Relocation to the UK

Whether you are relocating your entire business and some of its people or moving certain key personnel between locations, you’ll want the relocation to the UK to go as smoothly as possible.  The help of a property finder might be critical in you achieving that objective.

The nature of relocation

Relocating personnel is something seen by most companies as offering a positive business benefit.  Whatever the particular drivers for the relocation are, the fact that an enterprise is prepared to take on the effort and cost involved, suggests that major advantage is predicted as the outcome.

When planning a relocation, the project manager will typically make some allowance for a certain degree of disruption to the lives of the individual or individuals involved.  They will usually also take into account the likely knock-on effect on productivity that inevitably comes as a consequence of that.

However, the primary objective of someone managing a relocation is to keep any such negative impacts to an absolute minimum. That is both in the interests of the people and their families but also, legitimately, those of the sponsoring company.

Why disruption arises

It has long been recognised that professional people are unlikely to perform at their best in situations where they are worried about aspects of their home or personal lives.  One of the most sensitive areas in that personal domain is the entire concept of their property and its related home surroundings.

Most of us will have had some experience of moving home.  We know that although it can be exciting and a new platform for your life going forward, it is also often stressful and frustrating.

Just a sample of the issues that can start focusing much of the attention of an individual on their relocation and therefore away from their professional activities, includes:

• the search for an appropriate property – something that can be time-consuming and particularly so in a situation where one does not know the local area;

• needing to spend time researching and checking out things such as local schooling, commuting links, crime rates, community culture, shops, road links and so on;

• initial property viewings – many of which typically show the property to be unsuitable within the first few minutes;

• organising the moving out of the original property and moving into the new one, including everything associated with packing and removals;

• trying to ensure that the property you are considering actually represents a sensible investment of your funds based upon price trends in the area;

• negotiating with vendors;

• attending to the legal formalities; etc.

Even in situations where the relocation is initially into temporary rented accommodation, many of the above issues will still apply.

However focused and dedicated your relocated personnel are, it might be unrealistically optimistic to assume that they will be at their top performance levels if, at the same time, they are trying to deal with the above issues.  That might be even more the case where families are also involved in the relocation.

As a result, companies should be keen to try and do as much as they can to reduce such stress, thereby permitting their people to concentrate as fast as possible on deploying their skills to drive business advantage.

The role of a property finder

Ultimately, the property finder’s role is to take on responsibility for many of the above activities, thereby reducing stress for the people relocating.

The property finder can deploy their in-depth knowledge of the marketplace to identify properties that meet both the individual’s and the sponsoring organisation’s requirements.  Much of the research and associated legwork can be completed, summarised and made available to the personnel concerned well in advance of their physical arrival. That can include initial property viewings and screenings to avoid people wasting time looking at unsuitable homes or locations.

That service can also be packaged to provide total relocation assistance. 

That might mean it including many diverse activities such as arranging legal assistance, packing and shipping and the pre-cleaning of the property before the new owners or occupiers take up residence etc. Of course, these roles can also be distributed between the property finder and the company’s HR department if so required.

Cost-effectiveness

Such services are provided as a commercial proposition and therefore the sponsoring organisation will need to pay for them. However, the costs involved are typically a relatively tiny proportion of the overall financial impact of the relocation itself.

It’s worth keeping in mind that if you have decided that a person or a number of people are sufficiently critical to your business success to justify you relocating them in the first place, then the costs of property finding services are likely to be marginal if the result is your people being at their desks and fully productive that much sooner.

Morale

True, some enterprises adopt a relatively “hands-off” approach to the property side when relocating their personnel.

It is possible to offer them short-term local rented accommodation and leave them to find their own property and permanent home.  For the reasons touched on above though, that can be dangerous.  The fact that they have not actually complained about the stresses involved in their house hunting and relocation, should not be taken as an indication that all is well or that the individual is being fully productive.

Some people may feel that they and their families have been slightly abandoned in such circumstances.  Not only might that distract them as they focus on sorting things out but tiredness and stress can also adversely affect their morale and their health.

In times of relatively full employment and intense competition for people with key skills, the added-value of using a property finder to assist those undergoing relocation might be significant.

Taking things forward

There are many different flavours of property finding services and associated relocation assistance.  Some may be more suitable for your particular circumstances than others.

If you would like to know more as part of your planning for a pending relocation exercise, why not contact us at Garrington for a full discussion of how our services might assist you going forward?  We are here and waiting to help.