Typical Relocation Compensation 1

[Noway2]

This morning I turned down an offer from a company that would have involved relocation. There are several reasons for turning down the offer, some of them financial, some not, but one of the sticking points was amount that they were offering to relocate.

In this instance it would have been a move of about 500 miles. From experience, the total costs of relocation by the time you pay for movers, sell a house (paying a realtor commission), buy a new house (closing costs), get vehicles registered, etc would have been around $40K-$50K, which is no where near what the company was offering. Quite frankly, I do not believe that I should have been expected to take a $25K-$30K out of pocket hit for the company's benefit. While it isn't really relevant to the relocation, I was not being hired through a recruiter which saved the company a lot more than the relocation costs.

While I don't regret turning down the offer, I am wondering if my expectations were out of line. My question is, what is typically offered in a relocation package. This would have been for a senior engineering / project manager level in the USA.

Anybody have any thoughts or ideas?

 

[Noway2]

There certainly seems to be a lot of divide on this subject. What is even more surprising to me is that there appears to be very little middle ground: that either companies offer coverage for all or nothing. To me, this is quite fascinating.

A lot of it does appear to be dependent on your perceived worth to the company, relative to the competition, type of industry, etc. At the same time, I have to think that there is a personal aspect to this, in the same fashion that there is to salary...that if you don't believe yourself worth (a particular figure) you wont get it.

I also think that this thread has opened a lot of eyes. It certainly has mine.

At the very least, I would like to thank everyone for their contribution and input.

 

[Lion06]

IvyMike-
Can I take you with me next time I have to buy a car?!

 

[Pulpeng]

My first job out of school I was offered to have my moving costs paid for and be put up in a hotel for two months and they would move me twice. Presumeably from an apartment to a house when I finally bought. There was talk about real estate fees etc. I laughed and told them why would I want to move all that crap up (student furniture) and told them I'd be up in my car next week. I took the hotel offer and asked for a lump sum. They wanted to know how much I thought was reasonable and I told them $1500 so I could buy a bed and some dishes. They laughed and gave me $2500 since it was probably about $30,000 less than it could have cost them. The companies been great and I don't regret asking for more- the offer was $15,000/yr higher than expected so anything I lost on relocating I've made up.

 

[csd72]

A simple equation:

Either it is worth the move to you or it is not.

csd

 

[GregLocock]

True, but the problem is that moving is a relatively large expense compared with your pay, for most people. Therefore in order to make moving financially viable companies would have to offer much higher salaries.

This would upset their existing employees, or increase the cost-base across the entire company.

So, it is in the company's interests to cover enough of the moving costs to get the new employee to accept a salary in line with current employees.



Cheers

Greg Locock

Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips.

 

[floattuber]

I think it also depends on how big the company is too. I recently started working for a major aerospace company and everything I got was pretty standard for my pay band.

My move was pretty easy and cheap since I was renting and have a wife but no kids. The biggest things I had to move were 2 cars. If I remember correctly, if I had a house they would have helped sell it and also pay for all the other real estate costs. They also would have paid for 3 months rent for an apt, but I ended up staying at my brother's house while we found a new house. To cover misc things like license plates, food, etc they also immediately paid $2000 cash.

Like I said, my move was easy so the bill was only about $11k plus they add on whatever is needed so cover taxes.

My boss said the typical move now-a-days is about $40k. When the company moved him across the country several years ago, the policy was more generous and his move was about $70k.