The global situations that made headlines just a few months ago, while may have lessened in media coverage, they are still very real and causing issues in the mobility industry. The war in the Ukraine is still going on and recent talks with Russia and China have caught the attention of the world.  Issues including shipping challenges, continue to put a strain on ocean and air freight, as well as the increased number of severe weather events have also had an impact.

With 2022 officially in the rear-view mirror, we hate to say it but before you know it, it will be the summer of 2023 and the influx of intern season.  Hopefully this year transports the relocation industry back to what everyone was used to pre-pandemic where everything was flowing together, no shipping delays, no difficulty in booking temporary housing, no rush or difficult moves.  But is that a real expectation?

As of March 27, 2023 the Canadian government announced the following amendment to the Prohibition on the Purchase of Residential Property by Non-Canadians Act (the Act for short). Odyssey has been following this act closely as well as working with Canadian contacts to keep an eye on the ongoing changes, as it impacts the global mobility industry. RMCs and Corporates alike have been advocating for change since the Act went into effect on January 1st of this year.

As the holiday season approaches, and 2022 comes to a close, the relocation industry is still experiencing an influx of volume that is typically seen in the springtime. The real estate market continues to change- mortgage interest rates increase, and home prices are starting to fall. This enables buyers to be more thorough in their search and not feel like they need to buy sight unseen or wave inspections.

It appears that things are slowing down a bit in the industry – at least that’s the buzz from our network partners. Rising interest rates are reducing the demand for home purchases. The people that sold their homes at a premium, still find themselves in alternative living situations because they can no longer purchase the home that they were hoping to get into. Refinancing has all but ceased to occur, which has freed up the appraisal and inspection availability.

Is your goal to create an organization which embraces the full spectrum and power of diversity? Seeking out and valuing diversity in all its forms will ensure that all talents are fully utilized and aligned with the organization’s talent, culture, brand and business development goals. In order to ensure your employee mobility program is seeking out and valuing diversity in all its forms, there are four steps we recommend getting started.

Whether you want to use your existing supplier partnerships you’ve had for years, or you need to tap into a relocation management company’s supply chain for some flexibility, determining the right mix of suppliers is key for any company.

Odyssey is committed to developing mutually beneficial relationships with suppliers, especially those that run their business philosophically similar to ours. This includes suppliers of small, minority and women-owned, disadvantaged/disabled, veteran-owned, and LGBTQA business enterprises. We help you create a high-performing supply chain that focuses on both cost and quality. These carefully curated relationships with hundreds of companies globally are what help us make the relocation process a seamless one for the transferees we serve.

Utilizing your mobility program to attract and retain better talent isn’t always as easy as it looks. However, understanding how to make our program work for your company, can pave the path for a new stream of talent to start looking your direction. So how do you get your program to work for you? Let’s start by being able to understand the impact mobility has on Talent Aquisition and Talent Management.

Being able to answer questions such as, “Has your job acceptance rate increased, remained the same or decreased when offering pre-decision services?” “How many offers are declined because of the lack of, or insufficient relocation benefits?” and “What is the job acceptance rate when a relocation package is included versus excluded?”  When you are in a candidate market, like we currently are, relocation benefits can play a huge role in getting the people you are targeting to apply.

You know that you want to update your policy, and you’re trying to figure out where to start! A well-balanced relocation policy design is something that takes time and focus to properly identify. We have determined four critical areas that you should look into in order to find your perfect balance.

If your employee is selling their home right now, or thinking about doing it soon, they should know that today’s housing market is unlike anything we’ve seen or experienced lately, maybe ever. Making sure that you are equipped with the tools to sell your employee’s house is crucial as we experience a down market.

Choosing the right listing agent is another tool that can have an impact on how efficiently and effectively you can sell a house. Data shows that the top 5% of agents across the U.S. sell homes for as much as 10% more than the average real estate agent.

