Global Relocation Services

Some companies have very sophisticated well-thought-through global mobility programs that have been tried and tested for many years. Others are stepping into the global arena for the first time. Either way it doesn’t hurt to check the health of your global mobility program and consider what I would believe to be the 10 best practices to ensure your global relocation program is a successful one.

10 Best Practices to Ensure a Successful Global Relocation

1. Policy
   1. Make sure you have a formal global policy in place that has been reviewed by your global relocation provider for competitiveness and efficiency and bench-marked against industry standards.Candidate Selection 
2. Candidate Selection
   1. Utilize pre-decision surveys or interviews to ensure that your candidate is flexible, adaptable and ready to take on the challenge of an international assignment.
3. Benchmark
   1. Keep up-to-date as situations change, trends develop, and new products come to market.
4. Cost Estimates
   1. In today’s economic environment it’s prudent to have a cost estimate completed before sending someone on an assignment so you have an idea how much it is going to cost.
5. Cost Analysis
   1. Know what you’re spending and what policy changes or exceptions are costing or saving money. There are many examples of companies focusing on elements that are inexpensive and denying them, while allowing exceptions for other elements that are very expensive.
6. Track Exceptions
   1. Be sure to always track any policy exception that was made or declined and the cost of that exception. This will help you be consistent in how you treat other exception requests in the future.
7. Use Proven Providers
   1. Proven providers can give you good advice on all elements of a global relocation and can make the process easier for you.
8. Don’t Cut Corners to Reduce Costs
   1. There is usually a good reason to do something well.
9. Create a Repatriation and Reintegration Plan Well Before the Assignment Ends!
   1. If you don’t, you may risk losing a valuable employee. Statistics show that up to 70 percent of repatriated assignees leave their employer within two years, usually to join a competitor.

For more information on the above global mobility program components and services, please contact SIRVA Relocation for a consultation.

 

On December 5, 2008, SIRVA announced the appointment of David Byers as the Company’s new chief commercial officer. Byers brings more than two decades of operations, marketing, sales and brand management experience from H&R Block and Foote, Cone&Belding Inc. to SIRVA.

“David’s deep knowledge base in financial products and services, and his experience in developing and managing brands will help drive our relocation services business,” said SIRVA President and Chief Executive Wes Lucas. “Similarly, his background working with distribution networks will bring tremendous value to our moving business.”

Byers was with H&R Block for eight years and progressed quickly through the ranks, from senior vice president and global chief marketing officer to senior vice president of U.S. operations, and most recently, chief operating officer of retail tax services. In these roles, he was responsible for H&R Block’s U.S. operations, sales and business development functions, which comprised more than 13,000 retail locations and 100,000 employees. Prior to H&R Block, Byers’ career included working for global advertising agency Foote, Cone & Belding Inc., Del Monte Corporation, and most recently, he served as chief executive officer of The Mutual Fund Store.

See Press Release
 

According to the Trippel Survey&Research LLC Seventh Annual Relocation Managers Survey: Relocation Management Company Industry©, SIRVA Relocation ranked second in overall performance and satisfaction among the industry’s top six largest relocation companies. The company achieved the highest scores among the six largest relocation providers in eight of the 24 areas surveyed, and it also placed as one of the top three providers in 22 out of 24 areas surveyed among the largest relocation providers. SIRVA Relocation LLC is a subsidiary of SIRVA Inc., a leading global relocation services provider.

“These results are a direct reflection of our steadfast commitment to providing our customers with unparalleled service and value every day,” said SIRVA Inc. CEO Wes Lucas. “Our goal is to be the most trusted and sought-after relocation services provider in the industry based on the work we do and solutions we offer. I am elated to see that customers are recognizing the value we bring to the table.”

