www.cartus.com
Why use a relocation company? is rarely a core competency for companies relocating their employees to meet business needs. Professional support in this area is important in order to answer the kinds of challenges companies without a dedicated relocation staff face, like: Resources. A lack of experienced support people to respond adequately to fluctuating relocation volume. VIP Treatment. The need to meet the demands of key employees and new executive hires requiring or expecting high-touch care. Tax Positioning. A relocation benefit program that does not qualify for IRS tax protection. Supply Chain Management. A lack of experience and leverage in utilizing verifiably high-performing, low-cost suppliers. Total Spend. No means of determining the cost of relocation to the organization and therefore an inability to plan and budget accurately. Why use a relocation company? Outsourcing Benefits The value of a managed relocation program, more than just removing the need for you to focus on administrative functions, includes four mutually supportive elements:
Lower Costs The main purpose of a relocation program is to help the employee sell their current home quickly and to make a smooth, productive transition to the new location. The better these aims are met, the lower the cost. When your employee, with professional marketing help, locates a buyer, costs are minimized by avoiding the need to acquire and then sell the employee s home. At the same time, helping the employee effectively coordinate the sale of the current home and the purchase of the new one limits the often needless expense of temporary accommodations and storage of household goods. Additionally, valuable tax protection is available using an IRS-compliant program and supplier leverage keeps vendor costs as low as possible. Why use a relocation company? Higher Employee Satisfaction and Productivity Objective, independent support makes employees more effective at balancing personal and job-related issues during a transition. Having a dedicated Consultant to guide them through the relocation process offers stability and allows the employee and Consultant to develop a productive, less stressful and more efficient relationship. This support provides more than comfort, however, as a managed relocation program helps employees financially, allowing them to realize the highest price for their property. For VIPs, comprehensive service is critical and expected. Moreover, an attractive relocation program can play an important part in your company s competitive recruiting efforts. Greater Control of Exceptions Whether a company s relocation policy is fully developed or just a set of customary practices, exceptions often erode the discipline of best practices and budgets. Everyone who relocates becomes a special case and hiring managers without firm guidelines often offer whatever they feel is needed to compete in recruiting. A relocation program managed externally creates an effective buffer for the company and helps separate valid requests from those that are harder to justify. Controlling leakage in the execution of a benefit program can be as important as good design and is facilitated by an outsourced structure. No Surprises An outsourced relocation program transfers responsibility for executing a corporate benefit that by its nature involves many variables. Professional support removes liabilities that would otherwise increase cost or even create information security or tax compliance problems. It means, above all, proactive professional management that supplies valuable expertise in an area your company should not be expected to develop.
Elements of a Program The following section lists the major components of an outsourced relocation program, as managed by Cartus. They operate at two levels: Outsourced Services manage the counseling and financial functions that support your employees and provide wing-to-wing program management. Mobility Management focuses on the logistical elements of the move, principally departure and destination real estate mechanics and the shipment of household goods. Most of the elements relate to homeowners, but a comparable process holds for renters. Elements of a Program Total Mobility Solution Outsourced Services Managing the total program Policy Counseling Expense Administration Mobility Management The logistics of relocating Departure Services Marketing Assistance Home Sale Buyer Value Option Destination Services Home Finding Mortgage Rental Assistance Transition Services Moving Services Temporary Housing Outsourced Services A Total Mobility Solution means relieving you of all program administration responsibilities from communicating policy features to handling all financial functions. Policy Counseling. We communicate all benefits to your employee, organize and schedule suppliers, provide a single point of contact throughout the process, and keep the relocation timeline moving forward in a proactive and cost-effective manner. Expense Processing. We manage and pay all employee and vendor expenses. We also track expenses and supply reports to payroll for these expenses, ensuring the correct tax treatment is provided, and provide summary cost reporting.
