Friday, December 2, 2011

THE CHALLENGE How to convince employees to relocate for work

This is a very informative article on the biggest challenge of relocating your company.
Specifically getting the employees to relocate with you =)
Many companies see the benefit of relocating for instance to the bay area.
But convincing all employees to make the move with the company is your biggest challenge!
read on blogophiles~


How to convince employees to relocate for work
BRYAN BORZYKOWSKI
From Wednesday's Globe and Mail
Published Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2011 6:00AM EST
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Every week, we will seek out expert advice to help a small or medium-sized company overcome a key issue it is facing in its business.

Since 2003, Kathryn Fraser has called Edmonton home. It’s where she went to university and where she started her mobile software company, Great Big Solutions Ltd.

And when she relocates her company, she wants her four employees to move with her.

Vancouver’s well-established tech community will offer Great Big Solutions more resources to assist its growth, says the owner and chief executive officer of the company that last year brought in revenue of $600,000.

“I’ve done a lot of work out there and there’s a really strong tech community. We could really take advantage of the area,” she says.

As well, she believes the focus in Edmonton is more on startups, so “it’s difficult to grow from here.”

She would like to bring all of her employees with her, rather than build a new work force from scratch. Her team, she says, knows Great Big Solutions’ products and customers, and has demonstrated hard work.

Ms. Fraser aims to move by the end of next year. She only recently told her team about her plans and, while supportive, none committed to a relocation.

Her staff still have plenty of time to make a decision and she knows she'll have some trouble persuading all of them to come – some have families, including working partners, and one has a young baby, as well as other ties to Edmonton.

The Challenge: When the company relocates, how can employees be enticed to move, too?

THE EXPERTS WEIGH IN

Dave MacKay, Ottawa-based president of Ceridian Canada

If she wants to move people to Vancouver, she needs to take care of the financial and emotional impact of the move.

The financial part could include covering costs for moving, real estate transaction fees on selling a house, commission fees for an agent and opportunities to travel back home to visit family.

But she also has to tell them that she’ll take care of the emotional aspects. She’ll need to help them find things like a new gym and hockey teams for their kids. The emotional challenges should not be on the employee – that’s key.

And be transparent. Ask the employees what it would take for them to move. Make sure they understand that this won’t be a painful process for them.

Stephen Cryne, president and CEO of Toronto-based Canadian Employee Relocation Council


http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/small-business/sb-managing/human-resources/how-to-convince-employees-to-relocate-for-work/article2253633/?utm_medium=Feeds%3A%20RSS%2FAtom&utm_source=Home&utm_content=2253633

1 comment:

  1. True. Convincing all employees to relocate when you move your company to a new area is a huge challenge.

    Cheers,
    Mike @ Relocation - AlwaysMoving Stuff

    ReplyDelete