Trippel Survey&Research conducted this survey—which launched September 12 and concluded October 1—with the goal of obtaining evaluations from corporate relocation managers regarding levels of satisfaction with firms in the relocation industry. More than 300 survey evaluations—representing 298 different relocation management companies—were received. The six largest relocation management companies in the survey accounted for nearly 75 percent of all evaluations returned.

Categories in which SIRVA Relocation achieved the top score included: Responsiveness and flexibility to your needs; Service recovery; Year-end tax reporting; Management reporting; Identifying trends and responding to them; Suggesting policy recommendations; Suggesting ways to reduce your costs; and Taking actions that control or lower direct real estate costs.

While globalization has opened many opportunities for business, it has created some significant challenges. One leading challenge for global managers is learning to understand and appreciate cultural values, practices, and various nuances in different parts of the world. Experts in international business agree that to succeed in global business, managers should be open to others’ ideas and opinions and have the flexibility to respond positively and effectively to practices and values that are oftentimes drastically different from what they are accustomed to. Cultural training has been shown to improve an individual’s relationships with host nationals and allows expatriates to adjust more rapidly to a new culture and an international relocation.

There are a variety of training techniques that prepare people for foreign work assignments. They range from documentary programs that merely expose people to a new culture through materials about the country’s sociopolitical history, geography, economics, language and cultural institutions, to intense interpersonal-experience training, in which individuals participate in role-playing exercises, simulated social settings and similar experiences in order to “feel” the differences in new culture. Successful cross-cultural programs can include the following:

Local business etiquette. Even the most veteran and prolific employee can have difficulty without an understanding of business etiquette in other cultures. For example, the U.S. tendency to “get down to business” is regarded as rude in Japan, where business transactions often have a greater personal relationship component. An employee who appears impatient with Japanese traditions designed to establish friendship and trust will have little success in business negotiations.

Cultural biases. International relocation assignees should always examine the way their own culture affects their perceptions of right and wrong, good and bad manners, values, dress, and other customs. Cultural training can improve understanding of the cultural forces that affect their own behaviors and help assignees learn how to adapt to new cultural demands and the international relocation.

Customized training. Additional training can include special modules to help the employee and his or her family with their own individual concerns. For example, if the assignee’s children will be attending local schools, modules and resources on education etiquette would be appropriate.

To learn more, please visit our resource library

Here are a few things to remember when instituting a cross-cultural awareness program into your corporate relocation program. For a full account of information regarding this service visit our resource library.

Don't forget the family
Just as spouses should be involved in the assignment selection process, they should be involved in training for global assignments. Some experts estimate that nearly 80 percent of all failed global (international) assignments can be linked to the spouse's inability to adjust to the new environment. Each member of the family faces special issues in the expatriate environment that should be addressed.

Other cultural resources
Organizations should consider utilizing their returning expatriates for help with cultural awareness initiatives. Employees who have already completed similar assignments can act as subject matter experts (SMEs) to help new expatriates learn business customs and how to navigate foreign business circles. SMEs can also prove invaluable in helping new expatriates learn the hierarchy in companies with which they will be dealing. It's important to note, however, that companies should not rely solely on employees to provide guidance to new expatriates. Relying exclusively on veteran expatriates can be problematic if the guidance reinforces cultural stereotypes or results in the new expatriate adopting the predecessor's bad habits. While other international assignees have a role to play in helping newcomers adjust, they should not replace professional consultants/trainers.

Alternative views
Although cross-cultural awareness is important, some might argue that its importance is just a hyped up myth. In actuality, on average only 30 percent of American managers sent on international assignment lasting from one to five years receive any cross-cultural training. It can be argued that managing is simply "managing," so where it is done is irrelevant. Another point of view is that any type of short-term cultural training would be ineffective because people can't learn to work and live in a foreign culture after only a few days (or even a few weeks) of training. Others argue that an understanding of a country's culture is something people assimilate over many years based on personal experiences in that specific culture. Others will say that corporate culture takes precedence over country culture. For example, a local employee working for a "bullish" American firm in Thailand might show traits of aggressiveness and conflict, which are not traits normally associated with the Thai culture. These traits, however, may be common in the corporate company culture of the employee's organization, causing the Thai employee to act outside his or her normal cultural dimensions.

