| Topic Name: |
relocation |
| Message Name: |
Your relo question... |
| Date Posted: |
09/29/2000 |
| In Reply To: |
When companies offer to pay for a candidate's relocation, what do reimbursement expenses include and how much do companies generally pay for? Should we simply reimburse the receipts as an expense or does the payment count as taxable income that should go on a W-2? I'm not sure how any of this is structured.
(We're a small company hiring an employee from across the country and we've never had to do this before...)
Thanks,
Liss
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| Message: |
Hi, Liss,
We, too, are a small company, and we've had to occasionally relo folks. I know some of the bigger companies can share their policies, but I thought you might like the smaller company perspective, especially as we have to keep a very tight eye on expenses -- sometimes a little more so than other companies.
What is your employee's situation? Do they have an entire family and household to relocate or just one or two in an apartment?
Have they received any bids from moving companies?
All the way across the company, we tell folks we pay up to $4K if they have a house and stuff, and give them a check for half of it up front, and then get receipts for the rest. We pay "reasonable" expenses for, say, an extended stay hotel and meals while they're looking for new places to stay, usually not more than two weeks is necessary -- but we try to stay flexible if their reasonable costs go over 4K.
We've paid gas for them to drive out, and for plane tickets for flights out.
You might want to contact some of the relocation companies in your area -- usually they're real estate folks who specialize in relo. Get some ideas from them on what other folks in your area have done and what is a reasonable expectation.
We also put in the offer letter that we expect relo paid back in full if someone leaves us within the first year, and at 50% in the second year -- especially if the costs are at the higher end. We haven't ever had to collect it, but it does give us some peace of mind...
I hope that's helpful!
Have a great day!
Tish Rowley
Sr. Technical Recruiter
net.works, Corp., Salt Lake City
email: trowley@ndwcorp.com
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