Checking the Pulse of Domestic Mobility Outsourcing

Every mobility program is unique, and ensuring a program is both competitive within the marketplace and aligned with a company’s culture is critical. To meet these needs, companies either manage their programs completely in-house, outsource all functions to a relocation management company, or manage with a combination of internal resources and partial outsource to a relocation management company.

Aires’ most recent Pulse Survey examines trends in Domestic Mobility Management and Outsourcing. The survey polled 66 companies across a variety of industries. Regarding how programs are currently managed, the survey found that:

• 76% of respondent programs are fully outsourced
• 20% are partially outsourced, with some services managed by one or more relocation management companies and the rest managed in house
• 4% of respondents manage their program completely in-house

Fully Outsourced Programs: Companies responding with fully outsourced programs have an average of two internal mobility team members and an average of 309 permanent moves and 55 temporary domestic assignments annually. Most companies that fully outsource their programs (63%) have done so for more than a decade; only 13% have had outsourced programs for fewer than five years.

Partially Outsourced Programs: Companies that partially outsource their programs have a slightly higher average full-time-equivalent headcount for internal mobility programs at 2.4. These programs average 418 permanent moves and 213 temporary domestic assignments per year. The most common outsourced benefits under partially outsourced programs are:

• Temporary Housing (88% of partially outsourced respondents)
• Rental Home Finding/Area Tour (88%)
• Home Sale – GBO/BVO (83%)
• Household Goods Shipping (75%)
• Gross-up (25%)

In-house Programs: Companies that keep their program 100% in house have an average of 8 full-time-equivalent mobility team members. The programs tend to be large, with the survey respondent volumes ranging from 250 to 5,320 annual moves. All respondents have had their in-house program in place for more than a decade, and 67% of respondents in this category noted reductions in internal mobility staff when compared to pre-pandemic levels.

WHY OUTSOURCE?

While the survey responses give us some idea of why companies choose to rely on an RMC and why some choose to manage the process internally, organizations have told us over the years why they choose to outsource:

• Supplier Management – Access to global network of vetted service providers
• Agility – Ability to adjust to volume changes
• Technology – Client-facing and employee-facing platforms that enhance the relocation process
• Knowledge – Serviced by subject matter experts
• Consistency – Processes, communication, service delivery
• Payment Processing – Payments to employees not on payroll, RMCs ability to process payments/reimbursements faster
• Budgeting, Forecasting – Often incorporated into technology platform
• Cost – Leveraging RMC and paying fees (which are often a very small percentage of mobility spend) is often more cost effective than bearing the full cost it takes to staff/manage those relocations.

For a copy of the full Pulse Survey results, please contact your Aires representative.