Nevertheless, in order to be successful, an expatriate must be comfortable with his or her staff, colleagues, clients and business atmosphere--regardless of location. Cultural specialists also agree that to be successful in dealing with people from other cultures, expatriates need knowledge about the cultural differences (and the similarities) among work locations. The global employee of today's business world can only benefit from gaining cultural awareness, either through direct training or personal experience, which would lead to greater professional effectiveness and company performance. Read more

If you would like more information about cross-cultural education and how it can be added to your international relocation package/program, please contact our corporate relocation consulting team.

• Host country information. Basic information about the assignee's host country, including its history, common religions, political structure and recent events, so employees can understand citizens' values and beliefs.
• Behavior adaptation. Although people have a hard time challenging their cultural understanding, they can learn to alter their behavior to adapt to a new culture. In this phase of cross-cultural training, expatriates examine the way that they currently handle a situation and what is required in the new culture.
• Local business etiquette. Even the most veteran and prolific employee can have difficulty without an understanding of business etiquette in other cultures. For example, the U.S. tendency to "get down to business" is regarded as rude in Japan, where business transactions often have a greater personal relationship component. An employee who appears impatient with Japanese traditions designed to establish friendship and trust will have little success in business negotiations.
• Communication techniques. A manager going to live in a foreign country for the first time might not realize how communication styles differ around the world. For example, U.S. employees tend to use "low context" communication, which is direct and task-oriented. Many other cultures have "high context" communication, in which messages are more indirect, like in the Middle East.

For more information about components that make cross-cultural programs successful, view our white paper, "Importance of Cross-Cultural Awareness."

Improving Accent Through Training
A foreign national’s accent may impede their communication ability, even though they are fluent in English. Research indicates accents are caused mostly through differences in rhythm and stress, as well as difficulty in making certain sounds linguistically. A common example is putting an emphasis on the wrong syllable.

Accent is almost impossible to improve without training. Speakers seldom can hear what they are mispronouncing and even if a listener points it out to them, they are unlikely to know how to correct it.

For example, certain regions mix up L and R sounds because they cannot hear the difference, they may not notice a mispronunciation, but others may not be able to understand what they trying to communicate.

Accent reduction training is provided by universities and private training companies where individuals are trained how to identify incorrect pronunciations and how to exercise their mouth and tongue to correct the problem. Other teaching methods include mimicry, which helps students correct pronunciation, rhythm and stress by watching videos of native language speakers, then mimicking what they hear and see, including body language. 

Typically, most training programs incorporate individualized programs developed as a result of a comprehensive speech analysis. These programs mostly last between ten and 20 sessions. For some, improvement can be seen immediately, but it can also take between three and six months for others.

Most programs can be provided one-on-one or in a classroom setting. Classroom programs generally take longer and are less expensive than one-on-one tutoring but one-on-one tutoring is more effective and quicker.

Linguistics Plays a Part
Accent and grammar are usually established by ages six and twelve respectively. In order to help someone change their accent, an instructor needs to be a linguistics specialist and have the knowledge of a speech therapist.

A language school may claim to provide this training, but beware, a language instructor will not have the skills and training of a linguistics professional.

Accents are influenced by the tongue, lip position, vocal cords and air movement through the mouth or nose; instructors must be able to show students how to manipulate these in order to limit mispronunciations as a result of their accent.

Many companies offer language training to international corporate relocation transferees, though few offer accent modification training which is often required more than traditional language training.

Companies often dismiss accent modification as being too expensive, or because they feel there is little that can be done to correct the problems caused by accents. In fact, there is much that can be done to correct accent-related problems, and as companies research the various options available they will find that it is surprisingly cost effective and beneficial.

