Job relocation packages - UPDATE in OP

[hoops902]

Mar 3, 2017 0:14:55 GMT -5 milee said:

Mar 2, 2017 18:42:53 GMT -5 swasat said:

Thanks for the replies all!

So we had a phone call with the 3rd party relocation company the prospective employer uses.

Here is what we were told will be included/excluded. 

- Pre move house hunting trip:  

• One time round trip airfare for spouse and employee to scope out areas, housing, schools etc
• 5 days, 4 nights stay in  a hotel
• Rental car for all days
• All meals reimbursed for all days

- Temporary lodging:

• 30 day stay in a furnished apartment
• All basic utilities covered (internet, water, gas, heat, cable etc)
• No miles coverage
• No meals reimbursement (since furnished lodgings)

- Final move:

• Mileage reimbursement for driving both cars to the destination
• All traveling meals reimbursement
• The actual packing/moving arrangements to be done by us. They will pay us $5000 lumpsum to arrange the move as we see fit

- House sale assistance: None provided. They will connect us to real estate agents, but thats it.

I am not too happy about the $5K moving expense. Its too low in my opinion, for a 400 mile move.

We were not expecting house sale assistance, although I must say, it would have been real nice to have.

DH plans to negotiate the 5K moving expense to 10K. 

Thoughts? Its not the best of the plans, but is it the worst? Is it too low compared to industry standards? Any ideas if negotiataions in these areas actually work?





        

You ask if it's low compared to industry standards, but it's tough to tell that without knowing what type of industry this is, what type and level of work your DH does and how "hot" the housing and job market is in the new city.

Without knowing any of that and just looking at the #s, my guess is this is kind of a "meh" offer.  Not awful, but unless this is an entry level job I'd be concerned that this is the kind of employer who isn't very generous and will nickel and dime employees.   The offer doesn't exactly align with the earlier description of an employer that really wants DH and wants him badly.  After you pay taxes on that $5k moving allowance, between direct moving costs, time off packing/unpacking and all the other stuff involved in moving, there's a reasonable chance you'll be out of pocket after all is said and done.

Is this a city you want to be in anyways?  Or a career move that's worth it?  Because this type of stingy proposal would be a red flag about this employer for me unless there's more to the story.

I'm guessing this is not an entry level position.  Entry level folks aren't getting many relocation packages these days...this isn't the late 90's when companies were going crazy...they can find talent about anywhere for entry level jobs. 

This also isn't a company he currently works for, who knows his work and desperately needs him to move for the company benefit.  This is a new job, with a new company...this seems fairly reasonable (because I'm presuming he applied for this job, which means he probably knew this involved a move...lots of times that kind of job applicant doesn't get much of anything). 

Totally agree this doesn't align with someone who "wants him badly"...but let's be honest...no company says "we want you...kind of...I guess".  Every company talks up candidates they offer jobs to in order to make them feel valuable.  If they "wanted him badly" they would have just offered to buy the house and do whatever it takes.  This is an ok offer for someone they think is a good fit...but they're clearly not desperate to get him (desperate meaning the company is sinking and he's some insane CEO who turns companies like this around all the time).

I'm not sure I'd call this stingy...this is probably equal to a $10k signing bonus for a company that doesn't actually know his work.  Move to a new company of your own volition seems pretty lucky to get anything.  If he's going to be a CEO, this is stingy, if he's going to be some kind of mid-level manager type, this is pretty generous.

[swasat]

This is VP job at a pretty big company. DH is a VP, Information Security at a Fortune 20 company. This would have been a lateral move for him at a Fortune 50 company, albeit with a much bigger group to manage and a 50% pay bump. It is a booming city in the south with a LOT of jobs in IT, so would have been very suited for me as well.

He did not apply for this job, he was referred by one of his ex-colleagues who joined the new company. He was headhunted by the HR department via Linkedin.

