Spring 2009
Official newsletter of the European Relocation Association
PRICE WARS Just who will be the relocation winners in the current global-wide recession?
Repatriation – the forgotten service?
ALSO in this issue Three pages of news and views from the global relocation industry
New Quality Seal raises standards
Vienna sets the scene
News & Views The EuRApean is published by impact!, Media House, 55 Old Road, Leighton Buzzard, LU7 2RB UK. T: +44 (0)1525 370013 © European Relocation Association 2009 Editor: Dominic Tidey dominic@eura-relocation.com Advertising enquiries: Emilia Benitez emilia@impact-now.co.uk The views expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of EuRA or its agents, who shall not be responsible for any loss or damage suffered as a result of any statement in or ommission from these articles or advertisements.
Another step forward YOU HAVE in hand the first printed version of EuRApean. Another first, and another step forward. This was initiated two years ago by Margaret Moes and the editor Dominic Tidey, convinced we would be able to create an interesting, sel-funding journal. The printed EuRApean will be distributed across our membership and the global mobility industry including RMC’s and the HR community. It is a very good way to reach stakeholders and spread good news about EuRA and our activities. We analysed the results of the questionnaire we sent at the beginning of this year. Thank you to the 45 members who sent their answers. We had been very impressed by the thoughtfulness of the responses. We will address the results in a separate report which will appear soon, but I would like to give you one result now. We have counted some key words in the responses and comments. The two most mentioned words (31 references each) were “communication” and “quality”. We could not have a better result. Providing top quality is essential, to communicate between ourselves is vital and communicating our quality to the market is highly necessary as well. The printed version of EuRApean will help to communicate the spirit of EuRA and our thinking in terms of quality (the EuRA Quality Seal is a very prominent example) and will help to communicate the pride EuRA members take in being a vital element in making local, national and global economies move. Please help us to reach a broad readership; distribute it in your company and let your peers and partners read it as well. Best wishes. Helmut Berg, President, EuRA
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HRs & RMCs get behind Quality Seal THE EuRA Quality Seal is a world first. In 2007 EuRA brought industry professionals from across the world together and designed the first, relocation specific, ISO equivalent external quality audit system. From among EuRA members, response has been outstanding. With 35 members already qualified and a further 20 scheduled for audits in the first quarters of 2009, EuRA has been overwhelmed by demand. Project partners, DQS have been highly successful in training new auditors in the USA, Asia, and Europe and there is now a global reach with minimal expenses. Despite the logistical challenges of the project, the association has been working with the wider mobility industry to assess how the EuRA Quality Seal can assist both the HR and RMC communities. “We’re all aware of how time consuming the RFP process can be, and one of our aims when talking with procurement is to structure the quality standard that underpins the EuRA Quality Seal so as to reflect their assessment needs,” says project manager, Martina Scharway. “For us the EuRA Quality Seal provides the first industry-wide benchmark that reflects the quality and process management of the companies that hold it,” says Jacqueline Biersma of TEAM Relocations. In terms of managing a
QUALITY Seal recipients at the EuRA Conference in Rome last spring. supply chain, this is an invaluable new tool.” Elaine Crowe of the Rank Group and Chair of the UK Relocation Users Group, says: ”As a corporate client, the EuRA Quality Seal gives me greater confidence when selecting suppliers, that they conform to a global standard.” EuRA members and the Quality Seal will be promoted at the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) global conference, this year taking place in Toronto. At last years event in Boston, Tad Zurlinden, EuRA General Secretary, saw a great deal of interest in the Quality Seal from attendees. Recognition of the EuRA Quality Seal from the US industry has been inspiring. Not only have three US members achieved the EQS, but the positive comments and new membership applications received since the exhibition stand at the ERC Global Workforce Summit last October, have shown how seriously the project is being taken.
Definitive guide to relocation WATCH out for the brand new definitive guide to relocation professionals in Europe and across the globe – the EuRA Directory 2009/10. This year’s Directory will feature the cream of relocation companies in approximately 160 pages packed with information. New this year will be the use of icons so that specifiers can quickly find the services and the suppliers they are seeking. For advertising enquiries (publishing date is April), call Emilia Benitez on +44 (0)1525 370013 or email: emilia@impact-now.co.uk
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News & Views
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EuRA Council in full swing COUNCIL members of the European Association of Relocation Professionals have serious pedigree in the profession and ensure a highly experienced but balanced approach to association affairs. This is a brief introduction to their talents. Helmut Berg, President, has been in relocation for 17 years and believes he has the skills to drive EuRA forward and increase its success as the mouthpiece for the European Industry. Helmut is also the PR Liaison for EuRA.
wide and regional EARP accredited programmes.
