Award season has arrived—not just in Hollywood, but in UrbanBound (UB) world, too. 2020 brought us many impressive nominees, as our smart, creative clients accomplished amazing feats during a most challenging year. But, sadly, there’s only one 2021 Relocation Program of the Year Award. So, without further ado, we proudly reveal this year’s winner is…Zillow Group, honored for its visionary approach to employee relocation during the pandemic!
Our annual client Relocation Program Award is based on five key criteria: vision, company culture, employee experience, use of system reporting data, and plan innovation—all of which Zillow exemplifies. Zillow, America's most-visited real estate website and a trailblazer in the industry, has been an UrbanBound client since 2018.
“While many employers struggled with last year’s abrupt shift to a remote work model,” says UrbanBound CEO and Cofounder Michael Krasman, “Zillow not only embraced the idea of a permanently-distributed workforce, but quickly expanded its relocation program to give employees support and flexibility in choosing where they want to live.”
Zillow gave “delocating” employees access to our online portal, which not only features moving guides, timeline planning and tracking tools, but access to our vetted supplier network. This ensures competitive pricing and smooth, no-surprise moves—with relocation consultants available to coach them along the way.
We recently had the pleasure of interviewing Zillow’s Relocation Program Manager, Katie Coss, about the innovative program and the strategy behind it—a compelling conversation we’ve recapped here.
UB: How does your relocation program align with the Zillow culture?
Katie: Zillow’s mission, to help people unlock life’s next chapter, naturally applies to supporting our employees when they relocate. It’s important to us that everyone who moves is empowered with information, tools and connections, whether they're Zillow customers or Zillow employees.
UB: What part does your relo program play in your company’s success?
Katie: Our distributed workforce model allows a majority of employees to work from wherever they’re happiest and most productive. It’s a more inclusive, more personalized, more flexible and more efficient way of working, and it sets Zillow apart as other companies plan a return to the office-based status quo.
Since we shifted to this model last year, many employees have decided to move. We went from having employees in 26 states to all 50. We're proud that our flexible relocation options let employees choose what works best for them, including a new benefit of access to the UB portal and a Relocation Consultant to advise them along the way.
For Zillow employees who do need to perform their jobs in a specific location, we offer even more robust relocation support, making it a cinch to move to their new hometown so they can focus on settling in and starting their next chapter with us.
As we look to hire about 2,000 more people this year, expanding our workforce by 40%, our relocation program is ready to support recruitment from what is now a wider talent pool than ever.