More pay, more experience, more adventure – what more could they want? Unfortunately, decisions as life changing as relocation aren’t typically made in the office by a vote of one. They are made by entire families around the kitchen table or across living room floors.
When employees decline your relocation offer, do you ever wonder what came up in that family meeting? If you don’t ask, most of them won’t tell you.
Before your employees take the relocation offer to their kitchen chopping block, ask these two questions:
1. Who will be moving with your employees?
Often, it’s not just single employees who are asked to take on a new assignment. When your employees are partnered up, the spouse’s happiness is the most important factor before accepting the new job. Nearly 80% are also dependent on the spouse’s second income, according to the Families and Work Institute.
And if you think moving is only stressful for the people involved, then you’re barking up the wrong tree. For pet parents, ensuring Seamus and Shadow feel at home in their sniffing grounds is critical to their relocation success.
Coaching can help candidates identify and find solutions that eliminate preconceived notions about a location that would otherwise cause them to decline the offer. For example, spousal job search programs can address continuing education opportunities, industry transitions and job search strategies with the couple prior to the move.
2. What special needs do your employees have?
Some needs are obvious: grocery stores, yoga classes, hospitals and schools. But some are not: children with learning disabilities or gifted abilities, live-in elderly parents, or requirements for bringing house plants across states. This is where questions about the new community and concerns about the unknown can overshadow the potential benefits in your relocation offer.
Information is a key part of any successful relocation. As easy as it is to just “Google it,” the bottomless pit of data available online isn’t always useful or easy to digest. Professional researchers can save your employees valuable time during the decision process.
They can utilize proprietary subscription databases to quickly uncover the most recent and accurate information on top subjects, like neighborhood demographic information, physician referrals and daycare reviews. Oftentimes, researchers are also able to provide information on topics having to do with religion or ethnicity that real estate agents are legally prohibited from discussing.
Through a comprehensive pre-decision policy, you can offer employees a confidential assessment, coaching, and research to help them evaluate these and many other important family, lifestyle, and career concerns. Identify and overcome barriers before your first-choice candidates have the chance to turn your offer down- learn more now!