Let me know if you require a referral to an accent modification specialist.

This March SIRVA University, SIRVA Relocation’s annual conference exploring corporate relocation industry trends and professional development, played host to 150 of the nation’s top relocation industry executives. The event, which was held at the Westin Kierland Resort in Scottsdale, Ariz., provided an exclusive forum for industry insiders to discuss vital, ongoing and emerging industry issues with experts
and colleagues.

Attendees included representatives from human resources, domestic and global relocation, procurement and supply chain departments from more than 75
different companies.

”Our industry is facing a lot of challenges, and SIRVA University provides an opportunity for human resource and relocation professionals/specialists to gather and discuss best practices and practical solutions,” noted Mike McMahon, president, SIRVA Relocation.

This year, conference roundtables and educational sessions covered topics ranging from tips for promoting relocation programs within an organization, home loss-on-sale assistance to relocation trends in China. Additional sessions addressed relocation fundamentals, such as policy trends and best practices, and provided a comprehensive history of the industry—on both a domestic and global scale.

“The educational roundtables in particular were an opportune time for attendees to interact directly with SIRVA executives and fellow relocation professionals,”
said McMahon. “And the keynote speakers were incredibly well received by all.”

SIRVA University Presentations Available Online

Those who were unable to attend this year’s event can download SIRVA University presentations and event images at www.sirvauniversity.com/agenda.asp. Individuals can also download audio recordings of the various sessions to hear them as they were presented, including question-and-answer sessions. Individuals seeking more information on SIRVA University 2008 can e-mail sirvau@sirva.com. If you'd like more information about SIRVA or corporate relocation consulting visit: www.sirva.com.

The Panel:

Paul Klemme
President
SIRVA Mortgage

Peggy Love
President & CEO
Full Circle International Relocations, Inc.

Kelly Reiss, CRP
Senior Vice President / General Manager,
Eastern Region / Global Supply Chain
SIRVA Relocation

Connie Swenson
Senior Vice President, Relocation and Referral Services
Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage / Arizona

Joseph K. Taylor, SCRP
Executive Vice President
Valuation Services, LLC

Kelly Reiss moderated today’s panel of mortgage, destination services, household goods shipment, and real estate supplier representatives.  The session gave clients the opportunity to speak directly with SIRVA’s suppliers, gain a better understanding of how the relocation supply chain operates, and hear a discussion of today’s real estate market from the supplier perspective.

The discussion began with new trends in the relocation industry.  Multiple suppliers cited declining markets as a significant trend emerging this year.  As Paul Klemme noted, the fourth quarter of 2007 ended with 108 U.S. markets identified as declining markets by Freddie Mac.  During the first quarter of 2008, this number has already risen to 205, and experts predict at least 100 more declining markets in the second quarter.  Additionally, the number of foreclosures on U.S. homes has risen dramatically in recent months.  The panel explained how lenders have reacted to the poor markets by decreasing the amount of overall lending and requiring higher down payments from home buyers.  As a result, the number of potential homebuyers has decreased, and relocating employees are having difficulty selling their homes.

While the real estate market lies outside of the suppliers’ control, the panel also discussed issues directly affected by suppliers, such as how they manage the quality of their services.  Several panel members emphasized the important role that employees play in ensuring consistently high quality.  For example, Connie Swenson explained that real estate agents use tactics such as designating certain specialists for SIRVA transferees.  If at any point the specialists lack the appropriate time to dedicate to SIRVA’s clients and transferees, realtors realize the importance of quickly hiring additional employees so quality does not suffer.  Adding to the idea that the quality of a supplier comes from its employees, Paul suggested that a company’s commitment to on-going training and pushing to make people better at what they do forms an essential element of a successful supplier.

Further discussions touched on other interesting topics such as overcoming a seller’s denial that they live in a declining market and the importance of securing a loan quickly in today’s economy.  In conclusion, Kelly requested that each supplier share one last piece of information with attendees; panelists final comments centered on the idea that clients, transferees, SIRVA, and every member of the supply chain must work together for a successful relocation.

