Frequently Asked Questions

Find answers to your most common questions in our Frequently Asked Questions section, where we cover the most relevant resources about relocation and all the services offered by All Points.

Why do companies buy Destination Services for their employees?

Relocating to a new country can be daunting. There is a new city to learn about (where do I want to live?) a home to find (what are my rights as a tenant?), but then there are also all those administrative tasks that need to be addressed. Local registrations in Canada include obtaining Social Insurance Number, health insurance and driver’s licensing? In other parts of the world, it is often necessary to register locally with either the police or the country/city. And we haven’t even talked about how someone is supposed to obtain tenant’s insurance or auto insurance. How does one lease a car without credit? Figuring all of these things out is possible (harder when the local language is not your first), but how much time does it take, anxiety does it cause, and how many (perhaps very negative) mistakes are made? Destination Services takes care of all these concerns in as little as 2-4 days. And the service is also self-serving for the employer. It takes a lot of questions and time off of HR’s plate and ensures that the employee is productive quickly and ready for work, rather than distracted by their 3rd visit to the driver’s licensing center. After immigration and tax services, Destination Services is usually the next service that is purchased by an employer.

What services does a Corporate Relocation Services package include?

A Corporate Relocation Services package can contain everything from a capped allowance to more specific benefits. These include household goods moving, home sale costs, house hunting trips, final trips, temporary living and more. What is right for one company may not be right for another. When relocating an employee, you must ask yourself about cost constraints, but also the corporate objectives of that relocation. All Points can help you craft an employee relocation practice that is right for you.

How quickly can a Corporate Relocation Services program be implemented so a company can utilize All Points’ services?

How much does it cost to relocate an employee?

Employee relocations are expensive. The average domestic Canadian relocation, fully supported, costs approximately $65,000, mostly due to home sales and household goods moves (these are the two highest costs in a relocation (ignoring compensation and international taxes)). But this might not be right for your employees. Relocation allowances range from $10,000 – $40,000, depending on employee level and distance.

Companies need to decide what level of support they wish to give employees and decide how much they should invest in their relocation. All Points can give you the guidance to ensure that your relocation practice meets your budgetary and strategic goals.

Should my company tier its relocation policies?

Generally, our answer to this is yes. Relocation tiering brings HR greater administration. But, employee Relocation Services can be expensive, and Executives and Individual Contributors should not get the same relocation package. They are at different stages of their careers, so the policies should reflect this. Even if a client has low mobility, we recommend tiered company relocation service packages.

Should I let my employees find their own mover?

You absolutely can, but having a pool of vetted domestic, cross-border and global movers provides confidence and security that things will go right. Employee relocation services, done with a Relocation Management Company overseeing the move leaves you secure in knowing that a company with many annual relocations, that understands national and international relocation, monitors every aspect of your employee’s relocation. An RMC can make changes quickly if required. The moving experience has the highest impact on the perception of the quality of the relocation. Don’t leave it to a Google search.

Are relocation benefits I pay to my employees taxable?

It depends on where they are relocating from and to. Each country has different tax rules. The good news is that if you are relocating an employee within Canada or to Canada, there are many aspects of the relocation that are considered non-taxable. Yet, some surprising benefits are taxable. As part of our employee relocation services, All Points can help you and your employees navigate the tax code when it comes to relocation.

If I relocate an employee globally, how do I know if I need a relocation service?

If you are doing an international corporate relocation, you first need immigration partners and reliable tax services. The next most important service you need is Destination Services. Now, you also need to answer some questions:

How much time is this taking from HR?
How good is your data on your costs? How detailed?
How are you spending your money?
Did anyone ever have a poor move experience?
How are you going to manage all those vendors?
Is a great employee experience valuable to your company when onboarding someone to a new country?

These kinds of questions will help you answer the question of whether you need a corporate relocation service. We can guide you.

How do I know if I have good Corporate Relocation Service?

A good corporate relocation program is a balance between employee satisfaction with cost savings and effectiveness. All Points can measure some Key Performance Indicators for you (ask us about them!), while HR can measure the rest. Some measurements are:

Program costs and cost savings
Employee satisfaction with the relocation experience
Turnover rates for relocated employees
Effectiveness in achieving key business objectives

I currently offer an allowance to our employees. What is a Corporate Relocation Package, and should my company offer one?

A corporate relocation package combines the financial benefits you offer to an employee and its support. Financial benefits might include household goods moving, temporary accommodation, and the final trip.

The support part is personalized and occurs during employee relocation. It may be offered by an RMC that offers employee relocation services, or it might be HR itself.

You can still offer employee relocation allowances, but you should add the relocation services support noted above. You can offer a more defined corporate relocation package or a mix between an allowance and a defined benefit if you want. What you do depends on how hard your company is looking for talent.

Does Employee Relocation Vary by Industry?

Yes, industries can differ in their recruiting environments and their locations. A company with smaller town locations may need a different corporate relocation policy than a company with locations in big cities. And tech companies have different policies than the banking industry, for example (although what do you do if you Fintech?). All Points helps you understand others’ practices in your industry. We work within your cost constraints and your hiring environment to develop the best practice for you.

What if the cost of living is higher in the destination city?

First, you need to know if you are relocating the employee for an assignment or permanently. If the employee relocation is permanent, you may look for local salary benchmarking in the destination, and that should be good enough. However, if the assignee will be returning or moving onto another assignment, then you’ll need to do a study about the cost of living. Then you can apply the cost of living to the allowance support and take it away when the assignment is over or if the employee moves onto another location.

My company is starting to get into Global Relocation. We have immigration handled. Do we need anything else?

After immigration, there are at least three essential services a company needs:

The first thing (after immigration) a company that is starting Global Relocation needs is tax services. These are crucial, particularly for assignments, which can have very complex tax results. We recommend all companies get tax assistance. But be aware. Tax compliance usually increases the costs of clients that did not receive tax services before. You and your employee need to be compliant.
The second thing you should do is look for a Relocation Service Company. You will want to coordinate all aspects of the relocation, and an RMC can help with this. You will also have to report all relocation expenses to tax. You cannot easily do this if you do not have many G/L codes for the different relocation benefits spent.
The third thing you should get is the help of a Destination Service Company. Your RMC can help with this. Realtors may not do orientation, home finding, and settling-in professionally. Using them could cost the company thousands of dollars in extra costs down the road. A professional DestinationServices Provider can onboard your employee safely and efficiently. It is necessary for successful onboarding and is a must in the era of duty of care and is a small investment compared to the overall assignment’s cost.