Today, businesses are looking for innovative ways to manage their mobility programs and deliver the right mobile employee experience. Yet, current economic conditions are exerting pressure on firms to cut costs. In fact, a recent Cartus pulse survey revealed that rising global costs in a difficult macroeconomic environment is the leading challenge for global mobility professionals in 2023. 

Rising costs have meant HR and mobility professionals must seek ways to reduce costs to offset market increases. A Worldwide ERC report found, for domestic permanent transfers within the United States, there’s a projected 9.78% cost increase for homeowners and a projected 8.81% cost increase for renters in 2023 compared to 2022. These costs are largely driven by soaring home prices, high interest rates, higher household goods shipping costs, and limited housing supply. Inflation is also causing companies to face higher relocation costs, although, on a positive note, there have been gradual decreases in recent months. 

Despite these economic conditions, mobility remains critical to business to win the talent war and provide the right level of duty of care, with almost half of companies (48%) anticipating move volumes to remain unchanged compared to 2022 and an additional 37% expecting move volume to increase this year. In fact, Worldwide ERC discovered that U.S. domestic permanent transfer volumes are projected to be 5% higher on average in 2023 than 2022. 

So, how can global mobility teams move the same amount of (or more) people as last year, while cutting costs? When it comes to delivering destination services (DS) for less, Relocity helps in three key ways:

1. Reducing transferee time in temporary housing.
2. Offering hourly billing.
3. Innovating with Relocity Guide.

1. Reducing transferee time in temporary housing

Temporary housing — which includes hotels, Airbnbs, corporate housing, condominium rentals, home rentals, serviced apartments, and executive rentals — is a necessary and important part of relocation. As the sixth most expensive relocation component for U.S. domestic permanent transfers, some temporary housing costs in the U.S. were up 30-40% in 2022. In fact, nightly hotel rates are projected to increase 4.5-8.2% in 2023. However, the Corporate Housing Providers Association explains that some experts expect a “...decline in some markets as the market corrects for this high pricing…”

While cost is a key consideration for firms, transferees are focused on smooth transitions. Establishing housing before or shortly after arriving in-destination immensely helps transferees get situated, feel at home, and stay productive in their new city.

To help mobile employees thrive in destinations quickly, Relocity performs home-finding services before talent leaves origin locations. As a result, once mobile employees land in-destination, they can concentrate on settling in — without scrambling to find housing. 

The typical timeline of the rental search process (before move-in) stretches 60-90 days for early browsing, 30-60 days for touring, and 30 days for applications. At Relocity, we achieved the following outcomes during 2022’s peak volumes:

• An average of 13.25 days from arrival to lease-sign date.
• An average of 12.6 days between the lease-sign date and move-in date.

This level of performance allows us to secure roughly 35% of leases prior to transferee arrival in new cities and reduce spending on temporary housing. While each mobility program is different, Relocity generally can drive cost savings for firms through our efficient in-origin home-finding processes and emphasis on helping talent settle into new communities upon arrival.

2. Offering hourly billing

Traditional half- and full-day destination services packages can result in paying for unnecessary hours. That’s why Relocity, the first in the industry to offer a revolutionary hourly billing model, rethought typical pricing structures by:

• Allowing you to select the number of hours you provide mobile employees.
• Billing only for completed hours.
• Providing the flexibility you need to create tiers that work for your firm. Our domestic and international thresholds are usually lower than those of other destination services providers (DSPs).

Our approach also improves the mobile employee experience by aligning closer to the true relocation journey. Transferees get the exact services they need at each milestone typically for a lower cost.

Relocity’s average utilization across all closed packages is around 90-92%, yielding 8-10% built-in savings. Organizations conducting as few as 100+ moves per year can benefit from six-figure cost savings of up to 24%. We provide our clients a quick, customized cost-saving estimate when evaluating move types.

3. Innovating with Relocity Guide

For businesses looking for cost-effective destination services and rental assistance that also streamline the relocation process and improve the mobile employee experience, we have created a 100% digital solution: Relocity Guide. Available throughout the continental United States and select international locations, Guide is a native mobile app that provides mobile employees with personalized relocation services, powered by our world-class technology platform. 

Relocity Guide is a high-value/low-cost option for lump sum populations, including interns and candidates. It provides personalized self-service relocation guidance and support at a lower price than host-led, full-service destination services and rental assistance. With Relocity Guide, you can prioritize financial prudence, risk mitigation, and positive employee experience. Guide ensures Duty of Care by guiding talent to relocate into safe communities and neighborhoods, while keeping your finance department satisfied with the cost and impressing your talent with personalized, easy-to-use, and on-demand relocation assistance.

Relocity delivers Guide via tiered SaaS-based pricing, allowing you to tailor your investment based on your program’s specific needs. Whether you’re moving intern populations, pre-hires and job candidates, and short- and long-term assignees or taking care of business travelers, Relocity Guide’s pricing structure allows you to support all of your relocating talent.

Another way Relocity drives cost savings is through our Guide marketplace, which provides access to trusted service providers that deliver affordable and self-service relocation services. While relocation management companies (RMCs) typically handle full-service providers, Guide’s marketplace caters to tech-savvy users who prefer making their own relocation decisions and completing essential steps digitally. To support this demographic, our marketplace and vendors enable transferees to access self-service options and save in the process. Transferees can choose from a curated selection of our preferred providers or you can add your own trusted partners to further enhance your DS benefit. 

With supplier discounts and waived fees (including apartment applications) resulting from our partnerships, the Guide marketplace adds an extra layer of savings for transferees receiving lump sums, stretching their stipends further and giving firms more flexibility around policy-building. Ultimately, Relocity Guide allows you to deliver the same or a higher level of value to transferees for a lower program cost.

Achieving cost reduction with Relocity

In conclusion, Relocity helps global mobility teams reduce costs in multiple ways. By helping transferees find homes fast, we reduce time in temporary housing. By charging hourly for our services, we remove the excess cost of traditional half- and full-day packages and ensure the benefits you’re giving transferees truly align with the relocation journey, increasing the value of your program and improving the mobile employee experience. Lastly, by delivering Relocity Guide with its SaaS-based pricing and marketplace, we look out for both your and your transferees’ bottom line, while enhancing the mobile employee experience.

While the cost-cutting environment is never fun, it gives global mobility teams the opportunity to reassess their programs, focus on how to deliver the best results, and discover innovative solutions. Partnering with innovative providers that have reimagined traditional practices can enhance your ability to get the right people to the right place at the right time — for the right cost. 

Ready to unlock cost savings for your program?

Learn more about unlocking mobility cost savings with Relocity.