Avrom Goldberg
Managing Director, Asia-Pacific and the Middle East
SIRVA Relocation

Lorraine Jennings
Manager, Consulting Services, Asia-Pacific and the Middle East
SIRVA Relocation

As Avrom Goldberg and Lorraine Jennings explained, it is important for relocation professionals to stay up-to-date on relocation trends in China because of the country’s power as regional and global economic engine.  For each of the past 30 years, China has demonstrated eight to 12 percent economic growth, and it is showing no signs of slowing down.  In order to provide attendees with valuable insights and analysis of the current relocation trends in this rising economic power, Avrom and Lorraine described the findings of the SIRVA’s China Mobility Report.  While Avrom and Lorraine could not summarize the entire 95-page report during the presentation, they shared highlights of their findings.

Increased demand for deployment to China, one trend discussed during the presentation, is expected to continue.  However, the sources of assignees selected for deployment are changing.  Traditionally, assignees to China came from Australia, Europe, the United Kingdom and the United States.  Recently, hiring has been more concentrated in Asia, with most assignees coming in the form of returning Chinese workers or locally hired foreigners.

Companies who continue to send assignees to China are using a variety of selection and planning processes that do not follow a pattern.  For example, pre-assignment visits ranged from a brief three days to a full week; some companies offer extensive cross-cultural training for assignees while others do not; certain companies assign mentors, some extend mentoring programs to leadership programs, and others offer no structured mentoring to assignees in China.  In these areas of their relocation programs, companies are not following a uniform trend, but rather they are doing what is in the best interest of their individual organizations.

On the other hand, companies are moving in the same direction in other areas of their programs.  For example, many companies are changing their philosophies of hardship allowances.  While 51% of companies offer hardship allowances across all assignments, many are developing new ideas of what places they consider “difficult.”  Avrom and Lorraine mentioned Shanghai and Beijing as places that recently necessitated hardship allowances, but may no longer justify as high of a level of compensation.  Furthermore, many companies are shifting from a host-based to a home-based approach for hardship allowance policies, which illustrates that companies are finding a home-based method more effective in China’s current economic framework.  

Regardless of which specific policies and programs companies decide are most useful when sending their employees on assignments to China, the companies within SIRVA’s study agreed on the obstacles that they must overcome.  They identified the following as the top-five human resources and mobility challenges they face when filling assignments in China:

• Creating effective policy frameworks for separate groups, such as locally hired foreigners or international new hires who are not full assignee
• Understanding, capturing and reporting the total cost of assignments to the company, including measuring the return on investment of the assignments
• Locating quality service providers in China with a strategic vision
• Developing a young workforce with global cultural competency
• Finding credible benchmarks for hardship allowances and housing data for assignments in China

The Panel:

Maura Carey, CRP

Vice President,

Strategic Accounts

SIRVA Relocation

Amy Carter

Global Supply Chain Manager

Intel Corp.

Peggy Love

President & CEO

Full Circle International

Relocations, Inc.

Sandy Palmer, SCRP

Manager, Corporate Relocation

Cargill, Inc.

While concrete, logistical items such as household goods shipments or home marketing assistance receive priority treatment in corporate relocation programs, for employees and their families, the “soft” transitional and settling-in services can make the difference between a successful and a failed relocation. As Maura Carey and her panel discussed, the complex process of relocation is hard on the entire family, not just the employee.

Relocating employees and their spouses want and arguably need several “touch points” during the relocation process, where they can receive assistance ranging from the concrete (locating daycare for small children) to the less tangible (ideas for helping teenagers adjust to their new surroundings). Companies can incorporate introductions to social and job networks, school assessments and recommendations, and specialty tours of shopping and cultural areas into their relocation programs in order to ease the family’s transition. Not only are such services relevant from a comfort standpoint, but they are also important from a business perspective. Effective destination services should increase transferee acceptance rates as well as provide a tangible, differentiated benefit for recruitment and employee development.

