RELOCATING NEW HIRES TO A NEW CITY?
With a robust economy comes opportunity. And with opportunity comes challenge. I have had the privilege of working with some incredibly talented people in coach mode who have embraced new opportunities. Many of these included relocating to a new city.
Sounds good and could be great, ie the exhilaration of a new challenge and steps toward the achievement of personal and professional goals. Below are some tips for employers drawn from experience that could be very helpful in making the move.
Guidance for employers:
Have a Solid Onboarding Plan– Nothing kills enthusiasm and momentum faster for a new hire that is being uprooted than finding out the host organization has not thought through their initial ramp up time. Assign a staff member to be their guide. This is especially true if the hiring manager, ie the CEO is not the
Talk Renting vs Owning – Make it easy for relocating hires to find living quarters. Many candidates are tenured and established in their careers. They may have kids that are ‘grown and gone’, own a house that they may decide to rent out or use as a fall back for later. Sometimes the ‘trailing spouse’ decides to remain at home while their adventuresome other half pursues new opportunities. It is often best to rent in the new location until on-boarding milestones have been hit.
Add Funds for Unknowns – There is always something in a relocation package that is either mis interpreted or comes off as ‘not as advertised’. Just accept the fact that we will need to add 5-10% for contingent type things. This is a small price to pay for ensuring the relocating employee and their spouse’s attitude stay firmly positive and engaged. Remember, in the first 100 days they do not want to rock the boat.
Go Appropriately Slower in the Beginning – Establish the correct rhythm and pace for your new hire in the first 100 days. Remember, it is really easy to just become immersed in work while waiting for personal lives to catch up. This is a time of vulnerability for some. They often want to make something happen and their intensity may be off-putting to their new work families.
Have them keep it at about 6 or 7 out of 10 on the intensity scale while asking lots of the right kinds of questions. This is the path to successful integration with the team.
Encourage Hires to Stay physical – Listen and find out what they do to stay physical and them provide a means for them to do that. It might be the gym, hiking, running whatever. Pro-actively provide opportunities for them to network with like-minded aficionados. This helps keep the stress of relocation, separation, new job roles in check.
Never Forget the Trailing Spouse – This seems obvious. As some recently relocated workers begin to experience challenges, ie personality conflicts, deliverable, initial performance validation etc they are likely sharing some of the story with the spouse and we want to keep that home dialog as happy as possible. Know their birthdays, anniversary dates, important events in their personal lives and acknowledge them. The dinner you buy is as big a retention and engagement tool as anything else you will do early in their tenure.
Do the Onboarding Postmortem – Don’t wait to get input regarding heir experience in joining your company. Actively seek it out on or about day 100. By the time we find them, tell them, ramp them and get the to productivity, we have a small fortune invested in the new hire. What we learn by just asking the new hires what should have been done differently is cheap QC and insurance against potential future issues.
If we follow these guidelines, we are well on the way to building esprit ‘d corp with important new teammates and leaders. They may even refer other key staff as they have positive experiences.
