The Prodigal Assignee

Imagine you have sent your talented Gen Y to a new city with a tidy lump sum check in their pocket (or on a prepaid VISA card, please!)  Maybe their only other move in life was back and forth to college with Dad and Mom’s help.  Now they are loosed on the world with important tasks to complete to get to their great new role on the golden career ladder.

But they aren’t sure where to turn for help, for services.  How do they get oriented to the new city?  What are the rental practices they need to understand?  Furniture? New driver’s license? Etc etc

Too often these future masters of the universe run out of money, and come back to their employer with hand out.  Do they get another stipend or are they really on their own?

Give them the tools at the front-end.  Complete analysis of reputable service providers.  Use your leverage to get them a better deal.  Remember, they are moving to help your company succeed.  

Compliance - keeping our promises

Much energy has been devoted to GDPR compliance; we have all learned that it’s now a GDPR world.  While we’re all exhaling a bit after the sprint to May 25, let’s not forget the day-day mundane need for contract management.  We promise in our agreements to comply with all laws, and so we should. Our clients - employers, relocation mgmt companies, suppliers - all expect promises to be kept.  Therefore, we need to keep a sharp eye on program activity and performance and align it with the promises made.

New customers with special needs, customer-specific pricing, customized services all are part and parcel of the flexible nature of relocation.  In each case we need to document and track as time goes by.  This is particularly true of agreements with “most favored pricing” clauses.  And don’t forget those regulatory changes that hit you know where!

Contract management is part of client service management.  Look often, be alert to impending renewal dates and added services that were promised at a client review.  Remember too that evergreen contracts are not always a good idea.

Diagnostics to Identify and Cure Risk

A periodic review of program home sale management may be useful.  Taking a selection of closed transactions through the process in place, compared to the process actually followed turns stones over into the sunlight.  For example, on a group of 100 files, find out how often brokers outside of standard were used and compare to inventory results. 

What if on the 100 files, 25% were outside of standard, resulting in 20% increase in home sale loss and  carry cost?  The aggregate result would lead to, once corrected, a substantial refinement in service results and program performance.

The exercise will likely reveal risk mitigation opportunities, whether due to process errors or changes in needs.  Process changes may be needed, systems or forms or reports may be added, policy changes may be identified, insurance coverage issues uncovered.  (inspections, CLUE, etc)  We can help.