UrbanBound’s. Not only is everything accessible and digitized, expenses are automatically tracked, so employees (and employers) always know where they stand. 

3. Focus on the Relocation Experience

Customer experience, user experience, employee experience…everything is about experience, and relocation is no exception. Beyond the interview process, this is your new hires’ first real impression of you! 

Plus, when they show up for their first day, you want them focused and ready to go. To that end: 

• Provide relocation support via professional relocation consultants. (If you offer a pure lump sum plan, you can still add support—see here.)  
• Prevent common relocation pitfalls by making sure your relocation provider screens its preferred suppliers.
• Arm relocating employees with solid information and tips about your area, so they acclimate faster.
  

4. Pay the Tax Gross-ups

Relocation benefits are income, so employees are taxed on them. Hopefully, you’re already covering these on their behalf, a process known as paying tax gross-ups.

For one thing, everyone hates paying taxes, especially unexpected ones. For another, tax gross-ups are one of the three greatest relocation expenses. If you don’t cover them, you’ll undercut that positive experience your program should be all about.

If your organization has resisted paying tax gross-ups, our advice is: start paying them, and find other ways to reduce program costs. (They’re out there; we can help.)

5. Track Your Program’s Performance

Healthcare organizations use analytics to track many aspects of their performance, like patient care and operational efficiency. You should be tracking relocation metrics, too. 

• Monitor your program costs closely. It will help you budget accurately while gaining an understanding of how your dollars are spent.
• Conduct post-relocation employee satisfaction surveys, to ensure that you’re delivering a positive experience.
• Review HR outcomes. How long does it take for a new hire to relocate? What’s the turnover rate for these employees?   

Obviously, you want your relocation program to support your recruiting objectives and operate cost-effectively—so, build the habit of tracking the data.