Departure Services A successful relocation depends on preparing the employee to execute the many steps involved in selling the current home (or terminating the current lease, if the employee is a renter). This focuses the employee s attention on making the decisions that keep the cost of the program down, specifically finding a buyer quickly and avoiding delays in securing and occupying the new residence. A typical program includes: Marketing Assistance. We provide assistance with broker selection, preparing the home for sale, determining an effective list price, and marketing the home productively. This meets the employee s desire for the best price on the current home by focusing both the employee and the real estate agent on the actions that will keep the home ahead of its competition in the market. Home Sale Assistance (Guaranteed Buyout). For employees eligible for company purchase of the home, we establish the home s value through independent appraisals, help negotiate the most effective terms of sale with the employee s buyer in a taxcompliant Amended Value sale. We also make the employee s equity available to permit the prompt purchase of a home in the new location. If the employee is not successful in finding a buyer and accepts the guaranteed offer to purchase the home, we take the home into inventory and pursue the fastest and least expensive sale of the home through our resale department. Buyer Value Option (BVO). For employees not eligible for a buyout, we provide both selling support and the funding of equity. We help the employee negotiate and close a sale generated through Marketing Assistance, all under a potentially taxinsulated transaction that can eliminate the need to gross up the employee for taxable income resulting from reimbursements for expenses in the sale of the house. Elements of a Program Destination Services Destination Services pull together the critical components of area orientation, home finding, and settling in. Home Finding Assistance. We provide your transferring employees with professional counseling and coordination to assist in the overall home finding and settling-in process. This service integrates new home selection with the sale of the existing home, making certain that employees make the best choices based on affordability as well as community and neighborhood preferences. Mortgage Services. Through a sister company we make available a variety of mortgage packages created specifically for relocating employees that give them a wide choice in products and the ability to qualify for higher loan amounts. Pre-approval and direct bill services make the home purchase process easier.
Rental Assistance. We assist transferring employees who would prefer to rent rather than purchase a home in the new location by providing an information package, area tour, apartment tours, and/or assistance with lease negotiation through our Rental Network. Transition Services The shipment of household goods and location of temporary living accommodations represent a coordination challenge for relocating employees. Using our performancebased network of movers and temporary living providers, we make this transition a smooth one for employees and their families. These services include: Moving Services. We coordinate and manage the timely shipment of household goods for your employees, even in the difficult high-volume season. Utilizing our leverage through a preferred network of carriers, we are able to provide excellent service and outstanding discounts based on our negotiated volumes. We also coordinate any necessary storage-in-transit, manage the shipment of automobiles, and actively assist in claim resolution. Temporary Living. We coordinate temporary living solutions to meet almost every temporary housing need, from short-term to extended-stay accommodations. Elements of a Program
Getting Started With Cartus We can create a custom relocation program to meet your organization s needs and dedicate an Account Manager to oversee all of its parts. For your employees, we will provide a Consultant who will serve as a single point of contact to guide them through every phase of their moves. When you outsource to Cartus, we become an extension of your organization in all respects. We faithfully execute your program by taking on the time-consuming, day-today tasks of counseling your employees on your policy, handling employee disbursements and vendor payments, managing supplier performance, and reporting relocation-related expenses to your payroll. But more than these logistical functions, we become an active advisor and advocate for you and your employees, helping you avoid roadblocks and delays and helping you deliver a consistently valuable and cost-efficient benefit. Getting Started with Cartus Implementing Your Program Once you have finalized the design of your program, the road to implementation is simple and direct. We execute an agreement codifying the program and prepare administratively to assume responsibility for your program. Our implementation is organized, straightforward, and user-friendly, allowing us to begin your program quickly and on sound footing. Your Policy If you already have a policy in place, we can work with you to fine tune it to match your business objectives, whether they include high-touch treatment of VIPs, creating an effective recruiting tool, or other goals. If not, we can provide you with an effective model policy that will promote the following benefits: Employee Involvement Proper incentives will prompt employees to become more successful in marketing their homes, eliminating inventory properties and removing a non-productive employee concern. Appropriate Employee-Level Policies A policy with tiered benefits that apply to executive, professional, and new-hire levels (at a minimum) eliminates unnecessary support, at one extreme, and reduces requests for exceptions to an insufficient policy, at the other. Cartus Credentials Cartus is backed by more than 50 years of industry experience, and relocation is our only business. The brief list of credentials on the following page highlights our success in providing a simple, comprehensive solution that can be implemented quickly and seamlessly.
Cartus Credentials Experience Over 50 years supporting corporate relocation clients Leadership Ranked as the #1 relocation provider by HRO Today magazine Service Excellence Customer care that is true to our Inspiring Purpose to deliver an exceptional experience to every customer, every day Customer Satisfaction Nearly 7 out of 10 of the employees we serve rate our performance as Top Block, meaning we couldn t have done any better, with an overall satisfaction rate in excess of 98% Scale Over 2,800 employees globally to assist your needs National & Global Reach Eleven office locations including six in the United States, as well as offices in the U.K., China, and Singapore, providing relocation support in over 160 countries Supplier Management Reliable, cost-effective support services delivered through a performance-based supplier network Stability Financial strength that comes from being part of Realogy, the largest dedicated real estate corporation in the world Getting Started with Cartus For more information about our products and services, contact your account executive or email deliveringmore@cartus.com.