Part 2: Relocation
1. Home country housing
What support will you offer the employee if they retain a property in the home location? Will you help them let it, sell it, or support vacant property management? Consider the assignment circumstances and whether the employee should be encouraged to keep their property.If the assignee is renting in the home location, you may wish to consider covering costs incurred due to early lease termination.
2. Temporary accommodation
This could be short-term accommodation before the employee leaves the home country, and/or before they source rental accommodation in the host country. Do you offer both? Consider how long they should spend in temporary accommodation, bearing in mind serviced accommodation is of a high standard. If your employee gets too comfortable, they might want to stay there indefinitely.
3. Host country housing
Consider how your employee will find accommodation in the host location. Must the employee do it alone or will a relocation specialist be engaged? Take into account factors such as the employee’s time, the ability to source quality housing, and safety and security concerns.Are you going to apply any rental caps? A relocation provider should be able to provide a range of appropriate allowances. Do not forget translation services if the tenancy agreement is not in your language. Whether the company or the employee is the named tenant on the lease depends on a number of factors. If the company is the named tenant, it is prudent to draw up an indemnity agreement between the employee and the company. This should prevent any unnecessary negative exposure to the company.
4. Utilities and taxes
Is the company paying or is the employee paying? If the employee is paying, take into account any difference between home and host utility charges and maybe compensate accordingly. Some countries will levy municipal taxes. In the interest of fairness, the employee should not be out of pocket for such expenses.