UPDATE:

He went back and told them he is not interested if they can't even offer decent relocation. They instantly came back with a gold plated relocation package! Full concierge packing and moving, 6 months temp lodging for the family, rental cars till the shipment arrives, both cars shipped, sellers commission for selling our house here and realtor's fee at the new location, 60 day assistance for home sale and the option of home buy by the relocation company at the end of 60 day period, 4 fully paid round trips (upto 4 days each) for us to scope out the new city, job search help with a dedicated recruiter for the spouse (I will be a remote employee, so I don't need one). LOL!

Anyway, DH decided not to go ahead with the offer. There were some things he found concerning and he feels no amount of money is worth that hassle.

[Deleted]

Mar 5, 2017 23:38:04 GMT -5 swasat said:

He went back and told them he is not interested if they can't even offer decent relocation. They instantly came back with a gold plated relocation package! Full concierge packing and moving, 6 months temp lodging for the family, rental cars till the shipment arrives, both cars shipped, sellers commission for selling our house here and realtor's fee at the new location, 60 day assistance for home sale and the option of home buy by the relocation company at the end of 60 day period, 4 fully paid round trips (upto 4 days each) for us to scope out the new city, job search help with a dedicated recruiter for the spouse (I will be a remote employee, so I don't need one). LOL!

Wow.  What a lesson in the power of negotiation.  I never was good at asking for more.

It does say something about the company that they'd lowball him and then at the first objection turn around and offer him the gold-plated version.  Maybe another good reason to turn it down. 

[MJ2.0]

Mar 6, 2017 8:56:03 GMT -5 @athena53 said:

Mar 5, 2017 23:38:04 GMT -5 swasat said:

He went back and told them he is not interested if they can't even offer decent relocation. They instantly came back with a gold plated relocation package! Full concierge packing and moving, 6 months temp lodging for the family, rental cars till the shipment arrives, both cars shipped, sellers commission for selling our house here and realtor's fee at the new location, 60 day assistance for home sale and the option of home buy by the relocation company at the end of 60 day period, 4 fully paid round trips (upto 4 days each) for us to scope out the new city, job search help with a dedicated recruiter for the spouse (I will be a remote employee, so I don't need one). LOL!

Wow.  What a lesson in the power of negotiation.  I never was good at asking for more.

It does say something about the company that they'd lowball him and then at the first objection turn around and offer him the gold-plated version.  Maybe another good reason to turn it down. 

I'd be interested to see what happened if it was swasat who got the offer and then said it wasn't good enough.

[swasat]

Mar 6, 2017 9:17:36 GMT -5 MJ2.0 said:

Mar 6, 2017 8:56:03 GMT -5 @athena53 said:

Wow.  What a lesson in the power of negotiation.  I never was good at asking for more.

It does say something about the company that they'd lowball him and then at the first objection turn around and offer him the gold-plated version.  Maybe another good reason to turn it down. 

I'd be interested to see what happened if it was swasat who got the offer and then said it wasn't good enough.

You mean from a gender perspective    ?

I am a hardball negotiator myself. I don't know if I have been low balled before on account of being a female in a vastly male dominated field. Maybe I have, I just don't know.

But so far I've never not gotten what I've asked for. I never, ever disclose my salary. Being a hiring manager myself I have a very good grasp on industry standards and demands. So I have a very good understanding of what I can demand. And I have walked away from offers before where I felt I wasn't getting my due worth. 75% of the time they came back with a much much better offer. Like that one time I asked for and got 20% raise, and a 10% bonus AND an extra week of vacation. The rest 25%....meh....I don't care to work for them anyways.

I think working is a very male dominated industry teaches you a trick or two on how to handle tricky situations. 

[Bonny]

Mar 5, 2017 23:38:04 GMT -5 swasat said:

This is VP job at a pretty big company. DH is a VP, Information Security at a Fortune 20 company. This would have been a lateral move for him at a Fortune 50 company, albeit with a much bigger group to manage and a 50% pay bump. It is a booming city in the south with a LOT of jobs in IT, so would have been very suited for me as well.