Odyssey helps select and source the right agent for your employees by looking for agents that:

• Have a robust marketing strategy
• Set pricing validated by supporting historical and comparable data
• Experience in the subject marketplace
• Network reach

Have you thought about how metrics within your relocation program can make you think about your program differently? What data are you tracking? How are you using that data to make decisions to improve your program? And how are you tracking the net result of the metrics you track?  We looked at three metrics that can help identify success for your company.

1. Employee Attraction due to Relocation Benefits
2. Assignment Completion Rate
3. Retention Post Assignment/Relocation

This week we will talk about the first touchpoint in the employee journey with your company – Employee Attraction due to Relocation Benefits.

This week we cover the Assignment Completion Rate, in which we look at how important it is to track your employee through the process of their assignment and analyze if assignments are being completed.

While not ideal for any company, employees can determine at any point in their assignment that the job isn’t right for them. The factors that lead into that decision can be a wide variety of reasons – personally or professionally.

Causes of Low Completion Rate

With the new normal in the workforce of being able to work “from wherever in the world” you are, the approach of short-term mor long-term assignments have been put in the spotlight. The need to develop organizational and managerial knowledge, is not a skill that companies value, especially within their leadership positions.

This week we cover how the importance of your employee finishing their assignment can impact your mobility program, in what is called the Retention Assignment/Relocation.

A majority of companies fail at retaining their employees’ long term after an assignment, which doesn’t lend well to a successful business model. What data can companies look at to help increase their assignment completion rate?

Your employee is considering moving on after their assignment, let’s look into a few reasons why that may be the case. 

In instances where the completion of an assignment was considered to have failed, there is a possibility that there was lack of communication or a misunderstanding about the perceived benefits of the assignment.

The Port of Felixstowe is the largest container port in the United Kingdom, and accounts for and estimated 48% of all containers processed within the U.K. is facing a labor strike that will undoubtedly cause delays within the global supply chain.  Similarly, the Port of Liverpool has been notified of a planned strike, which is sure to worsen port conditions and delays. So what does this mean for the mobility industry?

While there is no magic wand to wave to make sure your transferring employees household goods, or temporary living situations are void from the effects of this strike, being prepared to answer some common questions can help prepare you and your employee for what is happening.

We sat down with our Director, Global Supply Chain Management, Oliver Dubester to help better understand how this labor strike influences the global mobility industry.

With the summer of 2022 slated to be one of the busiest summers the relocation industry has ever seen, it will be critical to set the appropriate expectations with leadership & transferees. The moving industry is still crippled with driver and crew shortages, and now with the rising costs of fuel, and booking volumes that are already 10- to 12% where they were last year, it just complicates things.

Today we celebrate ONE YEAR in London as we opened a second office as part of the wider plan to service client’s global relocation needs.

The EMEA branch of the business has been up and running since July 2021, and during this time as various countries and companies emerge from a pandemic. We understand just how important talent management has become for our clients, and the goal was and continues to be to put together the best global team to help support our client’s global relocation needs. In addition to opening up an office, we have made several key hires in recent months that expanded the company’s global leadership and operations. Hiring a team that has a vast understanding of international relocation and partner management was important to continue providing the high-touch, high-quality, customized programs that our clients are accustomed to.

Our Home Marketing Assistance Program is available to every home owning employee, regardless of company sponsored benefits. Your employee can forget about the stressful real estate stuff and thrive in their new role, as our consultants create a customized marketing plan to sell their home. Want to learn more about how our Home Marketing Assistance Program can help you sell your home? Click the image below to watch a short explainer video.

So far this year, we have seen unprecedented volume and continued challenges within the supply chain realm. Port challenges aren’t going away any time soon, and increased pricing on the “moving” (i.e. Household Goods, Vehicle shipments, etc.) parts of the relocation industry are holding steady.   While things don’t seem to be easing up any time soon, these are fluid situations, and they can change daily.

As COVID continues to wreak havoc with highly contagious variants, countries around the world are taking necessary actions which means borders are shutting down, we are seeing restrictions on entry, etc. that continue to cause a domino effect of challenges.