How Professionals Make The Move So Much Easier
The Age
Tuesday September 24, 1996
THE relocation industry in Australia is growing rapidly, with forecasts that in a few years, it will be worth more than $75 million. That's a lot of money, so what are people paying for?
They are certainly paying for more than just furniture removal, and yet many people think that is all relocation is.
In fact it is a planned exercise in sociology covering everything the company executive and his family need to think about when they make a career relocation from one part of Australia to another.
Corporate career relocation is a trauma in itself. Everything is new for most people who relocate, from the house they will be living in to where to get the car serviced, and the trauma is compounded in the majority of cases, where the move is being made not by their own choice, but by one spouse's employer. The relocation industry in Australia grew out of the "other spouse" (the one not being relocated) feeling disgruntled about it.
As director of Victorian operations with relocation specialists Hamilton Watts International, Theresa Hendy said, it was typical for the disgruntled spouse "to believe they had been given a raw deal by their partner's employer". "Generally the employee and family involved in a move interstate or internationally were given little or no support to help them find housing, schooling, removal companies, furniture hire etc", Ms Hendy said.
It was this raw-deal feeling that spurred the industry. The disgruntled spouses started their own businesses offering relocation support, and a cottage industry was born.
Today it is established as a high-profile corporate service and Hamilton Watts International claims 25 per cent of a lucrative market. Fees being generated are in the order of $15-$20 million, although it is an industry with the potential to quadruple its takings, according to a HWI survey. "The task for our company and our competitors is to continue to raise market awareness of the benefits of using modern relocation services", Ms Hendy said.
"Our own growth has been entirely the result of listening to clients and making changes. This is no longer a cottage industry; we have evolved into the role of professional business consultants . . . rather than simply meeting families at the airport and finding them somewhere to live.
"Our size and position in the industry has allowed us to spend time and money investing in new service areas. I think our professional attitude comes across when we are dealing with people who are going through what can be very anxious and stressful times."
Ms Hendy says the industry has flourished over the past 10 years as corporate bosses realised how stressful relocating can be for families, and she says "most companies" are now prepared to offer assistance.
When they hire a service like HWI, says Ms Hendy, they absolve themselves and the executive they are posting of all the complicated logistics associated with the move.
These include pre-move and contact support, a questionnaire asking their preferences, management of shipping and personal effects, a shortlist of properties they might like to buy or rent, rental furniture assistance, short-term accommodation bookings, help with finding the right schools, spouse career advice, and full familiarisation with what their new city offers.
Theresa Hendy says relocation services are now so highly valued, corporations seek out specialists to handle every conceivable issue.
Jill Bedford, of Australiawide Relocations, says the idea of professional relocation services is double-edged: to create a stress-free move for the employee and the family, and free the corporation from "the hassles and costs of coordinating the move". She says when all is said and done, it is cheaper for a corporation to divest those hassles.
"Traditionally, the downside of relocation has been stress, frustration and isolation an executive's family suffer when they follow behind," she says. "An unhappy spouse is the single most important reason for the assignment to fail. To retain the best employees, corporations must consider family issues. This is a new culture of responsibility and it has the benefit of directly increasing the executive's productivity in the new position.
"At another level, sociological changes have presented new challenges. In past years, transferred executives were almost without exception male - the "other spouse" rarely worked. But today many have their own career and, apart from the spouse's personal career aspirations, the financial side effects of giving up a second income can be enormous."
The result is that many corporations now provide career counselling prior to the move, and they will assist with resume preparation and employment market information.
Ms Bedford says relocation companies also help with establishing housing cost differentials. "Moving a family say from Perth to Sydney may entail rent or mortgage assistance because of differences in real estate values, although the level of assistance will usually reflect the employee's seniority or strategic importance to the company".
Relocations In Melbourne uses psychologists to help its corporate clients. Its Principal, Erika Kolin, says relocating is rated the third most stressful event in life, behind the death of a loved one or divorce.
"We provide a personalised service and our objective is to make the transition effective", Ms Kolin said.
"We minimise downtime and contain costs. We have a thorough understanding of Melbourne and the market and our local contacts with real estate agents and landlords help families avoid time-consuming searches for what they require".
She said that among the services offered are accommodation, education and recreation, and families are asked to complete a questionaire detailing their specific preferences with regard to lifestyle.
"For example, we arrange to take the family out on an orientation tour of the city and suburbs. We present them with an information pack, we show them a video on Melbourne and on country Victoria, we give them maps, public transport schedules, the traffic handbook, and books on where to eat, where to reach emergency services.
"We meet them at the airport, but that is only the start. We will have short-listed properties, and help with leasing furniture, arrange gas, water and electricity connections - everything they would normally have to do themselves but haven't the time or inclination [for] in such a stressful situation".
Research shows that half of all employees relocated interstate or overseas have difficulties doing it on their own. "People get down emotionally", Ms Kolin says. "They have to start all over again, and sometimes the slightest thing can trigger emotion. We anticipate all this and manage everything so that their move is as smooth as it could be".
A big part of her company's service is real estate research. She finds the right accommodation for a family and walks them through houses or apartments to fulfil the preferences they might have.
Niche services are growing just as fast as the composite scene. A company formed three years ago by Susan Williams, and started as a home-based business, now employs more than 60 women.
Ms Williams, who used to work for one of Australia's largest removal companies, realised in 1993 that there could be prospects for someone prepared to unpack boxes and place household effects after the removal company had delivered.
Today her firm, The Finishing Touch Unpacking Services does just that. Dressed in pink, her female unpackers unpack and install everything the day after the removal van has left. They position ornaments, make beds, fill book shelves, stow toys, and even put food in the fridge.
The Finishing Touch now works in all capital cities, and Ms Williams says she employs only women, because they do it best.
Now the company has developed unpacking services for the elderly and the handicapped, and works closely with major removal companies.
"There is nothing more depressing . . . to walk into the house and be faced with unpacking cardboard boxes", she says.
"We do all this in a professional manner, and then we stack all packing materials for disposal".
This year The Finishing Touch went on the Internet, and Ms Williams says inquiries are coming thick and fast from overseas.
Nest Property Sourcing is another service in relocating. Consultant Jess Exiner concentrates on finding people the right place to live.
He says his service takes the pain out of doing the real estate rounds, getting the keys, tramping round to several options - the sort of exercise that families already experiencing the stress of a move can do without.
Mr Exiner has a set fee structure for visiting clients in their existing home and establishing a brief of what they want in their next.
He inspects several (it might be 30) then narrows them down to a shortlist of three. These three are shown to the client, personally escorted by Mr Exiner, who will pick up and transport to and from.
Executive Home Rentals provide accommodation, long and short-term, selecting to the clients' brief and having everything ready for them to move in.
The basis for the company's business is variety of choice, where the hotel might not be desirable for longer stays.
The company provides choices in fully furnished accommodation ranging from large homes to small flats and, as the principal, Mary Nieuwland, says, is always looking for owners of quality homes who are themselves relocating temporarily and want professionally vetted tenants to live there while they are away.
Again, however, some families like to do their own - and Guests Hire, a division of Guests Furniture, offer both them and their corporate employer a service.
Janne Guest says the hire side of the business was formed 10 years ago to furnish the homes with any furniture required - from lamps to paintings and even pianos.
© 1996 The Age