Kathryn Andrews of ABC Relocation is Vice President and Membership Liaison officer. She joined the EuRA Council as representative for the Benelux region in 2006. Kathryn has a great deal of experience in domestic and international relocation, having been Managing Director of Andrews Blakeway Consult for over eight years.
Ase Lofgren Gunsten (Northern) is a Registered Nurse from the Red Cross School of Nursing. and has a degree in Human Resource Management from the University of Stockholm. In 2004 she became sole owner of Relocation Group Sweden and Nordic Relocation Consultants. Ase is a certified CERP level 3.
Ileana Clapham (Central) is the founder and MD of Clapham Relocation in Germany. Ileana has been a EuRA council member since 2003 and is Training Liaison officer with special responsibility for the structure and delivery of EuRA’s Europe
Nathalie Gazal (Southern) is Development Manager - Relocation Services at Primacy France and has extensive experience in international relocation management. An expert in HR Mobility Management, she has been very involved in the development of training on cultural adjustment and repatriation. Nathalie is the Marketing Liaison for EuRA.
Eric Kitsch (Benelux) has been on the EuRA Council twice – from 2003-06 and again since 2008. He has worked on several of the Council Commitees, most recently Marketing and Training. Eric founded and has managed Brussels Relocation since 1990.
Patrick Oman (Northern) is a veteran of the relocation industry, having served on the board of OMNI the Overseas Moving Network International in the early 90’s. He was President of that organisation from 2000 to 2002. He became MD of IrishRelo in 2002 and has been fully engaged in relocation since. He is currently on the editorial advisory panel of “Mobility” and is a CERP Level 2. Isabel Reis is Triplicado’s Senior Partner and started life as a third culture kid in Angola. In 1987 she began teaching expatriates Portuguese Language and Culture, at the same time as working with a government sponsored relocation initiative. In 1992, she became Lead Teacher in the AUTOEUROPA Ford/Volkswagen project to 200 families moving to Portugal. Isabel formed Triplicado Relocation and in 2000 took over Portugal Relocation. • The next vacancy on the Council will be for the Central Region (one place only) and the nomination notices will be sent to members before the Vienna conference during April.
Council members
Clockwise from top left: Helmut Berg, Ase Lofgren Gunsten, Eric Klitsch, Kathryn Andrews, Isabel Reis, Patrick Oman, Ileana Chapman, Nathalie Gazal.
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News & Views
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Conference shows promise EuRA’s 11th International Relocation Congress 2009 will take place in Vienna on the 22-24 April at the Intercontinental Hotel. Vienna, the birthplace of psychiatry, is a great place to look closely at the psychological impact of global and domestic mobility and how good communication can truly assist both the transferee and the relocation professional in achieving an effective transition. The theme for this congress is therefore ‘Mind Over Matter; Opportunities in Psychology and Communication’. The EuRA International Relocation Congress is THE meeting for mobility professionals from all disciplines and has, in the 10 years of its existence, become the most important date in the European mobility calendar. Mixing training, networking and excellent conference sessions with a great deal of fun, EuRA Vienna 2009 is an unmissable event in the relocation calendar. New this year will be we will be a ‘photo wall’ with pictures of every delegate (who supplies EuRA with one) and their cell phone number, to allow delegates to meet each other more easily.
There will be an opportunity for EuRA partners to structure their international network meetings on Monday and Tuesday 20 and 21 April and the event will begin with two days of training from Wednesday followed by the Gala Dinner on the evening of Thursday, with the main conference day on the Friday. EuRA will continue the tradition of its final night party, when some surprises and a great evening are in store. Last year, at the Congress in Rome, EuRA welcomed over 500 delegates from 35 countries to the event similar or larger numbers are expected in Vienna. Booking forms are now on the website.
