How competitive are your company’s executive relocation benefits? If it’s been a while since you’ve reviewed your top-tier relocation package—let alone upgraded it—now’s the time.
After all, the Great Resignation goes all the way to the top. According to SHRM, management-level employees are job-hunting at twice the rate of individual contributors, burned out by two years of pandemic-related challenges.
Yes, it’s impacted the C-suite. In the last quarter of 2021, 16% more CEOs left their positions over the prior year, per Challenger, Gray & Christmas, which tracks executive turnover. Among private industries, technology and healthcare are the hardest-hit.
So, if you aren’t already recruiting at the executive level, you may be soon—and the competition is fierce. Be ready!
Today, successful recruiting is about more than offering top compensation. Wearied by COVID, executives, like everyone else, are seeking greater quality of life, starting with a more equitable work/life balance.
That’s why offering standout executive relocation benefits is so important. It’s a powerful recruiting advantage—one that can set employers apart when seeking top talent to fill those key management positions.
What Executives Expect from Traditional Relocation Packages
Often, one of the challenges of enhancing executive relocation packages is that they’re already pretty impressive. Most executive relocation packages already cover:
- The packing and moving of household goods, including vehicles
- One or more house-hunting trips
- Expenses related to home buying and selling, including closing costs and realtor commissions
- Short-term housing (and the storage of household goods), if needed
- Final transport to the new location for the executive and his/her family
- A cash allowance to cover miscellaneous expenses
- A tax gross-up, since relocation benefits are taxable to employees
In addition, executives expect to be paired with a relocation specialist who will help plan and oversee their move.
So, with all this already on the table, how can employers up their game?
3 Ways to Elevate the Executive Relocation Experience
Now, here’s some refreshing advice. Instead of increasing the dollar amounts of your relocation benefits, think in terms of enriching the relocation experience itself.
Under the best circumstances, moving is stressful and complicated—so any way you can make it easier and less-stressful is a big deal. To that end:
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Offer Each Executive a Personalized Relocation Plan
Make it easy for executives to choreograph their move on their own terms. Instead of dictating dos and dont’s, or specifying dollar maximums for various benefits, allow relocating executives to spend their relocation dollars as they choose. Takeaway: the most-desirable relocation benefits are the most flexible!
Maybe an executive wants a longer, or a follow-up house-hunting trip. Maybe she wants specialized shipping for a prized ‘67 Corvette. The fewer exceptions executives need to request, the happier they’ll be—and by the way, the fewer headaches for your in-house relocation team.
Redefine Great Service—by Adding Technology
In-person relocation specialists offer invaluable service when it comes to navigating a move and understanding your relo package. But is that enough in 2022? We live in a tech-based, on-demand world, where many of us routinely conduct most of our business online at our convenience.
If your current relocation provider doesn’t offer relocation software—and many of them just aren’t there yet—consider upgrading to one that does, like UrbanBound.
Most executives appreciate the flexibility and control of planning their move online, from requesting quotations and exploring their new city virtually to tracking their progress in real time. Without question, including relocation technology in your executive benefits package will help you stand apart.
Measure and Monitor Executive Satisfaction
One area where many employers fall short is studying the success of their relocation programs: how many dollars are spent, how they’re spent, and how satisfied people are with the process.
Make sure you work with a relocation provider that tracks data and crunches analytics, so you can see how your program is actually working. Make post-relocation surveys an integral part of your relocation program, so you can track employee satisfaction with the process.
Then—most-importantly—use this intelligence to continually improve your executive relocation benefits and experience, so you can stay competitive.
At the end of the day, you seek skilled executives who will lead your company successfully into the future—who are driven by talent, wisdom and innovative thinking. In other words, you want a leadership team that’s a little bit different and better in all the ways that count.
Which is why, at the end of the day, you also need executive relocation benefits that are a little bit different and better in all the ways that count.