In order to illustrate some of the points made during the discussion, Sandy Palmer, manager of corporate relocation for Cargill Inc., reviewed a case study. During the last four months of 2007, Cargill conducted a Transition Support Services pilot program. One key finding was that transferees and their families unequivocally enjoyed and appreciated having someone to walk them through the settling-in process, check-in frequently and assist with the “soft” transition issues early in the assignment. Amy Carter, global supply chain manager for Intel, referred to the family’s first two weeks in the new location as the “Golden Window” of opportunity to make sure that they feel comfortable in the new surroundings. Failure to achieve this comfort can sour the entire assignment or even prevent the employee from accepting a future relocation assignment. Basic “niche” services such as stocking the refrigerator prior to the family’s arrival in the new home or getting the children involved in activities immediately can help the transition, Amy explained.

Building on the comments of the other panel members, Peggy Love, president and CEO of Full Circle International Relocation, Inc. asserted that destination services must involve two elements, local knowledge and a focus on the adjustment process for the family. Also, she emphasized the importance of customizing the transition program for each family because the success factors vary for each family’s situation.

Keeping in mind that Peggy cited family concerns as the biggest reason for an employee turning down an assignment, companies cannot overlook transition services when designing their corporate relocation programs. Even domestic transferees can receive tremendous help from a one to two day orientation in their new area.  When the employee and the family experience a smooth relocation transition, it not only mitigates stress and inconvenience, but it also allows the employee to focus more quickly on the reason for the relocation in the first place: the job.

What transition services are your transferees and assignees asking for to support their success in the new location?

Kathryn Cassidy

Vice President/General Manager, Global Assignment Services

SIRVA Relocation

Julian Yates

Vice President, Global Client Services

SIRVA Relocation

As its title illustrates, Julian and Kathryn’s presentation this morning explored the fundamentals of global relocation and the essential elements of a successful relocation.  After discussing the wide-ranging reasons for globalization itself—which range from a push for technology improvements to a desire to add diversity—Julian and Kathryn discussed why companies’ have the need to relocate employees internationally in the first place.  Many drivers of global relocation are similar to those for domestic relocation, such as relocating an employee to mange a special project.  As attendees learned, however, global relocations present new challenges not present in domestic relocations.

Relocating an employee and his or her family internationally simply creates more room for problems to arise.  As Julian and Kathryn explained, issues can stem from administrative tasks, such as obtaining visas and work permits, or from the many aspects of situating the transferee’s family in the new location, such as finding schools for the children or employment for the spouse.  Furthermore, relocating an employee globally versus domestically presents more cultural, financial and logistical concerns that the company must consider.  Despite the challenges of relocating employees internationally, Julian and Kathryn provided attendees with best practices that companies can use to ensure successful global relocations for their employees. 

Developing and maintaining a strong global relocation policy topped their list as the most important factor for successful global relocations.  In addition to employing a good policy as the foundation for an effective global relocation, Julian and Kathryn explained that careful candidate selection can improve the success of global relocations.  By screening possible candidates and selecting only adaptable, flexible people for global assignments, companies can avoid potential problems from the start.  Using benchmarks, performing cost estimates and analyses, using proven providers, and having a repatriation and reintegration plan were just a few of the additional best practices Julian and Kathryn gave attendees to keep in mind as they explore global relocation within their own companies.

What challenges has your company overcome in dealing with global relocations?

The Panel:

Tim Callahan

Senior Vice President,

Global Sales

SIRVA, Inc.