Major training initiatives to launch SEVEN years ago, EuRA was instrumental in launching the European Academy of Relocation Professionals (EARP) with the goal of working with a pan-European relocation body to have its training externally accredited. Since then the qualification has been taken up by over 750 relocation professionals across the globe. 250 have reached levels one or two, but the highest qualification (CERP3) is held by a select group of just 12 individuals. Qualifying at CERP 1 and 2 is achieved through attending EARP accredited programmes delivered across Europe. Qualifying at CERP3 requires further study and the successful submission of a case study, graded by the business school of the University of Leuven, Belgium. This year,EuRA is launching two important relocation training initiatives, still compatible with EARP accreditation and qualifications, but working in new areas and with new academic partners.
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Vienna Conference
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URA’S 11th Conference represents the end result of a two year search and examination process that we use to choose our conference city and venue. As soon as our conference is over and we have unveiled the venue for the following year, we begin work on choosing the venue for two years ahead. After the conference, the EuRA Council meet and review every aspect of the event. As part of our quality management system, a full report of the event is drawn up based on operational aspects and delegate responses. This helps us to continually work to make the event meet the needs of our delegates.Probably the most significant aspect we monitor is the networking success of the event. In the past, when the conference attracted less than 300 people, the networking aspects were far easier for us to successfully deliver. But as many of you will know from our Rome event, we have grown to more than 520 and this presents us with a very significant challenge. Most cities have hotels with conference rooms large enough to seat 500 people, but this room also needs to seat even more for our Gala Dinne. With ever more sophisticated staging and audio visual set ups, this has become a significant issue. One of the changes we will be making in Vienna, is holding our Gala Dinner in an external venue, right opposite the Intercontinental, which can accommodate us in style! W always consider large enough hotels as our first priority and the city that they are in as our second. This puts us in a stronger bargaining position. When we first visited Vienna, there were only two hotels that could accommodate a group of our size. Inevitably they talk with each other and put in very similar quotes. However, we negotiate from the position that it is not just Vienna we are considering, but that we have RFP’s from another six hotels in four cities. This enables us to use an RFP comparison with each of the competing venues. The Intercontinental wanted our business and adjusted their room and delegate rates downwards, accordingly. We reject using commercial conference centres, or conference venues outside a hotel. Delegates tell us that being all together in one place
SPLENDID: One of many statues in the city centre. Inset: The Intercontinental Hotel – venue for the three day Conference.
Viennese
waltz! EuRA’s 11th International Relocation Congress 2009 will take place in Vienna on the 22-24 April at the Intercontinental Hotel – continuing the tradition of exceptional venues in exciting cities. Dominic Tidey explains how the venue was chosen.
is central to their ability to network effectively. This brings a great many challenges for us, in that our main aim is to source a good quality hotel with an excellent room rate. Vienna is an expensive city but there are half a dozen differently priced hotels within a five to ten minute walk of the Intercontinental. We have already completed site visits for 2010 and are very excited about our potential destination! We have even started to think about 2011 and again, will be choosing the hotel from a shortlist of appropriate venues in cities across Europe, that
have the capacity to accommodate us. If you know of a great hotel, close to other hotels, that can accommodate 550 plus people in one room plus a large stage, with enough other conference rooms for training and partner meetings, a large enough space for lunch for 550 plus people outside the conference room, close to a city centre and accessible by air and rail from all across Europe, with a choice of party and gala dinner venues close by, then we need to hear from you! Please email me with yout thoughts: dominic@eura-relocation.com
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Furniture Rental
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Furnishing the future Kenneth S. Barron argues that due to the flexibility offered by unfurnished apartments and homes, furniture rental can provide many benefits for relocating companies and their employees.
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ITH an increase in international employee relocations, many companies and their employees are renting apartments/ homes as a cost-efficient and convenient alternative, especially in these economic times. Further, many international and multinational companies are incorporating furniture and home accessory rental into their relocation policies as a core service offering. For longer term stays (6-24 months), unfurnished apartment/homes offer employees the ability to select a neighborhood that suits their lifestyle and creates a “home away from home” based upon individual needs and tastes that fits their pocketbook. Frequently, coordinating the installation of rental furnishings in advance provides even greater savings since duplicate housing costs are eliminated. Furniture rental can also play a role in longer term assignments to supplement a household goods move whereby the transferee can move into their permanent accommodations upon arrival versus paying for duplicate housing. Settling into the host country will not require two moves and acclimation to the new environment is faster. In previous decades when employees took an international assignment for three years or more, they routinely sought permanent housing. Many of today’s employees don’t want to be away from home for more than a year. Currently, almost 75% of international relocations are for less than three years with approximately 32% lasting less than 12 months.
