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3.
You get slammed by hidden costs. Again, this problem
is less likely to be a concern to senior
managers at large companies,
who typically can expect to have all their expenses paid when
they
move. But less-senior professionals should manage expenses carefully.
Review your
company's relocation policies to make sure you know what
will and won't be covered.
Employees should keep in mind most
packages are
intended as an
assistance program, says
Pat
O'Connor, director of outsourcing programs
at Burnet Relocation, a Minneapolis
relocation management firm. "Don't
expect to be reimbursed for every dime," she says. If you
receive a
lump-sum payment package, wait before you rush out and buy a new
computer with the cash. Contrary to what
many
expect, employees rarely
make money or break even on such deals.
Further, many moving van lines have
complicated fee
structures and few
transferees
understand all the charges on
their invoice, says Brian
Fudenberg, vice president of sales and
marketing at
Burnet. You could
run up additional expenses for services you thought would be
part of
the standard package, such as assembling beds, bringing boxes down from
the attic,
using special crates
for fragile possessions, disconnecting
gas and electric appliances or even
shuttling your
possessions to a
trailer farther than 75 feet from your front door.
Additionally, timing is critical, Mr.
Fudenberg says. If things go
wrong with your closing or
some other aspect of your move that
requires
you to put your possessions in storage, be
prepared for sticker shock.
The first day of storage can be expensive and the total cost could
make
up 20% to 30% of your overall van-line bill, he says.
4.
You don't like the new community.
Often transferees
move into a new area without knowing
enough about it
and discover later
-- whether because of the schools, housing, commute or
culture
-- it's
not right for them, says Mr. Ransdell, whose firm provides transferees
with
unbiased
and independent evaluations of communities. To ensure a
good match,
employees may want to consider renting
for six
months
before deciding to
purchase a new
home there, he says.
5.
You're shocked by the cost of living.
This issue catches
some transferees by surprise,
especially employees moving from
the
Midwest to either coast. You can buy a lot more house
for $250,000 in
the Midwest than you can in, for example, the San Francisco Bay Area.
Many
companies will offer cost of living adjustments
or mortgage
financing to ease the financial
pain. But most transferees want to
replicate their lives and housing situation as quickly and
as easily
as
possible, says Mr. Otto. When they discover they can't, "they view
whatever
happens to them as a negative."
For instance, an executive earning
$70,000 who moves to New York City
from Bloomington,
Ind., would need to earn $159,456 to
maintain his
previous standard of living. But a move from
New York to Bloomington
would require only a $30,729 salary to stay even.
Who's
Transferring?
While the typical transferee hasn't changed much recently--most
transferees are still white men between the ages of 35 and 45 with two
children--workplace demographics are altering the profile, according to
a survey by Rochester, Wis.-based Runzheimer International.
An increasing number of relocating employees are under age 35 -- 43% in
1997, compared to 21% in 1996. Further, more are single -- a quarter of
transferees in 1997 compared to 16% in 1996. However, fewer transferees
have no children -- down to 10% of all transferees in 1997 from 18% in
1996.
Most transferees are in sales and marketing or executive management,
but a growing number are engineers or scientists. Additionally, more
transferees are ethnic minorities -- 18% in 1997 from 12% in 1996 -- or
women, 20% in 1997 compared to 16% in 1996.
--
Ms. Lorber is managing editor of the National Business Employment Weekly
*Information
courtesy Yahoo.com
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