He did not apply for this job, he was referred by one of his ex-colleagues who joined the new company. He was headhunted by the HR department via Linkedin.

UPDATE:

He went back and told them he is not interested if they can't even offer decent relocation. They instantly came back with a gold plated relocation package! Full concierge packing and moving, 6 months temp lodging for the family, rental cars till the shipment arrives, both cars shipped, sellers commission for selling our house here and realtor's fee at the new location, 60 day assistance for home sale and the option of home buy by the relocation company at the end of 60 day period, 4 fully paid round trips (upto 4 days each) for us to scope out the new city, job search help with a dedicated recruiter for the spouse (I will be a remote employee, so I don't need one). LOL!

Anyway, DH decided not to go ahead with the offer. There were some things he found concerning and he feels no amount of money is worth that hassle.

Lol, it will be funny if they come back with yet another offer.

Some bosses feel the need to lowball the first go around. As I said in our relocation to AZ, DH's boss low balled him and made at least two more offers. They couldn't find anyone with his combination of talent and history with the company. All together he wound up spending 25 years at the same company. Pretty amazing for a tech guy.

[Phoenix84]

I was given employer relocation for my current job, this was back in 2014.

Not sure how applicable my experience is. I work for the feds.

Basically they gave me a lump sum of money and I had to organize everything. I picked my own mover and paid them. I didn't own a house or condo so selling assistance wasn't necessary. I did have to break my lease though, which incurred a fee.

All in all, between paying the fee to break my lease and the move, I broke even with the money they gave me.

You're questions seem pretty comprehensive to me. 

[emma1420]

Mar 6, 2017 10:17:24 GMT -5 swasat said:

Mar 6, 2017 9:17:36 GMT -5 MJ2.0 said:

I'd be interested to see what happened if it was swasat who got the offer and then said it wasn't good enough.

You mean from a gender perspective    ?

I am a hardball negotiator myself. I don't know if I have been low balled before on account of being a female in a vastly male dominated field. Maybe I have, I just don't know.

But so far I've never not gotten what I've asked for. I never, ever disclose my salary. Being a hiring manager myself I have a very good grasp on industry standards and demands. So I have a very good understanding of what I can demand. And I have walked away from offers before where I felt I wasn't getting my due worth. 75% of the time they came back with a much much better offer. Like that one time I asked for and got 20% raise, and a 10% bonus AND an extra week of vacation. The rest 25%....meh....I don't care to work for them anyways.

I think working is a very male dominated industry teaches you a trick or two on how to handle tricky situations. 

I'm glad that your hubby got more!

if you don't ask you don't get.  But, I'm amazed that you've never had to disclose your current salary.  This must be industry specific because almost every job I've applied for requires me to provide a salary history.  I've also had a job offer pulled when I tried to negotiate the salary.  I'm not sure if that is because of my gender or just crappy employers.  I think it's a combination of both.

However, I always think being willing to walk away strengthens your position.  As your hubby proved.

[swasat]

Mar 8, 2017 14:30:57 GMT -5 emma1420 said:

I'm glad that your hubby got more!

if you don't ask you don't get.  But, I'm amazed that you've never had to disclose your current salary.  This must be industry specific because almost every job I've applied for requires me to provide a salary history.  I've also had a job offer pulled when I tried to negotiate the salary.  I'm not sure if that is because of my gender or just crappy employers.  I think it's a combination of both.

However, I always think being willing to walk away strengthens your position.  As your hubby proved.

I have been asked, on online applications. If its a required field I put in $1, else I leave it empty. Or if it makes me choose from a range, I do. But the range I choose is my base + average bonus, and that already puts me at more than what I make.

[MJ2.0]

ooh, good idea!

[taz157]

Mar 8, 2017 14:47:56 GMT -5 MJ2.0 said:

ooh, good idea!

Yeah that.