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With unfurnished apartments/ homes, companies and employees have more options to select an ideal location. They are more cost effective than hotels and in many cases, than serviced apartments. Apartment/homes provide greater privacy, independence and overall convenience, including an often cited benefit of employees being able to cook their meals. Intangible costs, such as making the transition as smooth as possible for employees and families are considered primary corporate objectives to ensure a successful relocation. Decisions should also take into account personal, cultural, functional and practical factors. Furniture rental can help to alleviate some of these additional considerations including: • Housing size – Living spaces vary significantly by country and city. Locations with high population density typically have smaller living spaces. Is the furniture being shipped functional in the new space? • Culture – Assimilation into the culture and experiencing the lifestyle of the new location is important to the success of the employee and family’s relocation experience. Would the family be better served with furnishings reflecting the local culture? • Temporary Lodging – Renting furniture can eliminate the need for the high cost of temporary living in either or both the departure and destination location? Would the employee and family have an easier transition without temporary living?
• Kenneth S. Barron is managing director of global relocation and client services for CORT, the leading rental furniture and housewares provider in the United States for more than 35 years. CORT, a Berkshire Hathaway company, operates a global network of furniture rental partners in 50 countries encompassing EMEA, Asia Pacific and the Americas, serving thousands of customers each year. CORT established operations in the United Kingdom earlier this year with Roomservice by CORT. For employees relocating into the United States, CORT also provides a broad range of relocation and destination services. For more information, contact Ken at +1.617.212.0559 or visit www. cortglobal.com
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Repatriation Matters
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n the 1970’s two psychologists, Holmes and Rahe, developed a scale for measuring cumulative life stress. According to this scale, a score of over 200, made up from life events such as bereavement, divorce and bankruptcy, can result in serious stress that will, if left untreated, lead to mental health problems. When all of the factors on the scale that come into the relocation process are taken into account, the score comes out at 220. When the same scale is used to measure the effects of repatriation, the result is the same – a score of 220. The enormous costs to companies of sending an individual overseas are well understood by the relocation fraternity, and yet still they find it almost impossible to persuade clients to purchase repatriation management packages. When candidate selection has been done and it comes to the careful negotiations with HR over the compensation and benefits package, how often are relocation support costs given a far lower priority than say, host country salary matching? All of these complex calculations to ensure the middle ground between the employee being well rewarded for what will be a significant life change, and the company conforming to a cost effective relocation policy, are utterly pointless if the assignment fails.
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R Enlightened companies understand this and the reasons why some 80% of failed assignments are attributed to a failure to adjust to the host culture. They have seen the value in funding cultural orientation programmes through relocation providers. But a worse case scenario is being ignored. The assignment is a success, the transferee does a great job, the family stay for the duration but then because of mismanaged repatriation, the employee leaves the company for a better offer elsewhere. About 60% of transferees have no actual role on their immediate return and are ‘slotted in’; 20% of transferees will leave or be headhunted away from the company within nine months of return; and 50% leave within 24 months, if they are not promoted or reassigned abroad. These figures represent a huge financial loss for the company, which must appreciate the value of properly managed repatriation against the far higher cost of employee loss. The return to home – sometimes referred to as ‘Inpatriation’ but more often as ‘reverse culture shock’ – can provoke huge disruption for the family and transferee. In her book Homeward Bound: A Spouse’s Guide to Relocation (Expatriate Press 2000), Robin Pascoe defines reverse culture shock this way: “(It) is simply the shock of being home. It’s the reverse culture shock you
The loss of an employee is a compelling reason to fund extra support
experience in your own country when you visit places that should be familiar to you, but aren’t; try to interact with people you should feel comfortable with, but don’t; or face situations you should be able to handle, but can’t. Re-entry shock is when you feel like you are wearing contact lenses in the wrong eyes. Everything looks almost right.” These feelings can be worse than the culture shock experienced in the first weeks of the assignment. Feeling like a foreigner in a foreign land is expected; feeling a stranger in your own home is not.
