What does a standard relocation package include?

[Wiifitmama]

Or is tree no such thing as standard? I am new to this. Dh interviewing fir job in Zurich. I am trying to work all the detail out. What do they normally pay for? It is an American insurance company if that makes any difference!

UK government. We got initially :
1 single trip across the channel but no fuel costs
one standard return per year which was roughly £100 per head
rent paid for 2 years in house not quite as nice as back home
20m3 of furniture transported, that was less than half what we had so we had to pay the rest ourselves
£1000 transfer grant which we used to pay for the furniture transportation
international schooling but we used local

then the contract was changed and we had to pay our own rent and international schooling was removed and dependents no longer counted so no return trip to the UK once a year paid for, only 1 person working

It could be worse, I know many people who've lost their jobs completely.

Oh and we had the £12 a month health insurance premium paid for too, but had to deal with all paperwork ourselves. When our house got taken over by the landlord's builders, we were told to stuff it and put up with it and count ourselves lucky, it is very demoralising being a government employee sometimes.

Want2BeSupermum - bloody hell. Is your husband embarrassed at your demands? Most of them seem completely unreasonable.

In Switzerland it can vary massively company to company and also if it's an internal move, rather than a new position. Although it sounds unfair, it can also depend on the country you are coming out of, within a particular company.

The pharma companies in Basel give far more support to the US employees than any other, depending on position in the company of course - free accom, gardeners, cleaners, schooling. But these people are in the postion of moving every 3 years, and therefore need the support not to have a "loss-making" life IYSWIM. I know a HR contact in one firm who said it's very hard to get US employees out of the country in a global firm, so they really up the ante. I don't think the double taxation helps.

My package wasn't brilliant, but I moved to take a new job, so it wasn't a case of relocating me, as it was my choice to go? I got an apart hotel for 3 months, a week in a hotel on arrival, all removal expenses, all travel expenses for myself and my family. I could've had the use of a relocation agent, but I preferred to do it all myself, and my colleague, who started at the same time and used one, seemed to know less about the processes than I did!

I had to pay for my own permits (a few hundred each for the B permit), and admin expenses. Every employer has to offer accident insurance, which covers the employee, but I had to pay for my own health insurance, and also for the family, and their accident insurance. There was no negotiation for this, the company doesn't have to offer it. So if you do get it - major plus, as you don't have to worry about researching and finding a company in the first three months of arrival.

when we moved to asia

return business class seats each year for family
a relocation agent for the first 2 weeks
rent paid
school fees paid
medical insurance
car/public transport allowance
furniture allowance
maid allowance
spouse allowance
club membership

this seems more unusual though and most of our friends just negotiated a good wage to cover their needs.

oh and of course shipping fees, temporary accommodation paid when returning to the UK and private education fees for each child for 5 years.

We are on a great package (til we move to the us this summer!) and have utilities (water, electricity, Internet) paid too as well as dental coverage, medical coverage, rent, school fees, school bus, car, trips home, temp accommodation, all relocation (including storage at destination) costs (sea and air freight). Our package ends this summer though and the days of company paying everything are coming to an end (they were good while they lasted though!)

Ask for everything and settle on something reasonable....

RE relocation we received the following:

• international movers to pack
• insurance for move
• visas and customs clearance paid
• air freight for some items
• container by sea for the remainder
• amount (can't remember the figure) to buy basics from IKEA until sea freight arrived (this took 2.5 months)
• storage paid for the remainder of our stuff
• business class flight for family (useful for the extra baggage allowance)
• relocation allowance (spend as you wish)
• hotel accommodation until we moved into house and hotel accommodation while we packed up to move. Packing up took 3 days.

What to ask for re salary package - some points to consider:

• schooling
• rent paid
• utilities paid
• car
• flights home - we had the cost of a flight as a travel allowance and spend as we wish e.g may wish for people to visit you instead of you returning to UK
• language lessons \
• health and dental
• tax advice
• look/see visit

Most of the above apply to our move to Asia. When we relocated to Europe

• kids went to local schools
• job came with a car anyway -language lessons
• one flight home per year per family member

Relocation:
Flights out, serviced apartment up to 2 months.

