Immobile Americans

The U.S. worker is a nomadic creature, always ready to move on to greener pastures in today's rootless society, right? Wrong. The truth is that today's employees are more rooted than their Ozzie and Harriet counterparts of the 1950s and 1960s. In fact, they're less likely to move than at any time since the government starting tracking mobility in 1947.
What happened? In essence, the large Baby-Boomer generation settled down. Boomers got older and purchased homes at record rates. More Americans now own homes than ever before. In 2000, homeownership exceeded 67%, and homeowners are three times less likely than renters to move. In addition, the thriving economy of the 1990s allowed workers to be choosy about which assignments they took; an increase in dual-career families made employees less eager to disrupt their spouses' careers; and a change in attitude made some people choose quality of life over the career opportunities that a move often brings.
Of course, the recent downturn in the economy may give workers fewer options about moving, but employers shouldn't count on it. The 2001 Atlas Van Lines' Corporate Relocation Survey reported, "Perhaps the most notable shift in this year's look at the personal side of relocation was the increase in the number of companies who reported that more employees declined the opportunity to relocate."
Given these trends, it's clear that organizations need to provide employees with incentives to get them to relocate. Among the most important of these are programs that help employees sell their homes. HRI recently conducted a short e-mail survey of member companies, all large organizations, to benchmark home-purchase programs. Of the 23 respondents, 21 reported that they have such programs, although three limit these programs to executives.
In most cases, home-purchase programs are voluntary, with only three respondents describing their programs as mandatory. One firm's program was said to be neither voluntary nor mandatory: "The company decides if home buy-out will be offered. The company's position is for employees to sell their homes without utilizing home buy-out. The company provides marketing support to promote this objective. This program is positioned as a last resort. When employees are authorized, they are generally at that point. However, all home sale closings are required to be processed by our relocation company."
Respondents were also asked whether their policies provide for pre-marketing assistance. Although a majority (57%) said no, quite a few companies provide some help with things such as home repair. One respondent stated, "Our policy offers up to $1,000 for cosmetic improvements which are recommended as a result of the broker analysis."
The majority (76%) say they provide relocating employees with a home equity loan prior to the sale of the home in the old location, but not all policies are the same. Some do this only for executives, others provide only 90% of equity, and some make loans only in special cases. But even if a firm doesn't provide a loan, that doesn't necessarily mean it leaves employees hanging. For example, one respondent noted that, although their firm doesn't provide a loan, it does "facilitate bridge loans through various local financial institutions."
Respondents were also asked, "Do you conduct appraisals on day 1 or does the home have to be on the market for a particular length of time before the appraiser comes?" Although six companies do appraisals on the first day, the rest use an assortment of strategies. Several companies leave it up to the discretion of the employee seller. Others leave the home on the market for a set number of days; among respondents, this ranges from 30 to 120 days.
At what point does an employer offer to purchase the employee's home, and how long does the employee have to accept the offer? Apparently, transferees usually market a house 30 to 90 days before a buyout occurs, with the most common time period being 60 days. In a few cases, employees can accept a buyout offer immediately upon receipt. Employee sellers usually get 60 days to decide whether to accept that offer, although three respondents give them up to 90 days to accept.
One firm has what seems to be a uniquely flexible process. The respondent writes, "We have no time limit for the company offer. We view it as a safety net. In the event they are not able to sell their own house, we will purchase it. The timeframe for the appraisals is six months which is based on the timeframe set by the appraisers. They feel their value is good for six months. If the employee has not yet accepted the company offer or sold their own home within six months, we would reassess the value. We don't believe in forcing inventory homes so, therefore, no set timeframe to accept the company offer. We may even give the employee double housing payments to give them more time to sell their own house. However, realistically, most employees accept the company offer, purchase a new home and move out within 60-90 days. We feel the process works itself rather than forcing the issue."
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To read more about Atlas Van Lines' 34th annual Corporate Relocation Survey, see
http://www.atlasvanlines.com/survey/
For much more information on U.S. mobility, please see Census Bureau data at
http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/migrate/tabs99.html
For a brief government report called Geographic Mobility, see
http://www.census.gov/prod/2000pubs/p20-531.pdf.
Information about the Employee Relocation Council, a membership association, can be found at
http://www.erc.org/.
The ERC publishes, among other things, MOBILITY Online.
More information on employee relocation, including survey results, can be found at
http://www.relojournal.com/
For cost-of-living comparisons, there are some online tools that can be looked at. One can be found at
http://www.datamasters.com/cgi-bin/col.pl.
Another can be found at
http://www.homefair.com/homefair/cmr/salcalc.html.
HRI can't vouch for the accuracy of either of these tools. One may give different results when compared with the other.