Impact on the Employee The impact of repatriation for the employee, is often far greater than that of the original move to the host location. The move abroad is exciting, usually involving a promotion or at the very least, an increase in peer status, and is playing up to the transferees strengths. The day to day impact of life in the new culture is more keenly felt by the partner and children, who are interacting with it
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Repatriation Matters
Repatriation MATTERS Some see it as naïve that the corporate clients of relocation companies should consider the funding of repatriation packages. but when confronted with the facts, can they really afford not to? Dominic Tidey reports. on a far more intimate basis. The transferee slots into a new work culture, with all of the social contact that entails. The family, on the other hand, have a harder time. As the assignment comes to an end, the transferee starts the closure process of the post, probably handing over to a locally based team or manager. At this point, home country HR should be back in touch, to start the career planning for the home move. However, 68% of companies provide no post assignment guarantees, and this is going to have a dual impact on the employee. First, they will feel deeply insecure. They may have taken their family away from extended family and friends, interrupted education programmes and careers, and for what? To return home with no job? Second, they may begin to develop a distrust of the company. They have given their all, made the assignment or project a success, and their rewards in terms of higher salary and status, after three years of acclimatisation, seem like a distant memory. This is what creates the fracture of company loyalty and explains why 20% will leave within the first nine months of return unless a structured repatriation plan is in place. 40% of returning transferees also indicate dissatisfaction that no use was made of the skills they learned while on assignment when they return (Global Relocation Trends Survey 1999).
Recent research indicates that the repatriation process is even tougher for female transferees, according to Dr Margaret Linehan of the Cork Institute of Technology, whose research points out that women managers have a far greater responsibility within family situations than their male counterparts and are under greater pressure when coming home, to oversee the impact on the family.
Impact on the Partner The same issues that face the partner moving overseas, continue to be evident when returning home. The challenges that are faced in trying to reintegrate into a social and familial network are akin to having to start again. The relationships may have been neglected and there can be resentment on many sides – people at home didn’t keep in touch enough, the partner has also probably spent more time and energy on creating new alliances in the host country than on maintaining those back home. Where a person’s world view has been dominated by the host country, there can be a distinct feeling of not belonging once back at home. Another issue, is the potential change in living standards. Financial issues are often at the core of relationship difficulties and these are so often a major factor in an unplanned repatriation.
Impact on the Children This is where the impact can be the most pronounced, and the most dramatic, especially for teenagers caught between school systems, deep friendships and hormonal angst! There is the risk of the child becoming a ‘Third Culture Kid’ – far more familiar with the host culture than the home one. They are already at home and repatriation means going somewhere completely foreign, leaving their friends and peers behind.
Solutions are at hand So what can relocation companies and their corporate clients do to help mitigate the impact of coming home? • Keep the facts and figures close to hand. An employee who moves to a rival company following assignment, is not just a lost investment, they are a potential competitor, taking all their experiences to a direct adversary. • Increase the level of social responsibility towards the company’s best asset: its’ work force. A lack of investment in the assets that make it profitable, could eventually lead to it becoming uncompetitive. The bottom line in repatriation, is the bottom line. Even though profit should not be the only motivating factor in providing repatriation assistance, the loss of a valued employee to a competitor makes for a compelling reason to fund extra support.
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Cost versu CALAMITY
Cost vs Calamity
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NE of the objectives of EURA is monitoring and analysing the trends and developments within the Relocation industry, whereby individual members can compare their own findings with those of EURA. The greatest challenge at present, in line with substantially increasing costs, is the pressure on fees. This pressure is induced by the clients and – rather irritatingly – also by competitors within the relocation industry. Clients want to lower their costs; competitors want to ‘buy’ market share, often at any cost. The situation is increasingly challenging. However, we do not have to resign ourselves to it.
Client demands International employee transfers are expensive but necessary. Since they cannot be ‘abolished’, companies try to make them as cost effective as possible. The relocation part in the overall assignments cost is comparatively small, yet price pressure has increased considerably in this area. There are three scenarios: • Fees are to be reduced and in return the scope of services may be reduced as well; this has a neutral effect • Fees are to be reduced but the scope of services is to remain the same; this is detrimental to the service provider • Fees are to be reduced and at the same time the scope of services which are to be delivered is extended; this is extremely detrimental to the service provider. RMC’s take an ‘exceptional position’ in all this. They are service providers and customers at the same time. The pressure is most intense where there is a service chain, ie where the ultimate service provider does not receive the
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work order directly but where there are one or two intermediaries involved.
