Welcome to Bay Area Mobility Management

BAPRM June 2011 Meeting

Reported by BAPRM Communications Director:
Deb Turbes, CRP, GMS
NEI Global Relocation

Sunnyvale, CA  June 28, 2011 -- Bay Area Professionals in Relocation Management (BAPRM) enjoyed a planned educational event hosted on the NetApp campus in Sunnyvale, California.  Meeting organizers included BAPRM Programming Co-Chairs Veronica Raygoza of Genentech, Taylor Williams of Suite America and Elaine Baker of SIRVA.  The luncheon event attracted nearly 100 corporate global mobility practitioners and supplier partners and included a Corporate ONLY Roundtable prior to the General Session Panel Discussion.

CORPORATE ROUNDTABLE
The Impact of Today's Housing Market on Relocation Programs
Facilitated by Myrna Ward, Senior Global Mobility Programs Manager, NetApp

About 30 corporate global mobility practitioners attended the pre-meeting to benchmark policy changes resulting from the housing market decline, including changes to Loss on Sale provisions, housing subsidies, and challenges transferees are experiencing in the mortgage lending industry.  A recap of the discussion notes will be available to BAPRM members in the near future.

GENERAL SESSION

Prior to beginning the General Session, David Platt, BAPRM President, introduced Myrna Ward to the entire group, who in turn provided an introduction to Grace Soriano-Abad, NetApp Senior Director of Global Staffing, who spoke briefly on NetApp's 15 year history, its impact in the data storage solutions industry and its rapid expansion to more than 150 countries worldwide.

David thanked NetApp for their willingness to host the event and provide such a delicious luncheon menu that included baked yam slices, polynesian pulled pork, a delightful chicken dish, tofu and vegetable medley with a lemon tort cake for desert. 

David then introduced Elaine Baker, who moderated the General Session discussion.

Are We Winning the War on Talent
Panelists:  Denise Nicco of PG&E, Lisa Brinkman of Genentech, Catherine Shek of Gilead Sciences and David Abrams of Gap

Today's economic culture requires that companies become innovative in recruiting and retention and place more emphasis on career pathing within their own workforces.  But what role does mobility play in 'closing the deal' to win the war for talent?  That was the question posed to our panelists.

Our panelist came from a variety of industries with headquarters in a high-cost-of-living area, including

• Energy, where about 60% of the workforce is retirement eligible and the industry must rebuild its pipeline of employees in a broadening field of traditional and alternative energies
• Biotechnology, where the pool of qualified researchers is extremely limited and the competition for those individuals is fierce
• And retail, one of the hardest hit sectors in the recent economic downturn

The key issues they all faced in one way or another were the cost of living and cost of housing in the greater Bay Area, home sale and home purchase support, rising pressure in the rental market, educational challenges within the public school system, tightened budgets and failed relocations.

Some of the solutions they have implemented include the following:

Recruiting to the Entire Family
Hesitation on the part of one or more family members can make it very difficult to convince someone to move.  Identifying what is important to each member of the family upfront and successfully addressing those wants and needs can reduce the incidence of failed relocations dramatically.

Home Sale
The big question...can you sell your home?   One company asks that any homeowner considering a relocation have a personal discussion with the head of the company relocation program to ensure that they thoroughly understand the available relocation benefits and the potential impact on their financial situation.  Another company stated that their policy provides up to $100,000 for a Loss on Sale benefit when necessary.

Mortgage or Rental Subsidies
Most of the companies offered various subsidies to both homeowners and renters to help a transferee moving into high-cost markets.  Some were in the form of mortgage interest buy downs, but most were allowances offered on a declining scale for up to five years to help the employee adjust to the cost of living and/or make salary gains to offset the difference.

Consolidating Locations
One company that has acquired companies and talent from various parts of the country, implemented group moves involving key talent to consolidate operations in a key geographic region.

What Will We Do Tomorrow That We Are Not Doing Today
Getting creative and being flexible appears to be the current trend in recruitment.  Comments were made about needing to rethink traditional relocation practices to determine new ways to address what will work for transferees and their families.  Some of the options discussed were commuter benefits and flexible employment packages to capitalize on the knowledge base of retiring employees.

While the above notes do not cover all that was discussed, they do capture the key topics.

ATTENDEE COMMENTS AND WHAT THEY MAY TRY TO IMPLEMENT IMMEDIATELY

"Very interesting info about strategy on hiring."

"We need to get more creative to develop services for relo."   

"Potentially offering some type of mortgage subsidy for all levels."

"Lump sum discussion."

"Work with relo and recruiting earlier on, to set expectations."

"Very knowledgeable panel."

"Thanks for a great meeting."