“Sit back, relax and enjoy the flight.” That’s what the flight attendant usually says upon completing their safety instructions after take-off. What if transitioning from your current Relocation Management Company (RMC) were just as easy? What if you had someone else navigating the entire process? Imagine having someone else doing all the coordination, communications, and legwork for you, your global workforce, and your service providers.
Switching Relocation Management Companies
Well, it’s not really such a far-fetched dream… if you work with the right RMC. You might be thinking you’ll still have to train your staff, including everyone internally from payroll to global HR to finance to accruals, plus train and acclimate your providers! Think about all the processes that must be communicated between your staff and your new RMC, not to mention that your RMC must also learn and understand your culture so that they can train their employees. Sounds like a lot of work. The good news is that the right RMC will do all this for you.
How exactly does your RMC accomplish all that? More importantly, if you’re the main internal contact at your company, how much of your time is still required?
“We’ll do all the heavy lifting, we only need the client’s relocation policy,” says WHR Global Director of Global Operations, Chris Lagerman. “After we obtain the client’s policy, we’ll assemble a transition plan for program management. We’ll typically spend a half to full day with the client, confirming our proposed plan meets their expectations before we execute. We’re working behind the scenes to coordinate all the applicable processes; once we get the green light, we manage everything.”
For example, WHR might ask the client how they reimburse employee expenses or what documentation is needed to justify a payment? WHR will coordinate a meeting directly with the client’s payroll person to sort out these answers. Maybe the client has four individuals who can authorize employee transfers, or maybe the client has 20 corporate recruiters in multiple locations. Once WHR knows who these individuals are, WHR will set up a 1-hour training meeting (virtual or in-person), to train all on how to use WHR’s technology.
The average timeline from choosing WHR as your RMC and transition completion is typically 30 days, but during those 30 days, WHR is doing all the hard work. The client contact only needs to spend a half to full day with WHR answering questions, and then WHR takes over and manages everything else. Some clients may think they have to train all their preferred suppliers on how to work with WHR. In reality, WHR will handle all the training and more than likely WHR is already working with these same suppliers.
It really is that easy to make the switch to a new RMC! Considering the move for your organization?