Stronger influence of procurement teams Until a few years ago, primary contacts were to be found solely in HR departments. When I started out 22 years ago, I often spoke with HR directors or even board members since they were also interested in this new service. Later, when relocation services were better established, contacts widened to include HR managers and HR consultants and assistants. More recently we have seen an increasing involvement of purchasing departments when relocation services are contracted. It is their objective to keep the costs of goods and services as low as possible. They focus on figures and technical synergies. Verbal negotiations are increasingly replaced by on-line auctions. The value of our services
not logical. Every individual transfer requires its volume of assistance regardless whether it is just one or one of many at the same time. And to enter the auction with high fees in order to give a ‘generous discount’ in the process is risking being considered unprofessional and unreliable.
Market influence of competitors Some new and occasionally established service providers assist clients by enforcing their demands and trying to secure market share with extremely low fees. This is aided by the diverse structure of the relocation industry. Very different sizes of companies allow for different/varying calculations and contribution margins. It is more perplexing when providers of a similar size and structure offer significantly different conditions/fees.
Helmut Berg, President of EuRA, argues that to allow cost cutting in recessionary times is a false economy – with potentially serious consequences have become tied to price and other quantitative criteria. This is an unfortunate development. Relocation Services are not a commodity that can be manufactured in shifts around the clock, or where production can be moved to a country with lower labour costs. Even various transfers at the same time only generate marginal synergy effects, if any. A quantity discount is therefore
Then there is the situation where a service provider yields to enormous pressure because he cannot afford to lose a client who makes up a large share of his turnover. Pricing pressure or competitive pricing arises mostly in a saturated market situation and results in ‘crowding out’ – but we are a long way off from this in the relocation service industry.
us Y There are two areas of potential growth: • A lot of companies still have yet to utilise relocation service professionals. • Those who do use them still do not use a full scope of services. There is horizontal and vertical potential for growth. From this perspective, it should be possible to sell services at a higher price level, if it were not for those providers intent on gaining an advantage through slashing prices. Some providers reduce fees because of cross-subsidisation. This is, however, not possible for most pure relocation service providers, who consequently suffer a considerable disadvantage in the price competition. However, the cross-subsidisers should be prepared for exclusive relocation service providers to devise a counterstrategy. Whenever a service provider tries to secure market share by price slashing, he will need to be prepared to temporarily generate a high turnover, which may not always cover his costs. He may also need to reduce capacities that might endanger service delivery.
Evaluation of our services The higher the value our services are rated by clients, the easier it will be to realise adequate fees. So how do our clients evaluate us as relocation service providers – not individually but as an industry? We do not know! This unpleasant fact highlights a prevalent feature in our industry: reluctance to collate, analyse and publish facts and figures; a topic which will need to be covered at a later point in time. Relocation services are increasingly viewed as comparatively low-value. We operate in a neighbouring area with lawyers and tax consultants,
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who are also involved in international assignment processes. Their services are understandably considered high value. Consequently they charge and are paid fees in the range of €200-300 per hour. It would be presumptuous to expect this kind of fee in the relocation service industry. However, a more adequate positioning will only be possible if we manage to move the perceptions of our services towards consulting. Here we have struck a fundamental issue: relocation services are often not viewed as high value consultancy but merely as the transactional delivery of simple services. Many clients believe relocation services do not generate added value through additional know-how and optimised assistance, but instead are solely a replacement of services which the clients would have to deliver themselves at a higher cost. This lack of appreciation leads automatically to the question of a fee reduction. If this then meets with a lack of self-confidence on the part of
Cost vs Calamity
the service providers (since they are themselves not certain of the value of their own services), we will face an erosion of fees that will damage the entire industry and eventually also those clients.
Only adequate fees will provide a sound industry Our clients are intent on reducing the high costs of international assignments. They are mainly focusing on direct costs, which include the costs of relocation services. These services comprise of expertise and efficiently used time. The greater and more in-depth the expertise of our staff (plus reliability and experience), the better the implementation and the higher value and quality of service. High value services are a key factor for the lasting success of an international assignment. The delivered quality needs to be remunerated in a way that makes it worthwhile for everybody involved to continue offering quality services at this high standard.
