How to write a tiered relocation policy

Are you in charge of your company’s employee relocations? When companies grow and begin offering relocation as part of their benefit packages, it often falls on the human resource benefits manager to write their company’s relocation policy. But where do you start?

When it comes to your company relocation policy, like other employee benefits in your company, a growing trend is offering a tiered policy that is based on the employee’s position or tenure with the company.  A tiered policy actually decreases the work required by the HR staff and eliminates the need to negotiate every employee relocation package individually. Having a one size fits all typically may leave you creating exceptions at every turn.

An example of a three tiered relocation policy is laid out like this: The highest tier covers everything in the added services categories and is typically reserved for executive level employees. Mid-management is a second-level tier and includes partial coverage of services.  And the lowest tier, typically reserved for hourly or non-management employees, covers the basics only.    

Services are grouped into several parts of the relocation process and usually help to develop your relocation policy. These parts include:

• Pack / load / unload – These basic services are generally included in all levels of relocation policies. By including packing in all relocation policies you’ll help to avoid issues down the road because often times the mover does some or all of the packing.
• Weight limits  - Policy weight limits are generally tiered based on the employee’s position in the company.
• Third Party Storage – The length of storage can vary based on the employee’s position in your company and type of move (one-way or two-way). For example, executives and managers are often only eligible for storage. Executives are typically offered 60 days storage and mid-managers 30 days.
• Car shipment – Typically the number of vehicles shipped increases based on the employee’s level in the company. Top tiered coverage typically covers two or more cars, the second level tier typically covers one car and may have a mileage requirement. The lowest tier usually does not cover car shipment.
• Third party specialty services – Policy coverage of third party services like crating large items for moving such as pianos, pool tables, and grandfather clocks can also vary based on the employee’s position in the company.  Examples of other third party services, usually part of executive relocation policies, can include: cleaning services at the origin and destination, appliance disconnect and reconnect services, and handyman services among others.
• Wine shipment – Wine shipment can be included, typically this service is reserved for the top tier of a relocation policy only.