Relocation has long been treated as an expense line — a necessary cost to move talent where it’s needed. But when measured properly, relocation produces returns that Finance can quantify and executives can respect.
The key is to move from generic “mobility ROI” slogans to three concrete levers that every organization can track — even without an analytics department.
1. Ramp-Time Benefit: Productivity Pulled Forward
Relocated employees typically reach productivity faster than external hires.
They already know the culture, systems, and expectations — meaning their runway is shorter.
How to measure it:
- Compare time-to-productivity between relocated and externally hired employees.
- Apply a monthly contribution margin or salary proxy to the “months saved.”
- Present the result as contribution pulled forward, not speculative revenue.
Every month gained is output advanced — CFOs understand that math.
2. Bad-Hire Avoidance: Failure Costs Prevented
External hires fail at higher rates during their first year. Cultural mismatch, role misalignment, or unmet expectations all contribute.
Relocated employees already fit the culture — their failure rate is lower, and the savings are real.
How to measure it:
- Compare first-year failure rates between relocated employees (GM data) and external hires (Talent Acquisition data).
- Multiply the delta by your average cost-per-failure (recruitment, onboarding, lost productivity).
- Even a modest 5 % delta can equal six-figure avoided costs.
That’s not fluff — that’s prevention economics.
3. Cost-of-Delay Avoided: Time Translated into Dollars
In project-driven organizations, each week of delay carries a real financial cost.
When relocated hires ramp faster and arrive ready, those weeks are saved.
How to measure it:
- Work with Finance to estimate the cost per week of project delay.
- Multiply by the weeks avoided due to faster relocation onboarding.
- Show both top-line and margin-level impacts.
Executives already speak “time = money.” You’re just translating mobility into their language.
Why this matters
These three levers — ramp-time benefit, bad-hire avoidance, and cost-of-delay avoided — shift mobility from anecdote to analysis.
They don’t rely on speculative formulas; they rest on data every company already has.
Even if HR never builds the spreadsheet, adopting this mindset reframes relocation from a cost to a strategic accelerator.
That’s what earns credibility — and budget.
At All Points, we’ve stopped chasing glossy ROI equations and started building the kind of metrics CFOs nod at instead of squint at.
We call it relocation fluency — speaking finance, risk, and human experience all in the same sentence.
That’s the language that keeps mobility budgets alive and we hope we can help change the conversation for the better in your company!