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Cost vs Calamity This includes professional consulting of the client, excellent assistance of the expatriate and his/her family and a reasonable profit for the service provider. In order to deliver the required quality, service providers need to hire, pay and train sufficiently qualified personnel. If money is taken out of the process in order to reduce costs, this money comes from the salaries required for services, which can then no longer be delivered, or from funds to pay for materials, which are then no longer available. If as a consequence of lowered fees one ore more of these components needs to be reduced or cut, this will result in a decline of quality standards. Either there is not sufficient staff available to deliver high quality consulting and assistance in the given time, increasing the fault ratio, or the required work equipment cannot be utilised.
Where is there a solution to this problem? The solution lies with us. We all purchase goods and services and try to get the best price. For goods
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The and services with a low complexity and little variance in quality (e.g. still mineral water, postal service) we aim for the lowest possible price and take advantage of special offers. Where the products we want to purchase are of high value (e.g. car, law or tax consulting) we pay more attention to quality. We look for an adequate price or good value for money. We need to achieve this also in the relocation services business. The industry has to generate awareness in the market for the high value of its services. Our clients are unlikely to find out about it by themselves. We need to enter into a dialogue with our clients and the head purchasers, one which will portray us not as petitioners but as responsible partners. A reduction of fees alone is not very creative. And more importantly it is nearly impossible to reverse. Where will the spiral end? A very strong argument in this endeavour is the EuRA Quality Seal. EuRA members ought to make sure that our quality standards and the EuRA Quality Seal – as the first worldwide and independent quality certification for the relocation service
industry – is the benchmark for providers and clients. We also need to consider how we can make our services more attractive. We have to take the clients’ point of view and look at their objectives and expected benefits. However, we do not all need to do the same things; innovation can favour diversity. The important thing is to keep our self-confidence – or to re-build it.
We need to be proud of what we are doing This self-confidence requires to occasionally answer with a charming but firm ‘no’ when demands for price cuts become too keen. Looking at current practice, one can expect that any stated price, no matter how low, will be ‘attacked’ by providers who are prepared to undercut any price. Quality is in danger - and with it the reputation of the industry. This will damage us all. Every single one of us involved with relocation services is called to action. We must not be part of the problem, but part of the solution.
The
WHEREVER YOU’RE GOING, WE’LL TAKE YOU THERE Harrow Green Global Moving Solutions is fully equipped to move anyone, anywhere in the world. We work direct with corporate clients to build personalised move programmes that keep your people happy and working well. For relocation companies, we partner with you to bring the highest quality move expertise to your service portfolio.
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Hassle Free Relocation Successfully relocating people since 1982 Our aim is to make your employees’ relocation risk and trouble-free. We are your reliable and experienced UK provider for: s Home Search s Rental Property s Orientation Tours s Expenses Management s Funded Guaranteed Sales Price s All other destination services
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We are passionate about providing the very best service to each of the 5,000 people we relocate annually.
Certificated to: BS EN ISO 9001:2000, BS EN ISO 14001:2004 and Investors in People
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The
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Quality Seal
The
Standard
practice
H
OW can an association representing the entire relocation industry – with two vastly different business models of national and global relocation management companies – draw all the elements together to provide a uniform set of quality ideals? First step was the implementation of a training qualification aimed at individual relocation professionals. In the six years since the launch of the European Academy of Relocation Professionals (EARP), over a thousand people have registered to train and more than 300 have reached the second of three levels of qualification. A select group of 20 have achieved the highest level (CERP3) and have had their programmes externally validated by the Katholike Hogeschool Leuven University in Belgium. However, for all its successes, this is an individual programme and one not designed to validate the work of an entire company. In 2007, EuRA strengthened its work on a standardisation of relocation service delivery models, with the goal of re-approaching the EU to validate a professional relocation designation for its member companies. Some 18 expert relocation directors, all leaders in their markets from all over the world, were brought together to complete the final step towards a quality standard system. Working with project manager, Martina Scharway and lead auditor, Sybil D’Oria, EuRA was able to finalise the quality standard and audit processes. Having partnered with DQS in Europe and IQNet globally, the association was able to develop and implement an ISO-equivalent, relocation-specific, quality standard; the EuRA Quality Seal. Partnering with both European and global ISO auditors gives the EuRA Quality Seal an unbeatable pedigree. The EuRA Quality Seal represents