Cris Collie, CAE

Executive Vice President

Worldwide ERC

Paul Kinsinger

Clinical Professor of Business Intelligence

Thunderbird School of Global Management

Kathryn Cassidy

Vice President/General Manager,

Global Assignment Services

SIRVA Relocation

Andy Ironside

Global Head,

HR International Services

Deutsche Bank

Marita Stricklin

Director,

Relocation

Abbott

Before leading a panel discussion on the 2008 relocation industry outlook, Cris Collie introduced his own ideas on the topic.  Focusing on “what’s great and what’s not so great in ’08”, Cris discussed a number of factors affecting the relocation industry. He began with the housing market; Cris explained that although the media has dwelled on the poor state of the real estate market, not all markets have crashed. Furthermore, the relocation industry has the talent and skills to handle this market and must remain confident moving forward.

Cris also discussed today’s workforce, including the battle for acquiring workforce talent as well as the diversity of today’s four-generation workforce. While it can be difficult for companies to attract and retain talent, a lucrative relocation policy, such as one with home sale assistance, can play an important role in attracting new hires. Additionally, companies must consider the diversity within today’s workforce, which is comprised of traditionalists, baby boomers, Xs and Ys generations. Aspirations, sources of motivation, and personal characteristics vary dramatically among these generations. Companies must consider these differences when creating relocation policies in order to develop programs that will appeal to as well as be effective for their entire workforce. 

Additionally, Cris was adamant that we use our workforce to bring innovation into the industry and discover “what’s next?” for corporate relocation.  To illustrate his point, he cited a number of examples of missed opportunities that should have been logical next steps for companies.  For instance, why did IBM miss the chance to become Microsoft?  Why didn’t VISA or MasterCard invent PayPal?  How did NBC, CBS and ABC all fail to develop CNN?  The relocation industry must strive for innovation in order to avoid such mistakes and to grow.

Following further predictions and analysis of the factors affecting this year’s industry outlook, Cris opened up his discussion to an expert panel that was able to offer several valuable insights into the industry, especially from a global perspective. Of the challenges facing the relocation industry in the coming years, many stem from global events and trends. 

In countries with strong populations and with a seemingly endless potential workforce, such as India and China, growing pains continue. For example, as Andy noted, Deutsche Bank has experienced that 64% of new hires do not initially show up for work in India, creating a logistical nightmare. In China, where families are limited to one child by law, most children grow up without the experience of siblings or teamwork within a family. Paul pointed out that this leaves those workers less inclined towards collaboration, creating difficulties for companies who want to incorporate the Chinese into their team-oriented workforces. The panel also discussed how the supply of both low-cost manufacturing and service workers are running out in India and China, which Paul predicted will force Africa and the Middle East to join the global economy as resources for inexpensive labor. Also in relation to global mobility and the relocation industry, the panel touched upon such topics as using global relocation policy in a strategic role for business development, the effect of a possible U.S. recession on global mobility, and using more diligence in selecting global relocation suppliers.

In addition, the panel also provided attendees with insights into the relocation industry from a domestic standpoint, such as the high occurrence of loss-on-sale in today’s market.  As Tim noted, developing strict programs, such as those that require employees to use preferred brokers, can decrease the potential for loss-on-sale. 

What is your own projection for the 2008 relocation industry?

As a kick-off to my blog, A Closer Look at Global Relocation, I wanted to introduce myself and explain what I plan to discuss over the next couple months.

As a global relocation services leader, I am in contact with a variety of global mobility customers and providers on a day-to-day basis and I’ve found that there are some topics that seem to be of interest to most professionals whenever they relocate employees—be it the U.S., China or anywhere else in the world. Since I have been able to benchmark and study these highly relevant topics, I thought it would make the most sense to start this blog with some of this information. With that said, I will be initiating a discussion on barriers to assignment acceptance and how to overcome them, then I will be covering the latest trends in relocating to and within China and the true cost of an expatriate assignment, how to measure and track—all of which I feel will instigate a solid discussion on the challenges and barriers facing global mobility programs and introduce some best practices for overcoming these obstacles.

Are there any other topics that you feel would be relevant to cover? I am open to suggestions.