One 40ft container, packers, insurance.
£15k furniture allowance on arrival, which would need replaying on a pro rata basis if we left before three years.

Not sure theres a standard, seems industry/country/urgency of role specific.

We got flights, 6 mths car rental, visas etc, shipping, 6 mths accom.

Agree there is no standard . Check whether it is on expat or local terms as that could make a big difference - most ongoing costs would be included in a local contract salary. Start with flights out , one or two reconnaissance visits, removal costs by road, accommodation search agent, permit and registration costs. If local contract it may pretty much stop there , if expat also language classes, rent (deposit?) and short term accommodation, relocation allowance for likes of electrical goods and furniture, possibly international schooling fees, 2 flights home per year, use of a tax accountant, health insurance and other insurance costs, storage in UK of any items you need to remove form current house if you rent it out, sell or end lease. If your move is fixed or short term you may also want to consider end of tenancy cleaning/gardening costs, removals and flights back to UK etc.

So generous! DH & I are looking to move continents & we would have to fork out £7-£10k from our own pockets.

when we were in asia, we were one of the few amongst our friends to be on a really good old fashioned package. most of our friends just negotiated a wage and spent it as they needed. often this was folk though who were staying on and changing jobs.

Llijjk- problem is if you are the ones looking to move rather than a company looking to move you, theres little/no need to incentivise you
We were partly in this position hence our smallish and only short-term package. Has cost us thousands of pounds too, no idea whether "worth" it, hard to evaluate.

I cant help being extremely a little envious of those who are packaged to the hilt- business class flights and saving not spending additional money would be v nice.. But then i don't live in a shack and have options. Could be worse...

I'm with Salbertina in being slightly blown away by certain relocation packages. Life is very unfair. The riches of the world are spread unevenly. I try to keep in mind our family has a roof over their heads and we're as happy as possible in bad circumstances.

We're likely to have to move in the next couple of years. We'll be offered business class seats and if there is a way of going economy and donating the difference to a charity working where we are travelling to, I'll do that. I cannot justify why our family need business class seats. I'd rather the money went somewhere where more people can benefit.

Wow, RM, really admire your
attitude! I know several people who get annual business class flights, after first one out they tend to get money equivalent i think so often use for hol elsewhere not flight "home" so sure you could free up the money somehow.

My husband sees the chancellor of exchequer and all those cronies going standard class now, standing in line with everyone else, why on earth should we go business class?

V true. Plenty still take the money and run though. Maybe easier when 1,000s of miles away.

Reluctantmover - although your motives are altruistic, when people do this it actually spoils things for lots of other people. Companies start thinking that they don't have to make an effort to re-locate people and the benefits come down and down. Re-locating is a very stressful time so please don't try to make the company you are dealing with think otherwise.

Nah, I'll take the business class flights thanks - didn't get any more money if we went economy.

When a company moves you to another part if the world, and unsettles your family it is nice to have some comforts.

Being able to bring elderly relatives out on a nice comfortable supportive business class flight would be a huge plus I think. Or avoiding the queues and luggage hauling as a sole parent with small children.

For me, I'm an hour from London on a good day, so I can brave the queues. But I have to say, even speedy boarding (which I swore I'd never do) can be a life saver when you seem to live at airports sometimes.

I just flew from Singapore to Houston and back on a look see. It was just me and two small kids (dh was already there), 7h30 flight, then a 4 hour layover, then 13h flight. With transfers and waiting it was 31 hours door to door. We arrived at 2.30pm local time which my kids' little bodies thought was 1.30am (time of origin). We then queued for 2 hours in immigration and did the same flight back home with a longer layover 2 weeks later. Thank God for business class where we could stretch out and sleep a little