“Participation in attaining the Quality Seal has allowed our company to fine tune our process, procedures and quality controls. The result has been a marked decrease in service defects and issues. We look forward to continuous measurement and improvement of service delivery”. – Peggy Love, RSS Group great value for money for members. For as little as €800 a year, relocation providers are able to assert their dedication to quality to the corporate and procurement markets. There are three tiers of fees depending on the turnover of the company. “This investment in the audit gives members a route to an extraordinary level of management consultancy that they may not be able to access elsewhere,” explains Dominic Tidey, EuRA operations manager. “The audit process is collaborative, and the expertise of the auditors enables participants to gain extraordinarily valuable business guidance from leaders in the field of process management.” Streamlined processes reduce costs. EuRA members who have successfully gained the EuRA Quality Seal have cited this as one of the main benefits of the programme. A service delivery manual helps to define the remit of effective, buyable services through a comprehensive and defined methodology for the delivery of relocation services. “One of the greatest challenges we face in our professional lives is the efficient management of the engines that drive our companies,” says Dominic. “Whatever we deliver in our businesses, the development and maintenance of the processes that enable us to be the best in our markets are almost more complex than the
PIONEERS: Martina Scharway and Sybil D’Oray were instrumental in developing the Quality Seal standards. products we deliver. “The EuRA Quality Seal delivers solutions for the successful management of running our companies. It’s as simple as that.” Marketing of both the relocation management community and the corporate client rely on past and future delivery excellence. Having an external validation of excellence is another way in which the EuRA Quality Seal opens doors and sets a measurable benchmark for successful companies. Having the EuRA Quality Seal logo on printed and virtual materials is already working as a marketing tool for the dozens of members who have qualified. “EuRA makes no money from the Quality Seal,” adds Dominic. “It strengthens and preserves the business interests of all those involved in the delivery of relocation services and for their corporate clients who value professionally managed domestic and international mobility programmes.”
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Personality Profile
The
Strands of
happiness
Please introduce yourself: I am Frances Edmonds, an expert on international communication, writer, broadcaster and professional public speaker. For the last two years, I have been involved in the EuRA conferences: in Lisbon as a keynote speaker and in Rome, as the MC of the event. What do you never travel without? A good book. Travelling affords the perfect opportunity to catch up on reading. I spend a lot of time travelling on my own for work. With a good book, you are never alone. What was the last good book you read? ‘A Thousand Splendid Suns’ by Khaled Hosseini. I enjoyed his novel ‘The Kite Runner’, which is a story of friendship and betrayal between boys and men and thought he would have difficulty matching the depth of emotion which that evoked. However, it is even more poignant. What is your favourite film? ‘Gone With the Wind’. I think Scarlett O’Hara, despite her faults, is an icon of female commitment, determination and survival. When were you happiest? I do not think that happiness is a continuum. I find that happiness tends to come in bursts and starts, often at the most unexpected moments. Completing a difficult project, a drink and a laugh with a few friends, a generous and kind e-mail… There is no specific period in which I felt happy, rather I experience strands of happiness brightening up the normal warp and weft of life. Who do you most admire? Professor Dorothy Coleman, (sadly now dead), who was my supervisor in French at Cambridge University. She
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used to smoke full-strength Capstan cigarettes and dispense large quantities of dry sherry. Most important, however, she taught me to think for myself and gave me the confidence and the tools to challenge received wisdoms, even those promulgated by learned academics.
Frances Edmonds reveals what drives her as an international communicator
If you had the choice of anywhere in the world, where would you live? I love living in Notting Hill in London and shall never move from there. However, I am searching for a flat in Cannes (sea view non-negotiable). Is there any relocation professional out there who can give me a hand?
him now. There is so much to say.
Do you have any regrets? I wish I could spend more time with good friends. If a film were made of your life, who would you like to play you? I think Meryl Streep would do a good job. What do you think is your greatest achievement? Without doubt, my amazing daughter, Alexandra Edmonds, currently up at Oxford University reading History. Do you have a favourite saying? An old Irish saying: “God does not repay debts with money.” If you could have dinner with one person, alive or dead, who would be your guest? My father died tragically early at the age of 62 and I still feel cheated. I would love to see
How would you like to be remembered? She was a good laugh. Do you have any unfulfilled dreams? To sing the lead in Tosca at La Scala – but that is not going to happen!
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